I speak a little bit of French and I know enought German to buy five postcards and five stamps to mail to England.

I’ve often thought about what it would take to become multilingual, but sadly,
my mind usually drifts to the traditional maps of fluency.

I picture myself rolling my Rs in Spanish and perfecting the cadence of my French pronunciation; I dream of ordering an espresso in Italian.

As a society we view language skills as badges of worldly sophistication, as the keys to unlocking new cultures, and as tools for professional expansion.

And yet, we walk through our daily lives fluent in criticism, judgement, and derision. But when we do this we miss out on the dialects that holdour communities together.

I know because I’ve been guilty of it myself.

It’s time to pracise our other langauge skills: empathy, kindness, support, encouragement, and sympathy.

These aren’t soft skills or pleasant personality traits; they’re active, expressive forms of communication.

These five emotional languages give us the power to transform ourselves and our environments.

So, let’s keep learning our Spanish, German, and Italian.

But let’s not forget the dialects that define our character.

Ultimately, we need be kind, to ourselves and to others. The world needs better speakers of the heart.

As always, thanks for reading.

—Gary

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn

P.S. If you found this useful, share it with another creator who needs an ego check (in a nice way). Want more unfiltered takes on content creation? Join my newsletter. No fluff, just the stuff that works.

Next time on Shaking the Tree: Are you really listening?

Share Shaking the Tree

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

Newsletter editors want more subscribers.

Marketing people want more sales.

Social media influencers want more followers.

We’re a society obsessed with more.

But what if more wasn’t the point?

What if more wasn’t the goal or the reason for doing whatever it is you do? What if sufficient was enough? What if, instead of constantly reaching higher, you focused on making things better.

Not fabulous. Not amazing. Better.

What if you aim to make every article you write slightly better than the previous one?Sharper, shorter, more focused. What if instead of writing 2,500 words, you say what needs to be said in 500 words? What if, after you get to the 500 word point, you stop?

Sometimes, more isn’t more. More is noise.

I’m learning this in my own writing, specifically with the books I’m currently writing.

Books?

Yes. Eight in total.

Five nonfictions works (two of which are complete), and three works of fiction, most of which is either written or planned out.

Hurrah, right?

The bulk of the writing is done. Major achievement, yes? Well, yes. And no.

Because now, the work of editing takes over and I’m challenging myself to cut the manuscript of the first fiction work (part one of a three part story) down from 145,000 words (which is what it is in its extended form), to something closer to 90,000.

In this case, more isn’t better.

In this case, more is a pain in the ass because now, having more means making decisions about what can stay in book one and what needs to move to books two and three.

So, right now, I’m focusing on making things better.

In the weeks ahead, how could you apply these thoughts to your own work?

I know the end result will be better.

As always, thanks for reading.

—Gary

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn

P.S. If you found this useful, share it with another creator who needs an ego check (in a nice way). Want more unfiltered takes on content creation? Join my newsletter. No fluff, just the stuff that works.

Next time on Shaking the Tree: Learning another language

Share Shaking the Tree

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

Gary Bloomer | SHAKING THE TREE # 334

One of my favourite words is reciprocity.

The act of mutual exchange.

I celebrate you.

You champion me.

We each feel better.

What’s not to like?

Cheering someone else on (regardless of that person’s audience size) while expecting nothing in return is good business; it’s kindness personified, and it’s the right thing to do. Added to all of this, it costs you a little bit of time and effort. Nothing more.

So, in the month ahead, try cheering someone else on. It doesn’t have to be an everyday thing. Once every few days will do.

A kind word or two here.

An encouraging note or comment there.

A little piece of positive feedback over there.

Little things. Small actions. But done with mindful intent and in a state of genuine congratulations for the person you’re cheering on.

See, there are times when every content creator thinks about quitting, seriously considers jacking it all in and doing something else (or nothing at all).

We’ve all been there. You have. I know I have (multiple times), and And your comment. Your small note of encouragement and positivity

But the more often you do it, the more often the positivity of your actions is likely to back to you. Sometimes in surprising and memorable ways.

An outstretched hand, a thumbs up, a kind word, it could all make the differences in someone else’s day, and it might just boost your mood as well.

Try it. Receive it.

See what happens.

Report back.

As always, thanks for reading.

—Gary

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn

P.S. If you found this useful, share it with another creator who needs an ego check (in a nice way). Want more unfiltered takes on content creation? Join my newsletter. No fluff, just the stuff that works.

Next time on Shaking the Tree: More isn’t always more

Share Shaking the Tree

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

Stuck for something to write about?

Same here. Often.

But then about two years ago, something dawned on me.

I was getting stuck about what to write about because I thinking too big. Too broad.

And that bigness? It was getting in the way.

I thought I had to write about big ideas, sweeping vistas, and huge, top-level topics. That, to me, was what standing out and building an audience was all about.

There was just one problem with this sort of thinking. It was quite wrong.

And because it was wrong, it was getting in the way.

It was slowing me down. It was holding me back and clouding my judgement.

So I started looking for inspiration in the more ordinary things of everyday life.

Books.

Movies.

Television shows.

Recipes.

Articles I’d read.

Conversations I’d had.

Music I’d listened to.

Videos I’d watched.

People I’d met over the years and the lessons I’ve learned from the mistakes I’ve made.

All the things made me stop and think.

And in all those things, down all those rabbit holes, I found a wealth of content ideas.

Stories from work my and career. Thoughts about dishes I’d made from recipes I’d tried. Experiences on trains, planes, and boats. Places I’ve visited over the years. People I’d talked to, eaten with, and had one too many beers with.

All of those things, the books, the stories, the events, actions, and things i’ve witnessed, participated in, and done, all of it began fueling my writing.

So, that’s why much of my writing seems off the wall. That explains why I include an odd snippet from here and a seemingly unrelated element from there: because for me, it’s all connected, it’s all a stream of consciousness.

Don’t get me wrong. When I sit down to write an article, I still get stuck. It’s just that now, I get stuck a lot less often. Sometimes, the best thing to write about isn’t the huge concept or the massive, it’s not about digging up the brilliant, ground breaking revelation.

It’s about looking at the small stuff. The mundane. The ordinary, everyday stuff.

Because it’s in those points that you’ll find the most meaningful ideas.

As always, thanks for reading.

—Gary

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn

P.S. If you found this useful, share it with another creator who needs an ego check (in a nice way). Want more unfiltered takes on content creation? Join my newsletter. No fluff, just the stuff that works.

Next time on Shaking the Tree: Championing other people’s successes

Share Shaking the Tree

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

I’ve been sketching and making notes in notebooks for 40 years.

Most of those notes probably won’t ever see the light of day again. But every now and then, I jot down something that gets rolled into an article, or into a page layout, and when that happens, I get a little excited for the creative process.

Here’s what I’ve learned in the last six months about hand written notes and AI.

By taking a photograph of a page of notes and copying and pasting that photo into Google Gemini and telling the platform to transcribe the handwritten materials, that’s exactly what it does!

For me, figuring this out has reignited my interest in carrying a notebook.

It means I can make notes, have Gemini transcribe them, and then expert the text to a word processor, saving me the trouble of having to hand copy notes in real time.

This process takes a few seconds.

Gemini can read my handwriting (and it’s spookily accurate at doing so), which is a huge time saver.

Now, I know what many of my readers might be thinking: Gary, why not simply type your notes to begin with, from scratch?

Sure. Why not? There’s nothing wrong with this approach.

