Why Niching Down Is Bad Advice If You Have Multiple Passions

Unknown
Most people are forcing themselves into these kind of boxes that they feel slightly uncomfortable. They know there's so much more I have, like what I call that my Renaissance formula or positioning formula, which is where you kind of take a skill that you have. Content creation is a skill, like anything else. You can have a fantastic video. The content in that could be amazing.

Unknown
Your years of experience, your unique everything could be working well. If you don't get the packaging right. No one ever click. And I think if you try to play the content creator game as a business owner, that's not what you want to do. You will burn out very quickly. So think about this as an exercise in building trust and value.

Unknown
And if you can build trust and deliver value to 100 people, 50 people, that is going to be incredibly powerful as a business owner to say on a platform like YouTube.

Unknown
No Bullsh*t Talks is a podcast for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs. There's too much bullshit out there, especially when it comes to business. This podcast aims to highlight what's true and what's not in the world of entrepreneurship. Bring you honest and raw conversations about the rollercoaster that is entrepreneurship. Each week, my guest will be a high performing entrepreneur, sharing the ups and downs of that journey and helping you prepare for the road ahead while providing you with actionable insights and absolute gems of knowledge.

Unknown
Stay tuned as I introduce this week's guest.

Unknown
Welcome Adama to the naval ship talk. Thank you. Very excited to be here. I'm excited for you to be here because I feel like you are a multi passionate woman like myself, which is why we are connected. And I really like to hear from other multi passionate women who are confident about being that as well. That's the thing.

Unknown
Was not sort of thinking I'm, I shouldn't be doing that, I'm doing too much and they're shying away from it or this as a negative thing. So I'm very excited to have you on the podcast today. And on that note, I want you to introduce yourself because I always find it the hardest question. Why don't you guys Sabrina, what do you do?

Unknown
I'm not wait wait wait. Yeah, yeah. What part of me do you want? Sign up for someone who is, you know, self-proclaimed multi, passionate, promoting, multi passionate. How would you describe yourself, Adama. Lovely. So let's start with an easy question. Yeah. I usually describe myself as well. I'm a senior engineer, so that's like what occupies a lot of my time.

Unknown
But I am someone who's been dedicated for the last few years to creating resources and content for multi passionate people. So that includes my YouTube channel, which I have been doing for over six years now, which is insane to think. It involves my in-person events, involves all the resources I create. I spend a lot of time on that aspect of my life.

Unknown
And then it's all supported by the actual multi passionate life that I live. So like my art. I started oil painting a few years ago. Powerlifting. I've been doing that for most of my 20s. So yeah, just just an all round the like. That's what I've been spending most of my time doing over the last few years is always all of what we add another four things on, like the next time we talk.

Unknown
But, for now, that's that's what I would describe mode how I describe myself. And I say, yeah, that's a huge amount of things, which is great. I love it, obviously, but what what other people think when you tell them that you do all these sort of things and how do you kind of, you know, if you aren't networking?

Unknown
So I think, you know, a lot of people who I speak to and watch the channel, entrepreneur as they are. Yeah. Know also multi passionate entrepreneurs, but they're at a networking events, are trying to get out there and talk about things. And then people go what do you do. Like do you reel off this list of stuff because people go slow down guys.

Unknown
Yeah. One thing I don't need a whole life. Yeah. Like you get homeless people make as a negative thing, right? How do you how have you felt like people react to the things that you do and yeah, who you are. I think it's changed a bit. I think when I was a bit younger and I would like describe some of the things I did, it was definitely met with a bit of like, there's a lot going on here, like you're doing a lot, which is understandable because like, the more you start to reel off, the harder it is for people to grasp what they should, like, latch onto, I think.

Unknown
Yeah. Although the more that I own and lead with the multi passionate like dimension, it's almost a set up. So now when I tell you about the rest of the things I do like, the context is there. But when I think about all when I answer the question like how should I be introducing myself? I think you should be context a little bit.

Unknown
So like if, for example, I'm in a tech space or like a space that is aligned with maybe more my career stuff, I will lead with that. Let the engineering, the fact I'm a senior engineer and then have on the other stuff off to it's worse if I'm in more of a creator kind of setting, I will lead with that.

Unknown
So I think definitely leading with the context in which we are in and maybe like, I know what you're optimizing for. I know that sounds kind of like intense for networking, right? Because I do think fundamentally networking is like making connections with other cool people. But if you were in a space and you know that there are certain opportunities or certain people that you want to connect with, using that context to decide what isn't relevant, and they'll be times when I don't need to list the fact that, like, you know, I'm a powerlifter and this and that, if I don't feel like it's necessary, if I think it will add to the conversation or add

Unknown
to this intro, then I'll be like, yeah, so what you want to question? I feel like you do have to work a little bit more on the fly, but that's just the fun of it otherwise. So it's just one thing that would be easy. Yeah, I'm doing it. Yeah. But I actually like that because there's strategy involved. Right.

Unknown
And obviously I'm a little big about strategy and I'm always about intentions as well, because I think that's one of the things that I'm missing from a lot of entrepreneurs lives. I think that naturally as an entrepreneur, you're spontaneous, you're creative. You out there just want to do things. You've got loads of ideas, but then it's like you say, you walk into a room and the the people who get the most out of life, they're almost calculating.

Unknown
And I know that's probably a very negative word to use, but actually there's a good way of calculating. It's just thinking ahead. Like you said, analyze those opportunities. So like you said, you're not going to mention randomly that you're powerlifter, but actually in a situation where it adds a bit of edge to you or like you're in a roomful of software engineers, how do you then stand out?

Unknown
You know, like, so that's a know going back on another software engineer or whatever, you know, you can you can you add that to it? And I think that's the same as, as myself. Like we just talked earlier about Niching and how many chess masters out there all they're like, you know, I'm the only black female chess master in the UK.

Unknown
That's instantly makes me stand out and I'm the only one in the venue. But I'm not going to randomly say that in every single meeting, but because it's just gonna look really bizarre. Thank you. Totally not relevant to my now, but but in some situations when people are talking about strategy or other people are talking about chess these days because of how popular it is, I will bring that up.

