#109 Bringing More Of YOU To Your Content - with Mel Daniels
I believe that having authenticity and being anchored to your ‘why’ in business is vital, and today I’m excited to have a conversation on how this translates to your content. I chat with Mel Daniels, a content strategist and speaker who shares her wisdom on bringing more of yourself to your content.
Mel has always had a passion to understand why things worked like they did. Her curiosity has led her on an varied life journey from academic achiever to corporate leader, mum extraordinaire and now owner of Meld Business Solutions.
Mel’s purpose is to teach and empower women who want more from their businesses on how to use content in a powerful way. She strives to give them the confidence they need to become more visible, seen as the experts that they are and inspired to take their businesses to the next level.
When it comes to creating content, it can be so overwhelming for business owners. It’s tempting to mimic the people we see around us and follow the pack. However, the focus needs to be on showing up as our authentic selves in our own unique way.
When we create it with purpose and in a way that feels right to us, our content becomes powerful. It resonates with our audience as we align it with our values and beliefs.
Mel believes that when it comes to content creation, it’s all about the ‘who’ and the ‘you’. Who are you speaking to? How can you bring more ‘you’ to your messaging? For a lot of people, it can be more straightforward determining the ‘who’. Mel shares her four top tips around finding the ‘you’ and getting more of yourself to shine through.
We dive into ideas around:
Knowing our strengths
Being aware of the amount of time, energy and resources we have
Letting go of all the ‘shoulds’
Getting crystal clear on our values, beliefs and what our message is
If you’re struggling to know how to create content in an authentic way, Mel has such great advice that I know will encourage you to show up as your authentic self with confidence and ease.
LINKS:
Quiz: Unlock Your Content Creator Archetype
Connect with Mel:
Instagram: @meldbusiness
Facebook: @meldbusiness
Website: www.meldbusinessservices.com.au
Podcast: https://meldbusiness.podbean.com/
Connect with Tracey:
Get your copy of my Annual Legal Checklist here
Book a Strategy Session with me here
Full Transcript:
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Tracey: [00:00:00] Hello everyone and welcome back to the Rise Up in Business Podcast. Today's guest on the podcast is content strategist Mel Daniels of Meld Business Solutions. I talk a lot about authenticity on this podcast. In fact, I talk about authenticity in just about everything that I do all the time and being anchored to your why in business being so important.
And the reason I've got Mel on today is because we're gonna talk about that authenticity and that clarity around your why in business and how that translates to your content and bringing more of you into your content. I'm asked this a lot by people because I [00:01:00] have been doing this for quite a while, so I'm super comfortable sharing me and being really honest and transparent in everything that I do, but it didn't come easy and it took work. So people do ask me this a lot, so I thought this is really timely to bring Mel onto the podcast to have a chat about the four ways that Mel says will assist in bringing more of the you. So let's dive in and chat to Mel.
Hello, Mel. Thank you so much for joining me.
Thank
Mel: you for having me, Tracey. It's such an honour to be here with you today.
Tracey: Oh, you're so kind. Mel, I'm so looking forward to this episode because this is going to be relevant for so many of my listeners. Before we dive in, give us a snapshot. Who are you and what do you?
Mel: Well, hi everyone. My name is Mel Daniels. I call myself a content strategist, and [00:02:00] I empower women to use their content powerfully so that they can connect, nurture, and convert their ideal client. And I do that through my beautiful membership as well as working one-on-one with clients.
Tracey: So good and so important because let's just cut straight to it. Something I am asked a lot when I work with business owners is around content. How do you do it? And it can be overwhelming. I have a team, so I have all sorts of support, but something that comes up a lot is people saying, well, I wanna be authentic Tracey. I know you talk about it a lot, but how do I do that and how do I know how much is too much of me? Is this really me? You've heard it all before. I'm sure you have.
Mel: Absolutely I have, and it is such an important piece of our business puzzle as well. So content really has the power to connect us all. It's just really up to us how we use it. And that really means that we need to be mindful, we need to be purposeful, and we [00:03:00] need to be powerful when it comes to our content.
So when we create it and use it with purpose, and we are very mindful of the person who's gonna be consuming it, because at the other end of every piece of content we create is a human, and then creating it in a way that feels right for us. Then that's when our content becomes powerful. So there's really two sides of that equation when it comes to content creation.
It's the who and it's the you. And I think that most of us really have the who nailed. We understand who we're talking to. We understand, you know, that we need to have an ideal client when we create our content. But it's the you. It's the you that we really, really struggle with, and that's why I think that it's so important that we really just think about who we are as a person and bring that to our small business and our content as well.
