Digital Brew Updates: New Ideas, Soft Skills Sunday, and Efficient Time Management
In this episode, we explore new ideas for Digital Brew, introduce Soft Skills Sunday, and discuss the importance of time management. Reflecting on experiences with customers and interns, we emphasize skills like active listening and efficient use of time. With 52 pieces of content lined up for Soft Skills Sunday and thoughts about launching a podcast on time management, we aim to boost productivity and share valuable tips with our audience. Tune in for personal insights and practical advice to become a better digital content creator.
00:00 Introduction and Weekend Reflections
01:21 Soft Skills Sunday Launch
04:42 Monday Momentum and Raw Thoughts
06:03 Newsletter and Content Ideas
06:49 Time Management Insights
11:55 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Transcription
Good morning, everybody. I am super excited to be here with you this Monday.
I had a very restful weekend. I hope you had the same. And I was, actually. I want to say honored or privileged to have a few hours to myself yesterday on Sunday. And I did a lot of thinking. I went for a little drive. I actually stopped and spent time with a friend, I don't get to see in person much. Um, but I really reflected on this project of Digital Brew. And came up with some new ideas, which I'm going to share with you here in a bit. But. I was so thankful for that time. And much of my writing. Much of the work we do here on Digital Brew.
Kind of reflects on time, how to save time, how to make the best. Use of your time. When it comes to producing content. And. Um, I've got some really cool things I'm exploring. I'm planning on doing here on Digital Brew. But, um, I want to first say yesterday was our first soft skills Sunday. And. I want to, I guess, start here. A lot of the content that I produce here. Comes from, or I should say is inspired by. Interactions I've had with customers over the last 10 years. Producing content for them. And. A few things have emerged as hurdles. And so I'm on my part.
I've struggled with some of the soft skills. And they've struggled with soft skills. I worked with a local college and had interns come into the production studio. Uh, they were communications majors with an emphasis on social media or production. Um,
Minded students. Um, the, the college had a TV production studio, so it was a good fit. I've met some awesome. I call them kids, but awesome. Young men and women. Who have come through the studio and contributed greatly. And. I was really pleased that a lot of them thanked me for the experience that they learned things that were relevant to their career, or schooling that they weren't being taught in school. So, you know, that was, that was a feel good moment for me.
I'm glad I got to expose them to some real world. And. One thing that emerged from dealing with them. There were a few soft skills that, you know, I worked on with them. And. Active listening note, taking time management, uh, you know, things of that nature. Which kind of surprised me. I didn't think that those types of topics would have to be focused on most of these were in their third or fourth year of their undergrad. But that, that, and my dealings with customers, um, or potential customers. Really wanted me to launch soft skill Sunday, and we're going to go through quite a few, um, short, digestible, Sunday morning pieces that will hopefully. Get people thinking and, or I can provide information that they can then share with their teams. Two. Boost productivity amongst the team. By polishing some of these soft skills and myself, I get to learn a great deal by researching and writing about them.
And I'm remembering things that, um, I can implement and become a better communicator or a better listener in the case of yesterdays. Um, Soft skills Sunday, which was on active listening. So really stoked about that. I have about 52 things in the pipeline already for soft skills Sunday. So it's not going away anytime soon. And or. Um, maybe Sunday gets changed up in the future from soft skills to something else. Um, next this Monday, momentum. I'm.
Actually just realized I didn't put a, a shirt on I'm sitting here in a tank top and hoodie. At least I ran my fingers through my hair, but that was the intent of this to be raw, to be unedited, to be me sharing with the followers of Digital Brew. Of what's going on. Um, with the Digital Brew and where my mind's at.
And, um, yeah, so I guess you're getting. Me a little raw today. That's funny. But, um, I'm having fun with this. I'm a little concerned that these aren't being received well, um, the analytics don't support, um, this yet. Early in the game. This is number four. So I'm not too concerned, but if there's something you'd like, Me to discuss, let me know whether I do it in writing, um, and, or, you know, talk through it on a Monday momentum. Um, but this, all of this contents for you to help you become a bed. A better digital content creator. And, um, you know, make the most of it.
