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Content Sparring: Erica Schneider is charting her own path · Content, Briefly

• 0:00
  You have to spend time doing that if you actually wanna use LinkedIn to grow your business as a solopreneur, entrepreneur, founder. Um, and so I have to be in the mood.
• 0:08
  So what I do is, [laughs] this is a blessing and a curse, which is part of why if anyone's ever like, "It's too much mentally to be on LinkedIn," I'm like, "Cool, don't do it," because you're completely right.
• 0:19
  I think in content all the time. It's, like, dorky level. Like, I'll be driving and I'm like, "Oh, Anna," she's [laughs] my wife. Like, "Write this sentence down. That's gonna be something."
• 0:30
  [upbeat music] Hey, and thanks for tuning in to another episode of Content Briefly. Today, I'm really excited to present to you Erica Schneider. We have not met before. There was so much to talk about here.
• 0:42
  We definitely need to bring her back for a round two 'cause we certainly didn't get to all of it.
• 0:45
  This is one of those episodes where instead of talking about the craft of content, we talk about the business of content, and Erica is charting a kind of non-traditional path in that world.
• 0:54
  So she comes from an agency background, now runs Content Sparring, which is like a one-on-one coaching service. She has a newsletter, lots of LinkedIn content, which she does monetize. We talk about that.
• 1:04
  Anyways, tons of good stuff here. As always, I really enjoyed this conversation, and I hope you do too. This episode of Content Briefly is brought to you by our friends at Captain.
• 1:14
  Captain is the hyper-contextual AI-powered tool that can create, engage, and identify.
• 1:19
  It helps you create by turning customer interviews, company announcements, competitor comparisons, and educational material into rich content.
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• 1:49
  You can learn more in the webinar that we did with them, which will be linked in the show notes and at contentcaptain.io.
• 1:56
  And just PS, the Captain team also created echoreads.io, which turns written content into monologue or two-way dialogue podcasts. You can even just click to clone your own voice, so you're the expert speaking.
• 2:07
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• 2:15
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• 2:21
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• 2:29
  Hey, everybody, Jimmy from Superpath here today with another episode of Content Briefly. Really excited to chat with and actually meet for the first time, well, kind of for the first time, Erica Schneider.
• 2:38
  We think that we were actually at a meetup together but didn't talk. That's a whole different story. I was just gonna introduce you, Erica, as, you know, Erica from Content Sparring or Erica from Cut The Fluff or...
• 2:48
  But maybe I'll let you take that part. Like, could you tell us a little about yourself, and then tell us about what you do too? Yeah. [laughs] So it's so funny.
• 2:55
  I was on stage for the first time ever actually a couple days ago, my first ever in person with an audience stage, and he was like, "This is Erica Schneider, founder of Cut The Fluff." And I was like, "Oh, yeah."
• 3:07
  Like, I don't even know if I would've introduced myself like that 'cause it's all so- Yeah... very new. [laughs] Um, so yeah, I've got a newsletter called Cut The Fluff, and I decided to name my business after it.
• 3:16
  But a bit of context, I started my career as a freelance writer on Upwork, actually, like many freelancers do, back in 2017, and then I made my way into content editing and worked my way up at an agency called Grizzle to become their head of content, and I was there in total for four and a half years.
• 3:34
  But halfway through that stint, I started-- Tom, actually, the founder of Grizzle, challenged all of us to build personal brands because it was a thing, like, that was happening around 2021, 2022.
• 3:45
  This is becoming a big thing. Maybe it'll help the agency. Maybe it'll help all of you with your careers.
• 3:49
  And I took the challenge quite seriously, and I've got so many more followers now and a whole business because of it, so that was a cool challenge.
• 3:58
  And from that challenge, I started a side hustle where I started launching digital courses and teaching people kind of from content marketing teams, but also just solopreneurs and entrepreneurs how to communicate more strategically online.
• 4:12
  And so I knew that that was sort of where I was gonna go with my career, but I wasn't entirely sure how to get there.
• 4:17
  And when I left my job at the end of 2023 in October, I hadn't figured out a service yet, so I was still just doing digital products. I was running some cohorts.
