Thought Leaders Anonymous
Admitting We Have a Content Problem
Hi, I’m Christine, and I’ve been a content creator since the ‘before’ times—back when it was just called being a “writer.” (Yep, just me and my Brother electronic typewriter, dancin’ the L.A. nights away.)
The writer to content creator transition wasn’t the smoothest one either. I spent years trying to follow every “expert” playbook, dutifully writing all the “free reports,” and peddling products and programs that had me cringing as I was creating them. My heart wasn’t in any of this. It wasn’t me! Somewhere between my fifth failed funnel and my last unattended webinar, I realized I was creating content according to other people’s checklists—major misalignment.
So, I quit that version of my business. I made a quiet little vow, from that point on, to trust myself first.
Turns out, I’m not alone.
Recently, I ran a survey with a bunch of fellow thought leaders (speakers, authors, content creators). The results showed that I’m not the only one who sometimes feels like they’re spinning their wheels while the “content treadmill” gets faster and louder.
The Survey Says: It’s Not Just You, It’s (Almost) All of Us
Almost all the respondents confessed the same things:
They’re doing a ton. Weekly, sometimes daily publishing.
They use all the tools, including AI, but most days it feels like busywork.
Their number one problem? Not ideas. Not effort. Alignment. Their real voice getting buried in the avalanche of shoulds and hacks. And as a result, they feel like there’s never enough time to fulfill all the shoulds.
One person said, “Creation is easy; implementation is harder.”
Another, “Hiring a team to nail my voice is really hard.”
Sound familiar? Yeah, me too.
The AI Piece (Or: When the Robot Writes, But Nobody Feels It)
A lot of us are using AI now—myself included. I use it as my own personal editing sidekick, idea challenger, and “hey, have you thought of this?” engine. But the magic only happens if you already know what you want to say.
Ask it for original story ideas, though? It falls flat. My stories are mine. Your stories are yours. The bot is a helper, collaborator, and on good days, an elevator of personal awesomeness.
The survey showed this, too. Almost everyone’s using AI—sometimes daily—but satisfaction? Let’s just say, it’s a lot lower than the hype suggests. Most people feel like their own voice, their real message, is getting lost in the rush for “fast and easy.”
Don’t Blend In
We’re at a weird crossroads. With all these tools and all this advice, it’s never been easier to churn out content—but it’s also never been easier to lose the you in your work. If there’s one thing our ABBI survey confirmed, it’s that nobody wants to be just another name in the feed. They want to sound like themselves—even if that means less volume, more heart.
What keeps me up at night is exactly what kept my survey respondents up at night: blending in. I want my writing to feel like a conversation. I want my clients’ content to feel like them. I want my own voice to be unmistakable, even if it’s weird, quirky, or offbeat. And judging by the data, I’m not the only one.
Practice What You Preach
So here’s my confession: I struggle with consistency, too. Even as the “expert” who tells others to stay true to their voice, I need the same reminder. That’s why my content—like this—exists: they’re notes to self, shared with the hope that someone else finds a little sanity in the madness.
Remember to check out the survey results & implications for content creators!