Jan 8, 2019
Today on the show we have a close friend of mine named Kim Doyal. I've known Kim for a couple of years, and have seen her evolve her business and her content in many different ways. And she is one of the most prolific creators I've ever met. She somehow is able to post a lot of great content in the Facebook community, recreating all kinds of different courses and resources and podcasts and Livestreams online. And she's managed to build a very successful and ever growing brand around all of this.
She's been in this business for a long time and I wanted to hop on the call with her today to see how she has evolved over the years from working in services, now developing products, trying to do software. And what's really stuck and what's really stood the test of time for her. She's got a lot of great stories and a lot of very, very useful insights around creating content and how to create content that not only gets results for you in the short term and gets attention to your brand, but becomes an asset that you can use and rely on and leverage for the long game, which is what we really want with the content marketing.
Key Takeaways
[3:36] What pushed Kim to start her own business
[6:46] How starting her podcast grew her business
[9:58] Kim’s process of producing top-notch content
[12:48] The number one rule in selling services/products
[15:50] What type of content resonates with all audiences
[17:33] What has made Kim the most money (hint: It’s not selling)
[21:44] Time management tips
[25:50] Content planning strategies
Links and Resources Mentioned in this Episode
Transcript
Kyle Gray:
Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Story Engine podcast. Today we have an old friend of Mine, Kim Doyal, on the show who is a prolific creator and is brilliant at not only creating content herself, but she's really great at empowering others to create content and build tools for them to make this easier. So I'm so excited to have Kim on the show today. Kim, thanks for joining us.
Kim Doyal:
Thanks for having me, Kyle, this is great.
Kyle Gray:
Yeah, and so it's been a while but I wanted to have you on the show and I'm glad that you were able to hop on this call so quickly with me today. And I want to open up this show because I think some of my audience probably knows you but not everybody does, and so I'd love to hear a story about a defining moment in your life that has really made you who you are today or your business and how you serve the world and show up as well today.
Kim Doyal:
Well, Kyle, it's the same thing you referenced in a post. It was when I lost my husband in 2003. It was a car accident, my kids were six and two, I was working full time. And I've always had this, like I know there's something else I'm supposed to do with my life within me, and it took about five years but I kept trying a couple of things. And it was just life is too short, right? He was 32 years old, and you say to yourself, okay, I am not spending what's left of my life doing something that I may be good at but doesn't fulfill my heart, doesn't make me happy.
Kim Doyal:
And so I don't know, I played ... I won't say I played the widow card, that sounds so horrible, but in the sense that nobody would question what I was doing with my life because nobody wanted to rock the boat sort of. And I'm super blessed. I've got amazing support from my family and friends, but I knew there was something else I was supposed to do and I had a little bit of a cushion. In 2008 I had tried real estate, I had tried insurance. Not creative enough for me. I'd had my own retail scrapbook store way back in 1998 so I've always had this in me, and I was just like that's it, I'm going to make this happen. I have no idea what it looks like, but I'm going for it. And here we are, almost 11 years later.
Kyle Gray:
Beautiful. I love that so much because it ties in a lot with what I wanted to talk to you about today because creating this ... Like you were saying, you've done scrapbooking, insurance, all kinds of things. And you've really honed in on content marketing. But you've not only found the niche you want to be in, but you've recently kind of pivoted away from being more of a service-based brand to now having product. Which can be a really challenging transition for people. It's difficult to step away from a lot of high-end client work, but I think there's a lot of good rewards and benefits for building a business that can survive on your product alone. It's actually something I'm really interested in at the time of this recording, just the very beginning of the new year. It's something I want to bring more into my business in 2019.
Kyle Gray:
So I would love to hear, again kind of like tell us about where you started with The WP Chick and then give us kind of an overview of how your brand has evolved and what 2019's looking like for you.
Kim Doyal:
It's so funny, you know as I was saying, I tried all these things. I would say that my online journey has been the same. Because when I started in 2008, I thought I was going to be the information marketing millionaire like I was going to write e-books and make thousands of dollars a month. And not from an ignorant I can do it, but that's what you're sold, right, when you're first ... And things were so much different in 2008. But it was so funny because I put off a WordPress and I actually had someone do it for me, and I just kind of fell in love with WordPress. And this was truly an ignorance is bliss; I grabbed the domain name 'The WordPress Chick.' They told me a couple years later you can use WordPress in the URL. I did it ignorantly, I wasn't ... So I switched to 'The WP Chick' and it just kind of evolved.