However, creativity isn’t simply about getting stuff down quickly, it’s also about letting ideas brew, much like making a decent cup of tea.

The problem with typing isn’t that it’s bad—it’s that it’s too easy.

When you sit in a meeting or a lecture and you’re typing away, or when you read a book with a laptop open, your fingers operate at the speed of dictation.

You stop being a student of human nature and you become a court reporter, someone capturing syntax verbatim without ever running the ideas through your own mental filters of hmmm, and oh, what about … and so on.

Your keystrokes bypass deep your processing ability in favor of rapid transcription.

Writing by hand forces you into a completely different transaction with your brain.

Because your hand cannot match the speed of spoken thought or rapid speech, you are immediately forced to slow down, to make connections, and to consider executive decisions.

Since you can’t write everything down, you’re forced to think, listen, synthesize, evaluate, and distill. You don’t just record the idea; you distill it down to its core geometry before, during, and after the nib of your pen touches paper.

That physical resistance—the literal friction of pen on paper—is where comprehension actually happens. And without comprehension, there can’t be any understanding.

So. Get yourself a notebook and something to write with. Find a comfortable spot somewhere, and let your mind wander. And see where your thoughts take you.

As always, thanks for reading.

—Gary

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn

P.S. If you found this useful, share it with another creator who needs an ego check (in a nice way). Want more unfiltered takes on content creation? Join my newsletter. No fluff, just the stuff that works.

Next time on Shaking the Tree: Inspiration is everywhere.

Share Shaking the Tree

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

The single most annoying phrase in business is That’s how we’ve always done it.”

Why?

Because it’s a cop out: an entrepreneurial get-out-of-accountability-jail free card. Creating content that makes people pay attention rather than having them skim past means it being willing to do things differently.

Feathers are made to be ruffled. Difficult questions deserve to be asked and answered.

Emotions and expectations need to be expressed and addressed.

Which brings me, in a roundabout way, to Stephen Colbert.

Whether you know him from The Colbert Report, or The Late Show, or from his early days at Second City, Colbert is more than a comedian. He’s a masterclass in modern content strategy.

While most content creators were busy churning out vanilla, play-it-safe blog posts that sound like they were written by a committee, Colbert was busy building a decades-long career by breaking the very rules marketers hold sacred.

He began his show with a relevant monologue that addressed a range of topics and that poked fun at authority and the absurdity of life.

He brought in a range of guests (many of whom, granted, had a movie to promote or a book to sell), most of whom were wise enough and good enough sports to know what they were signing up for.

And he knew, respected, and acknowledged his audience (those in the studio and those watching at home).

Do you do any of this? I try to and I’m well aware that I have a long, long way to go before I can event think I’m getting close to the mark.

Stephen Colbert never did it the way it’s always been done. And for that reason, he stood out. He fostered a loyal following. And he was both admired and often feared by the people in power who were often the targets of his humor.

And in that, there’s a lesson for all of us.

As always, thanks for reading.

—Gary

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn

P.S. If you found this useful, share it with another creator who needs an ego check (in a nice way). Want more unfiltered takes on content creation? Join my newsletter. No fluff, just the stuff that works.

Next time on Shaking the Tree: The importance of making notes by hand

Share Shaking the Tree

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

The Steve Jobs paradox: Visionary, showman, and the art of the “unconventional”

Within the past 50 years, few figures in the tech industry have garnered as much attention as Steve Jobs. As the co-founder of Apple Inc., his life and work have been the subject of countless articles, yet the sheer volume of coverage often masks the more nuanced lessons he left behind.

While many analysts focus on his perfectionism, a “Shaking the Tree” perspective asks us to look deeper. To truly understand Jobs, we must stop viewing him through the stale lens of a corporate deity and instead examine him as an unconventional disruptor who succeeded precisely because he refused to accept that things had to be “done the way they’ve always been done”.

Jobs’s famous “reality distortion field” and his legendary keynote presentations were not just theatrical performances; they were master classes in unconventional marketing.

He understood that a brand is not a hollow promise or a corporate slogan—that instead, it is the consistent, memorable delivery of value. He didn’t just sell technology; he sold a departure from the “same-old” status quo.

Why Jobs remains the ultimate case study

If we focus on the idea of meaningful leadership and innovation in relation to the Jobs legend, his legacy becomes clearer:

1. Visionary innovation as disruption: Jobs didn’t just iterate; he “shook the tree” of established industries. He proved that the most “life-changing” content and products come from focusing on what makes people feel something worthwhile, rather than just filling a market gap.

2. Leadership through empathy and expectation: Like the best modern leaders who prioritize the “soft skills” of empathy and connection, Jobs demanded excellence not just because he was a perfectionist, but because he was deeply connected to the user experience.

3. The courage to reframe: Jobs excelled at “reframing and retooling” what the market thought it knew. He taught us that to stand out, one must be willing to abandon “stale” traditional approaches in favor of a fresh, bold perspective.

4. Simplicity as strategy: His “less is more” approach wasn’t just aesthetic; it was a strategic rejection of the unnecessary clutter that plagues most businesses.

5. Perseverance over perfection: Perhaps his greatest lesson for today’s creators is that trust is built on accountability and delivery, not on the impossible goal of absolute perfection. His return to Apple proves that even the most visionary leaders must be willing to own their failures and “fix them memorably”.

What I’ve Learned

“When I first wrote about these icons, I was captivated by the ‘what’—the products, the keynote stage, the sheer scale of the results. But the more I’ve written over the last few years, the more I’ve realized that it’s the ‘how’ that actually matters.

What I’ve learned is that we often pedestalize figures like Jobs to the point of irrelevance. We treat them as if they had a ‘magic’ we can’t touch. In reality, the lesson isn’t to be Steve Jobs; it’s to cultivate the courage to be unconventional.

Today, I am less interested in how many iPhones were sold and more interested in the guts, commitment, and vision it takes for a creator or leader to stop asking ‘What is everyone else doing?’ and start asking ‘What does this world actually need?’.

True innovation happens the moment you stop repeating the saddest phrase in the business lexicon: ‘...we’ve always done it this way’.”

As always, thanks for reading.

—Gary

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn

P.S. If you found this useful, share it with another creator who needs an ego check (in a nice way). Want more unfiltered takes on content creation? Join my newsletter. No fluff, just the stuff that works.

Next time on Shaking the Tree: Content lessons from Stephen Colbert

Share Shaking the Tree

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

For the longest time, I held a rigid, almost puritanical belief about writing and content creation: that every piece of work had to be brand new.

If I had written about a specific productivity hack six months ago, I felt that revisiting the topic was a form of laziness—or worse, cheating my audience.

I convinced myself that if a reader had seen it once, they had "consumed" it, and offering it up again was just rehashing old news.

I lived in constant fear of being "found out" as someone who didn't have a bottomless pit of fresh ideas.

I was wrong.

I’ve since realized that recycling your material isn't just OK—that it’s a fundamental necessity for any creator who wants to build a sustainable body of work.

Here’s why I finally stopped obsessing over novelty and started embracing the reprise.

1. Your Audience is Always Evolving

The reality is that your audience today is not the same audience you had a year ago.

You have new subscribers, new followers, and new readers who haven't scrolled back through your archives to find that gem you wrote in 2024.

By repurposing your best work, you are ensuring that your most valuable insights actually reach the people who need them now, not just the people who happened to be there when you first hit publish.

2. Reinforcement Through Repetition

We live in an age of information overload.

The average person is bombarded with thousands of messages a day.

