Introducing Create It – The Content Planner FTH: 103

The Kim Doyal Show

Create It - The Content Planner is LIVE! BUT... before we get into that, it's been a hot minute since I posted a podcast episode, and I want to share some updates with you. I have a couple of interviews in the can and another solo show to wrap up, but this had to come first. I had my back surgery on October 1st (in Costa Rica), and my dog, who had a second surgery on one of her legs, came home the week before my surgery (after being at the vet for 5 weeks!). Having surgery in another country was an interesting experience, to say the least. I'm thinking of writing an article on Medium about the experience, but we'll see if I get around to that. I trusted the neurosurgeon completely and have no doubt the surgery was done well. The hospital stay (only one night) was another experience altogether. Not to mention there were more or less zero postop instructions or guidelines unless I asked. Fortunately, someone on my list, shoutout to Alex Smith of Fluid Junction, who had a similar surgery and became my go-to with questions and postop care. One of my neighbors is also a nurse who worked for a neurosurgeon for years in the states, so she's been a godsend too. All that being said, I'm on the road to recovery. Everything I read said about six weeks. You'd start to feel better (closer to normal), which was also true for me. I still limp a bit later in the day, my back gets sore, and I can feel pretty tired by late afternoon, but I'll take it. I'm not in any pain, and things are progressing nicely. The bonus to all of this was that my daughter came down for the week after my surgery to help out, so I got some extra time with her (and didn't have to wait until Christmas to see her). I've more or less been hanging out in my place, working, resting, and recuperating for the last 6 weeks. I go out to get groceries and a meal with friends here and there, but it's actually been pretty lovely being able to focus (not to mention it's been raining most of the last 6 weeks). Now that that's out of the way let's jump into Create it - The Content Planner. If you haven't heard, Jodi and I shut down the Content Creators Planner a couple of months ago. I shared a podcast episode about our decision to do so. You can listen to "Time for A New Chapter" here. It was during the closing of that business that I started to feel the pull to give it another go. We didn't shut it down because it wasn't a good business, but we didn't have the time for it as a team. Jodi has a successful full-time agency and is the primary person responsible for her aging parents. She has a lot on her plate. Initially, I thought I would move on and focus on #FtheHUSTLE. Not just the newsletter but the business and life framework. But that niggly feeling of "what if" wouldn't go away. What if I did a new planner? Started a new company? And did more with than one type of planner? The wheels started turning, and I knew that this was what I was supposed to do. Having successfully done this once, albeit, with a business partner, I knew I could do this again, but I had that much more knowledge and understanding of running an e-commerce business. I could take all the lessons, mistakes, challenges, and wins and do things differently. The one thing I knew had to be different this time was that I had to have a team. It can be challenging when you can do just about everything you need in your business. Between the two of us, Jodi and I had everything covered. After months of doing it on our own, the only thing we hired out was Facebook ads. I also learned a lot from that experience, and as soon as we start running paid traffic (which will be after presales), we're keeping it in-house. I have a dear friend who is great with paid media, and I've already asked her if we can be her "only client." If at some point she doesn't want to continue doing it for us,