IAM2935 – Founder Helps Creators Maximize Their Return on Content

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Transcription:

Amy Woods 00:00
I think it all comes down actually to mindset. And I think that’s what we have within our business. And then that’s what we teach people as well. And we hear mindset a lot when, you know, a productivity mindset, a mindset for the sports that we want to do well in and all that kind of stuff. Now, I think that you need a content repurposing mindset as well. You need to shift the way that you look at content and always be able to see the potential in how you can extract the value, how you can, you know, squeeze it and get every little bit that you can. And I think our secret sauce in how we work with our clients is that, that mindset and that way that we can view and perceive content.

Gresham Harkless 01:09
This is Gresh from the I Am CEO Podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Amy Woods of Content 10x. Amy, it’s awesome to have you on the show.

Amy Woods 01:17
Thank you for having me. It’s great to be here.

Gresham Harkless 01:19
Yeah, no problems. Definitely the pleasure’s all mine. And what I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Amy so you can hear about all the awesome things that she’s doing. And Amy is an expert in content repurposing and the founder of Content 10x, a niche creative agency. She helps content creators grow their audience by maximizing their return on the content they create. She works with businesses, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders, and is the content repurposing powerhouse behind some of the most well-known podcasts and video shows. Amy is the host of the Content 10x podcast, author of the book Content 10x: More Content, Less Time, Maximum Results, and she is a speaker having spoken on stages around the world about content repurposing. Amy, are you ready to speak to the I Am CEO community?

Amy Woods 01:57
I am ready and raring to go.

Gresham Harkless 01:59
Let’s do it. So I wanted to kick everything off and hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. What led you to start your business?

Amy Woods 02:06
Oh, uh, well, I will try it in the nutshell. Um, so I had a long corporate career previous to starting my business. So I was a management consultant for 13 years, um, working in big corporate. So I worked for Accenture. Um, in mergers and acquisitions, business transformation, that kind of thing with big Fortune 500 companies. I’d always had quite an entrepreneurial spirit, which I guess is why I liked consulting, and I’d always wanted my own business. But the 2-year plan at Accenture became 3, 4, 5, 13 years. But I think the jumping-off point was becoming a parent, so having kids and then not being able to just constantly travel all the time. And then, um, you know, kind of thinking, well, what next? Um, I want to move out of consulting, want to start a business. Um, and that I was really attracted to virtual businesses, online businesses that don’t, you know, require, you know, to go to an office every day or, um, too much travel, that kind of thing. So yeah, I kind of explored a few different options, started following people, listening to podcasts and just learning, reading, learning, immersing myself in the online business world. And I started Content 10x about 2 and a half years ago now. Um, so we’re, I still consider it almost startup, but, um, but it’s not, not really, I guess, at this stage. And it’s been going great. I have no regrets and I don’t intend to be an employee again after, after running my own business. This is it now.

Gresham Harkless 03:36
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, especially when you have that freedom and then like when you have, you know, certain life experiences, like of course having kids, it starts to put different things in perspective. change those priorities. So it sounds like that’s what’s happened to you. And it’s great, you know, that once you get that entrepreneurial bug and you start to pursue it more and more and more, it’s hard to go back to not being that. So I definitely appreciate that. So, um, I wanted to hear a little bit more about Content 10x. Can you take us through exactly like what it is you do, how you work with clients?

Amy Woods 04:03
Yeah. So, so as you said, we are a creative agency basically, and our specialty is repurposing content. So we work with mainly podcasters and video content creators, kind of 50/50 really. And our clients will get their original content to us. So that podcast episode or that, that video. And then we kind of take it from there and create lots of content based off it. So it’s, it’s like a repeatable service. So an example would be somebody who does a weekly video and they would send the video to us. And then we would turn it into a produced podcast with show notes, into short little teaser videos, like slice and dice it into minutes, videos for Instagram, Instagram stories, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. It’s, it’s designed to be very light touch for our clients. As long as you can create your core content, everything else is taken care of. So it’s light touch, but very high value in what happens because we are maximizing reach and exposures to just really grow audiences. So that when our clients can focus on the aspects of the business that really do move the needle for the business, the audience is growing for them to then, for them to be better able to then serve the people who come through as clients for them through the enhanced audience growth.

Gresham Harkless 05:20
Yeah, that makes so much sense. And I would say even maximizing time as well too, because if you can focus on, as you said, creating that core content, then what that allows you to do is to be where people are. So to be able to kind of recreate and repurpose that content into whatever platform you know, they’re listening to. And I think the entrepreneur and business owner just has to focus on creating that core content as you talked about, and then it starts repurposing from all the awesome work your team does.