Kim Doyal:
It was a very organic thing ... The first time I remember I had someone doing some tile in my house, and I wanted another bathroom done, and I looked up their website. It was Yahoo and it was heinous and I thought hey, you guys want to barter? And so I kind of started stepping into it. But the truth is, Kyle, I never wanted to be building websites. I'm not trained and I'm not a developer. I just fell in love with WordPress and I could teach and talk about how to use it. But by year five, I would say, I found myself with an outsourcing company, and we were doing all this client work, and I got the outsourcing company evolved from doing coaching.
Kim Doyal:
I started doing Facebook ads in 2014, I think. You know, where you could turn $80 into like ten grand pretty easily. But it was really ... It's like ... And a lot of my coaching clients were coming on board and they had similar businesses. Because I think there's a difference between a WordPress developer and site builders, right? And today, with page builders it opens the marketplace for a lot of people. But the bottom line is I didn't want to be doing it. And things really pivoted for me. I started my podcast in 2013 and it just blew up the brand, because I kind of made this declaration, and I think I probably had the manifest out of the YouTube channel. And it's like if it's not fun, I'm not doing it.
Kim Doyal:
I totally started the podcast because I was a huge podcast listener. Like, I go way back to when I used to commute for work and I had cassette tapes in the car, like Tony Robbins and Zig Ziglar and all those guys. So I've always been this audiophile. And I was a podcast listener and I thought, I want to do this. I love podcasting, I think I've got something to say. And so I started it off, so it was like the solo show, interview, kind of back and forth, but it blew my mind because I got massive validation for being myself. So in that time I kind of came up with the hashtag just show up, because that's half of it with this space.
Kim Doyal:
I progressed and started doing ... Like the outsourcing company got bigger and then we started doing ‘done for you’ podcast services, which I'll tell you are a lot easier to sell than a website. People still look at websites as commodities. And there's a little sexy factor to a podcast a little bit. But still, it's like every time I was doing that, I was like I want to be doing my own show, I want to be creating my own stuff. And so it wasn't until I would say the end of 2016 where I thought I was going to be launching a software company with somebody, and we partnered up and I thought I can't do both, and I was like that's it, I'm going to draw a line in the sand.
Kim Doyal:
I let all my outsourcing clients know I was done. And I had a team of developers and designers who had been with me for five years, but I made sure that they could work with any client. I said here, you go work with everybody, this is what they're charged. I wanted to keep them whole. And I took a leave. And for me it was kind of like burn the boats, you know that analogy. And so a fun thing though is that ... So this was last year, I'd say March of last year was when I finally wrapped up the last website. I started toying with the idea of getting rid of the WordPress Chick. I thought about selling it, but it's really me, it was my voice.
Kim Doyal:
But we thought the software was going to launch last summer. The person I was collaborating with had some really serious health issues. It didn't launch until March of this year. And then two months later he's like I don't want to do this anymore. The fun thing is, just like the podcast though, Kyle, I started the Content Creators Facebook group with zero attachments. All I want to do is show up, engage, and build a community. I wasn't attached to making money off of it, I wasn't attached to monetizing it, but I made a commitment to myself that I was going to show up and engage. And just be consistent with it. I wasn't attached to Mondays we do this, Wednesdays we do ... All that stuff has evolved. But then finally I just thought you know what, it's time. I mean, I do one-off coaching. I really don't like to do long-term coaching, though, because I feel a little bit more selfish with my time. I'm so clear on what I'm doing now.
Kim Doyal:
But for me, I needed to draw the line in the sand. I felt resentful with client work. And I don't mind coaching at all. And the reason I prefer a one-off is because it's like let's make a plan, go do the work. If you want to do it again, great, but go do the work and then come back. But the service stuff, I always felt like I should be doing something that's building an asset for me. And to me, service work feels that ... It's the constant chasing, it's the constant chasing. Even with websites, I never did maintenance packages because I didn't want to do it. I don't want to be tech support. Maybe it's my ego. Maybe I feel like I have something to say so I don't want to be behind a computer all day.
Kim Doyal:
So then that kind of forced my hand, for lack of a better explanation. It was like, all right, let's get the products and the courses out there. And I did it in a way ... I tend to be ready, fire, aim. So I'll do a beta, and then I get the feedback. And I go through the beta. And I show up live when I do something, and we do it all together. And then I step back and I evaluate, is this something I want to go bigger, is this something I want to scale? I did a ton of that in 2018, which has brought me to the clarity. So hopefully, I answered your question.