Unknown
Yeah. Because naturally people are like, oh, it's an edge. Yeah. And then I remember you because you're, you're you're someone that's a little bit different. Like how many software engineers or powerlifters like that's got to be something really cool. I said oil painting as well, just to add to the mix. And it shows you you're an all man person.

Unknown
Yeah. And I think that, you know, also speaking to you about this, cause I feel like I always get a lot of negativity about, you know, I'm doing too much. That was a thing. It's not I'm doing a lot. I'm doing too much. Yes. Very specific. Like me. Like I can't cope with it if I keep going on with that.

Unknown
And, you know, it really made me think about it. But, you know, speaking to you and you is so confident about it and you say like you saw as a positive. And I think that's one of the first messages I was like, so why did someone say, I remember you saying it? And it's like, I just thought that there must be so many more people like that out there who who are shying away from who they really are.

Unknown
Yeah. What they truly love to do and must be so many people out there, almost like miserable, doing a tiny fraction of what they want to do in life. But actually, if they embraced it or didn't see it as a negative, how much happier could they be? I completely agree, and I didn't grasp just how many people there were until I made a YouTube video on this that kind of went viral, if you'd like.

Unknown
I think it's that several hundred thousand views now, and there were like thousands or at least hundreds of comments of people being like, I thought I was the only one. Like people are literally like. Or people always told me like I had problems with defaulted to you have ADHD, which some people do, but a lot of people just don't.

Unknown
They just have multiple passions, right. And it was so interesting to see that kind of that visceral feeling of people seeing like, oh, somebody sees me and it's not in an insane way. And I think there are a lot of people who are boxing themselves in, and it's not just on the individual. While exercise is kind of been set up in a way that it's optimized for, you do one thing and you learn one thing, and then you just do that and that's it, and that's the route to success.

Unknown
And so that's why most people are forcing themselves into these kind of boxes that they feel slightly uncomfortable. They they know there's so much more, but they just perhaps don't know how to navigate, like navigate this world in that way, which is what I try to do with my content. I try to bring like, what I've learned from engineering that systems, thinking, that framework, the structured approach to a lot of what I talk about when it comes to like living a full, multi passionate life because I'm still like, ambitious, I still want to achieve things.

Unknown
And a lot of the people who I say watch my channel are very similar, but it's like, so how do I make it work? Like how do I connect all of these things? And that's what I've been enjoying exploring over the years. And then as I learn, I share. So that's pretty much my process. Learn something, iterate. You know, try to apply it and then share it with others.

Unknown
So that's the best way. And that's what makes really good content. That's why people subscribe. But I think you said about, you know, how people are stuck in this box. And it makes me think about the content that's out there and generally like personal branding, because I think that I see a lot of that stuff. I mean, that space where we found a need to have a personal brand will get told they need to have a personal brand.

Unknown
And there's all these experts who teach you a certain way of building this parcel brand, which a lot of the time and I'm on this topic, is that it's bullshit, right? It's a lot of it's bullshit. And I think that there are a lot of people, like you said, who resonate with that video that you did. On being multi passionate.

Unknown
How on earth do you build a parcel bomb that supposedly niche as well? Because I've wanted you have to niche down. You have to do this and there's all these rules around being successful, being seen, being known for one thing. That's how you supposedly get success. But how do you do that if you are into so many things?

Unknown
Yeah, because I remember we worked closely with LinkedIn on like to do this, create masterclasses for founders, and lots of the time the questions directly to LinkedIn was, what do I do if I have have lots of things I want to talk about? Like I talk about a million different things. And and it's I've done a work for myself, but they do connect, like you said, about systems.

Unknown
They there is a connection there and there's a clear underlying theme. But what about if you don't quite have that yet? What if you're not there or you just like send me different things and you want to talk about something different things? What advice would you give to people who are in that space, and how do you build a personal brand if you just love so many different things?

Unknown
Yeah, it's a question that I have got so many times, and it's a really good question. Like, I have my own take on this. I think your personal brand, often the way people see it now, has some sort of end goal or set of objectives that it's trying to optimize for, like, you know, is it around your business or is it around like, I don't know what you're doing at work or your personal life like that kind of context helps when you're deciding what should be in the brand and what shouldn't.

Unknown
And I have this conversation. I think it's important to separate what you think the public should know about you and what's just for you. Like, I have this list of things, but this I don't necessarily feel the need to talk about my all painting all the time. Like sometimes I might put it in, but like, it's not crucial that I show you every painting I do or like every time I'm at the gym.

Unknown
And so those are things that I know that are about me and they're part of me, but I don't feel the need to embed it at the forefront of my personal brand. And it's kind of the same things that I may be optimizing for or thinking about as I'm building this brand. Like I want it to open opportunities for me to speak with very cool people or to build my business in a certain way.

Unknown
So I think when you have that understanding, then you can separate what's going to be included and what's not. Then applying, I feel like a little bit more structure. I have like what I call that my Renaissance formula or positioning formula, which is where you kind of take a skill that you have. So something that you have proven ability and usually been paid for it.

Unknown
I can work for business and then you overlay that, well, what shall I say later on with a passion. So something that you maybe you have never been paid for, but it's something that you care deeply about. You multiply this by your energy. These are things unique to you. The way you show up that other people just don't.

Unknown
Right. And I think that's usually forgotten about when we talk about the personal brand, because I look at other creators, some of them are very loud, very. And I'm like, that's not me. And I mean, I think that's both you. And like when I first online, I thought, oh, that's how I maybe have to be. And so I realized, no.

Unknown
And so many of the comments I used to get were about my energy and like the way that I show up and I realized this is something I need to lean into. And then all of that, though, I say use to the power of your values, because those are the things that govern just the way that you approach life for me, like freedom in all senses.

Unknown
So geographical creative freedom, are really important to me, as is the whole multi passionate living. And so when you have I feel like that anchor point and you know what you're centering things around, then the other things can exist on the periphery. So sometimes you talk about them, sometimes you don't. But at least you have an anchor point that isn't still just I only speak about my skill, but it's it's layered on with all these other things.

