I just spent 20 minutes watching a squirrel lose his mind over a walnut.
Little dude kept smashing it against my fence. He was auditioning for a tiny animal fight club.
His dedication made me think about content creation. Most of us try the same approach over and over.
I’ve been there. I used to write these fancy marketing theory posts no one read.
My channel was getting crickets. Not the fun chirping kind either.
Then I learned something that changed my content game forever.
I started documenting my real experiences instead of theory. The results shocked me.
People started engaging with every post. They shared their own stories in the comments.
Here’s what made the difference:
- I talked about my failures first
- I shared the exact steps I took to fix them
- I kept everything super simple
Why sharing epic fails builds trust
I built this fancy new video studio in my office a few years ago.
Everything went wrong that could go wrong. The lights flickered like a horror movie. My mic picked up every dog bark within 5 miles.
Instead of hiding my mess, I recorded the whole disaster. My hair was wild; the background looked like a crime scene.
I posted that video online, thinking it would tank my reputation. Plot twist – it went viral overnight.
You know what happened? People loved it. Not because they enjoyed watching me fail (okay, maybe a little). But because it made me real to them.
Here’s the thing about sharing our failures – it’s like sending up a flare to our perfect matches. The people who get it. The ones who’ve been there.
When I tell people about the time I bombed a presentation so badly I forgot my own name, they laugh. But they also remember their own awkward moments.
That’s the magic sauce of connection right there. Your struggles are someone else’s story too.
Think about it. Do you trust the “guru” who claims they’ve never failed? Or the person who admits they faceplanted a few times before figuring things out?
Every time I share a screw-up, my inbox fills with messages saying “Oh my god, me too!” Those are my people. They’re the ones I want to hang with.
Your failures aren’t just embarrassing stories. They’re your secret weapon for finding your tribe.
Speaking of finding your tribe… I created this thing called Email Copy Academy. It’s where I teach people how to write emails that actually connect with real humans.
And yes, I share plenty of my own email fails in there too. Because that’s how we learn, right?
I shared the exact steps I took to fix them
The right people love a comeback story. Not only do I share my failures, but I share how to overcome those failures in gory detail.
One of my favorite copywriters, Clayton Makepeace, said to “leave the guts on the table.”
Most sales copywriters only scratch the surface of their audience’s problems. The same goes for content creators.
But you will connect with the audience if you dig deep and expose the gory details.
For example, you are creating a video about an embarrassing problem such as foot fungus. Most people who create content around this topic may focus on the discomfort or the smell.
This is not the real problem. Leaving the guts on the table means describing the real problem. Foot fungus may be harming a person’s health. They are now too embarrassed to go to the gym. They are gaining weight from not going to the gym. They feel it is making them less attractive to their partner. Because of this problem, they are even starting to feel depressed.
When you expose the actual problem, you connect with your audience. They feel like you understand them. This is the depth you need to convey in your content.
The video I created about the mess I made in my studio went into great detail about the struggle. I was having internet connection issues with all the equipment. I documented my frustration at not knowing where the wires went. I even had to get a friend to help.
He finally told me that my problem was simple. I needed the correct router for distributing IP addresses or something like that. This is a common problem when setting up a studio. It helped me connect to the right audience.
I kept everything super simple
I’m about to tell you something that’s gonna hurt your feelings just like it hurt mine when I first heard it.
Ready for it? Here goes…
Keep it simple, stupid.
Yeah, I know. That stings a bit, right? But here’s the thing – we humans love making stuff way more complicated than it needs to be. It’s like we’re allergic to simple solutions.
Take my content creation journey, for example. I used to write these super detailed, complex breakdowns of everything. Like explaining how a snake digests its food, down to the molecular level. (Okay, maybe not that bad, but you get the point).
And guess what happened? People started dropping off faster than teens at a classical music concert.
Nobody likes feeling talked down to when you overexplain things; it’s like telling people they’re not smart enough to figure things out on their own.
Here’s what I learned: Share the what, not the how.
Plant the seed, then let people water it themselves. Trust me, they’re smart enough to connect the dots.
It’s like when someone tells you about a great movie. They don’t break down every scene – they just tell you enough to get you hooked.
Closing
Now, my readers tell me they feel less alone in their content struggles.
They see that everyone starts somewhere. Even the “experts” mess up sometimes.
Want to know the biggest lesson I learned?
Perfect content doesn’t exist. But honest content always connects.
That squirrel taught me something today. Sometimes, you just need to keep showing up.
