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What to Prepare Before You Hire a Content Assistant

What to Prepare Before You Hire a Content Assistant

Michele Duwe from Miss Task | What to Prepare Before You Hire a Content Assistant

You know that you’re not being intentional with your time and energy. You’ve looked back on your day, and the first thought is, wow, I’m not being strategic about where I’m investing my time. You feel a little all over the place. That feels annoying to you because you value being intentional. You’re debating if you should hire someone to help, but you’re also not 100% clear on how to guide them since you don’t feel like you have good systems. Let’s be real: the last time you hired a team member, it did not end well. Here is what to prepare to hire a content assistant.

I’m Preaching To The Choir

I’m guessing you already know what the problem is; I’ve seen it with so many entrepreneurs. When it comes down to it, you love to create content. You have a heart of service and you desire to make an impact and an income.

And let’s be real: creating consistent content takes a lot of work; it is hard and overwhelming. Before you know it becomes a whole big thing, your pocketbook begins to feel the effects of your inconsistency.

Consistency is truly the thing. And what makes it so difficult, as entrepreneurs, is that there’s so much for us to do that our focus is divided up. We are just all over the place, trying to keep all the balls in the air. Getting as much done as we can. Before you know it, you do it again. You’ve become yet again an Inconsistent content creator. Sound familiar?

It Really Comes Down To This

You talk about being overwhelmed by all the things you do as an entrepreneur. Heck, your husband knows it because you talk about it to him all the time. You know you’re not being as strategic as you could be. You’ve been debating for months, yes months, about whether you should hire a content assistant to help, but you’re not 100% clear on how to guide them since you tell yourself that you're not good at leading.

When you’re the owner with all the things falling on your shoulders, you’re in a constant battle that you’re stuck in because you’re trying to do all the things. You know you can’t do them all by yourself, you really aren’t in the position to bring on a team member because your stuff is a hot mess express around your content systems.​

When it comes to hiring someone, you're scared because you're not making multi-millions yet, so it’s not like you’re comfortable with it. If you hire them, it won't be very efficient, because you don't have your stuff together. It's like you have that awareness, but you're stuck there, unsure how to get out of the cycle.

 

What to Prepare Before You Hire a Content Assistant to Your Remote Team

The success of your future content assistant for your business depends on how well you set up your content system before you hire a content assistant.

What to prepare to bring on your content assistant:

  • Record videos or tango: One simple way to create a system is to start with a screen recording as you do the work yourself. As you click and type, call out the steps. Then, have the screen recording transcribed.
  • What can be even simpler? Using the Chrome plugin Tango. Tango has a free and paid version. It takes a screenshot anytime you click your mouse or type on your keyboard! Your workflow is captured easily and effortlessly. https://www.tango.us/

Create the step-by-step checklist in your project management software and save it as a template. If you did a screen recording and had it transcribed, take the transcript and add each step as a task in your content creation template. Add the video to the project template.

If you went the Tango route, use that for the step-by-step checklist.

Michele Duwe from Miss Task | What to Prepare Before You Hire a Content Assistant

Here are a few things to consider when hiring a content assistant for your remote team.

  • Know your budget and consider how much extra time you’ll have each week.
  • Begin slow and ramp up. Do not dump everything on them at once. Start slowly with one thing and only a few hours per week. As they get the hang of it, add more tasks and hours. When you do a slow roll, it is far less overwhelming for everyone involved.
  • Be sure to know what they like to do, what they want to learn, and what they feel they have already mastered.
  • Know that the fault lies on your shoulders if something doesn’t go right. When it doesn’t go as smoothly as possible, we want to shift the blame. But, if something doesn’t go right, the fault lies on your shoulders. In most cases, if something didn’t go right with a team member, it was because something was missed in the process or the communication on how to do it was poor. When we do things 100 times, we sometimes forget those tiny, important steps along the way. If you always know that the fault lies on your shoulders, you look at things from a different perspective

 

Did you know that Miss Task has a Done For You Content Repurposing Service? Try it out with the mini-service, where we’ll turn your podcast into a blog post, email newsletter, and social media copy. Here is a link to our services page.

It’s time to wrap this up.

To recap, what to prepare before you hire a content assistant for your remote team.

  • Start to create your systems by either transcribing your screen recording or Tango to capture screenshots for you.
  • Know your budget, and begin to set aside the money before you hire them.
  • Begin slow and ramp up as you both begin to feel more comfortable
  • Know that if something doesn’t go right, the fault lies on your shoulders.
  • Remember you can try our DFY service to repurpose your podcast.

