Your story is what sets you apart. No one does what you do, how you do it. But what’s holding you back from getting your story out there?
Today we’re talking about creating your message and how to get your vision to come across, whether it’s you creating the content or you’re hiring someone else to create it for you. Because yes, you CAN hire someone to create for you and still have it be YOURS.
On this episode of The Content Experiment Podcast, ghostwriter and book writing coach, Maggie Frank-Hsu, talks about your BIG idea–how to find it and how to use it in your business as well as what’s holding people back from putting their message out there.
Maggie goes into this even more in her presentation at The Content Experiment Summit. Registration is now open for the waiting list only, but will open to the public on March 1st! The Summit features 25 speakers who are sharing little tweaks coaches and course creators can make on their content and marketing to get a better ROI on their time and financial investments in content and marketing.
Listen in!
Mentioned in This Episode
About Maggie Frank-Hsu
Maggie Frank-Hsu is a ghostwriter, editor, and book writing coach who helps entrepreneurs who want to go from invisible to high-profile. Maggie has spent her entire career using words to move audiences as an online marketer, an editor, and early in her career as a journalist. She received her Master’s Degree from the Columbia School of Journalism.
Maggie has recently published her first book under her own name, Be About Something. She lives in San Diego with her husband and her two sons.
Read more about Maggie on her website or follow her on Instagram.
Transcription
Abby Herman
Hey there, and welcome to Episode 103 of the content experiment podcast, a podcast that supports the idea that content and marketing are ever moving targets in any business. And it’s okay if you don’t feel like you’re doing it. All right all of the time, you have permission to experiment with little tweaks and changes in your content to find what works for you. What increases value for your audience, and what grows your business, and most importantly, what feels good for you. I’m Abby Herman, content strategist and coach for online business owners who are ready to make a bigger impact online. I firmly believe that success isn’t about what big marketing brands and so called gurus think is the right thing. It’s about you and your business, your lifestyle, and frankly, your values and belief systems. You get to do business in a way that works for you. If you’re new to the podcast, I am so glad you’re here. I work really hard to bring you informative and to the point content because no one really has time for fluff these days. If you like what you hear, hit the subscribe button so you don’t miss another episode. If you’ve been around a while, yes, you are in the right place. The stories and small business podcast changed looks and names with Episode 100. And I am thrilled to continue bringing you the same great content and guests under a new name. You can hear a lot more about the reason behind the change and the new name on episode 100. Now, if you haven’t left a rating or review yet, what are you waiting for leaving a five star rating and review helps Apple Spotify, Stitcher and all the other platforms and to me know that you like what you’re hearing. And it helps to get the podcast in more earbuds and who doesn’t want that. And today we are talking about messaging, that big idea that you’re known for and how to get it to come across whether it’s you creating the content, or you’re hiring someone else to create it for you. Because yes, you can hire someone to create for you and still have it be yours. like today’s guest and I talked about when you’re hiring an experienced professional, they know how to get inside your head and pull out your voice. I promise. I do that in my business too. Maggie Frank shoe and I talk about your big idea how to find it, and how to use it in your business as well as what’s holding people back from putting their message out there. Maggie goes into this even more in her presentation at the Content Experiments summit. And if you’ve been hearing me talk about it and you’ve been impatiently or patiently waiting on the waiting list, and you’re listening in real time Registration is open right now for the waiting list only. Go check your email for the link. The content experiment summit features 25 speakers who are sharing little tweaks, coaches and course creators can make in their content to get a better ROI on their time and financial investments in their content and marketing. Because maybe what you’re doing isn’t quite working for you. Either you’re confused about what to create, or what you’re creating and publishing isn’t giving you the results that you want. Maybe you want to start using a new platform or tool but you don’t know how to get started. We’ve got you covered in the content experiment summit. The free summit featured speakers on topics like designing a customer journey, monetizing your podcast building authority with video, tapping into your messaging getting found by Google creating accessible content, serving your audience developing engaging online events selling with affiliates, and so much more. And many of the speakers or people who you probably haven’t heard from over and over again, they might be new to you. I’m really hoping to introduce you to new powerhouses that give you permission to do things just a little bit differently. If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that that is really important to me. And registration opens to the public on March 1. So be sure to keep your eyes out. And if you were on the waiting list. Registration is open for you right now. Go check your email. If you’re wondering who the speakers might be. Well, everyone who has been on the podcast since the first of this year is on the speaker lineup along with today’s guest Maggie Frank Hsu. If you’ve been struggling with your messaging or what your big idea is, and you want to share that idea with your audience, this episode is for you. Let me tell you a little bit about Maggie before we get started. Maggie Frank shoe is a ghost writer, editor and book writing coach who helps entrepreneurs Who want to go from invisible to high profile expert, Maggie has spent her entire career using words to move audiences as an online marketer, and editor and early in her career as a journalist. She received her master’s from the Columbia School of Journalism. She published her first book, under her own name, be about something in May 2020. She lives in San Diego with her husband and her two sons. Without further ado, let’s hear from Maggie Frank shoe. Welcome, Maggie, thank you so much for joining me today.
