The Messy Middle of Content Creation

Hey honeys and hustlers,

Behind any achieved goal is a simple truth: it's all a numbers game. The number of hours you put in. The number of reps you take. The many times you failed. The number of things you tried in search of what works for you. Behind those metrics and analytics are real stories of perseverance, strategic pivots, and the daily grind that rarely make it to the highlight reel we see when you finally get it right. In this article, I’m pulling the curtain back a bit to share what my content creation goals are for the year and how I’m progressing towards reaching those goals.

Before we dive in: Once this community reaches 2,000 subscribers, I will give away free personal branding and storytelling ideas to anyone who shares their website, creative project, or main social media profile with me. Share the newsletter and help us reach our next community goal!

I’m not sure if you’d like to know why I chose the numbers I did, but I can dive into goal-setting another time if there’s interest.

There are some things that I took off this list of goals. There are also some omissions. I didn’t create goals for podcast downloads for both shows. I didn’t create a goal for article views for the Melanin MVP newsletter. I didn’t put podcast downloads for Honey & Hustle because I wanted to focus on output, formats, and events. Whatever downloads come as a result are feedback on what my audience enjoys and what resonates with them. I just started the Melanin MVP podcast in January, so the first year is all about consistency, quality, guest curation, and finding an audience. I didn’t put an article views goal for Melanin MVP because this is my first full calendar year with the newsletter. I didn’t have a goal for Please Hustle Responsibly for 2023 either, for reference. The first calendar year of any creative project is your baseline. Just see what you can do to the highest quality possible and what output cadence works best for you. The rest (specific objectives, strategies, and tactics) will follow.

In the past, I’ve measured my LinkedIn and other social media profile analytics. These numbers are no longer relevant to me. In order to create media across two newsletters, two podcasts, and a YouTube channel (not to mention courses, etc), I must give something up. And right now, that feels like giving up my consistent presence on LinkedIn/social media. I published almost daily on social media from late 2021 through the end of last year. If I can do that* for almost 4 years (that = 12k followers on Linkedin, followers from all platforms converted to podcast listeners, newsletter subscribers, YouTube subscribers, new clients, speaking gigs, and some awesome friends made via DMs), then I’m excited to see what I can accomplish on my long form channels with an equal amount of focus. LinkedIn reach has also been in the dumps these last two months as the company tries to figure out its goals with video, so as usual, social media platforms are not solid foundations to build your marketing strategies upon. They are just one tool in the toolbox of building a community and a business.

My reflections and plans for the rest of 2025

Please Hustle Responsibly has seen the strongest overall performance, with view goals exceeded and substantial subscriber growth. This is a reflection of where I spend most of my time. When I was doing my daily podcast, my podcast downloads number grew significantly, because I was spending a lot of time on that channel. It’s a numbers game, while not intentionally sacrificing quality. My YouTube channel growth shows healthy impression numbers, but there’s room for improvement for converting those impressions to views and subscriptions. Melanin MVP shows a promising early growth rate despite lower absolute numbers. I wasn’t consistent at all last year with Melanin MVP, so this is a healthy baseline to start this full calendar year. While I’ve only reached one goal so far, and some of the others seem far away, there are a few things I have to remind myself of and give myself grace on.

• If I were only spending my time and energy on one channel, that channel would likely be further along than it is now. I have to live with the knowledge that publishing across mediums means that I also have to market those mediums, and split my time and focus unequally.

• I’m doing better than I was last year in multiple areas. We’ve passed the total number of podcast downloads we achieved in 2024 already. We’ve earned twice as many views on articles/newsletters than in all of 2024. We’ve earned more new YouTube subscribers than in all of 2024. We’ve earned more Melanin MVP newsletter subscribers than in all of 2024.

• While many of the goals I’ve set seem really big (YouTube channel views and Please Hustle Responsibly subscribers), I think the large numbers are helping me rise to the occasion. I’ve been an advocate of starting with the smallest version of your idea to lower the barrier and fear/imposter syndrome around starting. But what happens after you start and have a baseline of what you can achieve? Then you’re in scale phase. And I’m ready to grow and scale our reach on YouTube and this newsletter. I think my vision and voice are clear on both, and I’m continuing to get 1% better with each upload on both channels.