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Transforming Your Content: The Art of Repurposing

Transforming Your Content: The Art of Repurposing

Transforming Your Content: The Art of Repurposing

Ever feel caught in a mad dash to create fresh content, struggling to come up with ideas? 

Did you know that repurposing old content is actually an easier way to create content? 

What is your system for repurposing your old content? Do you use it to its full potential? For the longest time, many people thought they couldn't use their existing material. However, you can save time while producing quality content by understanding what repurposing means and applying effective strategies for making the most out of our previous work.

We are going to expand upon episode 12 topic of repurposing free content. What exactly is content repurposing, and how to create a system for reusing your content?

What is Content Repurposing?

It is using content that you’ve already created and in a new way. 

It’s a great way for online businesse owners  to maximize their content marketing efforts without starting from scratch every time.

Content repurposing is taking existing core content, such as blogs, videos, and podcasts, and using it on a different platform. 

By utilizing content repurposing, you can save time and show up on different platforms that you’re ideal client is hanging out on. 

Content repurposing has many benefits that make it essential for an online business owner to utilize to avoid content burnout.

For starters, it allows you to get more mileage from your original work by reaching new audiences who may not have seen the original content. 

While it may sound complex and time-consuming, it is not. It is either turning your blog post into a podcast or YouTube video. or the opposite, a podcast or youtube into a blog post. 

In addition, that content can also be transformed into social media copy to get even more use and reach more people.

Strategies for Repurposing Old Content

By leveraging existing material, you can produce new content that resonates with your audience without starting from scratch. Repurposing existing material can be a great way to generate new, appealing content for your audience while conserving time and effort. Here are some strategies for repurposing old content:

Updating and Refreshing Existing Content:

This strategy involves taking an existing piece of core content and updating it with new information or insights. You can add relevant images, videos, links, quotes or other elements to make the piece more engaging. Furthermore, you can revise your content to align with your current business and audience. As you evolve and grow as an online business owner so do your offers. 

For example, if you wrote a blog post about SEO best practices two years ago but now new trends are emerging in the industry – you could refresh this post by adding those changes to it.

Creating New Formats from Old Content

Instead of simply refreshing an existing piece of content, why not turn it into something entirely different? 

This could involve turning a blog post a podcast or YouTube video. Which is my personal favorite.  By doing this you expand your reach to a different audience who may prefer consuming their information differently than others do

Repurposing old content can be a great way to breathe new life into your existing material and increase its reach. 

Transforming Your Content: The Art of Repurposing

How to create a system to reuse your content.

Content recycling is an excellent way to gain additional value from your current material and reach new viewers.

Here are the actions steps to take a blog post and repurpose it into a podcast. Doing this it allows that one piece of content to reach a broader audience.

Google does like it when you refresh the content on your site. Plus, it allows you to take old content that may not be relevant to your current business model and refresh it so that it’s not confusing to your audience. Over my seven years in business I’ve gone from offering general va, to websites services to online business management to now specifically focused on organic content creation. I have a lot of old content that I can go back and rewrite, republish, and use for a podcast.

In your project management software of choice, we will create a repurposing system that can be used repeatedly.

BTW, If you struggle to stick with project management software, you may not be using the right tool. If this is you I encourage you to book a 30-minute mini-session where we will find the right project management tools for you and I’ll throw in a couple of templates to get you started.

What are the steps for your repurposing system?

 

  • Identity a list of blog posts to rewrite, republish, and podcast. Do this as batch work. Sit down and go through your old content and put all the links in your project management tool as future posts to rewrite, republish and podcast.
  • Based on your blog post, create an outline for the podcast script, refreshing the content to your current audience that is in alignment with your paid offers.
  • Record your podcast.
  • Edit your podcast.
  • Finalize the podcast and have it transcribed.
  • This moves us into, editing the transcript to be used as the rewritten and republished blog post. I guess the process is a podcast, rewrite and republish now that I’m thinking about my true process.
  • Publish and add the podcast to your website with the refreshed blog post.
  • I consider this two-birds-with-one-stone method. I’m making my content relevant again and sharing it on a different platform.

This same process can be used with video as well.

Best Practices for Effective Repurposing of Old Content

When repurposing old content, quality should always be prioritized over quantity. Content repurposing aims to create something new and fresh from existing material, not just churn out the same thing in a different format. It is essential to align content to your current business offers. Don’t leave people confused. 

