Don’t obsess over making mistakes

by Joe Kuzma ( joe_kuzma)

One mantra you may hear me repeat a lot through my written and audio formats I produce content on is “be good, not great”.

I’d like to better explain the philosophy behind that statement. I want everyone to be great, but in most cases, content marketing and platform building are secondary to your main business. If you make pizzas or build cabinets for a living, be great at doing those.

Be good at doing this.

It’s lowering the bar, but with good reason. As you write a blog, record a podcast, or post to social media, you don’t want added stress. I know all too well what it’s like to be a perfectionist and stressing over every little detail in this overwhelming publishing world that is content marketing could become cumbersome.

Now, being “good” doesn’t give you a pass to put out lousy information or blatantly skip over proofreading your material either! By all means, take some shortcuts to not only save yourself time but relieve yourself of any added pressure these additional marketing tasks may bring along with them.

Spellcheck is your friend, but we can all miss a word here or there, but unless you’re an author, readers will understand you’re an expert in your field, not at being a wordsmith.

If you record a podcast, an errant sound at times (like air conditioning kicking on or a pet making racket) may seem like the end of the world: but it’s not. Your audience may notice but will quickly forget.

However, don’t make a habit out of having bad habits. You don’t want to be poor, you want to be at least good. If you can achieve greatness, that’s even better. In the end, the goal isn’t to be a perfectionist at writing or recording: it’s to further spread the word about your brand.

Small mistakes won’t derail your efforts but constant errors or a deluge of poor content can turn off even the most avid of your advocates.

So, focus on being good. Use a word processing program to type up your blog or social media posts and re-read them at least once to hone in on any potential errors before letting them into the wild.

If you’re recording audio or video, don’t sweat small details, but make a concerted effort to remove certain unnecessary words or long pauses from those recordings, or if possible, edit them out. (Editing takes more time, obviously, so try to make a habit of not doing that to save you some precious moments!)

And last but not least, you will learn by making mistakes. That’s the main reason you shouldn’t obsess over them. As you continue to consistently publish new content you will refine your process and eventually become a pro.

You’ll be great, not good. But to coin a baseball reference, don’t swing for the fences first. You have to settle for some base hits before you can go all the way to Homeplate!

Hello! My name is Joe Kuzma, and if you’re reading this, thank you! I’m pleased to virtually meet you and I hope we get to know one another well throughout this crazy journey of producing content.

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