When you run an online business, it can start to feel like running is all you ever do. 

Like a hamster on a squeaky wheel, you're frantically moving and never really getting ahead. There's always more to do. More content to write. More products to create. More webinars to plan. More, more, more. 

It's exhausting! 

If you're tired of the rat hamster race, try these tips for getting off that wheel and reclaiming your life.  

Do (Only) What You Love to Do

There is no shortage of people who will tell you that you must have a blog, or that you must run Facebook ads, or that you must be on Instagram. All of those things work, of course, but they can also create a lot of pressure. 

Trying to do all the things is a fast path to complete overwhelm. Not only that, but it's also a surefire way to make very little progress. A little bit here and a little bit there adds up to not very much at all when you stop to think about it. 

Instead of spreading your content marketing energy far and wide (and very thin), a better approach is to simply do what you love. 

If you enjoy writing, a blog is perfect for you. Dig in and create content your audience will read and share and benefit from. If you hate to write but like video, do that instead. The same is true for social media and podcasting and all of those other must-have marketing tools. 

Do what you love, and content marketing is automatically easier!

Automate Where Possible

Content marketing isn't just about creating more content. The marketing piece is even more important. How will you get more eyes on your content?

One commonly repeated bit of advice is to spend 20% of your time creating content and 80% of your time promoting it. That sounds super labor-intensive to me. If it does to you as well, then I highly recommend you look at ways to automate at least some of that marketing work. 

Tools such as Buffer or SmarterQue let you schedule social media posts for weeks in advance. You can even plug in your blog or podcast RSS feed for totally hands-free promotion. 

Lumen 5 is another cool automation tool that takes your blog post and turns it into a video you can share on YouTube or LinkedIn or Facebook. It's totally hands-free once you set it up, so all you have to do is hit publish on your post and wait for Lumen 5 to send you an email with the link to your new video. 

Eliminate Writer's Block

The number one cause of writer's block is a blank page. And it's not that you don't know what to write about, it's that you have too many choices. Too many directions you could go. Too many topics you could cover. 

Faced with all of those options, it's easy to get stuck. Here are two ways to avoid that:

• Keep a running list of topics and inspiration. I like to use Evernote, because I can jot down ideas in seconds as they occur to me, no matter where I am. I also use it to capture screenshots or links from other content that inspires me or that I want to expand on in my own content. 
• Start with done-for-you content. This completely eliminates the overwhelm, because all you have to do is open up the document and edit it. That's a whole different skill set than writing from scratch, so even if you don't consider yourself a writer, or if you think you hate to write, PLR content can help overcome those obstacles. 

And here's a pro tip: If you invest in a PLR membership, you won't even have to create your content marketing plan. New content will show up in your inbox every month, and you'll instantly have several ideas to choose from. No brain power required!

A Roadmap to More Efficient Content Creation

If all of that still sounds like too much work, we've got a solution for you. Cindy Bidar's Content Creation Blueprint will help you create a strategy for writing and selling more, all while working less. Best of all, friends of Piggy Makes Bank can save $10 when they use promo code PIGGYPERKS at checkout here.