If you share a great point once, there is a statistically high probability that your audience scrolled past it, missed it entirely, or simply forgot it.

Repeating a core concept—perhaps framed in a slightly new way—reinforces the message. Sometimes, people need to hear something three or four times before the aha! moment finally clicks.

3. The Perspective of Time

When you revisit an old topic, you aren't just copying and pasting; you are applying your current self to the past.

You’ve learned more.

You’ve refined your craft.

Your opinions may have shifted or matured (the theme of this article being a prime example!).

When you recycle old material, you often end up updating it with new context, better examples, or more efficient solutions.

It becomes an evolution of the idea, not a carbon copy.

4. Maximizing Creative Energy

Burnout is the silent killer of any long-term creative project.

If you force yourself to reinvent the wheel every single day, you will eventually run out of momentum.

Recycling allows you to take your evergreen content—the stuff that is always useful—and package it for different mediums.

Turn that blog post into a thread, a video, or an email newsletter.

It’s not cheating; it’s being a better steward of your own best work.

5. Quality Over Quantity

I used to prioritize the freshness of content above all else.

Now, I prioritize the value of content.

If an idea is solid, it doesn’t have a shelf life.

It is far better to share one truly impactful, well-crafted lesson multiple times than to dilute your brand with a flood of mediocre, never-been-seen filler just to satisfy an arbitrary need for novelty.

The shift in my mindset was simple: I stopped viewing my archives as a graveyard of "used" ideas and started seeing them as a library of assets.

Stop punishing yourself for having good ideas that are worth repeating.

Your best work deserves to be seen, and if that means sharing it again, then share it again and do so with confidence.

What is one piece of content you’ve created in the past that you think deserves a second look today? For me, it’s an article I wrote about two years ago about Steve Jobs. Guess what the next article is about?

As always, thanks for reading.

—Gary

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn

P.S. If you found this useful, share it with another creator who needs an ego check (in a nice way). Want more unfiltered takes on content creation? Join my newsletter. No fluff, just the stuff that works.

Next time on Shaking the Tree: Lessons from Steve Jobs

Share Shaking the Tree

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

If you’re wondering why no one’s beating a path to your door, it might just be because you have no idea what you’re writing about.

It’s important to understand that if you bounce from one subject to another, with no clear vision of what you’re writing about or who you’re writing for, you’re unlikely to make much progress.

So you need a plan.

Wishing for it won’t make it a reality.

Every single day, thousands of business owners, freelancers, and aspiring creators sit down at their desks, stare at a blank screen, and perform a sacred ritual.

They close their eyes, take a deep breath, and wish.“I wish my next blog post goes viral.”“I wish this video brings in ten new clients.”“I wish people would just magically discover my brand.”Then they type out a rushed, half-baked thought, hit "Publish," and wait for the magic to happen.

Spoiler alert: It won’t.

Wishing is a fantastic mechanism for blowing out birthday candles. It is a catastrophic mechanism for building a brand.

If your current marketing strategy relies heavily on "hope," you aren’t running a business—you’re playing the lottery with your time.

Here is why raw desire is a terrible substitute for a content creation plan, and how to actually build a machine that delivers results.

The Anatomy of the "Wishful Thinker"

We’ve all been there.

You have a burst of sudden inspiration.

You write a brilliant piece of content. It gets a few likes, you feel a rush of dopamine, and then … absolute silence for the next three weeks because you "got busy."

When you create content without a plan, you suffer from three distinct ailments:

The Feast or Famine Cycle: You publish like crazy when you're inspired, and completely vanish when you're stressed or tired. Your audience quickly forgets you exist.

The "What Now?" Panic: Spending two hours staring at a blinking cursor every Tuesday morning because you have no idea what to talk about.

Zero ROI: You measure success by vanity metrics (likes and retweets) instead of actual business outcomes (subscribers, leads, and sales).

Why a Plan Beats Passion (Every Single Time)

Passion gets you started; a plan keeps you alive.

A content creation plan isn't a straightjacket that stifles your creativity. It’s the infrastructure that frees your mind to actually be creative.

A plan forces you to ask the hard questions:

Who am I talking to?

What problem am I solving for them?

And where do I want them to go after they finish reading?

How to Build a Plan That Actually Works

You don't need a 50-page corporate manifesto.

You just need a system.

Here is the framework to transition from a wishful thinker to a strategic creator:Define

Your Pillars: Stop trying to talk about everything.

Pick 3 to 4 core topics that you want to be known for.

If it doesn't fit into those pillars, don't publish it.

Map the Journey: Content shouldn't exist in a vacuum.

Every piece should serve a purpose.

Are you building awareness, educating a lead, or closing a sale?

Plot out your content at least two weeks in advance.

When Tuesday morning rolls around, you shouldn't be wondering what to write—you should just be executing.

Batch Your Production: Don't write, edit, and design a post all in one sitting.

Dedicate one day to writing three articles, another day to designing graphics, and another to scheduling. It protects your cognitive energy.

The Bottom Line

The internet is crowded, noisy, and ruthlessly competitive.

The creators and brands who win aren't luckier than you, and they aren't necessarily more talented.

They are simply more disciplined.Stop wishing for an audience. Stop hoping the algorithm smiles upon you today.

Build a plan.

Show up consistently.

Give your audience undeniable value on a predictable schedule.

That is how reputations are built, and that is how businesses grow.

The wishbone will never replace the backbone.

Time to get to work.

As always, thanks for reading.

—Gary

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn

P.S. If you found this useful, share it with another creator who needs an ego check (in a nice way). Want more unfiltered takes on content creation? Join my newsletter. No fluff, just the stuff that works.

Next time on Shaking the Tree: Revisiting your old stuff …

Share Shaking the Tree

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

In my last piece, we talked about what happens when you decide to stop running with the herd, control your inner dialogue, and actually open your mouth.

But let’s be entirely honest for a moment.

Sticking your head above the parapet isn’t a walk in the park.

It often comes with a price tag.

And sometimes, that price tag hurts.

When you decide to challenge the status quo—when you look at a room full of people nodding along and say, “Hang on, why are we doing it this way just because we’ve always done it this way?”—the universe doesn’t usually reward you with a standing ovation.

No, what you usually get is the corporate cold shoulder.

You get the immediate, crushing weight of rejection.

You watch your ideas get shot down before they even hit the table.

Or worse, you suggest a fresh, bold direction and look across the conference room only to see your manager give you that slow, deeply discouraging raised eyebrow.

You know the one. It’s the look that silently says, “Get back in your box.”

It’s uncomfortable.

It makes your stomach churn.

It’s the exact reason why most people choose the path of least resistance: silence.

They choose to blend into the background because compliance is safe, cozy, and rarely gets you a talking-to.

But here is what I want you to understand: comfort is the enemy of impact.

Yes, speaking up has a cost.

But let’s look at the upside, because the return on investment for courage is astronomical.

First of all, when you speak up, you instantly separate yourself from the echo chamber.

The world is drowning in bland, safe, middle-of-the-road conformity.

The moment you voice an original thought, you become noticeable.

You become a data point of one. Even if your idea is rejected in the moment, you have just signaled to the room that you are awake, that you are thinking, and that you have the backbone to care.

Leaders might act annoyed by a raised hand, but secretly, the ones worth working for are desperate for people who aren’t just echo chambers.

Second, speaking up builds your creative and professional muscle.

Every single time you weather a raised eyebrow, a dismissive sigh, or a flat-out “no,” you realize something profound: you didn’t die.

Your skin gets a little thicker.