Unknown
But it's easier to create a through line like the story. Like you said, there was a connection with what you speak about when you have this anchor point. And that's what I've been applying, I think, to my own life. The women that I work with like, and when I kind of share that on line on YouTube, I had a very, very great response to people like, this is kind of what I'm looking for, something that doesn't, you know, confine me to just I'm an engineer, but it's not so broad that I don't know what to talk about or I'm never known for anything.

Unknown
So I think that has been perhaps one of the most influential in an era to trying to work this out myself and then applying maybe a more engineering principle, like, how do I systemize this out of this in of, you know, something that other people can apply and people have been able to see really great results with there.

Unknown
So that's been a really cool thing for me. I really like that. And it's making me think about myself and I'm thinking like, what? What on my bits are the bits of the are the elements. So actually what we talked about earlier was it makes sense. The whole chess business thing that I do and obviously, you know, I was a chess professional was a big thing I did.

Unknown
And I also do obviously business workshops and I obviously when my own business. But I now go into corporates and I run like, you know, I do business solving using chess, which is a very unique angle. No one else is doing that. And again, the energy wise I have, I've obviously I'm very like bubbly, I guess. I don't know, I always default to I might do this same thing.

Unknown
I have a lot of energy, a different type of energy. Right. Obviously like you saying, but you know, I, I'm obviously very passionate about what I do. I talk about it and I have a very different angle because lots of chess players see it straight through the chess lens. I obviously have an MBA as well. So I have a business lens, and I have so much experience like into, to achieve them and like, and I just feel like, I feel like, it's a very unique thing and it's made me think about, like, that's the sort of thing I've been doing, but not actually actually with a true formula.

Unknown
Yeah, it's sort of there. And actually now I'm thinking about the formula can be tweak things. And yeah, I love the way things are. I've opportunities that I've got. I don't realize I've got yeah I'm not it's a thing. So yeah. And I think like even though you describe like how your things come together, I think we're at a point now where this is the future, I feel like of what people who are successful is like, how your elements and how they come together and how you allow that to, to create impact in the world like other people's lives.

Unknown
Like you said, you go into organizations and work with their teams and things of that nature because there's a lot of information out there about how to just do one thing well, like chess or for example, this, but like, okay, we're learning a new world, right? And like the now, you know, that artificial intelligence has been here for a while, but is at the forefront now.

Unknown
And these are all other emerging technologies and ways of living and what the future looks like. And I think it will be more dynamic. I think you'll see people who are trying to lean into more of their unique combinations, and people will gravitate towards that. They'll gravitate towards you because of those nuances, because of the layers, because of the way those things are coming together.

Unknown
And then your unique look on the wall angle because of all this, because if you remove even one of those, your angle will change, like you remove the chess and it's not the same person, right? It's it's yes, I find it very interesting and I love speaking to people who are leaning into that. Even if it feels a bit uncomfortable because it is.

Unknown
I'm not going to lie. Like at the beginning, when you're trying to work it out, it would be a lot simpler, probably if I just went with the engineers. Yeah, yeah, probably would be a lot simple. Like me speaking like if I just make content about engineering, how to get into engineering, I'm sure that could have done well.

Unknown
It wouldn't have made me happy. And I realized very quickly I wouldn't be in the game long enough to see results. So I was like, you might as well just do what you want to do, work it out. It will be slower. Like your growth, perhaps on YouTube will be slower as you work this out. But, I feel like getting to where I am now and the audience that I've been able to, to grow in the community have built are more aligned with me than if I was just like, engineering and that, and that's it.

Unknown
So I'm glad you brought up the YouTube stuff, because I definitely want to ask you about and you just said something that I think, is so helpful to anyone who's creating content on YouTube. Like you said, it's it's easier to talk about the software engineering, but you've got to do what makes you happy. And I remember when we first spoke and you said that because you're talking about that and you said, I said, I'm not just starting out on YouTube, I still experimenting.

Unknown
I don't know what I'm doing. I just do what you enjoy doing as well. I think I'm still working at what that that is. But you you blew up on YouTube like you said, you've been doing it for six years. And I think YouTube is probably, I would say is one of the hardest channels to grow on.

Unknown
I think from the perspective of the effort to. Yes, because I was like, yeah, I look at that. So I think it's good because it's like everything else you just post about. Yeah, it's not a text. Yeah. It's like and then you could get a bit lucky. And also obviously there's lots of dodgy ways to manipulate algorithms by followers, by all that stuff.

Unknown
But on YouTube you don't really have the same thing. I know people can buy the views, but it doesn't actually help. It doesn't really work. Yeah, and actually damages your channel. Right. So actually this is what, this is what I think is people don't realize, but YouTube is a lot of effort and I respect anyone is someone on YouTube because they have had to stick with it.

Unknown
They must have spent endless hours, time, money, effort, tiers, like just to be a douche, just to get to where they are. And I just, I guess I want to know, like what made you stick with it? I guess it's like, so you've been doing six years, so it shows you obviously do not. I guess I've got a few questions.

Unknown
It's like, how long before you started to see traction was? I guess the first thing is I think, you know, I've had loads of different things. People say, don't talk to me. If you tell you that 100 videos or whatever, because like I learn from it, but it's also it takes time. It's often takes money, especially if you're not, you know, paying editors or whatever.

Unknown
How do you stick with something if you don't see the results coming in? It's that delayed gratification, right? How do you keep doing it knowing it's going to be worth it, knowing that at some point it will take off. But when does it at some point come like, you know, you start another and it's like, how do you keep motivated to keep going until you get those results?

Unknown
Because obviously when you do God, that's rewarding and satisfy you. You know, it's paid off, but it feels like it never nothing's ever coming. And most people stop right before you actually do see the results. Yeah. But how has your journey been and how have you managed to to do the success with it? Just as you were saying that like people quit just before, it's always like it was, you know, the one of the gold Pokemon digging for gold.

Unknown
And then people stopped just before that always comes to my mind. Yeah, but, like, how did I stick with it? I think for starters, I actually enjoyed the process and I, I know when people say like, it's not about the end goal, it's about the journey, the end goal, I would, I like that, that I have my subscribers and I feel this.

