It’s almost the end of 2023 and I’m in the process of evaluating what did and what did not work for me this year. Some of these things I began to notice in previous years but didn’t really make a decision or breaking point until this year. There are 3 activities that I won’t be involved in starting in 2024 and I think that you may be surprised by what they are. Ultimately, I’m setting some boundaries within my business so that I can focus on what’s and have the time for what’s important as well.
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Saying “No” to (Most) Conferences in 2024
I love attending conferences. They are where I reenergize, reconnect with my friends and colleagues in the space and share my expertise. I only attend conferences in towns that I’m excited to visit and include time visiting those fun locales. So when I tell you that for the past couple of years I had begun to feel like conference attendance was having a negative impact on my business…that realization surprised me too.
What was beginning to frustrate me related to conference attendance.
- Short-term travel is really disruptive to my business. I get super amped up for the event weeks before arrival, then it’s the event and then the aftermath. For the past couple of years I’ve typically attended most conferences for a minimum of 5 days up to 7 as was the case for my recent trip to New Orleans for FinCon 2023.
- Conferences are expensive-I optimize my spend, but if you add up the cost of attending multiple conferences they get expensive. They should be considered an investment into one’s business but that money could also be used for the following professional resources:
- Coaching
- Ad spend
- Courses or similar educational content
- Personal business retreats
- Content overwhelm-Inevitably, I found that each time I attended a conference I would learn new strategies and systems and would be tempted to try them. In fact, I would switch approaches to my business after almost every event.
- The people I wanted to connect with were always visiting my town-This is a great “problem” to have. I had and have the opportunity to connect in person and network with other creatives in the content creation spaces that I’m in. They are always popping into Denver.
- A general decline in enthusiasm-This one surprised me. I just wasn’t as excited about attending conferences as I needed to be to disrupt my life for a week several times a year. I found that I was more than willing to travel to visit my relatives, go on a long trip interstate trip or head overseas. I wasn’t as excited about traveling for another conference.
When will I attend conferences again? I am applying to speak at one in London while I’m in Europe during late Spring. Then I’m tentatively planning on attending a conference in October. I’m not feeling any FOMO either because I have been alternating conference attendance years for several years now.
No More Black History Month Collaborations
I’m team Black History is 365 days a year but as a content creator, a Black content creator, Black History Month can prove to be a lucrative time of year. Like many creators I’ve kept my calendar opened up for the possibility of connecting with a partnership, sponsorship or something else during the month of February. But, I began to notice a few things that just didn’t sit right with me.
- It often felt like the collaborations that I heard about happening seemed to come together mid-January…even though Black History Month is on the calendar and has been for 30+ years. It’s not a surprise that it’s coming up. This lack of scheduling, awareness and frankly disinterest in reaching out to Black creators months in advance to coordinate a Black History Month collaboration told me everything that I needed to know about the importance of the audience and the collaboration. If this was important teams would set systems up within their calendaring protocol so that they’re anticipating spending money on this type of campaign at what is the beginning of a new year.
- The timing is a little off. I like to ease into the New Year and having to scramble to get on other people’s podcasts, rushing to work on a campaign, etc. at the beginning of a new year was annoying and stressful as fuck. Messing with my vibes.
- I hated hearing Black creators say that they will accommodate this disrespect as long as they get paid a rush fee. Especially, knowing that the fees they were being paid were likely significantly less than what they should be paid to begin with. But, I 100% understood why people say “yes” because oftentimes these last minute collaborations may be a way to show that they are open and willing to work with brands.
Ultimately, I’m available for the entire year and it felt like I was trying to accommodate other people and creating harm within my business. With that thought in mind I decided that I will no longer work on Black History Month collaborations or open my calendar to them. Instead, I am making it clear that I’m available from March through the end October to work with brands. This timing is much better for me, takes the pressure off of the beginning of the year and eliminates navigating rushing around trying to get a collaboration done well at the last minute. I don’t want to do badly by my audience, any business that I partner with or myself.
Bye Bye for Pitching Brand Partnerships
I am a HUGE fan of pitching. I’ve pitched for freelance writing, sponsorships, collaborations, etc. Pitching is a phenomenal way to work with companies, people, locales, etc. There is one thing that I started noticing in the past couple of years of working with brands. The collaborations where I was approached by a brand were significantly more lucrative and easier to work on. The collaborations that I pitched and moved forward with were significantly more difficult to work on.
There are some very specific reasons why that is.
- Brands that approach a creator have already assessed the value of the collaboration, the creator’s audience and the perceived value of working together.
- Brands that reach out to you have already made a financial decision to work with you. They aren’t upset about compensating you and don’t need to be convinced.
What am I doing instead?
I am focusing on communicating that I’m open to working with brands within my content. What does this look like within my specific brand?
- Sharing that I’m open to collaborations in podcast content-If a brand is consuming my content then they have an idea of how their brand would be represented in my content. They are familiar with me.
- Sharing that there is ad space within my newsletter.
- Having “Work with me” tabs on my websites that include how I can work with a brand and that I’m open to doing so.
- Focusing more on growing my metrics so that I continue to organically attract collaborations. What metrics?
- Newsletter subscribers
- Podcast downloads
- Pageviews/Sessions
Focusing on IRL (In Real Life) Connections
The reality is that my connections with people that I’ve spoken to over the course of days, months, years have made me the most money. I prefer going out for coffee with people, snowboarding and going on some random adventures with people that I’ve met out in the world. The rest will come. At the end of the day I’m setting boundaries within my business and how I would like to spend my energy and be treated.
I don’t want to resent certain aspects of my business or have a sense of frustration or anger around something that I don’t need to be dealing with. That is why I decided to set some boundaries on where to focus my energy. I feel happier now that I’ve decided to say “no” to things that weren’t serving me. I often think about the fact that there is always another way to do something.
- If I want to meet more people in the creative space-There are a number of ways to do that outside of conference attendance.
- If I would like to create content that reflects on the Black experience within the content that I create-I can do that within the content that I produce now.
- If I want to work with brands there is a significant part of the year that I can do that without feeling rushed or frustrated with the brand.
As the year comes to a close what are some of the boundaries that you’ve decided to set within your business?
Resources
- Pre-recorded workshop-“How to Build a Newsletter that Pays“