Maggie Frank-Hsu
Awesome. Thank you, Abby,
Abby Herman
I’m really excited to talk to you because I feel like you and I serve our clients in a similar way. But we do different things for our clients. So I’m excited to chat about it. And to just kind of help people with their messaging in general. Before we get started, could you explain what you do and who you do it for?
Maggie Frank-Hsu
Sure. So I’m a ghostwriter. And a book editor, so kind of a book coach. And I do that for women identifying or fears. So women in business, who really want to share a big idea, sort of like a career defining idea, or something that’s really, really central to what they do and the way they do it.
Abby Herman
And how exactly do you work with clients? What does that look like?
Maggie Frank-Hsu
Oh, well, I mean, I write people’s books for them. So I do go straight. And that looks like very close collaboration over a long period of time. So it can be depending on how so I always I always say, I have said, I let me quote myself, but I can do the writing for you. But I can’t do the thinking for you. So it’s a thought, partnership, collaboration, that you can use whatever word you want, but the concepts are coming from the client. So you want to write a book, it’s your book, it’s your ideas, either. There’s a number of reasons why you don’t write it yourself, maybe you don’t have time, maybe you don’t like the discipline of sitting down to actually write an entire book is not really something you’re into cultivating. But you have a books worth of ideas. And so I’m writing them for you, I’m organizing them for you, I’m putting them in the way you would say it, not the way I would say it. So that’s the way we’re together very closely. And then I once the manuscript is finalized, I also, I work with people who are self publishing. So I have all the self publishing apparatus with my you know, I have contractors who do your cover who do copy editing, proofreading, even audio book, getting it on Amazon, Amazon’s search engine optimization on and on. So getting it from like, that finished Google Doc to an actual book in your hands and on ebook sellers. That’s also something I do. And then, you know, to sort of dial it down a little. So that’s kind of the whole enchilada. I also work with people who want to actually write it themselves. And it’s a really similar process. So because I’m really helping you get all the ideas out, but you’re actually doing the writing. And then I provide the, you know, like a global content, edit, line edit. And then again, all the way through with proofreading and getting it up getting it into book form. Yeah, so those are the ways either you write it, but we work together really closely, and I edit, or I write it, but we’re still working together very closely. And I edit.
Abby Herman
Yeah, I love it. So how does the way that you work with your clients, how does it how does that help you to live the lifestyle that you want? So that you’ve got a couple of little ones? And, you know, what does that look like?
Maggie Frank-Hsu
Hmm, that’s a great question. Well, I have always, you know, writing and editing have always been the thing that I know how to do. They’ve all so I’ve always like found a way to make money writing and editing in some capacity. And the reason I like doing it this way is I really like working on a project that is like, you know, this a book from conception to like, from an idea in the client’s head to being completely done. can be six months, nine months a year, so I like those, like longer projects. So I mean, it helps me live the life I want in terms of it’s the work I like to do. I don’t think I haven’t figured out like, Oh, you know, I never you know, these people, at least online entrepreneurial gurus were like, you know, I never work and I make a bajillion dollars. That’s definitely not my business side. Lavery You know, I’m working for the I’m working for your money. But, you know, my kids are in daycare that has been somewhat interrupted this year because of COVID. But more or less, you know, I have a lot of support in terms of childcare and I work a normal life like nine to five. So yeah, yes, yes, you
Abby Herman
do actually have to work to make a living.