Unknown
But I did genuinely enjoy the process of making videos because it wasn't. It's not just showing up on camera, it's it's taking an idea that I have or that something that I've learned, distilling this so that it can be consumed and understood by someone else. And perhaps just because I did enjoy teaching, like when I was younger and like that part of like the whole process and then showing up, then being able to edit it in the way that I wanted to, and add all the spin and then publish it and then get that feedback.

Unknown
I actually enjoyed that process. Now I'm not so keen on the editing part because it just takes up so much time, but I think that was helpful. So like if you can optimize for the parts of the process you like and outsource the rest, that can be quite helpful in staying in, especially if you're a business owner. And so like time is quite important to you and you have the resources and the money to, you know, outsource, do the outsource, the, the editing.

Unknown
And if you just like talking about what you love, do more of that. But I think I always saw YouTube as a long term plate like. And it was hard at times because you make a video, like you said, I might spend at the beginning like 12 hours on a video when I was really doing my edits and like wanting to do all this, like flashy stuff.

Unknown
12 hours. Oh yeah, from the time I'm like, okay, ideation and planning. I don't script videos. It's just usually some bullet points that I find are easier to write off of bullet points. But like the editing process at the beginning, especially when you're clunky and like you don't know how this Final Cut Pro works like it. It took a long time.

Unknown
I remember used to even just to publish. I was going on my internet back then. And so you still have that feeling like, I wish this had done better because you've invested all this time. But I think I could see that if I did this for long enough, and I worked on improving in this for long enough, it was inevitable that I would do it.

Unknown
I didn't know if it would look like 10,000, 100,000, a million. How do you know? It's inevitable, though? Because I feel like when you spend lots of time and you think an idea is great and you know it's worthwhile content, and then you upload it and it gets nine views. Yeah. Because that's where Mind's Eye. Yeah, yeah, it gets nine views and you've got so much time and effort on it.

Unknown
And you know if people saw it they'd be like, oh that's great. And those nine people have said it's yeah, there's nine people writing what they okay, but it's nine views the other day. And, and as much as I speak out of I don't ignore vanity metrics like, you know, it's not relevant. But at the same time, you need to feel that your ideas validated, that what you're doing is worthwhile and yes, it's just nine people and but those nine people could all turn into clients.

Unknown
That's actually a lot of money. But it's it's still we are all human. We still want. Yeah, we still want to see. And it's not just that it's nine people. You also want to see progress. That's the key thing. So whether it's nine then it goes to 15 you know oh okay. You know that. But you want to see progress.

Unknown
Whereas like I might then hit like 500 views and then suddenly the next one goes for like 50. You're like, oh yes. Okay. Yeah. You're like, am I getting what. Yeah. Yeah. And then it's like, okay, I don't know. You can't, you can't find and I'm, I'm a chess player. I'm patterns and I'm seeing all the data on one of the data.

Unknown
No, there's no correlation. I don't know what it is. And so you try to work it out and it's tough. So when you said it's inevitable. Yeah. You're gonna see success. Yes. We all tell each other that. But how do you know it. So that was a little. Yeah. How do you I think for me I think I have a sense of self that I believe I can learn anything and apply myself and then get good at something.

Unknown
I just think I have enough evidence from my past of going from like, you know, not knowing anything about a subject to then getting very good at it. And content creation is a skill, like anything else. But you touched on something that I think is quite important with YouTube especially. It's a platform that is challenging in many ways that the others are not, especially because this idea that someone has to choose your content, this is very different to the other platforms where you're just people are served up to you and then, you know, you don't have to engage in this decision making process, which means people often misinterpret and basically forget that you

Unknown
can have a fantastic video. The content in that could be amazing. Your years of experience, your unique everything could be working well. If you don't get the packaging right, no one ever clicks. Yeah, so those nine views might not be like indicative of the quality of that video, but actually of the packaging. And you weren't able to capture people's attention.

Unknown
And so like once you're on the process and start to learn a little bit more about that, and like I used to become, quite obsessed with YouTube. So like I would watch podcasts like Colin and Samir talking about it or like think media are like diving deep into what makes a good piece of content and what makes it clickable.

Unknown
And so the balance of getting all of this right in YouTube makes it more challenging. But I also think it makes it more worthwhile for me when it hits like it's that idea that it's harder, but there's also less competition. I feel like when you're on the other side, like the idea of the dip, like you'll lose more people in YouTube than you will in trying to make TikToks.

Unknown
Because it's just so it is my, yeah. But, the return on investment, once you're past that can be greater than all the other platforms because you've outlasted everyone else. Like you said, the tick tock, everyone's on tick tock is very easy. Today's low barrier to entry. So you've got millions of people who like anyone's video tomorrow.

Unknown
Pretty decent, but it's like YouTube. The people who survive will profit off that because they survive and they get the rewards. I don't know, the fittest like it. Yeah, yeah. And I'm all for that. I think that's why. That's why I'm sticking out with it. If I've been doing it well, it feels like a while. I still don't feel like I'm good at it, but I'm learning, obviously.

Unknown
And I think, like I also believe that long term strategy, as I said, like with the chess mindset, it isn't a quick win. It isn't a hack. It's it's a long term thing. And and you know what? I have one client, some of them saying, actually, I saw your YouTube video and I've signed a client for that. So monetary wise, I've made money for them because I've signed a client off on that.

Unknown
And I'm like, oh damn, that's shows it's worth it. I think that again, it's a position of authority. And I think those people who are explaining things, it's another way of, of of, you know, showing what you do. And I think it's also helps to speaking gigs because I can refer to a topic I've done and I can show and I would see how I speak and how I come across, and it's almost like a free audition and it's very easy, that sort of sense.

Unknown
But it's tough. And I think that, like you said earlier, there's a so I think something I've noticed and something I saw by my content, is that there's a very big difference between being a content creator and a business owner 100%. And I think this is what I've noticed. So you mentioned Think Media, you mentioned Colin Samir, I've been absorbing a lot of their content because again, I'm sitting there going, how do I do?

Unknown
YouTube. Like it takes a while, obviously go find all these guys and the great stuff. But I think so much content out there is geared at content creators, and content creators do need to monetize attention, and it is about your views. And like you've got your nice plaque and you've got all those things and you're monetize. And it's a different strategy of where I was.

