If you're stuck on your next post, just use this simple framework

3 steps to get you moving again.

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There’s nothing worse than a blank page.

It’s the writer’s kryptonite. The thing we all dread. The white nothingness that stops us dead in our tracks.

The blank page is the hurdle so many writers struggle to get past.

I’m one of them. A page without words on it scares the Confucius out of me.

I need at least some words. I need notes, ideations, thoughts of any kind at all. As long as the page has text on it, I’m good to go.

That’s why I started using a three-step framework in my revenue-generating writing.

Here’s the kicker: if you want to make a living writing online (don’t we all?), you need to write a lot, and often.

In order to write a lot (preferably every day, if you can), you need a system. Routines are good, but systems ensure the job gets done.

I’ve become quite fond of systems in recent years. I’ve started building them into everything I do, especially in regards to content creation.

They don’t come about by chance, mind you. Like all good and ultimately-useful things, systems develop as a result of copious trial and error. The only way to prove a system actually works is to study all the different ways it fails, and fix it a little more each time.

And the spinning gravitational force at the core of every system is purpose.

Why am I creating this piece of content? What do I hope to achieve? How will it impact my life or the lives of others?

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Purpose is key

Nail the purpose of your writing and everything else will click.

Here’s the simple but effective framework I use when creating content with purpose, whether it’s a short post on social media or a longer-form article like this one.

When I’m deciding what to write about, I ask myself these 3 simple questions:

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1. Would this have helped me when I started out?

I started my business in 2020, about two months before the COVID-19 pandemic knocked us all flat on our asses. Worst possible timing, right?

Maybe. But being jammed into that pressure cooker forced me to be recklessly creative. It was do or die, in financial terms. So I did what I had to do, and I survived.

Looking around now, I see so many people in a similar place to where I was back then. They’re just starting out. They have no real idea what’s ahead of them. They’re bouncing from one new-fangled idea to the next, grasping at every shiny notion in sight.

That’s why question one is so crucial. How would the piece of content I’m about to create have helped me back in January 2020? How would it have made life just a little bit easier and less stressful for Past David?

If I can produce a concrete answer to that, I’m well on my way.

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2. Will it help others now?

Secondly, is the answer to question one still relevant now?

The techniques I once employed to grow my business from chicken scratch into a bill-paying, scalable machine were a lifesaver at the time. But do they still work now in the present?

Much of my advice is based around the internet, and the internet changes faster than George Lucas’s original Star Wars movies (why couldn’t he just leave the dang things alone?). Business and digital marketing practices are constantly evolving and I can’t help anyone if my guidance is already on the fast-track to irrelevancy.

If the advice I’m about to shell out is still applicable — and better yet, evergreen — then it passes the second test.

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3. What’s the best way to present it?

This is the final step, and perhaps the most important.

Will my words reach people most effectively in an article, or in a post on social media? If social media is the route I’m going to take, do I present my content in mid or long-form style on a platform like LinkedIn or Twitter/X, or in small-batch posts in a thread?

Do I include images or video? Do I present the whole thing in video format, transitioning my text into script format?

What time should I share it? Does it go out via email? Do I need to place waymarkers on the internet pointing people to it?

I know this sounds like a lot, but it’s critical to get the presentation aspect of your content right. After all, if a tree falls in the woods…

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The Framework

You can apply this same framework to all your articles and posts.

It’s straightforward, fluid, and helps keep the purpose of your writing at the forefront. It’s one of the most efficient systems I’ve employed over the last few months. I’m sure it’ll develop further, too.

One more time:

1. Would you have found your content helpful when you were starting out?

2. Will it help others in your community now?

3. What’s the most effective way you can present it?

Start with those.

Grow from there.

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