Maggie Frank-Hsu
Right, right. I mean, I have. So you know, last year I did, even during the pandemic, I did have, I carved out time, and we can talk about this to write my own book. And that’s definitely been a dream for a long time. So getting that written publishing that myself, you know, doing my own process on myself, that was definitely something that I would you know, that’s definitely something that’s been provided to me by my business. So I’m really grateful for that.
Abby Herman
Yeah. So let’s talk about the ghostwriting and, you know, writing for someone, so messaging and hiring someone to write for you, a lot of people think that, oh, I have to do all of that myself. There’s no way anybody could write something for me, and I’m in the same boat. So I don’t write books for people. But I do write content. I write emails, I write blog posts, and LinkedIn articles, and sometimes some social media posts and things like that. Can you talk a little bit about from your perspective? Why it’s okay to hire a ghostwriter? And how that actually works on your end, like, what that looks like for you to write and someone else’s voice?
Maggie Frank-Hsu
Yeah, good. There’s like three or four questions. And then there’s like, I want to get into it with you too. Because, you know, I encounter it, maybe it’s because it’s a on the, you know, the other book end, no pun intended, but I encounter a lot of people who think kind of the other way that like, Oh, you can just, you’re just doing it for me, that means I don’t like if I kind of give you like the outlines of, you know, what I want, like, more or less, you know, you can sort of whip something up. And I’m like, that’s kind of like asking me, I know, this is audio only, but I just like, I raised my eyebrows and just said, but, you know, that’s kind of like ask, you know, telling me you want maybe a three bedroom house with a yard and then just be like, so, you know, if you find to be six months, I’m sure you’re building for me, right. And they’re just so many variables within that. So I encountered that. And that’s one side. But the side you’re talking about, I also encounter, which is sort of like, no one can get my voice quite right. So this isn’t really actually this is a good one, because it’s part of what I tackled in my book with my book, which is about company be about some things about your big idea, which is that if you don’t know, again, it really comes back to the same thing, if you don’t know what your, what you want to be known for, whether that’s in your content marketing, or for your book, or just when people talk about you at cocktail parties with those return. It’s like, it’s really hard to get your voice right, as a content writer, a ghost writer, so so I do encounter clients who said things like, you know, I hired somebody for a while, but they just weren’t getting it, they weren’t getting it, right, they would send me like the stuff, you know, blog posts, or social media posts, and it just wasn’t right. And we couldn’t kind of come to an understanding of how to get it there. And that’s, yeah, that can be a really frustrating place to be. And I think it’s, so it’s two things, big idea. And then like, my, the way I think about voice, so one is, you know, do you know what you’re about and like, what you’re about in your industry. It doesn’t have to be like, you know, Einstein level of genius or new newness, you know, within your industry, but just like, you know, what is what’s different about working with you, if you’re like a service provider, than anyone else, right? And, and can you communicate that in one line to a cup few lines, to sup, you know, to the content to the person that you want to write your content, right, so, so to give you like, a better example, like, let’s see, I had a client, before I did this, I used to do some, like blog posts, writing, Ghost writing, that kind of thing. And I had a client who’s a baby and toddler sleep specialist, and then and she really came at it from an angle of setting boundaries and how good boundaries are for kids. And, you know, that’s not like, brand new information. But some baby specialists talk about no tears, sometimes. I mean, that’s really the centerpiece of their messaging some, it’s, you know, whatever, cried out, I don’t know. But for her, it was really about boundaries and getting clear on that means like her, I could start writing in her voice, or I could start creating content like the way she would create it because I knew exactly what her central message was. You asked about voice so my experience in my experience, especially with books, voice is a combination of not only your expertise in business your expertise is one piece. And I’ve talked about this before. And that’s why I’m curious where you come at it from, but your expertise is one piece, but your lived experience, like, you know, how you’ve applied your expertise, what kind of clients you’ve had, what kind of failures you’ve had. That’s your, that’s the second piece. And the third piece is your personality. So expertise, experience, and personality. So if I get a fairly good sense of my client, in those three areas, I tend to do to have a good chance at writing stuff that she feels like, Oh, yeah, this is good. I like this, right? Because, yeah, and so that’s how I would say, especially personality, and, you know, sometimes people are not the face of their business. And so but I usually work with someone who is more or less the face of her business. And so personality is pretty important, right? If she’s not where she is, but if she’s, you know, I don’t want to say shy, but sort of like, not like your typical bombastic you know, thought leader, then it’s really important to reflect that, because she needs to be attracting people who are attracted to, to somebody who’s quiet, or somebody who’s who shows who has a different energy. So yeah, so that’s kind of where I focus.