Amy Woods 05:42
Yeah. And I think it’s so important to have, um, an overall content strategy and, you know, know your audience and know why you’re creating the content, know what you want to be known for and make sure that your messaging is really consistent. So you aren’t just It’s like scattergun putting content out there, like, you know, just like a hamster going around and just putting content out in a scattergun approach, especially from a messaging perspective. If you have a strategy and you focus on the strategy and the core content, then everything created after is aligned with the strategy because it’s repurposing that same message just in different ways to reach different people. And I think if you try and do everything yourself, you try and be everywhere, you try and commit to too much. I think sometimes the strategy then starts to break down. You start forgetting who you’re talking to and what your message needs to be. And so we kind of, we help people be consistent and we help people just make sure that they’re focusing on message and everything else could be done by somebody else. Like that’s our ways of working basically.

Gresham Harkless 06:46
Yeah, I definitely appreciate that because I think sometimes I even find that just from a day-to-day basis when you’re running around a lot, sometimes you just get tired. When you get tired, you don’t necessarily make as good decisions. And as you said, when you get overextended and you feel like you, you, you’ve bitten off sometimes more than you can chew, sometimes it could be a good thing because it helps you to get out of your comfort zone. But a lot of times, if you don’t make sure that you’ve done that work to kind of focus, understand your target market, understand what you’re trying to accomplish and what you want to be known for in your brand and all those things, then a lot of times you can get lost in the sauce, so to speak. If you’re not doing that. Absolutely. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce, and it can be for you personally or for your organization, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Amy Woods 07:25
Well, I mean, I think what we do, you know, is, is very unique in terms of what we offer as a, as a business. But I think I would say that we help. So through my business with Content 10x, I have the service, as I explained, but then we have our blog and our podcast where we teach people to repurpose if we don’t do it for them. And I have the book now as well. So lots and lots of content about repurposing, but I think it all comes down actually to mindset. And I think that’s what we have within our business. And then that’s what we teach people. People as well. And we hear mindset a lot when, you know, a productivity mindset, a mindset for the sports that we want to do well in and all that kind of stuff. Now, I think that you need a content repurposing mindset as well. You need to shift the way that you look at content and always be able to see the potential in how you can extract the value, how you can, you know, squeeze it and get every little bit that you can. And I think our secret sauce in how we work with our clients is that, that mindset and that way that we can view and perceive content. And then that’s what I teach people as well, that, that I can teach you a tip and a tactic and a tool to use and a software to use and all these kinds of things. But if you don’t have the mindset to look at content through the eye of being able to extract the value from it and repurpose, it will fall down in the end. So I think really that’s it. It’s the mindset of how to look and at the value and the potential, I suppose, the overall potential of content, what it can become.

Gresham Harkless 08:56
I definitely appreciate that. And I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I know you touched on maybe some of these things, these, these are what I call CEO hacks. So they could be like apps, books, or habits that you have, but what’s something that you feel like makes you more effective and efficient and can even make us more effective and efficient as content repurposing machines?

Amy Woods 09:13
Well, I guess a tool that I recommend that people can use, and maybe you’ll tell me that you use it already, but we use Trello for our Um, all of our kind of planning and operational process management side of things. Is that something that you, do you use Trello or?

Gresham Harkless 09:30
I don’t use, I use Basecamp, but I do swear Basecamp and I’ve used Asana. So I swear by project management, you have to have it organized. Yeah.

Amy Woods 09:37
Much, much similar, aren’t they? Asana, Trello, Basecamp.

Gresham Harkless 09:41
Yeah, absolutely. So, um, now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And you might’ve already touched on this as well, but this could be like a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. Again, it could be around content repurposing, but what’s something you would kind of give us as, as kind of takeaways that we can do to be more effective and efficient?