Your resolve gets a little stronger.

You stop letting the fear of other people’s opinions dictate your output.

And finally, there is the law of averages.

If you stay silent, the probability of you changing anything is exactly zero.

But if you keep shaking the tree, if you keep pushing past the initial rejection, eventually a piece of fruit is going to fall.

One of those ideas will land.

And when it does, it won’t just change a project—it will redefine your trajectory.

So, the next time you have a burning insight and the fear of getting shot down starts creeping into your head, slap it down.

Let them raise their eyebrows.

Let them say no.

Pay the price, clear your throat, and speak up anyway.

Because the alternative—fading into the safe, quiet background of mediocrity—is a far higher price to pay.

As always, thanks for reading.

—Gary

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn

P.S. If you found this useful, share it with another creator who needs an ego check (in a nice way). Want more unfiltered takes on content creation? Join my newsletter. No fluff, just the stuff that works.

Next time on Shaking the Tree: Unicorns and rainbows and wishes, oh my!

Share Shaking the Tree

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

Silence isn’t ideal because the invoice for it, the expense, that comes later, often when we least expect it.

So let’s talk about the call you disn’t make but ought to have. Or the email you wrote and never sent. Or the conversation you could have had, but didn’t.

Let’s talk about the chances you could have taken, but didn’t beccause you chickend out from at the last minute.

The pitch you never made.

The opinion you swallowed because it felt safer to nod along.

Sound familiar?

Staying quiet feels like the low-risk option.

It isn’t.

It’s just a cost with a delayed invoice.

Regret.

Here’s what that invoice actually contains.

1. The compounding tax on your reputation

Every time you had something worth saying and said nothing, you didn’t stay neutral. You quietly told the room who you are: someone who watches, not someone who leads.

Reputations aren’t built in the big, loud moments. They’re built in the hundred small ones where you had a chance to speak and chose the easier road instead.

Silence doesn’t preserve your reputation. It slowly erases it. People don’t remember the brilliant thing you thought. They remember that you didn’t say it.

2. The debt of unspoken value

You have knowledge sitting in your head right now that someone else needs today. And it’s doing nobody any good in there.

Every day you keep it to yourself is a day someone struggles with a problem you could have helped them solve in five minutes.

That’s not humility.

That’s hoarding.

The market doesn’t pay you for what you know.

It pays you for what you’re willing to say out loud, in public, with your name attached.

3. The erosion of your own conviction

This is the one nobody warns you about.

Staying quiet doesn’t just cost you externally.

It costs you internally.

Every unspoken opinion, every swallowed pitch, every “I’ll mention it next time” that never arrives, quietly teaches your own brain that your ideas aren’t worth the air it takes to say them.

Do that enough times and you don’t just look uncertain to other people. You start to feel uncertain to yourself. Confidence isn’t a personality trait. It’s a habit built from a track record of speaking up and surviving it.

The mathamatics on this is brutal.

Speaking up costs you a moment of discomfort.

Staying quiet costs you compound interest, paid out in reputation, relevance, and self-belief, for as long as you keep making the same choice.

One of these costs is a receipt you can look at once.

The other is a subscription that never cancels itself.

So here’s the question:

The next time you have the thought, the opinion, the pitch, the answer sitting right there, and you feel that little voice telling you to wait, to hold off, to keep it to yourself for now, ask yourself what it’s actually costing you to do that.

Then say the thing.

As always, thanks for reading.

—Gary

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn

P.S. If you found this useful, share it with another creator who needs an ego check (in a nice way). Want more unfiltered takes on content creation? Join my newsletter. No fluff, just the stuff that works.

Next time on Shaking the Tree: The price of speaking up.

Share Shaking the Tree

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

When you finally stop staring at the screen, stop letting the phone ring out, and actually answer the call from your future, something immediately shifts.

But let’s be entirely clear about one thing: the sky does not part, and a choir of angels does not start singing your praises.

In fact, the immediate aftermath of answering that call usually sounds a lot like silence. It’s the quiet realization that you’ve just committed yourself to a path you can’t backtrack on. The safety net of your old, comfortable routines is gone.

So, what actually happens next?

How does stepping into that discomfort actually help you?

It boils down to three fundamental shifts in your creative and professional physics.

1. You force a re-calibration of your standard operating velocity

When you stay in your comfort zone, your capacity shrinks to match your current output. If you only ever write 500-word blog posts, a 2,000-word deep dive feels like climbing Everest.

Answering the call forces an immediate, brutal re-calibration.

The physics of growth: you don’t get stronger by lifting the same weights every day. You get stronger by introducing strategic strain.

The moment you accept the larger project, the higher-stakes client, or the more complex business model, your brain is forced to optimize.

You stop wasting time on low-leverage trivialities because you literally cannot afford to anymore.

Your focus sharpens.

Your delegation improves.

Your boundaries become iron-clad.

Answering the call helps you by exposing your inefficiencies and forcing you to build a better operational engine.

2. You transition from validation seeker to value creator

When you are hiding from your future, you are usually hyper-focused on validation.

You check the stats, you obsess over the likes, you worry about what your peers think of your past work. You’re playing defense.

But when you pick up the phone and commit to the next level, you don’t have time for defense.

You are thrust entirely into offense.

You stop asking, “Is this good enough for them?” and start asking, “Is this bold enough for where I am going?”

This shift changes the entire texture of your work.

You stop creating derivative content that fits neatly into current trends, and you start building frameworks that define the next trend. You stop looking for permission to lead, and you just start leading.

3. You expand your surface area for luck

There is a mechanical benefit to answering the call that people rarely talk about: it changes your surface area in the market.

When you operate at a higher level of complexity and ambition, you enter a different room entirely. You begin interacting with a different tier of creators, thinkers, and collaborators.

• The person who writes the book gets invited to the podcast.

• The strategist who designs the ecosystem gets retained for the board seat.

• The creator who takes the big creative risk becomes the case study for everyone else.

Do you see the logical progression here?

Do you see the sense in picking up the phone?

By answering the call, you put yourself in the path of opportunities that simply do not exist on the lower floors of the building.

You don’t just “get lucky”; you create a larger net to catch the luck that’s already flying around.

The reality of the next level

Let’s not romanticize this.

Answering the call means you are trading your current, familiar problems for a brand new set of highly sophisticated problems.

But that is exactly the point.

Success isn’t the absence of problems; it’s the acquisition of better problems.

Once you pick up the phone, you discover that the future isn’t a destination you arrive at—it’s a muscle you build.

And every single time you answer, you make it just a little bit easier to pick up the next time it rings.

Because make no mistake: as soon as you master this next level, the phone is going to start ringing again.

Are you going to keep moving forward, or are you going to sit back and let the silence take over?

As always, thanks for reading.

—Gary

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn

P.S. If you found this useful, share it with another creator who needs an ego check (in a nice way). Want more unfiltered takes on content creation? Join my newsletter. No fluff, just the stuff that works.

Next time on Shaking the Tree: The costs of staying quiet

Share Shaking the Tree

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

In my last piece, I talked about the danger of getting trapped in our own archives.

I suggested you look at how easy it is to treat a past body of work like a draft that needs endless editing, rather than letting it exist as the foundation it actually is.

I also suggested you to stop looking in the rearview mirror, to accept the cringe factor of your early content as a badge of honor, and to keep moving.

But once you do stop looking backward, you run smack into a brand new problem. You look forward, and you realize your future is calling.

Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Ring, ring!

Which leads to the question of whether you have the courage to pick up, to answer the call, and to accept the invitation.

