Happy Sunday y'all!

I hope you had an awesome week and have some powerful content and work on tap to round out January and build momentum going into February. This month has been impactful. The currency it's built isn't necessarily the green type, but I'd say it's more important: relationship currency.

I talk all the time about the importance of compounding returns, and that seems to be paying off finally.

When you nurture relationships of all types with folks you care about most, the return is beyond worth the effort.

That said, today's a weird day for me.

Time for Another Trip Around the Sun

Today is my 44th birthday. Yay.

Normally my birthday is a gathering of my closest friends and family at the place you see above: Billy's on Burnet. Billy's is a bar, yes, but it has also been the center of some of my best moments over the past 13 years since we moved back to Austin.

I've celebrated multiple of my own birthdays, my wife's successes, friends' birthdays, fantasy football drafts, the Broncos winning the Super Bowl, and just about anything else worth celebrating at Billy's.

It's the de facto go-to place for me when they're something to celebrate or to just see some familiar faces.

It's my happy place, in other words.

Today, it has four sad tables on what will be a rainy patio due to this f'ing Coronavirus.

This birthday won't be with friends. In fact, it'll probably be sitting here at the computer, working.

Either way, my 45th year around the sun begins today.

What is Your Cause?

You can create all of the content in the world and it won't matter at all, if you aren't crystal clear on the most important element.
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Cause. You absolutely must have a cause.
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If you're building a personal brand, the cause is the focal point for all of your content.
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It's what drives you to show up every day and show the world who you are, what you do, and why you do it.
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It's your deepest held belief.
Your North Star.
Your purpose.
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If you're building a corporate brand, your cause is why your work matters to the average person who doesn't know your company from Adam. It lays the foundation of why a potential customer should trust you to help them solve their problems or make their lives easier.
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Creating content without a cause? You're barking up the wrong tree. 🐶🌴

All the Things

One of my favorite authors is Allie Brosh. She's written two fantastic books in Hyperbole and a Half and Solutions and Other Problems.​
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One of her funniest characters is her as a little girl.
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The character in the GIF above - with her hair almost literally on fire - screaming about "All the Things!!"
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It's how I picture so many of us responsible for content creation and building our brands to show the world who we are.
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We're trying to be all things to all people in all places. You don't have to be.

You don't need a TikTok account, a Clubhouse account, a Reddit account, a YouTube account, a Facebook account, an Instagram account, a Twitter account and a LinkedIn account to be productive and impactful.

Plenty of people say you do, but I just can't agree here.

Instead, find an outlet or two - a social medium or two - that works for you, and double-down.

Turn results into a powerful backbone for your growth and development. Stop trying to do all the things.
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You'll sleep better, and the pressure you put on yourself will be lessened.

The Definition of Insanity

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
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If you're publishing content that doesn't drive results you're looking for; given this, I could argue you're insane. 😜
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The problem is, this happens far too often. Bloggers, solopreneurs, and content managers plow ahead creating content they don't like creating, and that doesn't drive results.
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Why?
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Because:
1. It's how they've always done it.
2. They don't know when or how to make a shift.
3. They don't have the time to execute a shift even if they know what that shift would look like.
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Content strategy isn't always about creating NEW content. That's only true if there's ZERO content on the table to examine.
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Sometimes the most powerful content strategy is a complete overhaul of content you've already created.
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And with it, finding a new perspective with which to experiment. After all, wouldn't you rather be seen as a mad scientist than the hamster spinning on its wheel?
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If your content is struggling: Re-examine.Re-frame.Re-start.

Good Things Ahead for the Leap Frog Collective

I'm thrilled at how quickly things are coming together with the Leap Frog Collective. I anticipate we'll be launching sometime between mid-February and early March. A special thanks to all of you who are supporting the effort so far! 💪👊

If you haven't yet, visit the website to click around and get an idea of what we're all about, and listen to a podcast or two. I've been especially thankful to have such fantastic guests to kick things off as Nick Bennett, Stephen Pope and Camille Trent.

My guest on this week's episode will be Emily Crookston!

If you want to follow our progress from a distance, follow the LinkedIn page. I update it daily with content, news and more.

Happy creating y'all!

See you on the other side.

Kris