Abby Herman
Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I have a, I have a similar approach, when I work with clients. So I, when I write content for clients, or I’m developing a content strategy for them, I like to focus on, like, what are their values, so they need to know, like, their mission vision values, so I focus on what their values are, there’s always some level of expertise in there too. Because, you know, ultimately, ultimately, the goal with the content that we create, it’s to attract new people to them. So we want to put out their expertise and showcase that. And then yes, their personality. So I do with my one on one clients, we have a monthly call where we get together on zoom, and we chat, we talked about the different topics that we’re going to be creating content for in the coming months. And I literally do an interview with them, where I start to ask them questions I try to prompt them to, because I’m not the expert in their industry. Often I know, especially if I’ve worked with them for a while. I know a lot about the industry and I know a lot about their business. But I will literally I record the call and I’m frantically typing at the same time taking notes, while they’re talking and asking probing questions to pull more information out of them. I have a couple of clients who I’ve worked with so long, we don’t necessarily need to on a monthly basis. But I know that a personality and I know those, those key phrases and the key words that they use all the time, and so I always make sure to incorporate that into the copy as well. It’s a little I think it’s probably a little more informal than the way you approach it just because of the nature of the finished product and what it is. But yeah, well, yeah,
Maggie Frank-Hsu
I mean, it’s also trial and error when you’re writing for somebody, but you know, you need to show them. So for me when I’m writing, if we’re gonna, I’m gonna ghost write a book, right? They need to have a feeling before they were gonna get to know each other. But at that beginning of that process, we don’t know each other that well, and they need to feel like I can get that I can nail it right? Can they have their voice? And so that’s why I have that framework is for you know, that’s why I think about it in that way is that, that I’m going to get to know them and it’s going to become organic, and there is trial and error. And there’s a lot when I you know, when I first start writing the actual book, it’s usually pretty like, I mean, we can get into a you know, process, but it’s usually pretty, it’s not, it’s not good, yet. It’s bad. And then it gets better and better. So we have to start somewhere. But yeah, but I because they have to hire me and really trust me for something big. I need to be like, yeah, there is a process. I do know how to get from where we are now, which is pretty much strangers to the place will be when your book is close to being done, which is I know everything there is to know about what you want to say about this topic.
Abby Herman
Yeah, let’s talk about the the book a little bit. And people, the clients who you work with are I’m imagining they’re people who they have a big idea, and they want to put that out there to the world. And I definitely want to talk about the big idea piece. First I want to talk about the big idea piece, but first I want to talk about, like actually getting to the point where you’re ready to put that out there. So and and somebody’s thinking, Okay, I have this idea. Now I want to write a book about it because I want everybody to know I want to teach them about this this thing. What do you think holds people back from getting to that point where they’re ready to put the idea out there? What is because not everybody is ready to write a book. Not everybody is ready to You know, stand on top of the mountain and shout out the ideas. Why do you think that is? What do you think is holding people back?