The problem is that for a lot of creators, entrepreneurs, and strategists, that ringing phone doesn’t bring a sense of excitement.

Instead, it brings a cold, creeping sense of dread.

Why?

Because your future isn’t calling to congratulate you on what you did yesterday. It’s calling to demand something entirely new from you today. It’s calling you to stretch your comfort zone and to challenge your expectations about what you’re capable of right this minute.

What the paralyzing ring of this next-level of the game demands

When we’re deep in the trenches of trying to get established, we tell ourselves a convenient, comforting lie: “Once I get fifty articles under my belt,” or “Once I build this digital framework, everything will get easier.”

We assume that momentum is a self-sustaining engine.

It isn’t.

Fifty articles is just that: fifty articles.

Ditto for digital frameworks, and indeed, for any additional whistle or bell.

The trick is not to reach and surpass more milestones, it’s to keep going once you get to those milestones and you see them for the meaningless markers they are..

Here’s the reality of the creative and strategic life: success doesn’t give you a break; it gives you an upgrade in complexity.

The moment you master one level of growth, your future self starts knocking on the door, demanding that you step into a larger arena.

Here’s what that means:

1. If you’ve been writing short-form newsletters, your future is calling you to write a book.

2. If you’ve been selling low-ticket digital assets, your future is demanding a high-level ecosystem.

3. If you’ve been acting as a tactical implementer, your future is pulling you into the role of a strategic thinker.

And that is terrifying.

It triggers a subtle, modern form of stage fright.

We look at the blank page of our next chapter and we freeze, letting the phone ring and ring, hoping it will just go to voicemail.

Why you’re ignoring the call

Let’s call this avoidance what it actually is: a failure of personal agency.

When your future calls, it forces you to confront the gap between who you are right now and who you need to become in order to handle the next level of salience in your market.

It’s much safer to stay exactly where you are—comfortably proficient, operating within a zone you’ve already conquered. So we ignore the call by drowning ourselves in busywork.

We tell ourselves we’re not ready.

We claim we need another course, another tool, another year of preparation.

We wait for a perfect alignment of circumstances that will never arrive.

But waiting for permission from the future is a fool’s errand. The future doesn’t send invitations; it issues challenges.

How to answer the call (without losing your mind)

If you’re standing there watching the phone ring, wondering if you have what it takes to answer the next iteration of your professional life, here is how you pick up:

1. Stop waiting for the “expert” feeling: If you feel entirely qualified for the next project on your horizon, your horizon is too close.

Growth requires a deliberate willingness to operate right at the edge of your current capability.

Expect to feel a little out of your depth.

2. Commit to the next milestone, not the ultimate destination: When the future calls, you don’t have to map out the next ten years.

You just have to answer for the next step. If the call is demanding a multi-product digital ecosystem, your only job today is to map out the first pillar.

Break the complexity down until it matches your daily execution velocity.

3. Claim your sovereignty: Nobody is going to come along and hand you the keys to your next level.

You have to take control of your own agency.

Decide that you are the type of creator who answers the phone, even when you don’t fully know what’s on the other end of the line.

Pick up the phone

The archive is closed. The past has been written, shipped, and logged. It cannot give you anything more than the lessons you’ve already extracted from it. The only thing that matters now is the momentum you generate in this exact moment.

Your next idea, your next platform shift, your next major project—they are all waiting on the other side of your willingness to step up.

Your future is calling.

Stop letting it go to voicemail.

Pick up the phone, lean into the discomfort, and let’s find out what happens next.

As always, thanks for reading.

—Gary

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn

P.S. If you found this useful, share it with another creator who needs an ego check (in a nice way). Want more unfiltered takes on content creation? Join my newsletter. No fluff, just the stuff that works.

Next time on Shaking the Tree: What happens when you finally pick up?

Share Shaking the Tree

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

Maybe you’ve clocked up 50 videos, or 95 articles … or something else.

Either way, you’re making progress as a content creator.

You’re building and stretching your comfort zone.

However, there is a dangerous trap we all fall into when we start building a body of work.

We get obsessed with our own archives.

We scroll through our early blog posts, look at the clunky design of our first videos, or wince at the shaky cadence of our initial podcasts, and we think, “I need to fix that.”

But here is the hard truth: your past is not a draft to be constantly edited; it is a foundation that has already served its purpose.

As a content creator, the temptation to look back is often disguised as “polishing your brand” or “maintaining quality control.”

But let’s be honest—it’s just procrastination fueled by insecurity. When you spend your time agonizing over a post you wrote two years ago, you aren’t creating for your future audience; you are trying to impress your past self.

The myth of the perfect archive

Life is messy, confusing, and occasionally awkward. Get used to it.

We live in a culture that treats the internet like a permanent record.

Because everything we publish is technically searchable, we feel a strange pressure to make sure every single piece of content we’ve ever produced aligns perfectly with who we are today.

Stop it.

If your content has evolved, it means you have grown.

That early, “imperfect” work is actually the most valuable evidence of your progress.

If you go back and sterilize your archive, you are removing the evidence of your journey.

You are sanding down the edges of the very process that makes your current work authentic.

What’s done is done (and should stay that way)

Think about the time you lose when you spiral into the “what if” phase of content creation.

• “What if I had phrased that tweet differently?”

• “What if I hadn’t used that particular graphic style in my first campaign?”

Every second you spend mourning a past mistake is a second you are not investing in your next idea.

The most successful creators I know have one thing in common: they have a high “publish-and-pivot” rate.

They ship the work, they learn the lesson, and they immediately turn their gaze toward the horizon.

Focus on the “next,” not the “previous”

If you want to be a serious creator, you have to treat your past like a successful launch. Once it’s in the atmosphere, your job is to focus on the next mission.

1. Stop the audit: Unless you are doing a deep-dive content audit for SEO purposes, stop reading your own old stuff. It isn’t for you; it’s for the audience you had when you wrote it.

2. Accept the “cringe”: If you look back at your work from last year and don’t feel a little bit of embarrassment, you haven’t grown. Treat that feeling as a badge of honor, not a reason to hit “delete.”

3. Invest in velocity: Take the energy you use to obsess over past mistakes and redirect it into your next project. Innovation requires forward momentum, and you cannot accelerate while looking through the rearview mirror.

Your audience doesn’t care about the typo you made in 2024. They care about what you are going to teach them, inspire them with, or build for them TODAY!.

The past is a graveyard of lessons. Visit it, learn from it, but for heaven’s sake, don’t try to live there!

Your future content is waiting for your full attention.

Does this perspective shift how you’re feeling about your current archive, or are you currently stuck on a specific project that feels like it needs “fixing”?

As always, thanks for reading.

—Gary

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn

P.S. If you found this useful, share it with another creator who needs an ego check (in a nice way). Want more unfiltered takes on content creation? Join my newsletter. No fluff, just the stuff that works.

Next time on Shaking the Tree: Your future is calling …

Share Shaking the Tree

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

The real enemy for beginner content creators these days isn’t algorithms or the fear that your latest post won’t go viral.

It’s the implied need to play it safe, to not rock the boat, and to fit in.

The problem with this approach is that get lost in the volume of dull, beige, sterile, “me-too” content flooding the market.

Too many content creators are terrified of what other people think; that, and they’re waiting for some mythical, perfect roadmap to fall into their laps.

Traditional approaches come across as stale. To thrive, you have to be willing to reframe, retool, and shake things up.

Without some sort of guidance it’s difficult to know how to go about being different, and rather than give you my opinions about standing out, here are three books that do a better job.

