What’s Up?
This has been a weekend where I have spent some time reflecting on the past year in a way that I probably should have done around New Year’s.
That’s because it was on the last Sunday in January last year that I decided to make the eight-hour trip out to HooDoo Brown BBQ in Ridgefield, Connecticut to check out how they run a restaurant around a huge Lang smoker.
Everyone thought that I was ridiculous for making that trip, but it changed my life. So that’s where we are going with our content ideas this week.
What Were Your Key Turning Points Last Year?
Every business has those kinds of stories about things like a manager driving way too far to see something that might not be all that big of a deal. What are some of yours?
Did something happen to cause a massive policy change? Did your entire company pivot to go in a different direction?
Single out a few moments over the past year or the past few years when everything changed and create some content highlighting those changes.
What Are You Doing to Push Changes This Year?
I had no idea how powerful that trip to Connecticut would be for my restaurant, but I did have a hunch that it could be a pretty big deal.
And after that experience, I planned quite a few other trips to various BBQ restaurants around the country and was able to take away some interesting things from each of them.
Looking ahead into this year, I want to draw on those experiences and add in some new ones, so I am thinking about splitting my BBQ road trips between revisiting places that I loved and checking out new ones.
Once I am back to full strength, I expect to spend most of the summer months making more of those trips, and I might even see if I can take a weekend vacation where I volunteer to work in the kitchen in Connecticut.
Just as talking about last year’s key turning points can become excellent content, talking about the things you are planning to do to inspire your business in the coming year can also be great to share with your followers.
What is your company working on changing this year?
Who Are Your Benchmarks?
If you are like most companies, you probably measure yourself against other people in your industry. One thing that I have learned from the BBQ movement is that you don’t have to be afraid to highlight other companies in your industry that are also doing great work.
Most BBQ restaurants don’t hesitate to give props to their competitors, and they all become stronger because of it. With that in mind, who in your industry do you respect to the point where you model certain parts of your business after them?
These content ideas are a bit deeper than the topical stuff we have been doing lately, so you might feel some internal resistance to putting yourself out there with these ones. If so, just remember that making yourself vulnerable is the absolute best way to create a real connection with people who are consuming your content.
Have a great week!
-Andy
Leave a Reply