Tracey: Oh, is that easier said than done though?
Mel: Oh, a hundred percent it is. If I just say to you, look, Tracey, just go [00:04:00] out and be yourself. Just put a bit of you in your content and just go and do it. That's not gonna resonate, right? It's not gonna sit with you at all. So it's really important that we support ourselves in a way that feels aligned with who we are as people and as aligned as we possibly can with our values and beliefs as.
Tracey: Oh, it sounds good. It resonates with me because I've been doing this for a while. But where do you start? And I know that we're gonna dive into your top tips of four ways to bring more of the you to the content.
So before we get to the four, where do we start? Or it might dovetail. It might dovetail in.
Mel: So I think that's really important to remember that sharing you in your content is not about sharing every little intimate detail of your life, right? You don't need to share what you had for breakfast. Well, unless you're a nutritionist or a dietician or something like that, and that's relevant, you don't need to share about what happens in your family life.
You don't need to share anything about your children. [00:05:00] You get to set those boundaries, and that is so, so important. You get to set the boundaries, but it's really about thinking about the stories in your life, how that can really help your ideal client, and sharing those things that you really feel comfortable with.
So that's kind of like the first thing. So once we have those foundations, then we can think about supporting ourselves to bring more of the you to our content. So the first way we can do that is to know our strengths. Really understand what type of content creator we are and what type of person we are, because we don't all create content the same way we have different experiences, we have different levels of knowledge. We have different, unique ways of coming to the world. So it's really important that we tap into those strengths. And Tracey, I've got a really fun quiz if your listeners want to do it, about how to actually tap into that and find out who they are and then be able to bring those strengths to their content, and bring more you to their content as well.
Tracey: Oh, amazing. I love a good quiz. [00:06:00] Well, I'll get those details from you and we'll pop that link in the show note.
Mel: Awesome because I'm a real planner. I love to be organised. I love to schedule things. I love a to-do list, but then there are so many people out there, and a lot of my clients are this type of person as well, are more the free spirit. So they're usually intuitive and they love to create in the moment when they're feeling in the flow.
So telling those people to bring more you to their content and then batch it and schedule it. It's just gonna freak them out. They're not gonna love that at all. So bringing you to their content for them is more about creating the space and helping themselves get into the flow so that they can create content that reflects the who and the you. So that's the first thing. Know your strengths.
And then the second thing is all about knowing your time, energy, and resources. And the reason this is so important when we are thinking about bringing the you is because once we acknowledge and accept the fact that we are all in different seasons of life, we're all in [00:07:00] different seasons of our business, the time that I have available to me now is very different.
Pre-kids, pre rescue dog, pre uh, having my own business, it's very, very different. And if I constantly put that pressure on myself to create content in a way that isn't aligned to my time, energy, and resources, then things are gonna be really, really hard. So when we accept that, then life and business flows so much easier, and it is so much easier to bring more of you to your content when you're in that space of feeling good and energised and wanting to create content for your business as well.
Tracey: That makes so much sense when you say it like that. You're making it sound so easy, and I'm nodding along. Of course. Of course. This is so good. This is so good, Mel.
Mel: Awesome. So the third thing is to let go, and this is really, really difficult, right? Let go of all the shoulds. There's all these things going on in our heads. We should be on Pinterest. We should be on LinkedIn. We should be emailing our [00:08:00] list once a week. We should be creating a podcast. We should be doing hashtag all the things.
But really, once we let go of those, then it becomes so much easier to focus, to have clarity, and then really deep dive into who we are as a person and how to bring that to our content as well. So by letting go of the shoulds, what we are doing is creating that space and giving ourselves the permission to actually create from a different energetic space, I guess, if you like.
So one where we can focus on ourselves and the stories and the meanings we wanna bring to our beautiful ideal clients.
Tracey: So can I ask something, Mel, on that? When you're saying letting go of the shoulds, I'm loving that because I talk a lot about cutting through the noise because it's so noisy out there when you're looking at the people doing all the things, and then you go into overwhelm, potentially thinking that I'm not doing enough, and they're doing the things.
When you're letting go of the shoulds, is it then going that next step and [00:09:00] selecting platforms where you are going to show up that are aligned with you and that feel right with you, and give yourself the permission to say, I'm actually only gonna show up on Instagram because that's where I'm comfortable. Or, I love TikTok. That's my vibe. Which is so not me. But releasing the pressure, is it then leaning into that permission to what feels right for me? This is where I'm gonna show up and just stick with that?
