Overcoming your struggles and obstacles related to content writing

8 min readNov 29, 2020

There’s a lot of obstacles when it comes to any business … and you don’t need content to be another struggle.

But we have all been there. Content is a big beast of a thing and it can take up so much of your precious time. And let’s face it, you are busy with heaps of other hats to wear, you don’t need your content giving you a headache too.

Today I want to share with you the struggles I’ve had (and most of our Wow School Global students have had) and the ways I have overcome them during my time as a content writing business owner (just like you!).

Here’s goes:

How to overcome the top 7 obstacles that threaten your ability to write really amazing content (every time).

1. No time to write

For me, this was crippling. I was so torn because here I am encouraging business owners to find the time to write and I was guilty of it too. I felt like such a fraud!

I needed to get a handle on it but how do you find more time in an already-packed schedule?

Here’s what I did: I dedicated time to writing once a week. I put it into my schedule as an appointment that I couldn’t miss, even if I wanted to. Just like I am doing right now, I have just sat down to write my blogs for the month.

I also had an accountability group and an accountability buddy to help with whatever I was keeping myself accountable for — I just made it so that was my content.

I would write when I was inspired. Sometimes it’s really hard just to sit there and write. So, regardless of what time it was or where I was, I would whip out a notebook and pen or my phone and start writing (I still do this!). I have been known to write a blog while doing a workout at the gym and while on a morning run (I have to record and transcribe those!).

The best thing you can do is start to create writing habits that suit you. In our 8-week content writing course, our students get into the habit of writing a small number of words each day just like you would if you were writing a book and wanted it finished in a month (you’re writing a chapter each day, right?).

2. Content writing is time-consuming

I understand this — and that’s one of the reasons I write when I’m inspired. Otherwise, it can take me hours to write a simple blog.

I remember a woman who was attending one of my workshops a few years back saying it used to take her 8 hours to write a blog. We can’t have that! Your time is too precious.

Here’s what I did: I started documenting my writing practices and created templates from them. These are still the same templates and frameworks I use now and so do our writers and our Wow School Global students, and I happily share them in our live writing sessions.

It saves so much time. When you have a structure and a framework to follow writing and honing the skill takes way less time.

3. Don’t know how to write (or I was no good at writing at school)

This is common for business owners to say, especially about their English teachers. I had pretty good teachers at school, and I enjoyed writing (I hated oral presentations and tried to get mum or dad to write me sick notes so I didn’t have to do them!).

This is such a limiting belief when it comes to your content because at some point we all learned how to write — whether you were good at it or not — and it more likely was someone who told you that you weren’t good at it, or you got a bad mark for an assignment and that made you believe you were bad at writing.

Writing is a skill, just like riding a bike, and you just have to keep practising. So many of our students have personally thanked me for helping them to love writing again when they had been told at school that they were no good at it — even a wonderful dyslexic man.

When I was working as a print journalist, I didn’t know the first thing about online content writing, except that I could write. It has a completely different structure — and then as content evolved, so did the structures of each type of content. I had to learn how to get good at it.

I created and trademarked writing systems and formulas to make it easier for me to learn — then I realised how valuable that was when people started asking me how to do it.

4. I didn’t get results

It was devastating. I had put so much time and energy into my content and social platform and website, and it was getting me very little in return. So I started researching what I needed to do to start getting leads and sales from my content. Guess what, it’s more than just writing. In fact, writing is only one part of getting results.

There’s SEO, social promotion, email promotion, ads, and also being consistent with your content.

I started with just one thing and got good at it and then moved on to the next thing. Then I looked at everything I was doing that was working and what wasn’t and kept doing all the things that worked until they didn’t work anymore!

Now I have a checklist for what I need to do with my content to get the very best results online — that is, leads, inquiries, and ultimately sales.

5. Standing out and getting more engagement

At some point about 5 years ago, content went ballistic, more and more people were popping up as experts and I was worried about getting left behind, so I looked at what I could to stand out and get more engagement from my online content.

This was a hard one, so I get that this is your struggle.

So I started looking at all the content I had created that really did stand out and people were engaging with — and just did more of that. Sure, there are some posts that need to go out that don’t get engagement, like a blog link or a promo post… but I also started looking beyond the likes and comments to behind the scenes. I realised every time I put out a promo post I would get PMs, traffic, and signups to lead magnets.

Vanity numbers were a huge mindset shift, after all, we are taught the more likes, comments, and followers, the more successful, right? Not right!

I also looked at the little content writing tricks I was using and how my writing made my content stand out that others weren’t doing. You can do this too. What are you doing that no one else in your industry is when it comes to your content?

6. So many ideas!

So many people I speak with don’t know what to write about (if this is you, grab our Content Ideas Swipe File; it will be your content writing bible whenever you are stuck for ideas).

But for me, I just had too many. I wanted to write about everything. But that was exhausting for me and confusing and annoying for my audience.

So here’s what I did (before I created our awesome Content Creator). I wrote down all of the ideas I had and what I wanted to write about and then I started organising those ideas into categories and themes. Then I assigned a theme to every month and inside that theme (or category) were my weekly blog posts (all my organised content ideas!).

Boom, content done, and dusted. And that’s basically how I started planning (very simply) my content.

7. I didn’t have a plan

Sometimes not having a plan is a good thing because you can write more meaningful content that really speaks to your audience. But most of the time, if you don’t have a plan, you’ll get busy and your content will be last on the to-do list. Then you run the risk of putting it off (and off, and off).

Honestly, in all my years as a writer and mentor, I can tell you the planning and the strategy is the bit people don’t like doing! And that’s because it’s a little bit boring and it can take ages.

But the time it will save you in the long run and how it can help align all of your content and platform with your products and services is why having a plan will help you make more money and start living that life of freedom.

Yep, it just starts with a very simple plan.

Here’s what I did: Aside from the above (that took care of my blogs and social media), I created a promotion plan. I took some training on how to structure my year and then added what I wanted to do in those 12 months. For example, we run one 8-week writing course every year and have a monthly membership as well. To garner interest in these, we run a challenge and some webinars and release free downloads several times per year.

Knowing this allows me to create content around these key areas of business.

Content writing is the backbone of your online presence and profile. But you already know this, and I hope my struggles and how I overcame them has been helpful for you.

I share more about these points and templates and strategies to match in our monthly Wow Words Membership. You will learn how to write content like a pro and reap the rewards to help drive more connections, leads, and clients to your business so you can start living a life of freedom sooner than you imagined.

Do you want to learn how to write profit-driven content?

Sign me up!

Committing to content is a big step for any business owner — especially because of the time and effort involved in creating it.

And the expectations you have of getting results.

I didn’t get results, at first.

It was devastating. I had put so much time and energy into my content, social platforms, blogs, and website, and it was getting me very little in return. So I started researching what I needed to do to start getting leads and sales from my content. Guess what, it’s more than just writing. In fact, writing is only one part of getting results.

There’s SEO, social promotion, email promotion, ads, and also being consistent with your content, answering the questions your audience has, attracting the right audience, and so on, and so on!

Here’s the hot tip: Start with just one thing and get good at it and then move on to the next thing. When I did this I started seeing results because I knew what was working. Then I looked at everything I was doing that was working and what wasn’t and kept doing all the things that worked until they didn’t work anymore!