Maggie Frank-Hsu
There’s a couple of things that can be going on. So I’m a big advocate for not starting with writing your book actually is not going to be, you know, I mean, not everybody is ready to write a book. You’re right. But the big idea so when I talk about the big idea, and how to define your big idea, what I mean by that is like a couple sentences, what is your business kind of doing for other people? What is it all about? My big ideas connected to social justice? And I think, usually I read it. So I don’t know if I have it memorized. But it’s something like, you know, when women give voice to, you know, their big idea, you know, when I help women give voice to their big idea, and that is sort of the way that I helped to dismantle patriarchy, white supremacist patriarchy in our society. So mine is connected to something like that. So it’s a big one, right? And how do I write about that, but, but everybody has their own idea for their own business, right. And it’s not usually ready to be a book, right? Like right away from big idea to book, it’s actually a really good idea to write about it in other contexts, like publish blog posts published on LinkedIn, a lot of people, that’s what I find a lot of people are afraid to do that puzzles me more. The reason like I talk about big ideas separate from your mission statement, even though I’d love to hear what you think about this, is that your big idea evolves a lot. And often rather, I should say, and it evolves as you write about it, because when you write about ego, like, actually, you know, there’s some inconsistencies between what I’m saying here, and, and the way that I’m actually helping people or what I’m seeing in the world are how things are working. And the more you write about it, the more it changes, and after you, you know, after a while, and it’s totally different amount of time for different people, you get to a place where you’re like, No, I have the big, I have a really kind of solid, big idea, I’ve developed a whole framework around this for how to deliver this result to other people. And now I’m kind of ready to write about this in book form. But I think that what holds people back is that they get overwhelmed by the idea of writing a book, because it’s scary, and they don’t need to start there. So they actually can start, I see this so much in again, and this is about this is because of patriarchal white supremacy in this one person’s opinion, is that there’s this sense of like, zero to perfection, and there’s nothing in the middle. And that’s, and I see that a lot with women, which is why I prefer to I mean, I definitely the center of my business is working with other women, is that we have to give ourselves permission to, like, start ugly, start with something that’s sort of like halfway formed and work on it, and share about it publicly before it’s perfect. Because it’s never, it never is a perfect idea. You never see men kind of wait, and kind of hem and haw about whether or not their idea is good enough, whether they’re smart enough whether they have enough credentials, you know, you never seen them. I mean, maybe they do, but the men that you see that are out there making podcasts, you know, doing all kinds of stuff, you know, with these wonderful platforms that we have that have zero barrier to entry. They’re just going like, Yeah, I just want to, this is a good idea. I’m ready to talk about this. Yeah, so not to go on and on. But a lot of that has to do with allowing yourself to be new at like to have a new idea to kind of have that beginner’s mindset of like, well, I’m just going to try. And it’s actually something I said earlier in the interview, which is like the first when I sit down and start writing a goddang book for somebody, like if I were to tell myself, like every word that comes out, you know, that flows out of these fingertips has to be, you know, the final draft version, then I wouldn’t, I would be paralyzed. So I think what holds people back is that sense that they’re like, I’m not sure I’m not sure. And I’m gonna wait until I’m sure. And it’s actually totally flipped. The only way you get more sure of yourself is by doing this by right writing the stuff and not just in your journal. But like on LinkedIn, getting people in the comments being like, I don’t agree with that. Or what about when this happens. And finding your idea that way.
Abby Herman
I was gonna say that’s talking about it, putting the idea out there and starting to generate some conversation around it is what will help you to hone it hone in on exactly what direction you want to go. It’ll help you refine your message, and it will, you know, also, you’ll be promoting your book ahead of time. It’s a great way that you’re getting people excited, you’re getting the conversation going. So it’s content that will help you to promote the book when it when it gets done.
Maggie Frank-Hsu
So when it’s to help you promote, it helps you make a better write a better book. And also, the other thing that people don’t talk about that much is that it gets your ego out of the way. I suppose it’s really counterintuitive, because you’re like, well, publishing more and putting my ideas out there is actually a lot like, is less ego maniacal? Yes. Because if you’re really willing to listen to the honest feedback, because the more you put yourself out there, you get this following, and people will start disagreeing with you and arguing with you and you. And hopefully, it’s people who you might actually want to work with, right? So all of a sudden, it’s market research. It’s like, Oh, you know, they’re really telling me what they really want not like what I think they should want. This is what they really want. And then it says, It’s not about you anymore. It’s about it’s about them. Yes,
Abby Herman
Yeah. Let’s talk about that big idea. So you have an E book that helps people to develop their big idea. Can you walk us through a little bit of that? And what that looks like, what a big idea should could be about? And then how to find your own big idea?