• 4:27
  And three months ago, so May 24, I figured out Content Sparring. So at the moment, I have three courses that kind of serve anyone who's a B2B marketer or writing online that wants to get better at writing.
• 4:40
  And then I have Content Sparring, which I promote towards seasoned solopreneurs or anyone really who wants to communicate better online and have, like, a collaborative environment with a trained editor to do that.
• 4:53
  So that's what I do. It all falls under the Cut The Fluff business name, and then there's, like, the courses and the high-ticket offer. Okay, that's awesome. I feel like- [laughs]...
• 5:01
  we could spend the entire episode unpacking what you just said. [laughs] Uh, also a shout-out to Tom, [laughs] Grizzle founder- Right?... for encouraging everyone to do that. Like, what a cool thing for- Yeah...
• 5:11
  you know, the owner of a company to do, especially around that time 'cause, yeah, you're right, like, it's, you know, it was kind of blue ocean. Lots of opportunity to do that, you know.
• 5:20
  Okay, so I'm just gonna hit you with a bunch of follow-up questions. Yeah, go ahead. Uh, the first is how does LinkedIn fit into your business strategy? Because that's how I think you've been on my radar so much.
• 5:28
  Like, I- I've come across your name through Ryan Baum, a mutual friend of ours, among other people, but then it's like the algorithms know. You know?
• 5:37
  Like, they, they know, like, that's in your brain, and then they show you stuff. Y- you know? But, but you're- [laughs]...
• 5:42
  you're fairly prolific on LinkedIn, and I'm curious, like, how important has that been to getting the business off the ground, you know, not just to building an audience, but to getting customers in the door?
• 5:51
  It's been extremely important. So I don't think I would have been able to get to a path of solopreneurship or entrepreneurship without itAnd that's a pretty strong statement.
• 6:04
  Like, it helped me figure out what I wanted to do, and, like, which of my skills were the most helpful and the most useful, and the most resonated with, like, the market.
• 6:14
  And I was able to take that and build my career off of it. So it... [sighs] A lot of people say LinkedIn is like live feedback loops. It's so true.
• 6:22
  You hear from people, and then you iterate, and you kind of like test ideas, and you can get all this feedback in real time. So a couple things, though.
• 6:30
  The way that I have sustained my presence on LinkedIn, it was also Twitter for a while, but it got... Twitter's gotten so weird, I refuse to call it X. Twitter's so weird. [laughs] So weird. Um, but it's...
• 6:41
  I still have more followers there than LinkedIn, which is crazy- Mm... 'cause I never really post there anymore. Like, maybe like once a week, and it used to be multiple times a day. Right.
• 6:49
  But the reason I've been able to show up almost every day, I take breaks, but almost every day for two and a half years, is that I refuse to tie any marketing KPIs or metrics or outcomes to the platform.
• 7:01
  I just refuse to. Because for me, the second that you do that, it becomes a marketing tactic as opposed to a place for creativity and fun, and I have to live in this bucket. Like, I have to keep it fun and creative.
• 7:15
  It's... Okay, writers will understand this. Anyone who writes for a living will understand this. We rarely get to write for ourselves as ourselves by ourselves, right? Without anyone else looking at it- Yeah...
• 7:26
  without a brief, like, without those outcomes tied to it. It's business-driven writing. So even though this is also business-driven writing, it's mine.
• 7:34
  It was the first writing I ever put in public that was completely mine, that nobody had a say over, it didn't have to fit into this, like, brief. It didn't have to have this outcome. And so I truly love it.
• 7:45
  I truly enjoy it, and I think that that's part of what makes me stand out or everyone's, "Oh, hey, I see your content around." It's because I'm playful online, I'm having fun. I'm not...
• 7:55
  Like, I'm never following any type of template. I'm making it up as I go. I'm, you know, having conversations with people within the content and in the comments.
• 8:04
  It's just a good time, is the be- [laughs] is the best way I can put it.
• 8:07
  And so I'm there because I enjoy it, and as a result, I think that vibe kind of like passes from me through the screen, and people are like, "Oh, this person seems kinda like someone I'd wanna actually hang out with and be friends with.