Unknown
I just said, like, I want a client of a video that got 26 views. It's yeah, and it's a very big difference. But like to a content creator that's a massive flop. Yeah. To me that was a success. Great. Yeah. It's huge. And I think I or the way I've been describing it is content creators monetize attention. Business owners monetize solutions.

Unknown
Yeah. And I think there's a difference in terms of the creations and what they do now where you say you're a bit of both. Yeah. And so, you know, this is why again the multi passionate I think it's quite nice having you here. How do you create a strategy. Because most of my owners most my listeners and viewers are going to be business owners.

Unknown
They're going to be entrepreneurs. They don't want to be content creators, but they feel like they are forced into being content creators because we have to do our daily LinkedIn. We be like, we have to also post on Instagram because people love, that we feel like doing like, I've got clients now golf course morning go do I start podcast?

Unknown
Do I start a YouTube channel? Like they feel like they have to because everyone else is doing it. And and I'm sitting here with all of those things I'd probably do anyway. Well, if I should cut them off, you know, like, but, you know, I also enjoy the process and learning from it. But what do business owners do that's different to content creators?

Unknown
And you doing both. Like you said, you've got intentions and your intention about how you do it. How is it different for each and how do you show up as a guide? It's actually such a good question. I'm actually glad that you pulled out the difference between the approaches, because like you said, content creators are monetizing attention.

Unknown
So views matter and like ever increasing views ideally is the goal in the sense of like increasing revenue for a business owner. And I think if you try to play the content creator game as a business owner, that's not what you want to do. You will burn out very quickly. You just inevitably, because you don't want to play this game.

Unknown
This game is actually very challenging now because there is more competition across all the platforms and so will you have to be working at is one what platforms actually makes sense for you to be on? It is not all of them. The answer is almost never. Every single platform. And there's two ways, I think as a business owner, you decide this is where's my audience?

Unknown
My where's my ideal customer? Because if they're on LinkedIn and not TikTok, you don't need to be making TikToks. Or if they're on YouTube and they're not on Instagram, you need to be on YouTube. But you also want to combine that with where you also like to make content. So like I realized quite recently that I don't really enjoy making short form content very much like short form videos.

Unknown
And I know it's that's probably why I always fall off in a way that, like, I've been able to do YouTube for six years, but yet. Tick tock. Instagram. These don't feel as natural to me. And so I have to decide, like what makes sense in terms of what's easier for me to show up and what I enjoy doing more.

Unknown
Some people like writing, and then not as much of a fan as being on video, in which case maybe LinkedIn is the place for you to be. So I think designing the platforms that makes sense for you both. Like I said, where your audience is, where your customers and where you want to be. That's like the first thing and forget everything else.

Unknown
Cut it off. That idea of decision. Decide like the death of all the other ones. Forget those. And then you want to think about showcasing, I think your expertise. In a way that doesn't feel like salesy all the time because no one wants to be like, oh, this person is just like here to sell me their offer, like, or something, their product or their service.

Unknown
So a lot of it is about giving free game ads. As a business owner, I'm like genuinely trying to help your ideal customer before they even get to you because like, if they can see that value in your YouTube video or your LinkedIn, then they're able to apply things already before they've even got to the point where they're like paying you for anything.

Unknown
This relationship and the trust is being built up. So think about this as an exercise in building trust and value. And if you can build trust and deliver value to 100 people, 50 people, that is going to be incredibly powerful as a business owner, say, on a platform like YouTube or LinkedIn. And so I think coming at it like that, stop playing the game of the content creator.

Unknown
If you know that that is not what you're going for, like see the value in using these channels, these platforms to further your business and the impact you want to have, because this is what it is. I think if you're a business owner, these platforms are a marketing channel. They were an opportunity for you to get closer to your customers or the people that you want to impact ultimately, or you want to create change for these transformation for these people.

Unknown
This is just a step for them to get to know you better. And then they can decide like, this is capitalism. One gets to decide if they want to pay for you or not. You are just effectively showcasing that I'm here. I know some stuff like I enjoy talking about this stuff, and if you want to dive deeper and work with me, here's how to make sure that's also there, like in your description, in YouTube or in your LinkedIn.

Unknown
Like make it easy for people to connect with you if they want to, because that's also a place people go from there like you. How do I get go deeper with you? Like I've actually watched this video of you have binge like four of your YouTube videos. I want to work with you whatever you do, and I don't know how.

Unknown
So that's like another step. And if you're thinking like a business owner, you need to make that next step easier. Because if I'm digital content creator, I've got what I need for me, maybe in the views. Yeah. If you click on anything I have in there, unless it's like an affiliate link or something like that, I don't really care.

Unknown
As a business owner, I want to make that easy for you, capture you, get you into, like, yeah, into my ecosystem so that I can continue to nurture the relationship. That is where I go. Well, I yeah, I think I focus so much on giving a value that I forget that actually. Hi guys, I actually am available for work.

Unknown
You can also find me here. And I just seem like, well, I'm so easily gigabit. He would just Google. No that's that's requires effort. So another step for them today I need two clicks in that I need to say oh actually here's a free guide that I talk about in the thing. Like if you want to go further, I think that is something that I definitely forget, and I need to be more active with because it's actually just make it as easy as possible for people to work with you.

Unknown
And it's the same as what I say in business in terms of networking. It's all in the follow up as well. Like what people do, like people consistently again, meeting great people. They network, they go to events, they go on zoom. How if the network and I meet someone amazing and that was fantastic, that person could potentially be a client.

Unknown
I never I never follow up and like and I this is again with the numbers game. Like you said a minute ago, 5200 people. If you had that many people, your network, it's amazing. I sat down with another business owner the other day and I was saying to him, like, we don't need to meet more people. We have so many people in our network.

Unknown
If we converted 1% of our network, we have loads of them. Yeah, he knows we just don't need any more. Why are we trying to chase more people? So all we need to do is actually go back to the people we already know and actually network with them, delve deeper into his relationships. So we're not even starting at zero.

Unknown
You already starting at like halfway there because you already met them. But we don't follow up. We we forget about it because we're chasing the new people's dopamine. Again. It's like the same thing with followers and the viewers. It makes sense as a creator if they require views as a business owner, they don't. And I think this is what I try to drill into people.

