Blacksheep Mind Get the book, $12

A Blacksheep Mind web book · Content that grows

It feels too ordinary to post. That’s because you see it every day.

Find post ideas in your own working day, catch them before they vanish, and always have the next three ready. For owners of shops, trades, salons, diners, studios and small online stores who open the app at night and think nothing happened today.

Ideas Are Everywhere: How to Turn Everyday Things Into Great Content. Find a month of post ideas in one ordinary week.

The cover of Ideas Are Everywhere: How to Turn Everyday Things Into Great Content.
Read it online, or download the PDF to keep or print. Nothing is posted to you.
Chapters
8
Tools
3
Reading
52 min
Price
$12
Get the book, $12

Read it tonight on your phone or laptop. One price, no upsells. No refunds: you get the whole book straight away.

The moment

Nothing happened today. So it’s the storefront again.

  • The app open at 9pm, and the empty box under the photo.
  • The storefront picture, posted one more time.
  • A stock photo that could be anybody’s business.
  • The good thing a customer asked at 11:40, gone by closing.

Part of you thinks your business is too plain to show. Who would want to see this? Anyone who has never stood behind your counter. The ideas are already in your day. This book shows you where to look, and how to keep them until you need them.

What’s inside

One working day, from first thing to closing time

  1. 01

    Catch It Before It’s Gone

    One pinned note on your phone, five-word notes, and 10 minutes a week to move them into your idea bank, so the idea from 11:40 is still there at 9pm.

  2. 02

    Before the Doors Open

    The delivery, the setup, the prep: the part of your day no customer sees, and why they like seeing it.

  3. 03

    How It’s Made, and What You Make It With

    Write one ordinary job as steps, and each step is a post. Your oldest tool and your materials count too.

  4. 04

    The Questions You Answer Every Day

    Write every question down in the customer’s own words, with a tally. The one you’re tired of answering goes first.

  5. 05

    The People Who Make It Happen

    You, your staff, your regulars and your suppliers, always with their yes, and the exact words to ask.

  6. 06

    When It Goes Wrong, and How You Fixed It

    Small mistakes, your own, already fixed, and how to tell which ones are posts and which ones aren’t.

  7. 07

    Outside Your Window

    The street, the weather, the season, and your whole year on one page: the week everyone around you is living through.

  8. 08

    Count Something

    How many, how long, how far: a real number from your own week, with the sum shown.

Plus a short introduction, and a closing chapter that turns the day into a one-week idea hunt and shows you how to turn a note into a post with three questions. 8 chapters, about 52 minutes to read.

A page from the book

The question you’re tired of answering is a post.

At the counter · from the book, word for word

The Questions You Answer Every Day

A case

Will it cover dark blue?

Nayeli runs a paint store. Some weeks she answers “How much paint do I need for a bedroom?” and “Will it cover dark blue?” about 20 times between them, then goes home with nothing to post. Her page was the paint company’s color of the month, the same picture any paint store could put up.

Her first reflex was to post another brochure color. Instead, she taped a sheet called “They asked” next to the register for one week and wrote down every question in the customer’s own words, with a tally mark for each repeat. Her weekend helper added his.

By Saturday the sheet had 23 different questions on it. “Will it cover dark blue?” won with 14 marks. On a slow afternoon she painted a board dark blue, let it dry, and split it into three: one coat of a pale color, two coats, and primer with two coats on top. She posted a photo of the board with the question as the first words.

That month, two customers came in holding the post up on their phones and asked for “the primer from the picture”. The other 22 questions went into her idea bank.

What to do
  1. Put a sheet of paper by the register, or a note on your phone, called “They asked”.
  2. For one week, write down every question in the customer’s words, with a tally mark each time it comes back.
  3. Ask anyone who works with you to add the questions they hear.
  4. Scroll back through a month of messages, comments and reviews, and add those too.
  5. Put the top five in your idea bank, each with the one picture that would answer it.
Lines to borrow
Instead of

“Our paint offers excellent coverage.”

Try

“Will it cover dark blue? We heard it 14 times this week. One coat, two coats, and primer with two on top. Here’s the board.”

Instead of

“Tips for choosing paint.”

Try

“How much paint for a bedroom? Here’s the sum we do at the counter.”

The one-week idea hunt checklist in the web book, on a phone, with Monday’s three jobs ticked.
The one-week idea hunt, ticked off on your phone
The prompts for every part of your day in the web book, on a phone, ready to copy.
The prompts, ready to paste into your phone

The tools

A place to keep your ideas, and a week to fill it

  • WorksheetYour idea bankA drawer for each part of your day, then the next three to post and the good ones kept for later. It saves in your browser. About 10 minutes a week.
  • ChecklistThe one-week idea huntOne small job a day for seven days, about five minutes each, to tick off on your phone. By Sunday you have a bank of ideas from your own week.
  • Fill-in templatePrompts for every part of your dayShort questions for first thing, the work, the counter, the people, the bad hour, outside and closing time, plus a few for your kind of business. Paste them into your phone note.
The idea bank worksheet in the web book, part filled in with an example.
The idea bank, with a made-up week filled in

Who it’s for

For anyone who posts for their own business

For you if

  • You run a shop, a trade, a salon, a diner, a studio or a small online store, and you post for it yourself.
  • You open the app at night, look at the empty box and think nothing happened today.
  • You think your business is too ordinary to post about.
  • You notice good ideas during the day and can’t remember them by evening.

Not for you if

  • You want someone else’s list of post ideas to copy. This book helps you find your own.
  • You want help writing the post, planning the month or filming video. Other short books on our shelf cover those.
  • You want a promise of more followers or more customers. Nobody can honestly make one.
Get the book, $12

3 tools · one week · read tonight

Your questions

Before you buy

My business really is boring. Will this work for me?

Yes. The examples in the book are a phone repair shop, a paint store, a tire shop, a pet supply store and a dry cleaner. Every business has questions, steps, people, mistakes and a street outside.

Is it a list of post ideas?

No. It has prompts for each part of the day and for your kind of business, but the ideas come from your own week, so they fit only you.

How much time does it take?

About 52 minutes to read. Then about five minutes a day for one week, and 10 minutes a week after that to sort your notes and pick the next three.

Do I have to show my face or film myself talking?

No. Hands, the work, the place, a number or a question are enough. The book is careful about other people too: always ask first.

Which apps does it work for?

Any. The ideas work on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, posts on your Google listing, an email, or a sign in the window.

Will it get me more followers or customers?

It can’t promise that, and no honest book can. It gives you something real to say every week. Writing the post and planning the month are other short books on our shelf.

Is it a PDF?

You get both. Read it online on your phone or laptop, where the worksheets save as you type, or download the PDF to keep or print. In the PDF, the worksheets have lines to fill in by pen.

Ideas Are Everywhere: How to Turn Everyday Things Into Great Content

Start Monday. By Sunday you’ll have a bank of ideas from your own week.

$12one price, no upsells
Get the book, $12

Read it online, or download the PDF to keep or print. Nothing is posted to you. No refunds: you get the whole book straight away.