• 8:19
  Like, let me follow her and see what's going on." Yeah. Wow. That's awesome. I, I just- [laughs]... I've never really thought of social media that way. You know, like- Mm-hmm...
• 8:25
  I, I find myself being actually quite cynical about social media most of the time. But the...
• 8:31
  what you just described, which is this platform which makes creation so direct and easy and accessible to anybody is such a positive way to look at it. I really like that. And you're so right.
• 8:42
  Like, I think about this a lot as someone who runs a small company now. Like, I don't ever write anymore. It's like the thing- Exactly...
• 8:49
  that's how I became a content marketer, it's how I grew my career, and now it's the thing that I never do anymore. So- Mm-hmm... um, anyways, so is that...
• 8:56
  [laughs] I- I'm wondering if maybe I'm a prospective- [laughs]... customer for you. Like, are your customers doing this? You know what I mean?
• 9:03
  Are you sort of in some ways also, like, showing them the thing that they are also aspiring to do? Totally, 100%.
• 9:09
  So a lot of people I work with now in my content sparring offer, which again, is really quite new, I am working with solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, really anyone, but those are the two people that I'm targeting the most, who
• 9:22
  want to utilize LinkedIn, their newsletter, any type of, like, go-to-market platform, I suppose, to get in touch with their audience, get this live feedback, figure out kind of more of, like, who they are, what their style is.
• 9:37
  A lot of these people, like, s- even writers who are professional writers don't really know how to communicate as themselves. Like, we've all been...
• 9:45
  we've all learned from one place or another, whether it was high school to do the five paragraph essay or college, you know, to write these academic ways, and then in, in content marketing, you know, you have to write based on the format that you're in, and it has to follow these kind of strict rules, and especially if you're in the SEO world with keywords and bluff and all that stuff.
• 10:03
  And so when you're actually given the task of, okay, write about 500 words, that's about 3,000 characters, depending.
• 10:10
  It's like 400 to 700, in your own voice, in your own style, in your own tone, and sell something that has to do with you and not a company, it's like, [laughs] "What?" Like, "What? What do you...
• 10:21
  what am I supposed to do with this box?" Like, that's not how anything- That's almost too much freedom. [laughs] It's too much freedom. It's so true. Yeah. It's too much freedom.
• 10:27
  It's so absolutely overwhelming, so people don't feel confident. They don't know what's gonna work, and they also know what they don't want. Like, I'm very against certain ways of showing up on these platforms.
• 10:38
  There's all these templated ways that are, you know, hack your way to virality and engagement, all the stuff that I don't really love. And so I push back against that.
• 10:46
  So I also attract a lot of people who are like, "How do I get engagement without feeling cringey or salesy or, like, just horrible about the whole thing?" So that's also part of the process. Yeah.
• 10:57
  I remember reading James Clear's blog, like, 10 years ago, like way back in the day. Mm-hmm.
• 11:03
  Even then, his blog was crushing it, and he had written quite a bit about how he grew this really popular blog by forcing himself to write a new blog post every Monday and every Thursday, and he just did that over and over and over again, and he got better at writing.
• 11:17
  He built the habit. He better understood his audience, and it, it grew and grew. To me, the biggest challenge of that, or I think anyways, is what do you keep writing about?
• 11:28
  And I wonder if you face a similar problem with the type of writing that you do. Do you have a content calendar? Do you keep lots of notes? Are you clipping stuff in your... Like, what are your...
• 11:38
  You know, do you have any tricks that you can rely on to keep the ideas flowing? Yeah, I have one trick. I'm a one-trick pony. I've got no content calendar. Like, anything that we're supposed to do...
• 11:49
  Or, uh, let me rephrase. Anything that I did do for all those years at the agency, I can't do them for myself for two reasons.
• 11:56
  Number one, I am the least organized person in the world unless someone is holding a gun to my head, and number two, again, like, it feels like work when I put those constraints on it, so I've removed all of them.
• 12:08
  So I have no content calendar. I follow no strict, okay, MOFU posts on Wednesdays, you know, like, BOFU posts on a Monday, sales post on, like, Sunday story. Like, that's a thing on LinkedIn.
• 12:18
  [laughs] Like, I don't do any of that.
