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What should you do if you feel stuck? Welcome to the Muthership Creator Strategy. Today, we are gonna talk about it. Before I kick it off, I wanna do my unsponsored buy piece of equipment, which is a creator tool that you might need. I didn't even know how much I needed it until I have it.
Helen:And now, of course, I have one for both of my locations. And it's frustrating to me to think what did I ever do without this one because it's a specific kind of light that I happen to really be on board with because it has a tripod built in, and I do a lot of tabletop recording. So for me, having this little tripod here that is distance enough from the light, but also enough to be have me be able to do my regular regular content when it's starting to get dark in the evenings because I have been battling those short winter days because I like to use daylight. But if you need a light, this is it. I'm sorry.
Helen:I am behind it in every way. It has modes. I'm not gonna try and demonstrate it now, but I'm gonna link the demo in the show notes so that you can go to the video where I showed all the modes, how to work with this, and why I love it. So go check it out because if you need a light, this is my recommend. Ta da da.
Helen:Alright. Now let's talk about what to do if you feel stuck. I know it happens to every creator. No matter how into it, how inspired, how committed, how I don't know, just how consistent, how you've always just been been there for it. There are times where you will feel stuck, bored, underwhelmed, maybe you're just, having a little burnout, whatever.
Helen:These are some strategies that you can take on to get yourself over the hump. It happens to the best of us. It even happens to me. And it's funny because it almost happens to me at times where I least expect it, where I'm feeling like, oh, I don't know. I I have all these great ideas.
Helen:Why do I feel stuck now? But anyway, who knows why it happens? It happens to the best of us. So what can you do? Here's my let me see.
Helen:One, two, three, four, five my six tips. You ready? Buckle up. The first one is do the logical thing. Take a break.
Helen:Stop. You don't have to post every day. If you have been posting every day and you feel that you're so, you're letting yourself down, just know that you're letting yourself down more if you're forcing yourself to do something that doesn't feel right. So let yourself be yourself. Let yourself have the time.
Helen:Take take a day, take two days, take a week. Honestly, I know people who have had situations happen in their life and they've taken a month or two off. And it doesn't impact as a matter of fact, some of them have said to me they've gotten followers while they were away. I remember this happening a long time ago to a creator that I was in touch with frequently and she she was off the app for like three months and she came back to like 10,000 new followers or something. So you never know.
Helen:Something like that could happen to you. Who knows? Taking a break is good. Mental health, physical health, do it. The second thing is you can go back to old posts.
Helen:You can repost or recreate. So I have been doing a lot of that lately, and mainly because I realized that I'm chasing this whole, like, it's almost like a hamster wheel of trying to think of what's something new I can post, what's something more new I can teach. And I'm like, there are people who are new to my account that don't even know some of the lessons that I taught a mere two months ago. So why am I putting all of this undue pressure on myself to always be teaching something new when number one, even people who knew the things, they might have forgotten them because they're not doing like overlays on a daily basis. So they might even forget how to do them.
Helen:So me reminding, bringing back an old lesson, spurs on creativity for other people. You can bring back old posts. You can recreate them or simply repost them. You I always say it's a good strategy to record a couple of different alternate opening lines. So if you do want to repost a video, but you know, if you didn't have the hindsight to do that or the foresight or the hindsight, If you didn't have the foresight to do that at the time, just post it again.
Helen:But if you do have a skill where you can just like listen to that video again and just make it again, just make it again. It's like it'll be like a refresh, a refreshed version of something. And pick one that did well because then you have a likelihood of it doing well again. Don't get yourself crazy if it doesn't, but you know, algorithms change over time. But still, it will give you a better chance of getting better views.
Helen:The third one, the third tip is to create something that's just fun, even if it's not in your niche, not something you normally do. And for this, I'm gonna do a shameless plug. But for example, you could learn how to do special effects. And you might say, oh, why do I need to know how to do special effects? Well, guess what?
Helen:You might want to do a fun video where you're announcing something and you jump to reveal the text or your announcement behind you. That's a fun special effect. That might be something that you normally would not do. So maybe you'll get excited about it because you're learning a new skill, which definitely learning makes you feel relevant. So keeping yourself learning will actually spark something and it could pull you out of that slump.
Helen:So I highly recommend doing something like where take join the special effects challenge that we have going on this month, or you can go back and learn transitions or whatever. But learning something new and putting a different piece of content out will inspire you to get pull yourself out of the quicksand. Number four, try a trend. Trends are easy and if you don't do them often, what the heck? Just go to the free email that we send out every week and pick a trend.
Helen:Just do one. And then just it might surprise you. It might do well because if it's trending, a lot of times it gets more views automatically. You could spend all this time making these other videos and then you throw up a trend and the next thing you know, you have a lot of views on something. So it could work in your favor.