Kyle Gray:
I think so. I mean, one of the really interesting things that I've seen about you and that you've just told in this story is that you're always experimenting. I like that a lot. It's something, I think we're probably similar in the ways that I have a problem of when I see somebody, like when there's a cool idea on the horizon, I get excited about it and I want to jump right in without truly considering how it's going to balance everything else. So you end up taking on kind of a lot of stuff and then all of a sudden one day you're like what happened? How did I get all of this stuff on my plate?
Kyle Gray:
And I think that through the process of trying all of these different services, working in these different industries, and now developing different products you've slowly kind of created the clarity of working with clients doesn't really fill me up, so what does? And I love that you're asking these questions and examining them and evolving. Throughout this process, I would love to know ... Not only have you been providing all of these services, but you've been a prolific creator of content. The Facebook group is something you've mentioned already; the podcasts. You're doing all kinds of ... Livestreams, all kinds of things.
Kyle Gray:
And so what I want to ask you now is through all these different transitions of brands and products and things that you've been working with, I imagine that some of the content that you've created, maybe some of it's not so relevant but I bet some of it has stayed very relevant, very valuable and very powerful to you. And I think it's exciting, I saw this with Dan Norris, working with transitioning out of his software startup and formally ended that. The content and the brand grew and were really interesting. And even though he was changing products, it was still a valuable asset. So I'd love to know about the stuff you've created and what has retained its value as great content, even as you are pivoting and transitioning?
Kim Doyal:
Obviously, tons of WordPress stuff was dated. So when I pivoted ... Even the podcast, which was the WordPress Chick podcast, I just pivoted it to the Kim Doyle show. I kept the feed, I kept the subscribers, all of that. And so I already had an audience there. And so the tutorial-type stuff is dated. That's another reason I wanted to get out of it. I felt very stuck in how to do this and how to do that. And I'll tell you, for anybody who wants to sell products and stuff, you need to sell sooner rather than later. Whether it's an affiliate offer or an hour with you, sell something because I really have trained my audience with WordPress Chick that I was just going to keep creating free stuff.
Kim Doyal:
And I believe in free content. But the content that really stands the test of the time is experiential. And it's crazy ... Like my solo shows do really, really well. My year-end review was probably the longest ... I don't know, it was probably 3400 words because I always write it out first. Over an hour long. And so it's that personal reflection piece that connects with people because I bring in the tangible. I did this, it worked, it didn't. This is what I would do differently. That tends to help. I still love Cheerpoint. I love to try stuff. I'm always going to be that person. I believe in messenger marketing as it ties to events and engagement, not necessarily for selling. Have I nailed it and dialed it? No, not yet.
Kim Doyal:
But it's podcasting. Because of the beauty of podcasting or video ... I like podcasting because again, I live in my AirPods. I'm out shopping, I'm listening. I'm the most antisocial shopper. But for the most part, I like to learn on the go, and there's something about ... There's an intimacy about listening to a podcast, I think, as opposed to even watching a video. You feel like you're there with somebody. And so I would say the majority of the podcasts because even if I didn't interview about, say, a WordPress product, it was more about what the business owner had learned.
Kim Doyal:
And I always approach the interview like, what would I ... If I could hire this person for an hour, what would I want to know as the coach? And get some mentoring kind of thing. So the podcasting content has been fantastic. And you know, Kyle, I was going to say the other thing that really pivoted for me was probably mid-2016 I had been in a high ticket mastermind, made great connections, I have zero regrets, I had awesome experiences, but I was so frustrated because I kept feeling like I didn't know how to monetize The WordPress Chick without doing services. I didn't want to get stuck in a course I was going to have to redo in three months because WordPress updated, and so I was like you know what, I'm going back to mastery. I'm going to master the fundamentals.
Kim Doyal:
And so I was like I'm going to get better at copy, I'm going to get better at writing. And I called them my almost daily emails, right, but I started sending an email. And it's the story type, with one link. I didn't care if people unsubscribed. I mean, I did, that's my ego but it didn't stop me, I should say. And I just said I'm going to do this and I'm going to get better at it. That was it. And I started getting feedback and people started replying. It was quiet for a good month of doing that. But I wish people could understand it's who you become in the process of doing those things. And we exist in a space that everything's quick and easy and six and seven figures, and there's so much to be gained from what you're doing on a day to day basis. Who you can connect with. And I pivoted my mindset. I don't even remember your original question, sorry. But the content that sticks around, it's from the heart, it's something genuine. And it's tangible.