• 12:19
  Instead, what I do is I mix the intuitive strategy-That I have in my brain from being a content marketer with my literal intuition of what do I feel like talking about in this moment?
• 12:32
  And that's another, like, hack of mine that I talk about a lot which is if you're not feeling your content, and like you don't feel passionate about what you've written, it's gonna come through somehow.
• 12:42
  It's a weird black magicky thing. So when I post something, I want to know that I'm in the mood to talk about it, or else I'm not gonna engage with the comments, and engaging with the comments is, like, half the thing.
• 12:54
  It's not just a billboard. It's not a digital billboard. So being in there, talking to people, building these relationships in the comments is half the battle.
• 13:02
  You have to spend time doing that if you actually wanna use LinkedIn to grow your business as a solopreneur, entrepreneur, founder, and so I have to be in the mood.
• 13:09
  So what I do is [laughs] this is a blessing and a curse, which is part of why if anyone's ever like, "It's too much mentally to be on LinkedIn," I'm like, "Cool. Don't do it," because you're completely right.
• 13:21
  I think in content all the time. It's like dorky level. Like, I'll be driving and I'm like, "Oh, Anna," she's [laughs] my wife. Like, "Write this sentence down. That's gonna be something."
• 13:30
  Like, "It's gonna be something." Oh, that's awesome. It's like [laughs] so... But yeah. My system is Apple Notes.
• 13:35
  So it syncs with between my phone and my computer, and I generally will just write one line down, one phrase, one something that I find interesting. So if I pull up my notes now, and I do this every morning.
• 13:47
  I wake up, I kind of scroll through, like, what have I written recently, and then I write out the actual thing that's pulling me the most.
• 13:53
  So for example, here's one: when you take a stance, you encourage people to think about their stance. Someone said this to me the other day. He's a little bit fake and a little bit genuine.
• 14:04
  I thought that was kind of an interesting, like, thing. Let's see. I've sold X in digital courses in timeframe, so that's like, oh, maybe I sh- could finish that later. I wrote the phrase micro moments down.
• 14:15
  So, like, this is what my notes look like. It's just stuff, and then I'll go through it and be like, "Oh, okay," like, do I want to expand that? What was I thinking here? And that's literally my process.
• 14:24
  I write the morning of. I never write ahead of time. I don't batch write. Okay. And it's all just very in the moment. That's so interesting. Is this one giant note, or do you keep separate notes for each- Separate...
• 14:34
  nuggets? Okay. Separate notes so I can see specifically the date that it was last updated, when did I think of this, and then I'll...
• 14:42
  Like, I should theoretically go through and organize these into, like, these have been posted and have not, but I [laughs] I s- only been doing this for nine years so I can kind of still remember what's been posted and what's not.
• 14:53
  So- Right... I'll go back sometimes to 2022 and be like, "Okay, how can I talk about this from a 2024 mindset?" And I'll rehash the idea. Ooh, I love that. I love that. Okay, you're reminding me of this...
• 15:04
  I can't remember what podcast I was listening to, but Seth Godin was on it, and the interviewer asked him, "What tool do you use to do your writing?" And he s- refused to answer the question- [laughs]...
• 15:17
  on the basis of it doesn't matter. Like, if you're worried- Right... about what tool to use, you're missing the point. The point is just to do it, you know? Right, right, right.
• 15:24
  I think Seth Godin has a similar thing where, like, if you invite him on your podcast, he will say yes if you've done at least 100 episodes. Right. Yeah.
• 15:32
  Because it's the same thing, it's just like, do it, and I, as- you're kind of reminding me of that.
• 15:35
  It's like if you had explained some, like, sophisticated system with, like, Obsidian or Notion where everything- [laughs]...
• 15:41
  is, like, linked together, and it's like you've built this mind map, I think it's, like, so easy to get lost in that where your focus is just do it, right? Yeah.
• 15:48
  Here's a relatively simple system, helps you get your ideas out, and then that just keeps the friction low so you can just keep on going. Totally. My whole thing is I actually enjoy the writing.
• 16:01
  I thoroughly enjoy looking at an idea and being like, what motivated me to feel this was important to write down? And then in that moment I'll be like, and then how can I tie this to something in my world?