These books won’t teach you how to trick an algorithm, but they will teach you how to build a creative foundation that lasts.

1. Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon

The Big Idea: Generosity trumps genius. Stop hoarding your process.

Most beginners get utterly paralyzed by the “expert myth.” They think they can’t start creating until they’ve achieved master status or won some prestigious award.

Total nonsense.

Austin Kleon’s Show Your Work! completely dismantles this fear. He argues that you don’t need to be a genius; you just need to be an amateur who is willing to learn in public.

• Why it matters: Content creation isn’t just about the polished, final masterpiece. It’s about the process.

• The takeaway: By sharing your daily drafts, your failures, your influences, and your behind-the-scenes struggles, you invite people into your journey. That is how you build an authentic community. Don’t just show the art—show the studio.

2. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

The Big Idea: Resistance is real, it’s lethal, and it wants to keep you small.

You sit down to write a newsletter, edit a video, or design a graphic, and suddenly your brain decides it’s the perfect time to clean the kitchen baseboards. Welcome to what Steven Pressfield calls Resistance.

The War of Art is a swift, no-nonsense kick in the pants for anyone struggling with creative blocks, imposter syndrome, self-doubt, or procrastination.

Pressfield treats creativity like a battle. You are either a professional who shows up and does the work regardless of how you “feel,” or you are an amateur who lets Resistance win.

• Why it matters: Other people are not going to do the work for you. If you’re waiting for inspiration to strike, you’re going to be waiting a very long time.

• The takeaway: This book reframes your internal struggles. When you feel that heavy anxiety before hitting “publish,” you’ll realize it isn’t a sign to stop—it’s proof that the work matters.

3. Perennial Seller by Ryan Holiday

The Big Idea: Stop chasing temporary hype. Build things that endure.

We live in a world obsessed with the immediate ROI, the quick hit, and the next 24-hour news cycle. But if you want to build a brand that actually sustains a business, you have to stop thinking about the next ten minutes and start thinking about the next ten years.

Ryan Holiday’s Perennial Seller examines what it takes to make work that survives—books, products, or content that people continue to recommend year after year.

• Why it matters: It forces you to look at your content creation from a macroscopic level. Are you making disposable mental junk food, or are you creating something deeply useful, beautifully designed, and seasoned with your unique perspective?

• The takeaway: Success requires being okay with zero ROI for a while as you hone your craft. This book teaches you to focus on the intersection of great execution, positioning, and marketing to ensure your work doesn’t just launch, but lasts.

Inspiration is as elastic as it is eclectic, but it requires a catalyst.

If you leave your creative education to random social media feeds, your output will look exactly like everyone else’s.

Stop playing it safe.

Grab these books, consume them, and then—most importantly—put them down and go make something noteworthy.

As always, thanks for reading.

—Gary

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn

P.S. If you found this useful, share it with another creator who needs an ego check (in a nice way). Want more unfiltered takes on content creation? Join my newsletter. No fluff, just the stuff that works.

Next time on Shaking the Tree: Never let your past trip up your future

Share Shaking the Tree

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

Sometimes, cheering someone on can be the difference that’s needed between someone carrying on and quitting.

Think about that for a second.

Then think about a time when you received a sudden congratulatory note, or a kind word, or an unexpected influx of subscribers or buyers, simply because someone else saw something in you that you didn’t.

I’m not talking abouit compliments, even thought they’re niche things to get as well.

I’m talking about solid support.

I’m talking about encouragement.

Even if it’s from an unexpected direction.

Every day, millions of people post something or other online: a blog post; an article; a video, a podcast. It doesn’t matter what the material is about, what does matter is how well it’s received and, more importantly, how much it helps someone.

So, as much as it’s great to recieve words of encouragement, it’s justa s important to send words of encouragement … even if those words are going to someone you don’t know, or have never met, or with whom you disagree on certain issues.

Because a rising tide floats everyone’s boat.

And while it’s so tempting to write a comment that tears someone down, it’s better to write something that lifts someone up. Because at some point in time, the pertson on the receiving end of the message is going to be you.

Kindness costs nothting.

As always, thanks for reading.

—Gary

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn

P.S. If you found this useful, share it with another creator who needs an ego check (in a nice way). Want more unfiltered takes on content creation? Join my newsletter. No fluff, just the stuff that works.

Next time on Shaking the Tree: Three books worth your time …

Share Shaking the Tree

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

Spend any amount of time scrolling through any major social platform, reading modern corporate blogs, or skimming through the endless sea of newsletters, and you will quickly realize something alarming:

The internet has become a bland place.

Everything looks, tastes, sounds, and smells the same.

It’s the digital equivalent of eating plain, unsalted white rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

It’s functional.

It fills a void.

But it is entirely, aggressively flavorless.

Many creators today are so terrified of offending a hidden algorithm or alienating a single potential follower that they serve their ideas completely raw, boiled, and unseasoned.

Either that or they are planning on thinking about considering the possibility of doing something: making a video; writing an article m, recording a podcast. But they never get around to it because, well, it’s easier to talk about it than to do it.

But to build anything worthwhile, whether it’s a brand, or a business, or a creative legacy that actually sticks to people’s ribs, you have to start treating your content like a master chef treats a signature dish.

You need to season the mixture as you’re cooking.

The base ingredient vs the spice rack

Information in whatever form is just the base ingredient for whatever you’re creating.

Fact sheets, “how-to” steps, and generic industry updates are just the raw potatoes.

Nobody goes to a five-star restaurant to eat a raw potato.

They go for what the chef does to those spuds.

Your unique perspective, your scars, your weird obsessions, and your hard-won philosophies—those things are your spice rack.

When you leave those things out, you’re not being careful or mindful, you’re being boring.

Let’s break down what the essential seasonings actually look like in practice:

1. The salt: raw life experience

Salt’s role isn’t to make food taste like salt; its job is to enhance the natural flavors that are already there.

In content, salt is your real-world mileage.

It’s the story of the business you crashed in your twenties, the grueling client interaction that taught you how to set boundaries, or the decade you spent mastering a craft.

I’ve been writing about this stuff now for three years on this website in its current incarnation and with each new article I write I like to think that a part of my experience comes through.

When you sprinkle genuine experience onto an instructional post, you instantly elevate it from theoretical textbook nonsense to authoritative, grounded truth.

2. The pepper: friction and contrast

A dish without a little bit of bite is a dish you forget. Pepper is your willingness to introduce elements of disagreement, shock, awe, and confession.

It’s your counter-intuitive opinion.

It’s taking a stand against the prevailing best practices of your industry and explaining exactly why you think they’re misleading garbage.

You don’t need to be completely outrageous or contrarian just for the sake of it, but there’s nothing wrong with introducing a little heat to surprise the palate because this kind of pepper forces the reader to pay attention.

3. The herbs: your personal philosophy

Herbs add brightness, aroma, and distinct identity to a dish.

Think of herbs as the underlying worldview, as the ethic ms and philosophies that guide your life.

Are you obsessed with craftsmanship and heritage design over cheap, disposable trends?

Let that bleed into your commentary.

Do you believe individual sovereignty is the ultimate human pursuit?

Let that framework shape how you analyze industry news.

Your philosophy gives your content a distinct aroma that people can recognize from a mile away.

4. The spice: the exotic and the unexpected

Spices are the unexpected pairings that make a dish unforgettable—like adding a dash of cinnamon in a savory chili. In your writing, spices are the lateral connections you make between completely unrelated worlds.