Helen:If you do a trend, try and make it logical to your niche. So like I always say, every trend can work with any niche. Any it can be a trend about procrastination. You could fit it into skincare. You could fit it into book talk.
Helen:You could fit it into real estate. You can always fit an overarching topic into your topic. You just have to be able to creatively exercise those muscles to think of what the thing is that's gonna bring it into your niche. And that is what I do. I mean, we're doing this these creative exercises now in the studio where we're practicing like, okay, here's a trend.
Helen:How would you guys use it? Everybody put your niche in the chat and then tell me how you'd use it. And if someone's stuck, we're helping them get unstuck because you really need to exercise this muscle in order to learn how to use a trend in your favor. And the people who do it well will have lots of views on those trends, and those views will convert to followers because their trend is telling their audience what their page is about. It's a huge mistake to just do a trend and just copy what someone else is doing when it might not have anything to do with what you normally do on your page.
Helen:Okay? So make the trend maximize for you. So not just do it for the audio, do it for the brand. Do it for the brand, baby. Okay.
Helen:Number five. Tip number five. Go live to create some real life connection. So if you have the ability to go live, if you have enough followers, whichever platform you can do it on, making that real life connection can snap you out of it. And I find that sometimes if I'm just kind of frustrated or in a work situation and I'm trying to work on something and I'm like, I just need a break, going live actually snaps me into like a creative mode somehow because I start connecting with people.
Helen:They will say things in the chat, then I start to have ideas. And I do think this group collective is a really strong way to to nurture your creativity. So I think that going live is just one step in that direction. I mean, granted, you're not in a room like a brainstorming session with people, but you have a chat going on. Now you've got you're getting feedback.
Helen:You can say some things. Oh, what's everybody? What's the latest trend everybody's been doing? What have you guys been making content about? Whatever.
Helen:You can even talk about it. Talk about being stuck. And people will help you get out of your slump. And then to take that one step further for point number six is to join a support group. I sound like, I'm not talking about a cancer support group.
Helen:I'm saying that if you need, just like if you were exercising and you're just doing videos every day and you're watching YouTube videos and exercising, it's way different if you go to a studio with a bunch of other people and they're in there and they're doing the class with you, you will step up your game. I promise you that because I have been there and I know. So if you are looking for a creator support group, that is what I offer every week as many of you know who are listening. But it's a really helpful thing when you have to show up because you want to be accountable. When you see everyone else doing this, oh, everyone else is trying this new effect challenge, I'm gonna try it too.
Helen:And you'll be more likely to get inspired and throw your hat in the ring. And so I'm gonna recap on the six things. But a group team effort, when you're doing something and making change or trying to improve, group activity, group effort is so helpful. It just, I don't know. It makes you accountable.
Helen:A lot of times I'll get together with a friend on purpose just that I haven't seen in a while because I'm like, oh, let's get together and then I can let I can catch her up to what I've been up to. And then you start to see change when you're with someone that hasn't seen you in a while and you realize, oh, I did all that since I last time I saw her. You know, so you just, having that group to work with can really help you move and make tracks and get out of your stuckness. Alright, let's recap. What are the six things you're gonna do to get unstuck?
Helen:Number one, take a break. That's the logical one. Number two, revisit old posts, recreate old content, refresh your old content, change it a little bit, try something different in the beginning. Number three, create something for fun, for the pure fun of it. Do a special effect that you'd never do before.
Helen:Do a stop motion just for fun. Do something that inspires the child in you because that will make you remember what you love about creating. Number four, try a trend. Take one of the email trends and try it. Just do it.
Helen:Just throw it out there. Throw it to the wind because really you could always private it or delete it. Don't do that, but you could if you really felt awkward about it. Just try it. Just throw it out there.
Helen:Number five, go live to make some connection. And number six, join a group. Join the studio or if you find another group that you like better. Whatever. Join a group to give yourself some support and accountability.
Helen:And that's it for today. A nice power episode of things to do to give you a little boost, a little kick in the butt, a little rah rah rah. I should have brought my pom pom in for the cheerleading ending. But really, I think that we all face it. We all face those times where we're like, womp, womp, this sucks.
Helen:I can't make another video. And I'm here to tell you, yes, you can. You can do it. You can get yourself out of the slump and we have all been there. Just know that even the biggest, the best, the most creative creators have been there.
Helen:And some of them, it's almost like a business. So talk about when it turns into a business and you're really pushing yourself. It is not easy. So don't beat yourself up. This is my message to you to be kind to yourself, give yourself the space you need to get back to what gives you joy about creating.
Helen:Alright. I'll see you next week. Thanks for being here.