• 16:15
  You know, everyone has pillars. I have, like, soft pillars 'cause sometimes I'll just kind of go into, I don't know, something that doesn't feel like it should be a pillar, but I can make it relate.
• 16:25
  So everything has to always have a big idea and a takeaway, and there has to be a reason why the audience is gonna care at all about this. It can't just be about me. It has to...
• 16:34
  Even if it has the word I more than you, it has to have a at least a subtle lesson or something that's gonna, you know, help people think through something. Yeah.
• 16:44
  So I say this as well all the time, like, it's not a personal diary, and I think some people use social media a little bit like that. It's also not a place to go and just complain, complain, complain. You have to...
• 16:57
  You know, you are not the st- as much as we are all growing our own personal brands, we're actually not the star of it at all. It's the people that you're reading, that you're lifting up, that you're empowering.
• 17:07
  So what can you say from, you know, whatever you're writing down that's happened in your life to then turn it to a lesson for the reader? I love that. I love that. Yeah. Do you consider yourself a solopreneur, a creator?
• 17:20
  Like, how, how would you identify the type of work that you do? I guess it's both and. Like, I...
• 17:27
  It's an interesting new thing that I think a lot of people that either have a job, so they're still working at a marketing agency, f- for example, for this audience, or in marketing in general, sorry, not just agencies, or people who have gone out on their own are also becoming creators.
• 17:45
  So I think there's the idea of, like, the creator creator, which is I don't have a job, I make money from being a creator, and I also do other things, and then there's the internal creator, and if that's not a thing yet, we should totally make it a thing from this episode.
• 17:58
  So I've been thinking about this a lot, and I think that companies are going... They already... You know the phrase, um, employee advocacy?
• 18:05
  I think that that's, like, an uncool way to say what we actually mean, which is we need an army of internal creators that are going to go out there and create content on behalf of the company and on behalf of themselves to create this, like, omnipresent brand feeling.
• 18:22
  Uh, some companies- Yeah, that's-... are really good at this. I just don't know if the phrase internal creator is a thing, but it makes sense in my head. I like that. So, yes. Yes, I am a creator.
• 18:31
  I-Do sometimes do sponsored posts and things where I get paid to create, but I am also a solopreneur because I have a service that I sell, and I have courses that I sell. So I suppose I'm both.
• 18:48
  I'm a solopreneur creator, and if I ever build my business beyond just me, then I guess that'll become entrepreneur/creator. Yeah. That's really cool. Two follow things on that. One is the- Mm... internal creator idea.
• 18:58
  I love that. Yeah. There's definitely, like, this sort of tension right now. Like, okay, like, B2B influencers are becoming a thing. They're mostly- Yeah, but that's not... It's not cool, though. No, I agree.
• 19:09
  It's not cool. Like, the, like, the, the phrase, the phrase is not cool. Totally agree. Yeah. It's, it...
• 19:13
  I find it interesting because these companies are like, "Well, our own content team can't reach the people we wanna reach, but these individuals- Right... have the right audience. We'll pay them to say what it is."
• 19:24
  You know, and it's like, well, why don't you just bring that in-house the way you're saying? And I think there's this... Not everybody is Tom from Grizzle, you know, saying like- Right...
• 19:32
  actually it's cool if you build a personal brand. Like, we support that, even though, like, we the company may only reap a s- you know, small portion of the total benefit, and you the person get the rest of it.
• 19:43
  It's kind of a, I don't- Right... not exactly sure this is gonna shake out, but it... I sense that companies associate this with risk maybe. Yeah.
• 19:51
  They're not, like, gung-ho about it, but it feels like, yeah, it's hu- huge opportunity there. Totally. I understand being concerned about the risk because it is true. Like, if you have success, then you might leave.
• 20:06
  But I think that it's... When you break it down in general, like, most people are going to leave your company after X years, right? Like- Probably two years. [laughs] Two years, right? Like- That's it, yeah...
• 20:17
  like, the whole, like, get a job and stay there for your whole life generation is seems like it's not this generation at all, right? Like, the job stability is just not...
