Online gurus would have us believe that consistency is the most important thing in your business. They also would have us believe that failing to post every day on social media is a crime that will send you to algorithm jail without passing go or collecting $200.
But what is the greater crime: inconsistency or posting half-arsed content to keep up with an unsustainable content schedule?
You Will Not Be the First Person to Post Inconsistently
And you will certainly not be the last. People miss days, weeks, and months all the time. The world doesn’t end. Their coaching business does not crumble.
One of the marketing newsletters we’re subscribed to misses multiple months at a time. It’s still the best marketing newsletter we’ve ever read, and missing a newsletter or two every now and again won’t make us unsubscribe. We understand that the person sending the newsletter is a solopreneur with a lot on their plate, and sometimes things have to give. Your coaching clients will be just as understanding, and if they’re not, perhaps you’ve dodged a bullet.
There are going to be times in your business when you simply cannot juggle everything. Things in your business or personal life will become insanely busy, and you need to drop some balls in order to keep the most important ones in the air. It doesn’t matter if you are the most organised person in the world; you will experience this at some point.
The trick is to rank everything you need to do by importance. There will be things that cannot under any circumstances be neglected, and there will be things that can be forgotten about for a short period of time without consequences. This could be your newsletter or social media content. It could be that lead magnet you’re in the middle of creating that can wait another month. Look at how each decision would impact your coaching business and pick the ones with the smallest impact.
Your following will understand if you quit social media for a little while or post less for a little while. You will not be the first person to do so.
Infrequent, High-Quality Content is Better than Frequent, Low-Quality Content
The problem with online gurus urging people to post every day is at some point, the quality of the content takes a hit. When you are selling the value of your expertise, the quality of your expert content is very important to the success of your business. It is what attracts people to work with you.
Will the algorithm prefer people who post every day? Probably. But the algorithm only expands your reach. If your content is rubbish, then the algorithm will help you bomb bigger and faster. If your content is amazing, then the algorithm will help you change the lives of people faster. So the quality of your content should be of bigger concern than if you’re posting at the right time of day or often enough. A lot of big influencers have huge followings without posting every day, so that should prove that you can succeed without needing to post every day.
So dial your consistency back to the sweet spot between sustainability and quality. This applies to all areas of your business. Find the consistency that you can maintain 95% of the time, not just on your good days. There may be times when circumstances outside of our control throw a spanner in the works. Let yourself off the hook.
Is Inconsistency a Crime?
While you shouldn’t aim to be inconsistent, most people would prefer inconsistent but high-quality content over consistent but low-quality content.
As a coach, you do not have a hands-off business model. You need to show up for the clients in your coaching programs and serve them to the best of your ability. That will take up a big portion of your time. It can be difficult to find time to create content, and when things go wrong, content creation is often the first thing to go.
Don’t beat yourself up when this happens. Your coaching business will not fail because you missed a week of posting. It won’t even fail because you miss a month of posting. As long as you are consistent most of the time, it will be okay.
If you regularly have trouble maintaining consistency, then reduce the frequency to something more sustainable. You could also look to outsource or automate part or all of the task to achieve consistency.