Kim Doyal:
This is my thought process, Kyle. I always tell people with content I want people to feel better, period, for having engaged with my content. Whether they were entertained, inspired, or they learned something. I always want someone to feel like that was not an hour that I wasted. Or that was not an article that I wish I hadn't read, or why did I watch that Livestream? I always want people to feel better from having engaged with me. So that's kind of the core philosophy that I create everything with.
Content that resonates with everyone must be genuine, from the heart and makes people feel better.
Kyle Gray:
I think that's great. And you absolutely did answer my question, because again I wanted to know what stood the test of time for you for all of the creations that you've made. And I really admire your ability to create with this kind of detach from expectations. That stands out a lot to me. Because there are so many people these days, like you were saying, with this kind of fast and easy ideas where we expect to put a blog post up, put a podcast up, and then expect it to go viral by lunchtime or something like that, and be able to buy the boat by dinner. When you really have this kind of open heart and open mind and just letting the process be the journey of just creating and learning and getting better, I think that's one of the truly valuable things is to just have these expectations to improve yourself, not for any kind of result.
Kim Doyal:
Can I add one caveat to that? I'm sorry. It's funny, Kyle because the three things that I have done that I had zero attachment to are the three things that have made me the most money. I'm not kidding you. So the podcast, again I wanted to have fun, but through podcasting, I got coaching clients, I got website clients, I got sponsorships, great affiliates, relationships that blew up. And I had no attachment to that. And I'll tell you, I never sought sponsorship for the podcast. They came to me. Like hosting companies and stuff. It was great. And then the daily emails, when I was doing those I had, again, zero attachment. I just wanted to master a craft. And all of a sudden stuff that I was an affiliate for, I tripled sales for an affiliate product in about 45 days because I only ... I'm not an affiliate marketer but I will use an affiliate link for things that I use in practice and create content around.
Kim Doyal:
And then the third thing was the Facebook group. Zero attachment. I've created this tribe that makes my heart super happy. I have sold more through my Facebook group, and I don't sell frequently at all in there than I have through my list because so much of my list ... I literally just deleted 3000 people because it was all WordPress-based, and I thought “get focused, this isn't a vanity thing, this is not about numbers. It's the right people at the right time.” And so I just know, Kyle, every time I tried to do something to make money, it didn't work. When I do something because it feels good and I'm not attached to it, there's such a flow and much better energy. And I really, without getting super woohoo, I think people pick that up. I think they can totally feel when you're desperate to try to sell something.
Kyle Gray:
Absolutely, absolutely. I would love to know ... Again, you're a really prolific creator, and I see that in your group, I'm in this group, and I see you spending a lot of time in your group. I see you dedicating a lot of time. Like some of the daily emails that you send, of course here you're very good at it now and it's become a process, but I would imagine-
Kim Doyal:
It's kind of nonexistent right now, Kyle, but thank you.
Kyle Gray:
Well, at least I remember seeing them.
Kim Doyal:
Yes, thank you.
Kyle Gray:
That takes a lot of time to craft those. And so on top of making all of this content, one of the biggest challenges I see for people using strategies of being creative and generous to grow their businesses, it's a challenge to manage your time and your energy and also make sure that these strategies are great for making money in the long game, but sometimes we need to make sure that the bills are paid in the short run. So how do you manage yourself, and how do you make sure that you have enough time to create all of these things and still give to your clients-
Kim Doyal:
Well, it's really more my community and so ... And it's funny, Kyle, again I wish I could say that I was always super dialed with a strategy but even with a membership I was like if I don't pull the trigger now, it's going to get put off again. And so I thought, I was super ... I have a great webinar. I'm going to run this a couple of times. I got beta members in. I offered an annual price, a recurring. And then once I did that the challenge was that I then started the planner.
Kim Doyal:
But I was like that's okay, I'm committed and I'm going to serve these people. And I'll pick up the promotion again after the first of the year. So the time management thing, Kyle, it's like Christmas for me most days, to be honest with you. I'm like, what am I going to do today. And I plan stuff in terms of what I'm creating. But the fact that my time is my time, like this year in podcast review, I got lost in writing it. I did it in two different times. I had so much fun. And then formatting it and creating it, whatever needed to be done, to me that's such a privilege to get lost in creating.