• 20:27
  It's not there, and there's so many more options, too. So I think no matter what, hiring anyone is a risk, so you might as well, in their tenure there, give them something to get something.
• 20:39
  Like, that's the whole point of a job. [laughs] Like, you're giving people money to get something in return. Like, also give them this empowerment to go and do this really great thing, and you're gonna get
• 20:50
  so many things back. People still say that they found Grizzle through my profile, right?
• 20:55
  Like, because it's on my work experience, they can find me talking about it in many ways, or they ask me about it and I'll say the name, right?
• 21:03
  So, like, it's gonna continue to be a thing that's good for Grizzle ideally for years to come- Right... even after people leave. I just, I actually just really don't think it's that big of a risk. I think hiring- Yeah...
• 21:13
  anyone is a risk. Yeah. That's a great point. That's a great point.
• 21:16
  The, the other thing I wanted to follow up with you about is, the second point is, one of the reasons I was so excited to chat with you is that you're charting a non-traditional path in content marketing, right? Mm.
• 21:26
  Like, for many years it was you can work in-house at a SAS company, you could work for an agency, or you could be a freelancer, and a freelancer meant you write. Mm-hmm. That's basically all you do. Mm-hmm.
• 21:37
  This creator economy, which is, like, a phrase I don't, like, totally love- Yeah... because it kinda feels like V2 of the gig economy, which actually ended up being really crappy.
• 21:47
  [laughs] I think we need some new terminology there, too, but it's like there's something very real here, which is that you can build courses and cohorts, and you, you're kind of- Yeah...
• 21:55
  creating your own offerings based on what you are learning from your prospects and your customers, and it's not just selling your time for money, which is what a lot of content folks do because it's the most obvious path.
• 22:09
  And I'm just sort of curious, like, how much have you kind of thought about that or reflected on it, or does it just feel natural and obvious to you?
• 22:18
  I think about not wanting to sell all of my time for money all of the time, because I definitely want to build a life where I have days where I don't have to talk to anyone, right? And I can still make money.
• 22:33
  But I also... Let me back up. There seems to be, like, two sides of this coin.
• 22:39
  You are either someone who thinks that selling courses is silly, and you should just service people, and that one-on-one high ticket makes way more sense.
• 22:46
  And then there's people who talk about, you know, you only need to do courses. If you sell your time, you are not free.
• 22:53
  There's, like, this whole, like, if you wanna be free, then you don't ever have a meeting on your calendar. I think, like,
• 23:00
  I'm doing both, and I think that there's a strong case for both, because I personally get really lonely. There's a very... Like, it's very, very lonely when you go out on your own.
• 23:09
  People don't talk about that enough publicly. Oh, my God. I totally agree. You're sitting alone. You know, we're all sitting alone kind of anyway at home, but you don't have a team on Slack to talk to.
• 23:18
  You don't have people to collaborate with. You're just on your own. It's extremely lonely.
• 23:22
  I can't imagine a business where all I do is sit in a room by myself and write, and then people give me money but never speak to me. Like, that- [laughs]... sounds sad. Yeah.
• 23:34
  So, so I, but, but I love the idea of people giving me money without having to speak to me also. So that's why I have the courses. Like, that's great.
• 23:44
  Passive income feels so, like, as good, if not better, than I thought it would, so that's really cool.
• 23:49
  But I'm so glad that I figured out this content sparring offer three months ago, because I'm getting so much energy from getting on the phone with people and being like, "What's your problem? Let's talk through it.
• 23:57
  Let's work through it." I feel like my clients are kind of like an extension of my team because even though we're not on the same team, we're all working towards a goal together, and it feels really, really good.
• 24:07
  So I'm all for the collaborative mix of it, and it's very intentional from my end. I love it. What's, like, a pie chart of your week look like? Like, where does your time go?
• 24:16
  So I'm trying to keep Mondays call free and Fridays as, like, a spillover in case the rest of the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday gets a bit, you know, people have to cancel or whatever, or reschedule.
• 24:26
  So Mondays-No calls, work on the business, you know?
• 24:30
  Admin stuff for the business, which is not my favorite, but I'm realizing that de- I'm, I'm approaching that point of, like, delegation's gonna need to be a thing soon. So right now I'm doing all of that on my own.