Amy Woods 09:56
Well, I think in terms of, I guess, sticking to the topic of content, um, I think that it’s really when we are creating content to market our businesses, so, um, videos, podcasts, whatever it is, and what are we really wanting to do? We’re wanting to attract people to what we do and make people know what we do and become known as an authority so that If they ever have the problem that we solve, they know immediately, okay, I have this problem. After all this time of following and seeing this person’s content, they are the person I’m going to go to to solve this problem. Now, I think you need to ask yourself, if you were to randomly speak to some people who follow you on different platforms and just say, what problem do you think I solve? How many of them do you think would immediately say, well, this is what you do. And I think people are sometimes be a little bit surprised that people don’t necessarily know what you actually do, what problem you actually solve. They might like to giggle at your Insta stories or, um, listen to your podcast or your video, but in that survey, what do I do? What, what do I problem drive? Or what’s my business? People might say, oh, you know what, I don’t actually know. Well, that’s so bad because you’ve built an audience of people who like you, but when they have the problem that you solve, they don’t go to you. And then why? Well, I didn’t even know that that’s what you did. Seriously. So I think, um, it’d be— it’s good to do this, that survey. I think I would really recommend, you know, choosing a segment of people from your email list, from your followers on different platforms, you know, people who listen to your show, or however you can get in touch with people on different platforms. Just ask that question, you know, what problem do I solve? Do you know in one sentence what do I do? Like, what, what is my business? And I think you’ll sometimes be surprised that people say something different, don’t really know, and there’s a bit of a mismatch of the messaging. And it’s all great because take that and take those answers and do it regularly as well. And then look over your future content plans and see how you can change up your messaging to address that. And then ask the same question maybe again in 6 months or whenever, and until You are absolutely on point that people have no doubt because otherwise you’re creating content that might not necessarily, might grow a following, but not your business. And that’s no good. Like that’s complete kind of lack of return on investment overall. So don’t address that mismatch by surveying and finding out. And I think the question is in one sentence, what do I do?

Gresham Harkless 12:30
Yeah, I think that’s extremely powerful when you have that kind of North Star to say, you know, first of all, you understand what problem you, what problem you solve, and then making sure that everything, um, people that are following you, that are connecting with you, understand that as well too, because I think if there is that mismatch, then a lot of times, you know, you don’t get that phone call when you do something that every— that you know that you do, but the other people don’t necessarily know and can’t kind of advocate on your behalf. So, I definitely appreciate that. And, um, now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we’re hoping to have different quote unquote CEOs on this show. So, Amy, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Amy Woods 13:04
What does being a CEO mean to me? Uh, um, you know, aside from all of the content side of things and everything, and just being a CEO. I think I absolutely love the fact that when I’ve been building my business, I’ve been building opportunities for other people. And it kind of blows my mind that people have jobs and support their family and, you know, and live off an idea I once had that has now created opportunities for people, created jobs for people. And I guess for me, it’s that kind of leadership and being able build a team and create possibilities that would never have existed for people if it wasn’t for kind of, uh, we’re all being daring, aren’t we? We’re doing something that is quite scary and very risk-averse, and we’re going the CEO route. So I think for me, it’s that it’s creating— when you are CEO, you create opportunity not just for yourself, but life-changing opportunities for other people as well.

Gresham Harkless 14:02
Yeah, absolutely. I love that perspective, and it’s truly kind of humbling to be able to think that, you know, you have an idea, you have a vision, and then it manifests itself into people being able to to, to feed their families and to take care of their homes and do all those little things. And of course, put out phenomenal content. And, um, I, I think that, you know, is extremely humbling. It puts everything in perspective. So definitely appreciate that definition. Appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there’s anything additional you want to let our readers and listeners know. And then of course, how best they can get ahold of you, get a copy of your book, listen to the podcast and see all the awesome things you guys are working on.

Amy Woods 14:35
I, I, I think I would just say that Don’t try and do everything at once when it comes to the world of content and just with your business as well. And to just take it one step at a time and don’t become too overwhelmed. And it’s better to be consistent with a small amount of things that will move the needle than kind of inconsistent with hundreds of different things that you don’t know whether, you know, are working or not. So I think it’s just to try and not be overwhelmed and take it one step at a time.

Gresham Harkless 15:02
Absolutely. Yes. Rome wasn’t built in a day, as they say it a lot of times. You know, you have to take it step by step and understanding that even running a business or creating, you know, a content strategy, it’s a long-term, it’s a marathon. So having that approach and that mindset helps out so much. So definitely appreciate that. And people that want to follow up with you, what’s the best way for them to do that?

Amy Woods 15:22
Well, I would say head over to content10x.com, my website, because that has links to everything really, to all my social media and the book, you know, so Um, my social media platform that I guess I hang out the most on is Instagram and I’m @content10x there, but I’m @content10x on all the platforms. And yeah, and my book is on Amazon and most, you know, most of the online places that you go these days for books as well. So yeah, do check that out as well.

Gresham Harkless 15:50
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you so much again. I appreciate that, Amy. We will have the links and information in the show notes as well so that everybody can follow up with you, but I appreciate you, appreciate all the awesome things you’re doing. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.