Maggie Frank-Hsu
Sure. How to find it. Okay, let’s see. So what, what it should or could be about, so I wrote the book for people who are in business. So this is definitely like an idea that’s connected to your business. So it doesn’t have to be the reason you formed your business. And like I said, it doesn’t have to be your mission. And the reason I know is it’s this is how it worked for me is I founded a business because I didn’t want to work for somebody else anymore. It’s not like I had some big altruistic, like, oh, there’s this gap in the market, you know, all these things that you’re you learn about later, right? I was just like, I think I can go freelance, right. And I quit my job. And I just started figuring out, like, where do people need words writing and editing and started working for people. And then later, I came to, from, from that combination of my personality experience, and expertise, I came to this sort of place where I was like, actually, this is about helping women say their thing louder to more people with more conviction, you know, taking their, you know, that sense of authority and leadership, you know, and then that’s, that’s what my business came about. And so, yeah, so. So I guess, I often define the big idea by what it’s not, it’s not, you know, like, it’s not exactly why we do what we do. It’s, it’s what we give people like, what do people get from working with us? That they really don’t get from anyone else in our industry exactly the same way? And like just saying that, right, you go like, well, they, you know, I’m not that special. I’m not, you have to figure out what it is that makes you the only one. And and just that exercise helps you kind of immerse yourself in your own sense of your authority and leadership. Right. Yeah, so just, yeah, so that’s, that’s, that’s the big idea. And there’s more in my book, I really, I I feel like I’m not quoting myself very well. But there’s, you know, I have specific exercises in there. But it’s really about the the way, you know, you’re kind of poking at it, is when you work with clients over and over, and they have kind of the same issue that was really like a black hole for them. They had no idea how they were going to fix it. And you came in and fix it. And they thought they were like, wow, you know, they were like, wow, you’re such a, I can’t believe it. I’ve talked to so many people about this. Nobody’s ever helped me with that. Right? And, and when you get that kind of feedback, you need to really hone in on what it was right? Because that’s like the essence. And another thing that helps people kind of get closer to it is I hate to say it, but it’s really what pisses you off about the way other people do, like serve your serve your clients, like work in your industry. So it’s like, oh, god, I can’t stand like everybody approaches it this x way. And it’s so superficial, or it’s so like, doesn’t really solve the problem or whatever. That’s when you kind of get and there is an exercise in my book that helps you like figure out what pisses you off in your industry. That’s kind of like this sideway in.
Abby Herman
Yeah, I’ve talked to I talked to people about, you know, when you’re looking to figure out what is what it is, you should be shut up. I can’t speak what it is you should be talking about online. I have said look at what other people who do something similar to you are doing what are they doing out there? What are they talking about? And how can you either tell it from a different perspective, you know, say that thing from a different perspective. Or like for me, I there’s certain people who do something similar to what I do. I like to look at how I would do it. completely differently. How do I talk about something that’s completely different? Because I don’t agree. Like there’s certain gurus out there who talk about marketing. And, and I don’t agree with a lot of what some of the people say, because there is no one way to do something, not everyone is going to be successful by marketing their business, you know, by doing a, b, and c or XYZ. There’s a lot of nuance in business, especially in small business, depending on where we are and who we’re serving what our team looks like, there’s so many different things. So I totally agree that Yeah, like, what do you not like about what’s being said out there? And then how can you say it differently? or How can you maybe even, you know, tunnel in on that, that one message a little bit more? or expand on something? So that to give people permission to do things in a different way? Or whatever it is?
Maggie Frank-Hsu
Yeah, yeah, it’s very into take it a step farther. So like, you know, because you’re a great, this is a great kind of example, or like, you know, of how you would go from that to big ideas. Like, you know, you said the word permission. And I think that that really sounds important to you, that, that the clients you work with, give themselves permission to build their businesses, you know, or whatever. I don’t know that, that that, that that, but there’s something there about, like giving yourself permission to, or you help your clients give themselves permission to whatever. And I think that that’s a big idea. Because, yeah, gosh, I mean, those are the kinds of game changing ideas that like, when people feel free, like when people like release themselves from, from expectations that I think really matter, in terms of like, just, you know, an almost like transcend business. And so I get excited. So to me, that’s, that’s like a really good example, like last minute that we just spoke is like, that’s a really good example from going from that passion, like, really examining why you have that passion. And that can kind of set you off on a book length journey.