• 24:41
  So Mondays I write, I do a bit of, like, creative thinking, I do admin stuff. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I've got, like, four to five calls a day with content sparring clients, and those are super fun.
• 24:53
  It's an hour call, and it's basically a one-to-one live editing session.
• 24:57
  They come with content, we talk through it, and they leave with, like, content that they feel really good about, and they go do whatever they want with it. That does sound like fun. Fridays- That's cool.
• 25:06
  Yeah, it's so fun. [laughs] So, so fun. And then Fridays are spillover in case people need to reschedule or cancel, otherwise it's a Monday. It's like an end of week, okay, what do I have to wrap up?
• 25:16
  Like, what did I say I'd get done for people this week? If I haven't done it yet, what admin stuff is, like, kind of bothering me? How's my inbox looking? And then what do I have to think about for next week?
• 25:25
  You know, check things off the to-do list. That's that. So- Really cool... that's how it is right now. Yeah, yeah. Really cool. I've just... I don't know. Like, honestly, kudos to you. Like- [laughs] Thanks...
• 25:34
  like you mentioned earlier that you started on Upwork, which, like, you know, a lot, a lot of folks start there, and it, in so many ways it's a great entry point. Yeah. But you took that- Yeah...
• 25:41
  like, built momentum, worked at the agency, learned the trade, go out on your own, build your own, your own business doing the things that you wanna do and are great at.
• 25:50
  And, uh, to me that's like the, it's like a dream story for content marketers. Like, one of the things I hope to get out of this podcast is that the folks listening have some inspiration for their own careers. You know?
• 26:01
  Yeah. Like, we don't get deep on career in every episode, but, like, I want people to, you know, at least just have, be open to, like, there's other ways than, like, just stay in-house and try to become- Totally...
• 26:11
  a marketing director. And there's other ways than just, like, take on so much freelance work- Yeah... you know, until, you know, whatever, like, your fingers can't type anymore. Like, there's all these- Yeah...
• 26:20
  cool middle grounds, and you're just an amazing example of that. Yeah. I, um, have really realized that how people interpret the value of work throughout my career, right?
• 26:30
  So I'm realizing that even though what I'm doing in these content sparring calls is really no different than if someone sent me a piece of content and I edited it, it's the fact that I'm doing it out loud in real time and explaining the choices I'm making in real time that is valuable, not the edits themselves.
• 26:47
  The edits are cool. Like, yeah, thanks for changing that sentence, it sounds better. But it's the transfer of knowledge and the learning that happens in real time that is valued.
• 26:56
  So for anyone who is, like, stuck behind a computer writing or editing words and is wondering, "How do I make more from this?"
• 27:03
  It is the value of what have you done here and how can I then do it myself or how can I do it better? Like, that is what people are paying for. That is the level up. So- I love it...
• 27:14
  I hope that helps, that helps someone. Yeah, no, I think it's so cool. Where, like, where's the best place to point people?
• 27:18
  Like, definitely we'll link to your LinkedIn, 'cause as I mentioned, you post a lot, so folks should definitely go check that out. Cut the Fluff and Content Sparring. Um- Yeah... anywhere else?
• 27:28
  I have contentsparring.com, so that's new. That's up. ericaschneider.me is, like, half live at the moment. You can go to it. It's live, it's just not quite ready. [laughs] So hopefully that'll be ready soon.
• 27:38
  But yeah, LinkedIn, and actually all my stuff is on The Juice now, if listeners are- Oh, cool... fans of The Juice. So all my courses, every podcast I've ever been on, my newsletter goes through there as well.
• 27:49
  So if you want, like, a robust, this is everything Erica's kind of done, and I wanna just binge read it or watch it, you can go to my profile on The Juice. Okay, amazing. It's called, it's called Cut the Fluff, yeah.
• 27:59
  Perfect. Uh, we'll link to all that stuff, so that will be in the show notes for people. Yeah. Um, Erica, so great to meet you. Awesome to hear your story.
• 28:06
  Uh, we really appreciate you taking the time, and would love to do a round two sometime, too. Awesome. Be back anytime. Thanks for having me. Take care. [outro music]