Make Marketing Suck Less

You Don’t Have to Struggle to FIND Your Message — Rebel Instead

Trying to find your message.

Describing what you want to be known for.

Finding what the right words, where the right people say, “Heck yes, count me in. I want to follow you to the ends of the earth.”

It's hard, and it sucks, and it's frustrating and there's so much trial and error that it feels like you'll never get it right.

I know, and I feel you because I help other people all the time find the exact right words to describe the change they want to create in their speech and build their audience.

And here's the rebel truth. I can't do the same thing for myself.

Yes, the speaking coach and the message strategist has no clothes, right?

I spend all day helping other people develop a message that gets people to take action, gets them booked as for speaking gigs, but I can't do this for myself.

And there's a reason for that.

It's because I am all up in my own head when it comes to my message, and I bet you're the same way too.

Prefer to listen?

Part of the work I do with speakers is helping them finding their three-word rebellion and don't worry, I'll be talking more about the three-word rebellion in future episodes, but if you want a sneak peek you can jump over to threewordrebellion.com and get all of the details.

Basically, the three-word rebellion is a phrase that encapsulates the change you want to create, so your message spreads.

Recently, I was working with a client, and she showed up to our session rather frustrated.

She said to me, “Doc.” (She likes to call me Doc.) “I've been thinking about this three-word rebellion all week, and I just don't know what mine is. I have no clue.”

So, I took her through the process and 20 minutes later, ah-ha, we found it!

And you know what? It's something she says all the of the time, but she was so up in her head that she couldn't see it herself.

I don't want you to struggle with your message like I've struggled, or I've seen my client's struggle.

So, in the next several episodes of the podcast, I'm focusing on how to create a message that starts a movement, grows your following, and gets you speaking more.

Here are three awesome strategies to get you the raw material you need to find your message that you can change the world with.

Free Write to Find Your Message

Strategy number one is free writing. Freewriting for the win!

Freewriting is a technique where you set aside a chunk of time and write continuously. And basically, it's going to produce a lot of garbage, but it helps you overcome your writer's block and it also helps you overcome your own self-criticism.

Right now, I'm working on the three-word rebellion book and what I do is set aside an hour a day.

When I sit down, I pick a chapter that I want to work on and sometimes I don't know how to start.

So, this is totally woo, but what I do is I take a deep breath and close my eyes and I invite the book in. I believe this book already exists. It's already written. I just need it to come to me.

And after I do this, I set my timer to do two Pomodoro's, which are 25-minute blocks of writing with a five-minute break in between, and then I just start writing.

I write about the things that annoy me, what pisses me off about the speaking industry, or I start writing about an observation I made with a client or a messaging breakthrough.

Or, I just sometimes write, “I don't know how to start this chapter.” Over and over again until the words come, and they do come.

Sure, there's a bunch of rubbish there, but also some gold in those words.

So, write.

This is what I do with my clients too. I instruct them to do a free write. To put their perfectionist aside and just write. They send me that output, spelling, grammars, and all because it's not about censoring yourself or being perfect. It's about getting that raw material out of your head and onto paper.

Let Your Writing Percolate

Before you can sculpt all that raw material into your message that calls your audience in and sends all the speaking gigs your way, you need to implement a strategy number two, which is let your writing sit overnight.

Your thoughts need to percolate after a free write and the worst thing you can do is write for 25 minutes, then immediately read what you wrote.

Why is that? Well, you're going to be a tad judgmental.

You're going to start thinking, man, this all sucks.

This is all garbage.

Your perfectionist tendencies will kick in, you'll see your grammatical errors, and your spelling errors, and you'll get really hard on yourself until that pesky inner critic flares up.

So, walk away.

Don't read it for at least 24 hours. Let your writing sit overnight.

Then, the next day come back to it with fresh eyes and read it and add to it.

Don't subtract. Don't delete.

Just add some more thoughts, if you had more clarity overnight or you had an ah-ha moment. Just write some more.

And then move on to strategy number three, which is find a friend in the rebellion.

Find a Friend in the Rebellion

You cannot find your message on your own.

It never comes, and even if it does show up, you can easily dismiss it.

Most of my clients three-word rebellions are something they say all the time.

Usually, we craft it in a pithier way, but it’s something they are always telling their people. They are just overlooking it.

So, get a friend who tells it like it is, who listens to you, who is curious about the work you do, and your message, and who can spot patterns about what you say all the time.

You can also test it on your existing audience.

Do a Facebook live, write a post and see how people respond.

You can even ask people for feedback.

When I did my three-word rebellion webinar, I asked people to send feedback if they had any and I got some and it's making the work better. And I'm so grateful for them.

Hire a Coach (like Me!)

A final option would be to hire a coach like me who specializes in message development.

Messaging is my jam and I do so well with other people’s messages.  It always amazes me how quickly my clients and I can find that message and then start writing the speech that leads their audience to action.

I love working with smart service-based business owners who have a methodology, or a body of work that they want to become known for and they want to be the face of their business and lead with their expertise.

So, if that's you, let's talk about working together to find and craft your message. You can go to drmichellemazur.com/speak to apply for a chat with me.

Don't censor yourself.

Capture your words on paper.

Let it sit overnight, so it can percolate and grow, and then get help.

Get a friend in the rebellion because you won't find this message on your own, but I know it's there.

It's waiting for you to discover it.