Abby Herman
Yeah. And I think it also can help you to overcome that. Well, somebody who’s already done this, and somebody else is talking about this, and I can’t do it, too. And I’m not as big as that person. And, ya know, I think that by talking about things from a different perspective, by honing in on your big idea, that way, I think you can really get get beyond that, that fear and that, that mindset block. Okay, so I, we have the big ideas, let’s say, so we’ve got a big idea. What do we what do we do with that, aside from starting to talk about it on online in different places? What can we do with that big idea? How can we really truly make that part of our business?
Maggie Frank-Hsu
Okay, that’s good question. I mean, I don’t that I wouldn’t say aside from I think, like, when you start, okay, so but let me give you the nuts and bolts, I mean, the main thing, you know, advice I would give is to write about it, and write about it yourself. Even if you have somebody who’s doing content for you, if you’re working on a new big idea, a great way to, you know, get to a place where you’re really solid on what it is, is to do the writing yourself, at least like say, I mean, I recommend doing like 10 blog posts worth of writing on it in like a, I don’t know, in a four or five month period, like not even once a week, around once a week, once every other week, right? And what exactly you’re writing is like, what are all the sort of blog posts, the length ideas that emanate from your big idea. So if you’re getting like, it should be pretty easy exercise, but it’s like, if you’ve got like a big central idea, like, you know, when we allow, so we’ll use mine, when when women allow themselves to, you know, speak their truth, or whatever mine is, you know, we are dismantling patriarchal white supremacy, right. So that one, so then I like, all my content then starts to connect, like, Where are the places that we’re not giving ourselves permission, or we’re not allowing that we can start to allow ourselves like to think bigger or to to write bigger, right? And so I might come up with, you know, kind of a brainstorm of all the little ways I want to talk about this. So maybe I have a client, right, who, who doesn’t, you know, the client story that I want to tell and I’m going to anonymize, but I’m just basically going to tell her story. There’s one that I’ve written, you know, a couple times in a couple of different ways. It’s about passive voice. So a grammarian kind of thing, which is passive voices when the subject is you know, there’s no actor in the sentence. So it’s like, you know, she was doing gosh, I can’t think of one but you know, she was doing this to me or whatever, but you know, instead of like, you know, what I’m talking about, right? You know, I’m going to the store is active voice, but you know, The store is where, you know this like the this backward thing, right? And a lot of women rely on passive voice because they think it sounds formal. And like you’ll see people, right, you’ll see this all over LinkedIn right is like, they think it sounds more formal and more buttoned up. And what it actually does is it like completely, like, removes any drains power from the writing. And we’re not clear on who the heck we’re talking about. So if everything is being done to the subject of the sentence, right, it’s like, it’s very strange. It’s like, who’s doing the thing, right? Who’s doing the action? So I’ve written a couple pieces about that. So that’s very sort of like, connected to writing, but also connected to how we read, we access our power, as you know, public facing women as thought leaders, right. So that’s just an example. But to go back to your question, like, I think it’s really important to write the to write to start writing stuff. Yeah, I mean, anyone will tell you that like, you can’t think your way into like, you can’t think your way into big ideas, you can’t really think your way to the next level, right, you have to start writing it, you have to really get it out, there’s something about putting it in black and white and getting it published and out there. That’s really powerful. So that would be like, in fact, instead of saying 10 pieces, because that probably sounds overwhelming. Try one try writing one. See how it does that. And I would say the other thing is see how that feels. So like I don’t have like any, you know, I don’t know anything about like mindfulness. But what I do know is, it’s, it helps you stick with writing, if, when you write something, it feels really good. So you’re looking to write things that make you feel like this release, like, Man, I’ve been wanting to get that off my chest for a long time. So like start with those pieces, it just feels so good to save the thing, even if it doesn’t come out perfect like it was in your head. But if you can start like building a neural pathway between pleasure between like writing and pleasure, you will, you will stick with writing in a way that you never will, if you try to beat your brains out and be like, I have to do blah, blah, blah, I have to, I have to I have to I have to I should I should I should. And like that in that way. Writing is so similar to something like developing a workout regimen or something. Like if you pick a thing that like you hate to do it with workouts like you will quit like as soon as there’s a global pandemic, or like any. But if you love work is the thing. If your workout consistently makes you feel good, then when the global pandemic hits, you will find a way you’ll wake up earlier to do it, or you’ll you know, you’ll do it with your kids or you’ll find a way to integrate it into your life. And it’s really similar with this idea is like the more you can connect it to God, it makes me feel alive to talk about that to write about that, the more it’ll naturally find its way into every part of your business. So I don’t know if I answered I mean, formally, like how does it it’s already probably in your business, if you care about it that much. Yeah, just articulating it helps you be known for known for that thing. And when people are shopping around and comparing you to other ghost riders, for example, like when people shop around again, I’m using my businesses as an example like, but when people shop around, like they get a really strong sense for I value collaboration, I say that’s very important with the clients I work with, like they know what they’re going to get with me versus there’s a lot of other ghost writers that approach ghost writing very differently. That’s fine.