Unknown
And I'm so glad you what you mentioned, because I think that so many business owners are watching content and they are worried. They feel like they have to be on all these channels. And like you said, work out what your audience is, because I think so many people aren't doing that and they're assuming they want everything. Yeah, I guess I just you would like to hear a bit more about your businesses because like I said, you're a software engineer by day.

Unknown
I feel like, you know, someone, anybody do that. Yeah. But like you, you're kind of building different businesses as well on top of it. Tell us more about those. And how you also using content for those. I feel like that would also give some context into what clubs are. You're you're multi passionate. You know in essence woman stuff is almost like for you, right.

Unknown
It's but it is connected to your business. So you just started something with that which I want to talk about, but like how do they all connect. So what are your businesses currently and how are you creating content for them? Yeah, I'm saying I have a few income streams. I'd brand new sometimes, but they are not at the top of my list of ways that I want to monetize or like, make a living from what I do.

Unknown
So I have a business that I started relatively recently, which is called the Multi Passionate Professional, where I effectively have women on my program and we walk through how you create a brand that actually leads to opportunities whilst, you know, maintaining true to essential multi passionate nature. So how do we bring this together. We do a lot of work around the formula that I shared with you.

Unknown
And how to bring this together in alignment with your goals. And so that's been an incredible process right now. Like seeing that transformation, we're like five weeks in at the moment from like when they came to me at the beginning and like, I don't know what I'm doing. I know that I want to be out there.

Unknown
I know, want to create impact. And I want to be able to work and make money in a way that feels true to me, what I'm good at and what I care about. But I don't know how to make this all make sense. And so that is my I would say my primary focus at the moment is this business, this program making it the best possible program, and seeing where that goes.

Unknown
And so in terms of how do I make content around that, I know already who I'm speaking to. I've been speaking to them for years. I'm speaking to me like I'm the most passionate woman who's ambitious, like I said. But, is aware that building a brand is a tool. It is a a point of leverage for you.

Unknown
So how do I do this in a way that makes sense for me? And again, without being chronically online, because I, I want to spend less time online, despite the fact that I'm a proponent of the personal brand. It's changed my life. Like my YouTube channel, even my LinkedIn and my TikTok to an extent have changed the opportunities I have access to.

Unknown
Without shadow of the doubt. That doesn't mean I want to live online like I've actually had enough of a little yes, online. I'm the same. Basically, I do not take it for granted the fact that I have got a great link to that great and all that sort of stuff and opportunities, but oh yeah, if I didn't have to use social media, I think I would.

Unknown
Yeah, I completely understand that. And so that's what we do. The first part is all about positioning. And then we use I mean she platforms, it's YouTube and LinkedIn. I'm not interested in the rest. I think these two platforms, LinkedIn has a incredible return on investment. I think if you are a professional woman who was trying to get to certain opportunities speaking, careers, clients, it just makes sense as a platform.

Unknown
And I feel like YouTube, you know, that's that's my first love. And I feel like it allows depth. And so I bring them along that journey with all my years of experience and growing, I think I'm at about 185,000 subscribers at the moment. So like, I carry all of this in this, this knowledge with me and make this process easier, speed it up.

Unknown
Give them feedback throughout, build my system with them. So, that's my primary one. And I speak to them directly in my content. I don't make all my content about, like, personal branding. I don't think I would enjoy that if you don't see me honest. So sometimes I make direct content that is helpful so that even if again, you just watch my content, you would be able to work with that and get further than if you decide.

Unknown
But I want to work closely with you, Adama. Like, I like the idea of working with you over four months and we get to this end. Go faster. You give me feedback along the way. I use your system. I use your process. Then that's just there. Like we said, we leave that option in the description. You can access me and, stay connected in that way.

Unknown
And some of the content is just generally speaking to that audience. Like I recently did a video on, like, what it means to be free or like freedom for Renaissance Woman from a multi-platinum woman. And that, again, will bring my audience of my community closer to me. We can have the conversations. We have conversations in the comments. I recently created a school community so we can have more of a dialog as well.

Unknown
And so I think there's kind of two ways you can look at it directly. Making content around you offer like links directly to it, the personal branding. And then just speaking more generally to some of the pain points of your audiences or the desires or the just the cool stuff that you're doing so that it's still safe, fresh, like, again, I think I have a video on my channel.

Unknown
I went to Florence for a week to do oil painting. It's not necessarily directly linked to personal branding, but it does link to who I want to speak to. The multinational woman who wants to do things like that and have opportunities to do things like that. So that's how I think about my content, sometimes more direct. Sometimes I just have cool conversations about stuff we care about, but even that, that is like, I just I was like, wow, you told me that.

Unknown
I want to see that because I'm just fascinated. I don't do oil painting. I'm not really interested in oil painting, but I would I want to watch a video now because I'm intrigued that you went all the way. Florence. You immerse yourself in that and it just helps get to know you is another layer of you. And to those who are connected with it, it just brings them closer to you.

Unknown
And I think that that's what's important. So I don't think that every video needs to be, like you said, a personal brand video. It has to be about doing stuff. It's actually also that connection. I think that's the difference with YouTube, isn't it, that you really get to know to know the person. Yeah, yeah, because it's a lot more challenging to put on a persona for VR.

Unknown
Some of my videos are like 20, 30 minutes and they don't have to be that same. This is a ten minute video is very different. How you show up in a 6070. Yeah. Like you will inevitably hear as certain things about them and they slip in stories or like, you know, maybe a few accents come out, like you can tell if will be from South London or like, you know, like all those things come out.

Unknown
I feel like when you're on YouTube and people can connect with you, some of my favorite creators, the ones I get to see more of them. Yeah. And there's a line I always say, I don't believe in authenticity for the sake of just sharing everything about yourself, the things that you're not comfortable having on line, like if you don't want your family or things like that online, don't feel like you have to because building a personal brand.

Unknown
But at the same time, you can showcase parts about you that are not directly linked to your offer, like I said. And sometimes it's that connection that makes you want to work with you like they already know. They might want to work with somebody on personal branding or business strategy, but actually, now that they saw that side of you, they're like, oh yeah, I could work with that person for four months.