Transforming Your Content: The Art of Repurposing

Sum it up.

Repurposing old content is a great way to maximize your efforts and save time. Repurposing provides a chance to craft something new from outdated content without initiating the process from scratch every time. Figure out what core content can be recycled so that you can make sure your old posts don't go to waste but rather get changed into something completely different. Take control of your content creation with simple workflows that help repurpose old content. Start now and avoid content creation burnout! 

Content Organization | Create a Content Hub for Your Online Business

Content Organization | Create a Content Hub for Your Online Business

Creating a Content Hub for your Online Business to find and reuse content quickly

Wow, have you stopped to consider how much content you’ve created for your online business? Heck, maybe you've created a lifetime's worth of content. It is unfortunate that all of your amazing creative content is scattered all over the place, with little to no organization to speak of. It's funny; it's like the endless merry-go-round that you got stuck on as a kid. While it starts out as a fun ride, too much time leaves you feeling dizzy and nauseous. The same thing happens in your online business when you're not reusing and repurposing your content. It's as if you're stuck on the endless merry-go-round ride of content creation. It's time to jump off and create your content hub.

Repurpose your content?

“Wait, what that's a thing? I thought that I couldn't use the same content.” Is this you? If so, you're not the only one. I've heard it before, as these are the exact words from a client in a mini-session.

Yes! It is a thing. It is totally fine to refresh and reuse your content.

After all, think back to when you started your online business journey. I'm guessing right now your knowledge of your specific subject matter has grown over the years. As your mastery and skills increase, you'll have even more valuable insights to add to your previous creative content.

What do you do with all this kick-butt content?

You create a content hub. I know what you're thinking: a content hub?

Yes, a content hub to store and organize all your content so that you can easily find and reuse it.

Before you start getting overwhelmed with the thought of getting all the old content organized. Stop it. Rome wasn't built in a day, and your content hub will not be either.

How do you organize all your content?

Now, you're trying to figure out how you're able to organize all the content, am I right? How can I find it easily without endless searching?

Your content hub will have different categories for your:

  • Social Media Post
  • Blog Post
  • Video Files
  • Podcasts
  • Email newsletters
  • Swipe Files
  • The list goes on and on. 

It’s no wonder that we feel overwhelmed by all our digital data. 

The key is to build a content hub that works for your brain.
The problem is we keep searching for a quick fix, buying and downloading template after template. Only to discover that your mind doesn't work that way.

Fortunately, there is a simple solution. You need to determine if the organizational system will work for you.

Okay, stop with those eye rolls.

What is the best way to determine whether the system will work for your brain?

It will start with trial and error.

Given that, here are a few project management or task management tools that I recommend to my clients for organizing their content. Since you all tend to be visual and see things in pillars, keep it simple.

  • Use Trello if you like sticky notes for organizing.
  • It's Asana if you keep a notebook with lists and random thoughts. This is me, BTW.
  • Distracted brains will enjoy MeisterTask.
  • If it's just you as a solopreneur with zero plans to grow a team, check out Todosit.

Right now, if you find yourself wishing for an easier way, book a 30-minute mini-session, and we'll figure out the right solution for you, and I'll throw in a template to get you started.

Creating a Content Hub for your Online Business to find and reuse content quickly

Drum roll, please create your content hub.

Below are a few processes that I’ve implemented in my clients' digital back offices. The purpose of these processes is to create a content hub for your online business so that all content can be found and reused easily. You can reuse your content, my friend. I give you permission to do so.

In case you do not want to take my word for it, here is an article by Neil Patel regarding repurposing content. 

Creating a Content Hub for your Online Business to find and reuse content quickly

Let’s begin with a content storage plan.

In order for your content storage plan to work, you should choose one place to store all your content. Think Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive.

You're going to select one and not look back. So often, entrepreneurs like to second-guess decisions. It is just busy work that doesn't move your business forward. Pick one, implement it, and move on.

Using one storage system will allow your organization or team to quickly locate content.

For this reason, you're not wasting your precious time looking for content, adding the benefit of time management.

What you need to do.

Select a project management or task management application to keep track of all your content and tasks. Be sure to link all your collateral to the tasks associated with your content.

  • Organize all your data in one place. Doing so will save you time and money.
  • You have permission to reuse your content.
  • Pick a tool you feel comfortable with and will use.