It’s using a lesson from 19th-century industrial history to explain modern SaaS marketing, or referencing a classic film to dissect a modern corporate scandal.

I’m a huge fan of this kind of connectivity because it helps people think about things in a different way.

When you add spices you demonstrate a breadth of mind. You show you don’t just consume the same digital slop as everyone else, you stand apart from it, which means you stand out.

Stop serving hospital food!

I spent multiple days in hospital in 2025 which time-wise was long enough to develop something of a loathing for instant scrambled eggs and instant mashed potato.

The fear with content creation of course, is that someone won’t like the flavor.

Some people can’t handle the heat.

Some people prefer things bland.

And that is exactly the point.

When you season your work aggressively with who you actually are, you will inevitably turn some people off.

Good.

Let them leave the table.

The goal of creating content isn’t to build a massive, lukewarm audience of people who mildy tolerate you.

The goal is to find the people who have been starving for exactly your kind of flavor.

Stop publishing hospital food.

Open up the spice cabinet, lean into your convictions, and cook something worth remembering.

As always, thanks for reading.

—Gary

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn

P.S. If you found this useful, share it with another creator who needs an ego check (in a nice way). Want more unfiltered takes on content creation? Join my newsletter. No fluff, just the stuff that works.

Next time on Shaking the Tree: Championing other people’s success

Share Shaking the Tree

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

Stop caring what other people think!

I’ve been writing online consistently now for three years, showing up twice a week.

My first 50 posts or so were pretty lame. The viral growth I thought I’d earn didn’t materialize, and on several occasions Ive thought about giving everything up.

But then an odd thing happened. Although my audience was pretty small, the moment I stopped caring what other people thought about my content, everything changed.

I stopped thinking I needed anyone’s permission and instead I started writing the kind of stuff I’d like to have read when I set out on my current journey.

If you’re struggling right now and you’re not seeing the results you thought you would see, this article is for you.

Let’s be honest for a second. Most of the content being churned out today is lifeless, bloodless dross.

While much of it is smooth, polished, and perfectly optimized for the algorithms, it’s also devoid of soul.

There are no scars.

There enough warts or typos or stumbles.

Too many beginner content creators have traded creative conviction for community consensus, and it’s killing the very thing that makes their content worth consuming in the first place.

If you’re a content creator, writer, or designer, I have a single, brutal piece of advice for you: Stop caring what other people think.

The “Feedback” Trap

We are obsessed with validation. Before a post goes live, it passes through a gauntlet of anxiety: Will this offend someone? Will my peers think I’m a fraud? What if it only gets three likes?

So, what do we do?

We sand off the sharp edges.

We tone down the opinion.

We use the same corporate-approved adjectives and the same recycled templates. We make our work “safe.”

But “safe” is just another word for invisible.

When you create content designed to please everyone, you create something that moves no one.

You become an echo, not a voice.

The moment you let the hypothetical judgment of an anonymous internet crowd dictate your creative choices, you hand over the keys to your sandbox.

The Illusion of the “Target Audience”

Every marketing guru tells you to focus on your audience. And yes, you should understand who you are talking to. But there is a massive difference between serving an audience and pandering to them.

True creative authority doesn’t come from giving people what they say they want. It comes from giving them what you know is valuable, presented through the lens of your unique, unfiltered perspective.

Think about the creators you actually admire. The ones whose newsletters you open the second they hit your inbox, or whose videos you watch all the way to the end.

Do they feel like they ran their ideas through a focus group?

Absolutely not.

They have a viewpoint.

They take a stand.

They risk being disliked by the many to be deeply loved by the few.

How to Reclaim Your Edge

If you want to survive the deluge of AI-generated, commoditized noise flooding the internet right now, you have to lean into the one thing code can’t replicate: your raw, human perspective.

Here is how you start building that creative immunity:

• Publish before you’re comfortable: If a piece of content doesn’t make you feel a little bit naked right before you hit “publish,” you probably haven’t pushed hard enough.

• Mute the critics (and the fans): Rudyard Kipling famously wrote about meeting with “Triumph and Disaster” and treating those two impostors just the same. The same goes for internet comments. Praise can make you lazy; criticism can make you timid. Ignore both and focus on the work.

• Create for an audience of one: Write the article you needed to read two years ago. Design the graphic that makes your eyes light up. If it resonates with you, it will resonate with someone else.

The Bottom Line

The internet doesn’t need more echo chambers, and it certainly doesn’t need more people playing it safe.

It needs conviction.

It needs flavor, verve, and character.

Stop waiting for a green light from people who don’t have the skin in the game to create anything themselves.

Your audience isn’t looking for a perfect, sanitized version of you.

They are looking for you.

So, stop asking for permission.

Stop checking the temperature of the room. Just say what you mean, mean what you say, and let the chips fall where they may.

As always, thanks for reading.

—Gary

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn

P.S. If you found this useful, share it with another creator who needs an ego check (in a nice way). Want more unfiltered takes on content creation? Join my newsletter. No fluff, just the stuff that works.

Next time on Shaking the Tree: Why your content needs seasoning

Share Shaking the Tree

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

By trade and training, I’ma graphic designer.

Or at least, I started out as a graphic designer. I’ve worked in visual communications now for 40 years and as I approach the end of my career, and looking back on the number of projects I’ve been involved in that got out of hand, now seems like just as good a time as any to share a few thoughts about what happens when design input gets overly complicated.

There is a distinct, quiet horror that occurs when a perfectly elegant idea gets handed over to the department of “More.”

Or worse, when the project receives review by committee, and worse still, when someone with no design experience or acumen decides they’re qualified to do the job themselves.

You’ve likely witnessed it. It starts with a clean, high-salience concept—a digital product, a newsletter layout, a piece of brand strategy—that does exactly what it’s supposed to do. It commands attention and it drives action because it is sharp, focused, and clear in its role, purpose, presence, and intent.

The idea gets presented to someone in a position of influence because they are a managerial decision maker. The design probably gets approved. But then, just before something goes off to print or production, someone else decides they’re not happy with the design and the itch begins.

Someone suggests adding a gradient.

Another person insists on a bigger headline.

A third person decides that if one font works well, then surely four fonts will work miracles (they won’t).

Then someone else decides the logo needs to be bigger.

And on it goes, as one person after another has their say and junks up what was originally something pure and simple and beautiful.

And before you know it, hey presto! the essence of the original intent is buried under a landslide of aesthetic noise and uninformed decision making.

The design hasn’t simply changed or gone off track; it’s gone completely rogue.

With each new application and with every updated, plug-and-play design application, the landscape of unprecedented creative abundance widens and grows.

And with that growth comes an ever increasing sense that simply by virtue of having access to typefaces and clip art and Canva or Microsoft Publisher, anyone can be a graphic designer.

Apply the same sort of logic and rationale to dentistry, or flying a commercial aircraft, or the law, or medicine and you will swiftly find yourself being shut down.

But design? Ah! That’s different.

Anyone can be a designer, can’t they?

In short, no.

Not without some element of understanding of visual balance, space and weight, overall composition, and hierarchy.

The tools at our disposal these days are astonishing, capable of generating complexity at a few clicks of a mouse. But in unleashing this capability we have confused the capacity to create complexity with the necessity of doing so.

In content creation and strategic design application, the ultimate test of sovereignty over your craft isn’t how much you can add—it’s in knowing what to take away and what to leave out.

The Tyranny of the Blank Space

The urge to over-complicate some element of design usually stems from one of two underlying vulnerabilities: fear and ignorance.