Abby Herman
Yeah, absolutely. As it as they should be doing things differently. You know, everybody has their own personality. Everybody has their own way of working with their clients and onboarding clients. And that’s what makes you unique in what you do and and that in and of itself will attract the right people to you, the people who you know, will work really well with you and your personality and the people who won’t, then they will go someplace else. So that’s perfect. Yeah, you’ve got to get your ideas out there. You have to get your, your thoughts, your leadership out there so that people can find you and either attract them or or repel them. And that’s okay, too.
Maggie Frank-Hsu
I’m big on repelling I know not everyone is but personally that’s worked out the best for me is getting the wrong people to not be interested is a good is very good.
Abby Herman
Yes. Can you tell everyone how to find out more about you and your book?
Maggie Frank-Hsu
Oh, yeah. So you just go My website is my name. So it’s MaggieFrankHsu.com. The first chapter of my book is free. If you sign up for my email list, so there should be a pop up right there that invites you to do that. Or there’s a page on my site, if you want to buy the whole book, it comes with a little bit of one on one time with me, and also if you buy it from my site, and also a weekly writing accountability group, so it’s a way to, because the idea is what when you read my book, by the end of my book, you you come up with your big ideas in black and white in a couple of sentences. And then you can join writer’s cave, which is a weekly group where you start writing those blog posts that I mentioned. And that’s kind of like the stepping stone to like I said, it’s not necessary to go from why I haven’t written anything since college to Oh, I’m gonna write a book. You know, that’s tough. That’s done. Haha. So I feel like there’s plenty of wiggle room in there to just explore ideas and have fun. Yeah, it can be fun in business.
Abby Herman
Because there’s so many things that kind of are not fun. So yeah, no, I agree. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Maggie, for being here today. And I’m really excited to hear your talk on the summit coming up on March 15. I can’t wait to learn more for more from you.
Maggie Frank-Hsu
Yeah. Awesome. I appreciate it so much. Thanks, Abby.
Abby Herman
Okay, so how are you feeling about your message right now, you have permission to talk about your big idea in your own way. Even if you feel like someone else is already talking about it. No one is doing it in the same way. Your message is unique just like you and you can learn from Maggie at the content experiment summit, where Maggie is one of our speakers. She has a lot more where this came from. The summit starts on March 15. And remember, if you’re on the waiting list for the summit, Registration is open for you right now. If you’re listening in real time, go check your email from yesterday and sign up. If you’re not on the waiting list. Registration opens on Monday, March 1, so keep your eyes on your email for more information. If you found value in what you learned here today, be sure to share it on social media. Take a screenshot of the episode on your phone and share it over on Instagram stories. Be sure to tag me Abby. Herman and the content experiment. And tag Maggie at Maggie Frank shoe. It’s ma GG IE, Frank h Su. The more you share, the more we can spread the word that you don’t have to do business like everyone else. It’s okay to experiment with little tweaks and changes in your content and your marketing to find what works for you. What increases value for your audience and what grows your business. Thank you so much for listening. Until next time, take care
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
