Happy Monday, Creators 👋

I’ve grown up in church practically my whole life. You could almost call me a preacher’s kid, except for the fact that my parents never started their own church. However, you would think they did, considering how many hours I spent in church growing up. Of the countless hours I’ve spent hearing some of the most life-giving, transformative, uplifting messages of all time, the five words for this week’s inspirational thought come from a prayer one of my mentors spoke to me in church during one of the most disorienting seasons of my life:

Will you let that sink in for a second? What feels like the hardest, uphill climb for you is, in fact, the very thing that is laying the groundwork for what is next for you.

Which reminds me of Romans 8:18 (MSG) when it says, “That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times.” So take inventory of your progress, not just your pain points, as we make this week remarkable!

Speaking of taking inventory, something I’m learning from this community is that you want me to start oversharing a bit and sharing the results of my own creator journey. Focusing on Instagram for this update, here is what my insights are looking like for the last 30 days:

One small discrepancy I noticed is that my exact follower count doesn’t match the number of new followers counted by each reel. I’m not exactly sure why that is, but the main takeaway for me is that content is still king.

Char and I made a bet on this content style, and there is proof of concept now. Without a major push and promo, simply posting content, we picked up 37 followers on our new page as well.

What’s funny is that it wasn’t from a brand deal. We produced videos to help train AI models, and received the payout over the weekend. I’m hoping to see more proof of concept directly from our published content, whether UGC or digital products, in the next 30 days. I’ll report back to let you know how it goes.

#1: Take Inventory
What is the data telling you? Whether it be your budget, your analytics, or your health data, are there data points you can consider to help you gain perspective? I want you to set aside time to look at the data comprehensively. Just take it in without bias, and ask yourself, “Now that I know what I know, what is ONE thing I can improve about my process to inevitably improve my outcome?”

#2: Execute, Execute, Execute.
This is from last week, but it must be said again. You have so much in you that you have not gotten out into the world, even if only to test. You don’t need another good idea. You just need to execute.

What is the ONE thing you are going to work on this week?

I hope this message finds you well. I’m sharing from my heart in hopes that you will be inspired to unearth and live out your God-given purpose. Hopefully, something I said resonated. I would love to hear from you if so. Please feel free to reach out to me on social media.

FYI: I’m mostly active on LinkedIn these days. If you were forwarded this message, you can subscribe here to receive thoughts like this directly in your inbox. And don’t forget to check out the latest episode of my podcast, ConvoRoom with Mark Allen Patterson.