When beginner content creators find themselves gazing at a clean, minimalist, well-balanced layout, the negative space feels less like a deliberate design choice and more like an unfinished assignment.

The space terrifies them. They see an empty space and they immediately want to fill it with something.

They worry that if a page, an article, or a product isn’t bursting at the seams with visible effort, the audience will think they got lazy.

So, they tinker by decorating.

They fill the voids with visually confusing, low-value elements to fill the gaps and to prove they were there.

The reality is the desire to decorate stems from a lack of core conviction and from a lack of confidence in visual perception and decision making skills.

When you don’t have a singular, powerful message to deliver, it’s tempting to dress up a weaker idea in expensive, convoluted clothes.

True design literacy means understanding that blank space isn’t empty; it’s functional.

It’s the oxygen that allows your central message to breathe. When you crowd the canvas, you aren’t delivering value—you are demanding that your audience do the heavy lifting of filtering out your clutter just to find the point.

The Economy of Attention: Less is More

Every element you add to a piece of design or content carries with it an invisible, visual tax that costs the audience a fraction of a percentage point in their cognitive energy balance sheet.

That tax comes at a cost to you by slowing down your audience’s ability to follow your direction of intent.

If your layout features an arresting headline, a stark color palette, and a clear path forward, the user’s brain registers the priority instantly.

The salience is high.

The direction is evident.

The action being asked for is simple and straightforward.

But the moment you introduce needlessly competing banners, unnecessary decorative icons, and secondary sidebars, you ramp up the tax rate, you split the audience’s attention, and you confuse people long enough for their hesitation to gain the upper hand.

Their urge to decide in your favor wavers.

And indecisive people do not take action.

When you practice the discipline of “less,” you aren’t shrinking your footprint; you are magnifying your impact. You are declaring that your core premise is robust enough to stand on its own two feet without needing a scaffolding of gimmicks to keep it upright.

Editing as an Act of Sovereignty

To stop good design from going rogue, we have to shift our metric of success.

We must stop measuring production by what we have assembled, and start measuring it by what we have refined.

The next time you are working on a digital printable, a landing page, or a content strategy, look at it through the lens of radical subtraction. Ask yourself:

• What is the absolute minimum amount of UI required to deliver this value?

• If I remove this element, does the core utility collapse?

• Am I adding this feature because the user needs it, or because I simply can?

Every element on the page needs to earn its visual keep. If it does not do that, it does not belong on the page and it needs to go.

Design goes rogue when we forget who we are serving.

We aren’t creating monuments to our own technical capabilities; we are building bridges to another person’s understanding.

Keep the bridge clear, keep the lines clean, and let the substance do the heavy lifting.

Anything less is just visual noise—and the world has more than enough of that already.

As always, thanks for reading.

—Gary

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn

P.S. If you found this useful, share it with another creator who needs an ego check (in a nice way). Want more unfiltered takes on content creation? Join my newsletter. No fluff, just the stuff that works.

Next time on Shaking the Tree: Stop caring what people think

Share Shaking the Tree

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

I spent 30 years of my career working in museums.

I’ve seen all sorts of things displayed, much of which has been classed as art.

In my last piece, I challenged you to rethink the physical medium and look at Mail Art zines as a way to bust through the digital noise.

The response was fascinating. Half of you were ready to run out and buy a printing press, while the other half asked a very fair, slightly panicked question:

“Gary, I’m a marketer/copywriter/entrepreneur. I have a business to run. I’m not an artist. Why should I spend time making art?”

It’s a classic trap that we’ve been conditioned to believe that if an activity doesn’t have a direct line item in the quarterly budget, it’s a waste of time.

We treat creativity like a utility bill—something to be optimized, minimized, and kept strictly functional.

But today, I want to argue the exact opposite. If you want to survive the automated content apocalypse, you need to be making more art. Not less. And you need to start doing it now.

The Death of the “Good Enough” Content

Let’s look at the reality of the market.

Right now, the barrier to entry for creating acceptable content is exactly zero.

Anyone with an internet connection can push a button and generate a perfectly structured, grammatically correct, 800-word blog post about “5 Ways to Optimize Your SEO Strategy.”

Because of this, the internet is being flooded with a massive wave of homogenized, generic, soul-crushing mediocrity.

When efficiency is maximized, uniqueness becomes the only true currency.

If your content looks, and sounds, and feels like it was assembled by a committee of algorithms, your audience will treat it like background noise, which means hey will learn to tune you out.

This is where art comes in.

Art is, by definition, inefficient. It requires friction, personal risk, and an individual point of view. When you make art, you are forcing yourself to make choices that an algorithm never would—choosing a jarring color palette, writing an uncomfortable metaphor, or structuring a layout with an intentional, asymmetric rhythm.

The Creator’s Paradox: The more you focus on purely functional, “optimized” marketing, the more invisible you become. The closer your marketing looks to art, the more magnetic it becomes.

Three Reasons Making Art Makes You a Smarter Marketer

When I talk about making art, I’m not saying you need to quit your day job and move to a loft to paint abstract canvases (unless you want to, in which case, go for it). I’m talking about engaging in creative acts where the primary goal isn’t immediate commercial conversion, but expression.

Here is what happens to your professional brain when you start making more art:

1. You Reclaim Your Visual and Verbal Autonomy

When you spend all day analyzing data and performance metrics, your creative instincts get lazy. You start relying on templates and “best practices.” Making art—whether it’s sketching, photography, poetry, or manual collage—forces you to exercise your taste. It sharpens your eye for composition, texture, and emotional resonance. That taste directly carries over into how you design your next campaign or write your next headline.

2. It Teaches You to Embrace the Imperfect

Marketing frameworks hate mistakes. They want predictable, repeatable outcomes. But true inspiration is chaotic and elastic. Art forces you to work with constraints and happy accidents. When a smudge of ink ruins a perfect line, an artist doesn’t hit “Ctrl+Z”—they reframe the entire piece around the smudge. That adaptability is exactly what you need when a marketing campaign hits an unexpected snag in the real world.

3. It Deepens Your Empathy for the Audience

Art is an exchange of human emotion. When you create something raw and original, you feel a moment of vulnerability before you share it. Remembering what that feels like is the best antidote to writing clinical, disconnected marketing copy. It reminds you that on the other side of that screen or mailbox is a living, breathing human being who wants to feel something, not just be sold to.

The Art-to-Business Pipeline

The most successful brands right now don’t look like software companies; they look like media empires and design studios. They understand that consumers are starving for visual integrity, distinct voices, and a sense of genuine human presence.

Look at your current output. If everything you produce is a straight, transactional line from “Problem” to “Solution,” you are vulnerable to being automated out of existence.

Stop asking if a creative project will scale. Stop worrying if it fits neatly into your current funnel.

Give yourself permission to make something weird, beautiful, or totally non-commercial this week.

Write a short story.

Build a crazy mood board.

Design a poster you have no intention of selling.

Shake up your routine.

The muscle memory you build while making art might just save your business.

Over to you: When was the last time you made something just for the sake of making it?

Has the metric-driven grind put your creative instincts to sleep, or are you actively fighting back?

Let’s talk about it in the comments.

As always, thanks for reading.

—Gary

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn

P.S. If you found this useful, share it with another creator who needs an ego check (in a nice way). Want more unfiltered takes on content creation? Join my newsletter. No fluff, just the stuff that works.

Next time on Shaking the Tree: When good design goes rogue …

Share Shaking the Tree

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.