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Transcript

How to Identify Your Core Message · The Daily Writer

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Writer Podcast, where we bring you tips and inspiration each day to help you build habits for writing success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: For more resources, including your free Daily Writer Starter Kit, visit DailyWriterLife.com.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: We've been talking this week about the importance of focusing on one core message as a writer, especially in the beginning stages of your author journey.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: But how do you actually go about doing this?
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, let me give you an example, and then let's talk about some simple ways to get clear on your message.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Here's an example that you're already familiar with because you're listening to this podcast right now.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: So the core message of the Daily Writer, which is my brand, so to speak, is this.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: The message is a regular writing habit is the foundation of everything else that you want as a writer.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing else is going to happen until you write on a regular basis.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's take that a step further.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes a core message is distilled into a slogan or a tagline.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: In my case, it's found in the updated logo of the Daily Writer.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: And the tagline is Essential Habits for Impact and Influence.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's very, very simple.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now, now that I mentioned that, I need to check and make sure that I've actually updated the logo on the website.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think I actually have, but I have the new logo.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, that's that's the new tagline.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Essential Habits for Impact and Influence.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: So if you can do the same thing and distill your message down into just a few words, that's really golden.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: But keep in mind that it takes time.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: This is not something where it comes to you immediately or it happens really, really fast.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: This has been a process over time where I have distilled this down into what is the Daily Writer all about as a brand.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's about essential habits for influence and impact.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Or I'm sorry, essential habits for impact and influence.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: See, I even got it wrong right there.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: It takes time to get it right.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the guy who made all this, and I can't even get it right sometimes.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: So there's hope for all of us.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: So here's the trick with all this.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think it's a matter of creating your message.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, you don't have to go out and just like create something from scratch.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is more a matter of identifying what your message is.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, you already know what it is.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: In your heart, you already know what you're trying to do.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: You already know what your core message is.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: You already know what the thing is that you're trying to communicate with your writing.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's the thing that you talk about.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's the thing you write about.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's the thing that you like to research about.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's the thing that you like to think about all the time.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: So that's one way to identify your core message.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Here's also another way of going about it.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: You can identify your core message this way by asking yourself, what makes you upset?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: What is it in the world that breaks your heart?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: What injustice or wrong in the world do you want to correct?
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, if I take the Daily Writer, for example, and I look at it from that perspective, here's the thing that breaks my heart is I see all kinds of writers who want to accomplish something.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: They want to write a book, they want to build a part-time or full-time business, they want more creative success.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it really bugs me.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I could say it it makes me irritable and sometimes angry in my heart because I see that these writers have all these hopes and dreams for what they want to do, but they don't have the daily habits.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: They don't have the actual regular practices that will help them achieve the things that are important to them.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm trying to correct that thing in the world.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I have devoted my professional life to doing now.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a ghostwriter, yes.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: I do client work, yes.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I do most of the time, yes.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: But with the daily writer, this is why I'm doing this.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not doing it just to put out a podcast.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not doing this just because, you know, right now I'm recording this.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is 1.47 p.m.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: on a Saturday afternoon.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Do I have other things I could be doing?
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Why am I doing this?
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Because I believe in this.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: I really, really do.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I want you to be successful.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: I believe in this message so strongly, and I'm trying to correct this flaw in the world.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: I believe in the value of correcting that flaw so strongly that I'm doing this podcast.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm putting in all this stuff.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: I have a community devoted to this kind of thing.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: This is why I do this, because I believe in correcting this wrong in the world.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: This makes me upset.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: It breaks my heart.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's something that I want to try to fix.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's something I really, really personally care about.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there's things in the world that you care about too.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: What is the injustice?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: What is the wrong?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: What frustrates you in the world?
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: What are you trying to correct?
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good way to identify what your core message is.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great way to figure out, man, this is the thing that just absolutely lights me up.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now remember with all this, you're not for everybody.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: You should have one main thing to say, and not everybody's gonna resonate with that one thing.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: And that's actually a good thing.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: If you feel like your message is for everybody, it's way too broad.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I promise you, there's no one message that's for everybody.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be a whole group of people out there that don't care about what you say, they don't like it, they don't resonate with it, they think you're wrong, whatever.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that's totally fine.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: But are there some people who will resonate with it?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's absolutely true.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now, let me give you one other way to think about your core message.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess I've given you kind of three ways to think about this today.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: I guess the third way is this.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Think about where do your passion, your knowledge, and people's needs come together.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Let me say that again.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Where do your passion, knowledge, and people's needs all come together?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you can figure out a message or a core idea that meets all those, then you're gonna have a winner.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it's gotta hit all three of those things.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: You have to be passionate about it, you have to have knowledge and skills about it, and people have to need or want it.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, for example, with the Daily Writer, I am passionate about it.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: I also have knowledge and skills related to it, and people need it.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: And the same has to be true for your message.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: If you're passionate about something, but you don't have any knowledge or skills, and nobody cares about it, it's probably not gonna go anywhere.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: On the flip side, people can care about something, but if you don't care about it and you don't have any knowledge or skills about it, then it's not gonna work either.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: So those three things really have to be a part of it.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now, let me say one more thing uh about all this.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: When you are figuring out your core message, it needs to have an element of transformation built into it.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: How does it change people?
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: How does it benefit their lives?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: With the Daily Writer, my tagline is essential habits for impact and influence.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: So these habits that I'm teaching you lead to more impact and influence in your life.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just for entertainment sake, it's not just to keep you busy.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to have the impact and influence in your life that you should be having because you have something to say.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: You have something you care about that you're passionate about that other people need to hear.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: And when you do that in a systematized way, when you do it over time and you're getting your message out there, it will have impact in people's lives.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: You will be influential.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's it's gonna take a while.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna take probably longer than you think, and it's gonna be more frustrating than you think.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be harder and involve more work and more uh experimentation, but that's part of the journey.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: And my question to you is do you care about this message enough where you're willing to put up with that, where you're willing to try and figure it out, where you're willing to kind of be that proverbial like salesperson who goes and knocks on all the doors until you get a yes.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's really what this is like, is you're a person who you have something to say, and some people are not gonna be interested, but some people are.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: And once you hit on that message that you're passionate about, you have some knowledge and skills about it, and people need to hear it, man, that's absolutely golden.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I encourage you to sit down and think through all this because it's super critical.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't know what your core message is, then your readers are not gonna know either.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: So take a little time and put some thought into this.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I promise you it's gonna have a radical impact on your writing.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, my question today is what is the messenger topic where your passion, knowledge, and people's needs meet?
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Give that some thought.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: And if you know what it is, I'd love to hear it.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: Shoot me an email at Kent at DailyWriterLife.com.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: I would genuinely love to hear it.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: And uh super excited for you and your writing journey.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: All right, my friend.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening, and I'll see you tomorrow.