Kim Doyal:
And so I have to allow myself that. Obviously, you have to sort of parent yourself and like, close Facebook, you have a Facebook group but you do not need to be in there all day. Close it. And that's how I get stuff done. And the daily emails, I'm going to bring them back maybe a few times a week, but that became fun. I could get those down to like 15, 20 minutes. It's just a story-type email and that's where my #everythingiscontent came from because you make yourself relatable. And then being able to twist it into a link.
Kim Doyal:
And it could be a link to a piece of content, a link to an offer, a link to someone else's site or article. Doesn't matter. But for me, it was the practice of it. I think time management ... It's funny because I was talking with my group this morning about that and we said tracking your time, for me, I do want to track my time better. Because as I've gotten really clear on what I'm doing, I have to make sure my activities have an end goal. And I'm not saying that doesn't mean I don't engage, because it builds community and you can't necessarily measure that.
Kim Doyal:
But here's an example. With this planner that we are launching, it was ... Like I have a ... You've heard of the Dream 100, right? So I have this list of all these people and all these people that connect with you are on that. I didn't reach out to you. It just got so busy and so fast. But I started thinking about people that I know in the online marketing space, not internet marketing per se, but digital marketers. And you don't see them constantly pushing other people's stuff because the people with solid businesses are busy promoting themselves, right?
Kim Doyal:
And so for me, it's finding that balance of supporting friends. I will always do that. It's who I am, it's in my nature. At the same time learning to set better boundaries. Because I have a tendency ... Oh, I can hop on a call with you, I'll host you for a Livestream, I'll do this, I'll do that. And then I'm like, you haven't published your own stuff in a while, Kim, so get back to business. So I think it's just ... it's patience and being protective of your time. You have to do that. Doesn't mean it's a no, it might just be no for now.
Kyle Gray:
Yeah. Tell me a little about the development and what's inside the content planner, and how did you come up with these exercises that you have?
Kim Doyal:
So this is probably the fastest anything has ever been deployed in my life, Kyle. And I think it's because I had spent this year and a half with this software, this SaaS product, and it was like I'm never doing that again. And I just have had this idea. I'm a pen and paper person. As I said, I owned a scrapbook store. I designed some font stickers years and years ago, so I'm tactical ... I got into watercolors again last year. So, I like using pen and paper. And I believe in the practice of what we remember.
Kim Doyal:
Anyway, so, and it was a bullet journal. Have you seen the bullet journal? Are you familiar with it?
Kyle Gray:
Yeah.
Kim Doyal:
Okay. So this is what happened. So last year somebody mentioned the bullet journal to me and I'm like oh, that sounds cool. Because I don't know how many planners and systems there are. Some of them, though, it's like a part-time job. I cannot fill in a bubble, do a checklist, write a list, to do a daily would be insane. I'm like no thanks. But I got the bullet journal and I was kind of feeling that. I was like this feels like way too much work. And I tend to go into resistance when I have to do something a certain way.
Kim Doyal:
But in the meantime, I loved the paper of the journal itself. I loved the dot grid. And I started using markers, instead of I've got a journal, I've got a journal. So I started doodling and drawing in it. And this is making me really happy. So then you go in, it's this whole bullet journal, and there's this massive subculture of bullet journal enthusiasts and people who have million people YouTube channels because they're drawing out their monthly spreads and their plans and their goals.
Kim Doyal:
And these are more life plans. But I was like, god I could use that for content. And it would solve a problem for me. And so this all came about ... I was actually talking to somebody that had reached out on my list and he was a designer. And I thought, it just came to me, because initially I was like, put this off 'til 2019. And I said would you want to collaborate on this? And he was like yeah because I don't know end design. I can't do that.
Kim Doyal:
Well, I did this with this person. Super nice guy, but it was taking three weeks to get a logo. I'm like, I can't do this, I'm taking this back. I am not dragging this out again. I said look, I wish you the best but I'm going to go ahead and take this over myself. He's like okay. I reached out, it was just a reminder to myself ... A friend of mine who has been a trained graphic designer for 25 years, and I ... Jody Hirsch, I'm like, do you know end design? She's like yeah, what do you need, I use it every day. I was like well ... Long story short, she jumped on at the end of August.