Unknown
Yeah, actually, we have that thing in common, and I like the way they think about that. Or I like the fact that they went to that place and did that thing. That's the type of person I want to work with. I feel like I've shared a few random things about myself. And again, like being most passionate is always something that people learn and they're like, I didn't know that.

Unknown
Look at that makes even more interesting. People say things like that. I'm like, oh, like, I really thought it was a big thing with just me. Yeah. And they will find it interesting that they like the different layers of who you are. And I think that's it. I really like the bit you said about Don't Share things about your family if it doesn't make you comfortable.

Unknown
And like the whole authentic thing drives me mad because I have to even now describe myself as authentically authentic. Yeah, because I don't think it's not the result that I'm actually authentic. Not that I do. I mean, it it's just I'm really about this. It's like I'm authentically authentic, not the bullshit. Authentic, like you guys are not portraying is a thing.

Unknown
Because if you're sharing stuff, you don't want to share that in inauthentic. Yes, because you're performing as someone who does like to share. Yeah. So therefore you negate the whole authenticity. Yeah, exactly. But people don't see that. They just see it as like, oh, you know, I have to do doing this. I have to be vulnerable, whatever that means.

Unknown
And more. And it's like, no, just be you. It's actually the easiest thing you can do. Just show up and be yourself, like, because trust me, it's so much easier than trying to be someone else. It's exactly. It's really exhausting. And then you, that's exactly how you burn out. You're doing the things that you don't want to do.

Unknown
Yeah. And I think that's where most people, when I speak to founders and entrepreneurs, they're sort of like, oh, content is so exhausting. Like, we meet us up and do these content days, and it's also try and inspire the people, and they enjoy it when it's other people are doing it because it's fun. They're doing stuff they want to do.

Unknown
But when I sit down, I must make this content. Then it's sort of like it puts a barrier to to what you're doing. And I think it's also what saying earlier about, you know, I don't want to monetize yet, especially with this podcast or certain, sponsors have come and ask me to do content because I don't fully resonate with it.

Unknown
And sometimes when I've been asked to do brand content, I feel like it's disingenuous because I feel like I'm saying things because they're paying me to do it, not because I truly believe in it. I, as someone who has a brand that is no bullshit. Yeah, that's kind of like, oh yeah, I like helping lies on that. Then.

Unknown
Oh, the whole thing goes down. Yeah, exactly. I have to I can never I have to disclose bundles. I have to disclose everything. But I won't ever sign up with a partner or a brand that I don't personally use myself, that I personally don't vouch for. Because that is the definition of bullshit. Yeah. And I think that I've seen a lot of people out there at the moment who are just doing that, taking bundles of anywhere and like, like creators and stuff.

Unknown
It's that fine line because you are constantly creating content. And as soon as you start to thinking, okay, great, I can get paid for this content, which I need to do, really. But then you are suddenly compromising all your values because you're not signing up with every single branding, and you just kind of look like you're just, you know, for everyone and like there is a real risk to behaving like that or like approaching your content and your income streams in this way.

Unknown
I think, and I think it does more damage long term than people realize. Like, I've been very slow to monetize my YouTube channel. In terms of brand deals, I think in the whole six years I've done maybe three sponsorships, and that's not because I haven't had people in my inbox. I think maybe three match four. And I've been very protective of my, my YouTube and how I come across.

Unknown
And I'm very much like you unless I feel like very aligned with this brand and this product, either because I personally use it or even if I didn't personally, I can assess that this would be very helpful to the people around me, and I would use it if I needed it. Needed to, because I am now associated with this brand.

Unknown
I have vouched for them like there is a risk here. So I really better believe in this thing. And there's also this idea of like fatiguing your audience like no one wants to be sold to all the time. There are. And I don't want to speak bad on creators because like, this is also challenging. You put a lot of effort into this and tweaks, then it's fine to want to be like, you know, compensated for your work.

Unknown
That's never an issue. But like I have seen, when a content creator only seem like they're showing up when there's a brand deal and like the videos made for the brands. And you can see in the comment section, unfortunately the people feel that and like it feels like you don't show up like used to anymore. And that's what I mean when I say you can cause long term damage to your reputation because people can film the whole sell out word or whatever it is.

Unknown
They feel that this is why you're here now, and then you lose that initial connection that grew to the place. So you're right. People stop feeling like they resonate with you and like they can enjoy just you as a creator. And so there is a balance. There is definitely a balance to be had. When you decide to, you know, sign a brand or anything of that nature or just collaborate with, with an organization in general.

Unknown
So what should creators slash business owners or anyone creating content do to kind of not burn out and actually monetize? Because at the end of the day, our time is finite. Like we we don't have all the time in the world to just create content and hope that money comes in. And like, you know, we have to we all like a lot of the time we are using it as a means to get business.

Unknown
Which is why I was saying earlier about the business owners strategy is completely different. The content creators strategy. As a business owner, how much time should we be spending doing content? When is enough enough? When do we? Like you said earlier, it's inevitable. Don't get that left. We don't know that. Like so how do we work out how much time we should be spending on content like.

Unknown
And everyone's always going to be different, but how would someone even approach calculating that is. And and whether it's worth it and you know, a lot of time bundles, like you said, in six years you've only done 3 or 4. It's probably the first one took you a while to get in. Like you're not going to get those offers straight away.

Unknown
So if you're running a business and you've only got expenses, how do you balance it? I will speak more to the business owner, I think, than the content creator. I think start with looking at your numbers. So again, what is it that you're trying to achieve when you embark on this content creation journey or this journey of being on these platforms?

Unknown
Do you have certain revenue goals, or do you have certain, acquisition goals in terms of number of clients that you want to acquire? That's a good starting point, because if I know, for example, that I need to acquire ten clients to meet my revenue goals, then that's a good starting point for me to decide how often I need to shop or where I need to show up, because then I, I've mentioned before, will pick the platform that I know my ideal customers on.