And I really want to be. Uh, a foundation for that. So, Super pumped about this.
The newsletter, having a lot of fun writing these newsletters. Um, I'm. Experimenting and breaking the barrier and trying to start off with some personal story. Um, number one, so you can get to know me a little better. Number two. Um, just to break up the monotony of, of an educational piece, if you will. So having a good time with that, having a good time with the art. And I have. Over 50 pieces, um, ideas in the idea bucket for what's coming up next with the newsletter, which drops on Thursday. And over the weekend I shared with you.
I had time. Andy.
It was. I think used favorably and it reminded me of an old podcast that I used to listen to years ago. That's no longer in production. And. It made me want to generate content. Based on time and how to utilize it and how to manage it. Because I think that that is such. An important skill. And over these 10 years. I've only had one customer. And I'm being honest here. That used there. Time management skills. Efficiently. Yes, we had to reschedule nine times out of 10.
It was due to something out of their control. But there was communication upfront and it was. You know, communicated in a professional way. And we were able to reschedule them and accommodate their busy schedules. It was a large production team. And they had guests. So we had to accommodate guests timeframe as well. And a lot of the other customers I've dealt with. Have. Always use the excuse of if I had more time. I wish I had the time. And in my mind, that leads me to believe that time isn't being managed appropriately. So I am thinking about. Not necessarily bringing back to that show, but starting fresh with a podcast on time. If that makes sense.
I hope I'm making sense if I'm not let me know in the comments, but time management, project management, production management. Is very, very important in this industry of content creation. And, you know, I have developed and changed my time management skills. And tools. Numerous amount of times over the last 10 years.
And I think I finally settled into a. Inexpensive free. That's that's how much money I spend in tools. But. Um, I believe I manage my time pretty efficiently now, more so than ever. And. This got me thinking about, well, why do people not use time efficiently and mindset comes to mind. And then I coupled that with the fact that, you know, I was scrolling through Tik TOK and there's so many products and I've talked about this previously. Of this will save you time and this and this and this and. You know, I have to push back on that a little bit. You know, a Tik TOKer spending a hundred dollars on a Bluetooth. Monitors so they can see themselves while using the front forward-facing camera. In my opinion is just a waste of time.
If you're creating 10 plus pieces of content a day. Video vertical on your phone. Yes. I could see this having a, a more attractive ROI. But if you're producing one or two pieces of content a day and or week. There's no reason to spend the money on a device like that, in my opinion, um, tools, planners, everybody has their method. And.
You know, they cost money and yes, it worked for them and they created a beautiful tool and that's awesome.
And it might work for some others, which is great. But at the end of the day, If you have a free email account, nine times out of 10, you have a free calendar account and nine times out of 10, you have it to do list.
And that's all you need. And if you can adapt these tools to your work, And use them efficiently. That's all you need. You don't need to spend money, which equates to time. How, how much time? Have people spent looking for time management? Pro products. You know, just that thought alone. So. You know, it's, it's going to be about time management, project management, production management, however, the effective use of time tools, tricks. Um, things of that nature.
If that's something you would like to hear from me, let me know. Um, whether it be in the comments or private message on whatever social media platform you prefer. Um, obviously that we're on. Which is pretty much all of them. Let me know. Um, Cause I'm excited about it. And it being the project. And I think that there's some value in it for a lot of people, younger creators, and maybe I can, you know, remind people of tips and tricks that might be older creators, That they can implement into their production and save some time.
So that is it for me today. I know I ran a little long. I hope you guys have a great week. Oh, I want to read you a quote. About time. And this is by William Penn. Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.
And that totally encompasses this new project. I'm thinking about launching right here on Digital Brew.
So. Have a great week, use your time efficiently and we will see you next week.
Monday Momentum #4