Kim Doyal:
I drew out by hand the pages. So I literally had a pen and paper and I've got all the sketches. And so she started the end design mockup; we started working through it. And it was such an amazing process to watch this whole thing come to life And then even with the pdf we launched a Kickstarter, which we can fill you in on that, but the content planning piece of this is not what I would have done five years ago because you know better, you do better. So to me, it was like okay, what are your goals? What is the content supposed ... That's what we start with, the campaign goals. Not the campaign goals, but your content goals.
Kim Doyal:
And you either have something for sale, a service to offer, your content should be working for you there. And the next page is like a strategy map, looking at what type of content I'm going to create, planning it out. So as an example, I'll just use this, is with my personal brand, I have Kajabi, I'm a huge Kajabi fan. And I thought I'm going to take the whole first quarter and write the ultimate guide to Kajabi. Like the table of contents, the whole nine yards. I love it, it's a great affiliate opportunity for me, but I thought okay so then from there, then you start planning out the content.
Kim Doyal:
So it's really thinking about what am I going to create, what type of content it's going to be, and then mapping out the microcontent. So okay, I will take that and I can make this many images, these many audiograms of video, whatever. And then we go into from there ... And it's great because I've given people the opportunity to use it and they said we want more space. We want more pages of this. I said okay. We have whole spread on content type checklist. So it's like if you're writing a blog post, you need a headline, a sub-headline, your word count, your tags, your internal links.
Kim Doyal:
So we did that for the blog post, for video, for the podcast. We included that just as a reference. Then we had a monthly calendar, a weekly calendar. We had monthly stats, quarterly stats, notes. And we are going to be adding weekly stats, somebody asked for. And then sort of a summary of what did get published, what worked and what didn't work. And so there's just something about the handwriting and mapping it out that makes you conscious of it.
Kim Doyal:
And there are so many scheduling tools online. But you have to have it done to go do it. This is more of a plan, schedule and then go use the digital tool to push. So hopefully that makes sense. And it's a, I want to say quarterly, but it's a 90-day planner. Because I think planning content, there's no way I could plan today what I want to publish next September. There's just no way. So we want 90 days so it's attainable.
Kyle Gray:
I love that. I think that that's a great way to do it. In 90 days you can create a substantial amount, especially ... And I love that, like what you were saying, the ultimate guide to Kajabi. Being really focused on a certain topic and making sure all of the content is building on a certain goal. I really agree. This year, I've been getting into the Michael Hyatt focus planner. And I agree with you where it was a bit overwhelming at first. You weren't mentioning that one in particular, but for me, there was a lot going on with that one and figuring it all out.
Kyle Gray:
But over time I was just like okay, well let's just do the daily checklist for a while. Okay, now we can add in the weekly reviews. Okay, here's this. And I've slowly started to get more and more comfortable with it and adding more and more of that into my daily routine. And it's become one of the most powerful tools in my business. So I think that your planner has the same amount of potential to do that. And so I think that that's really exciting in a very good way.
Kyle Gray:
And it is nice, I think it's good for creative people especially to get off the screen every once in a while and then to have those ideas kind of physically written out.
Kim Doyal:
Well, you know, it's funny this is ... So two things. It wasn't Michael Hyatt's. I want to say ... And I don't know him, I've never used it. But a friend showed me Todd Herman's system and I was like oh my gosh, I hate spreadsheets, this feels like a spreadsheet to me. And he's had great success, so again ... But I know the way my brain works. And so I think there are people that maybe don't create content consistently might look at this and think this is so overwhelming too. Mind you, we're doing a whole free member's area to train them and give ideas and do case studies.
Kim Doyal:
But the thing is, just to your point, you start with one thing and it starts bringing things into your awareness. So maybe somebody will see the spread we have on the content checklist and think oh, I was thinking it was so much harder to upload a video to YouTube or something. These are the things I need to include. I can do that and maybe it's something you don't hit 'til the second, third month, whatever. But having it in front of you and practicing a piece of it consistently will help you get better.
Kim Doyal:
And that's the whole purpose of this, right? We're super excited about it. It's been a crazy three months, but we're committed to it. And I want people to get over their fear of creating content. That's my biggest thing. And to the everything is content, I'm like use your planner, take a picture, there's a piece of content. You can document what you're doing with it while you're planning. All of that works together.