Unknown
Maybe there's some background research, maybe you already know because you're already on these platforms and you're like, when I speak to these people, which ideally you should already be speaking to your clients or trying to do some discovery, understanding where they they exist, where they spend their time. So now, like I said, we've already cut off a lot of the other platform, so we're not trying to spread ourselves too thin, save a lot of time here.

Unknown
Maybe we've picked 1 or 2 platforms. I don't really feel like you need more than that. So then it's about what kind of content is converting? Well, and where should I be spending my time? And that's why we saw that just before. Like tracking these numbers. Those are the metrics you want to track, not views, not like likes.

Unknown
These are less important. They are indicators that people want to view your content. That's not an indication that some wants to work with you and become a client. What is is that conversion? And so if you're starting to track this data, and I forget some of the, the resources there are, but there are like link trackers, especially like things like YouTube.

Unknown
Yeah, tracking, like where they're coming from. And, I believe it's Ed Lawrence who I was watching. And he does some, some really good content for business owners who want to make content, because then you can start to see the type of content that converts. Now, then we can spend more time optimizing for content that converts. And yes, we spoke about content that you might want to do just for the love of it, but that's more.

Unknown
If you do enjoy making content. If you don't, then you probably going to spend less time doing that anyway. And so we're optimizing for content that does convert, and then you have actual numbers to work with. So now you're not spending ten hours, 20 hours a week on random content. Now we're actually focusing more of our time on the content that converts.

Unknown
We're outsourcing the bits that we don't want to do, and we're actually seeing that that conversion was seeing that pay off in the business as opposed to you. I'm just going to make loads of random content kind of optimize. We've used that video, got loads of views, but actually nobody clicked on it. All three people clicked that video over there, got about half the views, but actually lots of people click to go see what my offer was.

Unknown
And actually three people signed into it. I yeah, signed up for sales. Cool. Yeah, very very different. So what you track will determine like where you spend your time I think and I think that is one of the biggest things that I think founders just don't do enough is analytics. And I even as someone who runs a marketing agency and consistently tries to remind him about analytics, they don't they looking at the vanity metrics, but they're not looking deeper at the demographics as to why people are.

Unknown
They're more the behavioral economics of the stats, why. And it's that's what's more important. And I think that that's, you know, it's a massive thing. And I think if we go back again like even take, you know, my YouTube, I was thinking about this recently. I was like, I'm stopping for this month because I'm mostly traveling as well, and I don't want to put my pressure.

Unknown
I've got a lot of videos up now. I've got enough data. I'm actually going to go back and spend time promoting this videos because I haven't even done that. I've just released them and put them there. But it's like if I then share them to the channels where I've already got a following and see if people click through to me, I can see whether it's worthwhile viewing it and see which content is better that way.

Unknown
So I was like, I need to spend time doing that as well, and I haven't given myself the time to do it. I think that when you're busy founder like there's so many things to do, it's like, how much time do you spend doing AD? Which I think nice time leads me to. My next question is you're a software engineer.

Unknown
That's your main job. But you're spending all the time doing all this on the side. Like, have you ever thought about going full time content creator businesswoman mode or like, you know, and not saying give up software engineer because also that's part of your multi passionate, what you love doing. But yeah. Can you do that as a, you know as a full time, you know, business owner or do you like being employed.

Unknown
What what's your feeling. What a great question. Have one that I have grappled with many. Yeah I can't imagine that you've not thought about I suppose I need to have somebody sees my channel. They're like used to work like you. So it's an employee. I'm like, yes. So yeah, I'm specifically like, I'm a site reliability engineer, which like, I would say like a subsection of this.

Unknown
And I've been doing that for about five and a half years. I've been a YouTuber on YouTube longer, actually, than I've I junior, which is crazy to think. But, I think when I think about it, if I had not been an engineer, I don't know if I would show up the way I do and have built what I had without that experience.

Unknown
Right. So the last question I always ask all my guests, okay, is what do you think is the biggest piece of bullshit in your industry like that? And you've got a lot of industry. Yeah, but what is the most the most, I guess is the most people irks you the most and and just, you know, you really want to speak out against what is the biggest piece of bullshit.

Unknown
I would say probably end of the content creator. Maybe that's sort of that vibe that's most relevant there. I think with the content creation we kind of touched on, it is this idea that in order to be authentic, you have to showcase your whole life. I just have never subscribe to that. And I say to people, I have hours of me speaking online, and there are things that you just don't know about me.

Unknown
I mean, because I don't want you to know the money that for me, that for my family. And so when people I have these conversations and I feel like I have to do all of this, I have to showcase all of that, or I'm not quite comfortable as like, if you're not comfortable, that's that's the answer. You don't share it.

Unknown
Don't share it. You can still do well in this space by sharing the bits that you are happy with and comfortable with, and you'll probably that'll show up in the content, right? Like it will show that you're comfortable and excited about speaking about this versus. And I'm veering into territory that's not really for the public, as I think that idea of what authenticity means as a creator is.

Unknown
Yeah, I guess that I'm just like, I'm not with you have to share everything, at all. To be honest, I'm glad you said that because I thought I said the same thing. And I'm I'm an overshare. I love to overshare, but, like, it's all comfortable. But that's that this will come into my life if I'm not that with everything.

Unknown
That one knows lots of stuff about me because I like how you share. So I'm eating publicly. I'm just like, I don't really care what people know about. Yeah, but obviously I don't have everything. There's not, you know, intimate bits of my life. And like, you know, most of the stuff most people don't know much about my husband and my family because that's the things that mean the most.

Unknown
And those are the most precious moments. I don't share them. Yeah, I share what I want to share and I'm comfortable sharing. But again, you don't have to do any of that. It can just be business content. So I'm really glad you said that. But gosh, this has been such a valuable episode. I don't see anyone who is, you know, trying to create any content who is not sure about how to show up.

Unknown
He's got multiple passions and passions in their life. This has been a brilliant episode. So thank you. Thank you very much. I very much enjoyed it. My I always love speaking about issue while speaking about this stuff. Multi passionate living, basically bringing it all together because I mean people struggle with it and I've been trying to find a mind of my own way through this.

Unknown
And when I say I just share, when I learn as I learn it, and I'm going to be putting all the links in the description like a deposit, so you can find like, oh, God said so. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.