TCC Podcast #426: The Way to Better Content with Heather Parady

The world is drowning in content—most of it bad. So when a creator is doing something different, something that really stands out and challenges the rest of us to up our game, we pay attention. That's why Content Strategist Heather Parady is our guest for the 426th episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast. Heather shared her unique approach to content creation and lays out a roadmap for anyone else who wants to up their content game. Click the play button below, or scroll down for a full transcript.   Stuff we mentioned to check out: The Copywriter Accelerator Fast Track Save the Cat by Blake Snyder Heather's Website The Copywriter Club Facebook Group The Copywriter Underground Full Transcript: Rob Marsh:  Content is everywhere. Almost every business knows that content is one avenue that helps prospects discover and connect with them. I’m not telling you anything new here, most copywriters work with clients who need this kind of content whether it’s on social media, regular emails, videos, workshop and webinar content. We even use it ourselves. So when I discover someone who is making cotent that stands out or is even a little bit different, I pay attention. And today’s guest on The Copywriter Club Podcast fits that description. Hi I’m Rob Marsh and today I’m speaking with Content Strategist, Heather Parady. I’ve been watching Heather’s content for a while now and I am impressed. She connects ideas from interviews and books and all kinds of other sources to create short video content that grabs attention and teaches with a story, almost always gives me something to think about. This is one of my favorite interviews this year and I think you’re not only going to enjoy it, but you’ll have a bunch of takeaways to apply to your own business and content creation. Before we jump in, as we wrap up the year I need to let you know that The Copywriter Accelerator as it is today is going away forever. This is the proven business building program used by hundreds of copywriters to start and grow their businesses. And I guarantee it will work for you too. But to get the eight modules, eight blueprints, the bonuses and the coaching calls that go along with it… you need to opt in now. And if you decide to join the Accelerator now, you’ll get absolutely free, the program I am working on behind the scenes that will replace it. I don’t even have a name for the new thing, just know that it will be worth it. And if you don’t agree, you’ll get your money back. Go to thecopywriterclub.com/fasttrack for details now. And with that, let’s go to our interview with Heather Parady. Heather, welcome to the podcast. I, I'm thrilled to be here. You know, as we were just talking before we started recording, I'm a big fan of yours. I would love to start with your story and how you got to where you are building this list, this following that you have, you know, video producer, all of the things. Yeah. How did you get there? Heather Parady: Well, first of all, thanks for having me on. I was listening to your show and I'm just really impressed with the quality of guests and the topics and how thorough you guys are and professional. It's just really, really valuable, valuable show that I look forward to continually listening to now. I was a therapist, you know, I went to school to sit in rooms with people and hear their problems and sort it out. psychology of trying to figure out why we are the way that we are. And I've always been kind of like a helper. You know, I think through and through, that's really who I am. So it's funny because a lot of people are kind of coming to me for like the media side of stuff. They're like, video editing and all this stuff. And I'm like, that's something that I'm learning how to do. It's not something that I've been doing all along. What I've been doing all along is sitting with people and reading books on Adler and Carl Jung and stuff like that. So I'm Kind of a mental health therapist turned media person. Short story is, at some point, I really just fell into the world of personal development and the online space. Probably about 10 years ago, and I was just really drawn to this idea that you could create something from nothing and reinvent your life and all the possibilities there. And I really loved the freedom, the idea, which is funny because I work now so hard and so long, so I'm laughing at the whole freedom thing. This idea that you can make your own path especially i was pregnant at the time of my first daughter and really torn with going into the workforce and wanting to be with her and so forth so i'm very reluctantly very reluctantly i. Turn down a whole bunch of therapy jobs and we moved perfect jobs. and cried and talked to hours and hours to my husband, bless his heart, and said, I think I want to build something online and figure out my voice here. It has been so messy, Rob. I started off podcast editing, I started off, I did photography, I managed people's calendars, I did everything and anything. And what I didn't know then is skill stacking, how valuable that was, because now, you know, I know a little bit about all the little nuances of online business. And eventually, eventually I ended up in media and video and I just found something that really worked for me and I've gone headfirst into it. Rob Marsh: I've followed your videos. I love what you're doing. And I definitely want to, you know, talk about your whole approach to storytelling and the way you set all of that up. But first, I think you've touched on something that, you know, in 420 plus episodes of the podcast, we really haven't talked a lot about and that is the mental side of marketing. Can we talk just a little bit about that? Because what you bring to this as a therapist, I think makes your voice different from everybody else that I see on YouTube, talking about video and getting yourself in front of people. And the way you're taking a step back and say, wait a second, there's, there's actually some human stuff that has to happen before we even talk camera lighting equipment. Yeah. Yeah. What's your philosophy there? Heather Parady: Yeah. I know my tendency is when I came into this conversation as more of a helper and a feeler. I mean, I cry every freaking day, just deeply empathic and stuff. I was thinking, oh man, that's a weakness in this media space. I have just really doubled down on what a freaking strength it is to have folks who aren't naturally bent towards media getting into media and really showing the humanity because folks are so burnout with the salesman type vibe and strong calls to action and feeling like they're being scammed. And there's looking for somebody who's human. So, you know, I really would encourage folks to understand that people aren't looking for highly produced stuff. They're looking for honest content, honest, honest, honest, even if it's just your freaking cell phone and it's bad lighting or whatever. There's stuff like that stuff's important and you can work on it, but it's not what people are looking for. And you said something a minute ago, Rob, you mentioned in over the 400 something episodes, I noticed that when I was listening to your show is like 400 episodes. What a rare rarity nowadays for someone to get that far along in podcasting. And so Reps is the name of the game. I have done hundreds, probably thousands of videos at this point. You can go to my TikTok and scroll to the bottom. It's humiliating. Some of the first ones I did. Terrible, terrible, terrible. We're so afraid, though, to look like a beginner to people. We want to come out of the gates looking like Mr. Beast or Brene Brown or whatever your person is. And it doesn't work like that. You have to be willing to look like a beginner in front of people and own it. And here's the thing at the end of the day. No one is watching you anyway. We have this illusion that so many people are watching us. I have a pretty good following now, and I put out a lot of content, and to this day, my friends, my family, and all that are like, what do you do? Huh? What? you know, and then they miss so much because people are busy, they're consumed. And you know, the spotlight effect in psychology, we all think that we have the spotlight on us. And when you kind of get past the insecurity, and you really do want people to pay attention, you realize they weren't paying attention all along, because it's really hard to get people to pay attention. It's very hard. So I know it's, it's, um, you've probably heard all this before. But also give yourself a lot of grace because we're the first generation. We're the first group of people who've had to figure out what it means to be a human being online and try to navigate this. It is normal to be nervous. Like you're putting a camera on your face and putting it in front of strangers. Why wouldn't you be nervous? That's normal. It's a normal thing. Rob Marsh: Yeah, it's interesting to think about this. We all have that moment in our lives that it's frozen in our brains, that moment of shame where something happened. To this day, I don't think I've shared this story with anybody ever. I can remember the moment in fifth grade when Walter Romney and Gerald Gray made fun of a shirt that I was wearing. I probably had worn it to school three or four times in a row because I loved this shirt. And to this day, That feeling of people looking at you and shaming me resonates. And so when you think about getting out in front of people, obviously I've overcome that in some way because we do the podcast. I've been speaking in advance. That's not really something that holds me back, but I still worry about that, people making fun of me. And if I have that, like you said, after 400 plus episodes, I can only imagine the person who's thinking, okay, I have to get out there. I have to do something. I have to do something on Instagram, or I have to be on LinkedIn or wherever.