Here’s how I’m planning to close the gap on the goals I haven’t reached yet.

• To reach 3K subscribers here on this newsletter, we started the year with a 2,250-person gap. We’ve chipped away at it, and here’s what I plan to do for the remainder of the year to close it (you’ll notice a pattern):

  • Keep making shareable content. The guest posts have been really well received and shared, and it’s been a joy to curate those articles. I’m also experimenting with turning my writing/articles into carousels/pdfs for LinkedIn. I found a new tool that has been making that process easier.

  • Keep doing Substack Live sessions. Michelle, Corey, and I have been going steady since about February. I’ve also been joining some new folks on Substack Live, and have some fun ones planned. I think continuing to leverage this platform to connect with folks is the way to go.

  • Post more on YouTube. I finally got my first subscriber from YouTube (hey there, if you’re reading this!). I think YouTube is going to be a great marketing platform once I stick with it. There are tons of crossover opportunities for me to mention this newsletter as I’m documenting my journey as a creative entrepreneur.

  • Keep mentioning the newsletter in my podcast intros. Making a pre-roll ad felt stale, but an organic mention in my podcast intro and maybe experimenting with a mid-roll ad are on my radar.

• To reach 500K impressions and 55K views on YouTube this year, I set a goal to do almost 5x what I usually do in one year. I also had the bright idea to change the focus of my YouTube channel from being an educational channel to more of a build-in-public channel. So instead of a video about the “Top 5 podcast marketing strategies,” you’re getting more of a look at my life as a creative entrepreneur and the real things I’m doing along my journey. I’m choosing to use my newsletter as more of an educational space, as this seems to be working really well. Videos documenting my journey may take longer to produce (to the quality I’d like), but this feels like a more sustainable channel theme that I can maintain for the rest of my career. Here’s how I plan to continue closing the gap:

  • I’ll be back posting more docu-style podcast episodes from Honey & Hustle. I took a break from these to really hone in on the audio, formats, and packaging. Season 6 is already under way and I’m excited to share both video and audio versions of the show again.

  • I’ll be sprinkling in more shorts between the long-form episodes. I’ll also be experimenting with different visual hooks on my short-form videos to increase viewership.

  • Improve impression-to-view conversion. This is a thumbnails and titles thing. It’s always a thumbnails and titles thing. I think it’s time I cave and purchase a YouTube thumbnail template pack. I’ve seen a low-cost one from Ali Abdaal that I’ll likely grab this month. Getting more consistent results from my packaging will help a lot with my long-form videos. I think I’m getting 2% better at the titles.

• To reach 1400 subscribers on Melanin MVP, I was facing major headwinds. I started the year with less than 100 subscribers after all. But not all is lost, and there’s momentum growing every month. Here’s how I plan to close the gap:

  • Keep attending in-person events. I’ve attended WNBA watch parties, local basketball pick-up games, NWSL games, and will be attending some WNBA games later this summer. Capturing the experience for fans and being in community with fans feels like the way to go. Maybe even sponsoring a few events with merch might also be a vibe.

  • Leveraging memes and social videos on Threads. I know, this sounds crazy. But the women’s sports community on Threads is thriving, and they live for silly stuff. I’ll share more about how this goes later.

  • Substack Live sessions. I’ve done 3 Substack Live sessions on women’s sports, and I would like to do even more. Not sure if I want to do them solo or if I want to have co-hosts, but I’ll figure it out.

  • Leveraging Instagram stories. Many of my podcast guests are active on Instagram, and sharing links to Spotify and the newsletter on Instagram stories is a great way to get in front of their audience. I’ll also at least consider some collaboration posts, even though I haven’t posted on Instagram in years. I might have to make some sacrifices for this goal. Haha

If it were easy, everyone would do it. Do the hard thing. I’m rooting for you!