One source: how one live show becomes a whole week of content

Here’s what I see every week, in my community and on calls. You post something today. There’s a lovely little wave of relief. Then tomorrow turns up, and tomorrow wants content too.

So does the day after. Then you look up and realise three weeks have gone by and you haven’t posted a single thing.

The content treadmill is trying to eat your soul, and it’s working.

Why making content for every platform falls apart

Look at the list. You’ve got Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. You’ve got blogs, newsletters and broadcasts. It’s endless.

Someone once told me Facebook isn’t pushing live any more, it’s all about reels now. Lovely. I don’t have the time or the will to sit and custom-make a load of bloody reels. So what actually happens is no reels at all. Then nobody discovers me, which is not good for business.

Half a day, one post

I love Canva. I really do. I can also lose a whole half day in there and come out with one little post that, when I look at it later, is kind of crap.

That’s the real problem with making everything from scratch. People struggle to keep up with content because there isn’t a system for it, so every single week you’re back at a blank page. And it’s a hell of a lot easier to edit a draft than to start from nothing.

One source, and everything comes off it

So here’s what I do. Once a week I make one proper, chunky piece of me talking, and ideally it’s a live show. Then I squeeze every last drop out of it.

Think of it like a Sunday roast. You cook it once and you’re eating off it all week. Sandwiches the next day. A pie after that. By the end of the week it’s soup, and nobody’s complaining.

Long form is brilliant to have. Short form you need, because every platform is pushing it. The difference is that you’re cutting the short stuff out of something you already made, so it takes minutes.

Please don’t try to make all five from week one, though. My actual rule is to pick three things you always turn every live into, and only add a fourth once that’s a habit.

“Won’t people get sick of seeing the same thing?”

No. Honestly, no. The same content can go everywhere. Gary Vaynerchuk would probably have my head for saying it, but nobody’s going to die.

Most of your followers never see a given post anyway. (I did the maths on how few actually do, and it’s grim.) The person who caught your clip on Instagram probably hasn’t read the email, and the person who read the email hasn’t watched the video.

I don’t have an entire marketing team behind me. Keep it simple. There’s no need to overcomplicate it.

Why the long version lives on YouTube

Shelf life. That’s the whole reason. When I looked at this properly earlier this year, here’s how long a live video kept working on each platform.

So YouTube is home. Everything else is distribution, which is a fancy word for putting bits of the roast in other people’s lunchboxes.

So what do you actually need?

One proper hour a week, done live, and the patience to get everything you can out of it. That’s it. You can take that content calendar, rip it up and chuck it in the bin.

I think people find this hardest to believe, because the calendar feels like progress. It’s colour-coded! It has little icons! And it has never once made anybody any money.