Mel: Yeah. Gold Star, Tracey. Absolutely, a hundred percent. So when we really let go of those shoulds that we should be on all of these different platforms and should be doing all these things, then we really grant ourself the space. We grant ourself a different energy to be able to bring to our content. You know, it's not about being everywhere.
One day we may be able to be everywhere because we have the resources, we have the time, we have the energy, we have a team around us and we can put a process around our content that can help us be in more places. But until then, and I know that most of your listeners and most of my audience as well, is in that [00:10:00] space where they only have themselves or a very, very small team, then trying to stretch yourself thin is only gonna put you back into a space of stress and overwhelm, and that place is not a place where you wanna share about yourself.
Tracey: Yeah. Love that. Love that. That's resonating so much.
Mel: And then the last thing that we can really do to support ourselves to bring more you to our content is be crystal clear. Absolutely crystal clear on our values and beliefs, because that is what our message is. It actually helps us attract the right people, and it repels the wrong people in our world as well.
So I think that a lot of people really struggle with this concept, Tracey, of our message, and I'm using air quotes here because it's something that we think that there's a special formula for. It's something that, it's like an insert the word here type of scenario or a swipe file of some description. But your message is really what you truly believe in, and it is as simple as that.
I [00:11:00] have four beliefs and they really form the cornerstone of everything that I talk about. And even in this short episode today, you will hear my beliefs come out in what we've spoken about. It's about using content marketing from a human perspective rather than transactions.
It's about letting go of all the things. It's about making a greater impact when we come together. The power of content, all of those things have come out in this episode today, and that's why I really encourage people to go back to their values and beliefs so they can really tap into who they are, what they want their business to be, and see the success come from that.
Tracey: And you are talking deep diving, Mel, aren't you into your values and your beliefs? And this can be a really confronting question, but if you know everybody rattles off at some time or other people say, oh yes, my values are honesty, integrity, transparency. It's deeper than that though, isn't it?
Because we all wanna show up in an honest way. We all think of [00:12:00] ourselves as truthful and honest people. We all think that what we are doing is authentic. But once you scratch the surface and dive deeper, that's where we do the work, isn't it? Because I've been through this and I found initially when I started this business and this journey, that question was put to me and I really struggled distinguishing my personal values and my business values. There is some crossover, but there's also some different ones and that's okay. But when I dove deep, and this is the part where I know that people get stuck, what do you stand for?
That's the question that helped me pull out my values and beliefs in my business. What do you stand for? That's the part that stumps people, don't you think?
Mel: Yeah, great question. And it's not only that, I think Tracey, it's also how do we bring those values to our business. So it's not just naming them. So I can sit here and say, my top three are family connection and community. The thought is, you know, how do I bring those to my business or family? Because [00:13:00] I have two beautiful team members, and I understand that they have a family and that that takes priority. And so if work doesn't get done, then that's fine, because family to me is such a high value.
So it's how do I bring those values to my business as well
Tracey: And then bringing them to your business and then bringing them to your content. Bringing them and showing them and displaying them. So we've got really diving deep to understand your values and your beliefs and building from there when it comes to bringing more of you to your content, rather than falling into overwhelm, rather than looking around and watching what everybody else is doing and trying to copy or replicate or do something similar.
Letting go of the pressure, letting go of the shoulds in the sense that everybody else is doing all the things and I need to be doing all the things because we need to call it, don't we? We don't know if all those things are working for all those people.
Mel: Oh my goodness. Yes. Yes. So the moment that we try and copy someone else's strategy or [00:14:00] someone else's way of doing things, it won't work. And the reason that it won't work is because we are all unique individuals with very unique experiences and knowledge that we bring to the table. So what works for one person will definitely not necessarily work for you. So that's why I really encourage the whole perspective of content marketing from a human perspective and doing what feels good for you, because the moment you do something that feels good for you, then you just bring this amazing energy to your business and to your content as well.
Tracey: Oh, I love that, Mel. Thank you. Talk about being in sync with our ethos here, educating and empowering business owners to step into and own their content and have confidence to bring more of you. I love it. Thank you, Mel, so much. I just know there are so many nuggets of gold there for listeners, and there are so many clients that I talk to regularly that are gonna jump on this and find this to be so valuable.
So thank you so much for joining me and for sharing that with me. We will include the link to the [00:15:00] quiz in the show notes, but before we go, how can people find you if they wanna reach out to ask and learn more?
Mel: I love to hang out on Instagram and Facebook. My handle is @meldbusiness, so you can come and see me.
Tracey: Thanks, Mel. Thanks so much for joining me.
Mel: Thanks for having me, Tracey.
LINKS:
Get your copy of my Annual Legal Checklist here
Website: tmsolicitor.com.au
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