Kyle Gray:
That makes a lot of sense to me, what you were saying. I love your perspective on coming up with all of these great content ideas. And I love that you just take action on them right away. Like I'm already feeling inspired just hearing a lot of these things. Like oh yeah, I want to do ... I've done some kind of persona mini episodes where I'm talking about kind of what's going on in my own world. But I'm getting all inspired to do more of those just hearing you on this interview right now.
Kyle Gray:
Since we've kind of seen the path, I would love to hear, as much as you're willing to share, your strategy and vision moving forward. You've got your planner. You've got your membership right now. You've let go of a lot of the old business models. What do you want to bring more of into your business, and why is that important right now?
Kim Doyal:
So for me, it's a big pivot to the epic content. And Kyle, you're so good at doing that it's I like this idea of just immersing yourself in a piece of content that is going to provide long-term value and is an asset, not simply something that can be picked up in the search engines. Side note, I love your thoughts. I feel that the market is maturing. We're at this point where the generic seven ways to do this, or the top five WordPress ... Nobody cares anymore. There's so much of that out there that if you don't bring your own voice and your own perspective on it, you're not gonna ... You're much less likely to have that work for you.
Kim Doyal:
So really my strategy, it's so focused. And right now the priority, because we didn't hit the funding with Kickstarter, is to pre-sell it through the site for a few weeks, and then we're going to self fund it and just get the first print run done. We've got a podcast planned for that. And it's been great because even with the training that we've been doing for the planner, I planned out our first 90 days of content. It's been awesome, it's been a win-win.
Kim Doyal:
So getting that running, right? So we have some little niggles, like setting up the LLC, some of those things, it's a separate entity. But getting that running. So we're going to launch the podcast as I said, but I'm not rushing to anything. It's like, get this one thing done, the membership that I have. Get the webinars going again. And then the last thing will be a signature course by the end of the first quarter.
Kim Doyal:
And what I'm so committed to doing, Kyle, is I am going to be investing a lot more in paid traffic, my content, that ... It was interesting with this launch, you know we're saying that you rely on sort of the Dream 100 and friends and all of that, but there is this piece of what do I own and what can I control. And I'm not looking like I need a 100000-person email list. But if I can have a 5000-person email list, or like yes, I signed up through your content, I read your emails, I joined your group. They're much more willing to buy. And again, I like the community piece and having that relationship and the connection with people.
Kim Doyal:
So that's really my focus is getting everything in place so the structure is set. And then the other piece that I'm really excited about is getting automation in place. And I don't mean just like an opt-in sequence or whatever, but really utilizing the tools that we have at our fingertips to say well they did this, then I'm going to make them this offer, and that type of thing. And once the signature course is done that there's automation that that gets offered outside of a launch.
Kim Doyal:
So I want to be smarter about what I'm doing, how I'm doing it, and who I'm offering it to. I just kind of feel like I'm at the, I don't know, like the college. I'm kind of going into the master's or Ph.D. of this right now. And it feels really good. I feel very good about where I'm going.
Kyle Gray:
Oh my goodness, Kim, this has been so exciting to just reconnect and to see how you've been shifting and evolving and pivoting in your business. And again, I love, love, love the attitude that you have of being really experimental, open minded and open hearted in everything you're doing. And it makes total sense to me why you've been so successful in this path. So thank you so much for joining us. We've talked a lot about these things already, but where can people go if they want to learn more about your planner and more of the amazing things that you've got coming up this year?
Kim Doyal:
Well, thank you for everything, Kyle. This has been super fun. Kimdoyal.com. And it's D-O-Y-A-L. Is the easiest place, and that's me on all social at this point. I don't think I have anything else. And then the Content Creators Planner, that's the URL for the site. Of course, it'll be linking from either site. And of course, the Facebook group, Content Creators. Everything is content now. It's my life and I love it.
Kyle Gray:
Well done. Thank you so much, Kim. And excited to have you on the show again soon as we hear more updates from you.
Kim Doyal:
All right, thanks so much, Kyle. My pleasure.
Kyle Gray:
Thanks for listening to the Story Engine podcast. Be sure to check out the show notes and resources mentioned in this episode and every episode at thestoryengine.co. If you want to tell better stories and grow your business with content marketing and copywriting, be sure to download the Content Strategy template at contentstrategytemplate.com. This template is an essential part of any business that wants to boost their traffic, leads, and sales with content marketing.
Kyle Gray:
Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time.