70: My Summer Bare Minimum Content Plan (& Why Maintenance Mode IS a Strategy)

If you've been staring down July thinking you have two choices: keep the exact same pace you've been keeping all year, or go completely dark and hope your audience forgives you in September, this episode is for you.

You don't have to choose between burning out and disappearing. There's a middle ground, and I call it maintenance mode. It's where you stay visible, keep nurturing your people, and maintain some momentum without pretending you have the same capacity in July as in October. Because you don't. And honestly, neither do I.

In this episode of The Creative Bodega, I'm walking you through my actual summer content rhythm: what I keep, what I simplify, and how I use one podcast episode as my content anchor to feed everything else without starting from scratch every week.

Check out the full show notes for this episode HERE.

Things I cover inside this episode:

• Why "maintenance mode" is a real strategy, not a cop-out, and what it actually looks like in practice
• My summer content rhythm: podcast, newsletter, Instagram, and one blog post, all from one core piece of content
• How I use my podcast as a content anchor to feed everything else without reinventing the wheel each week
• Why summer is the perfect time to lean on content that already worked, and how to find it fast
• The backend cleanup I do in slower seasons: website, funnels, bios, and automations that have been sitting in the junk drawer
• How I'm using this summer to prepare for round two of The Messaging Edit in September without running hot all summer
• What I've learned about taking real time off, including why my Coven members basically threatened to boycott my calls if I tried to host them from vacation

Resources & Links mentioned in the episode:

• Em's Content Trifecta podcast episode 16 (referenced as the full system breakdown for repurposing)
• Em's Analytics Tracker ($9, mentioned as the tool for identifying top-performing content to repurpose)
• The Messaging Edit Fall '26 waitlist (round two, September, limited to 30 women)

Connect with me:
🫶🏼 Follow me on Instagram for daily insights
🫶🏼 Join my 321 Create Newsletter for weekly content tips 
🫶🏼 Check out The Content Coven Membership

Be sure to hit "Subscribe" or "Follow" so you never miss an episode! 

Transcript

Speaker 0:00

If it was helpful, if it connected, if it created conversion, why would you bury it forever, right? Bring it back. Give it a new look. Give it a new hook. Update the example. Make it shorter. Turn it into a story. Send it to your email list. Do all the things, especially in the summer, because summer is not the time to prove that you can reinvent the wheel. Summer is a time to make the wheel a little easier to roll, okay? Welcome to the Creative Bodega Podcast. I'm M Connors, Instagram content strategist, one of 43 Canva Verified Experts worldwide, and a mom of two who is not on Instagram for fun. I'm there to market my business, grow my email list, and get the heck off my phone, and that's exactly what I teach. You can expect simple content strategy, visual systems, and Instagram-to-email tactics that actually work without taking over your life. Let's get into it Hello, hello. Today I'm sharing my summer bare minimum content plan and how I'm keeping my business moving without pretending that I have the same capacity in July that I have in October. Because I don't know about you, but I do not. And I also don't know about you, but summer in my house is just, like, a completely different animal. Like, the kids are home more, the routine is a lot looser, we've got vacations, camps, my kids are asking for food every five seconds, you know, wet bathing suits and towels on the floor. Honestly, everyone's going in 500 different directions, and I'm, like, trying to answer emails while also being like, "Wait, did you get your sunscreen on before you left the house?" Like... So today's episode is for the solopreneur who wants to stay visible in the summer, but also doesn't want to run her business like she's got 35 quiet hours a week, like maybe I used to. And I also don't know about you, but I actually struggle with working in pockets of time. I'm either, like, all in and focused, or my kids are around and home and I'm not. Like, it's, it's really hard for me. But Maybe your kids are home, or maybe you don't even have kids, and everything is just moving a little slower because it's summer here in the United States. Maybe you mentally need a break. Maybe you're looking at July and part of August and thinking, "I don't want to disappear, but I also don't want to be in full-on launch mode, or content mode, or full-on everything mode," like usual, right? And same. Same, same, same. I actually love taking a little step back from my business in July and part of August. I honestly do, and it helps me go into fall feeling really revived and energized. And fall always feels like a new year to me. I know January is technically the new year, but September vibes for me is, like, a real reset in my brain with new schedules and new routines, and the kids go back to school, and everything just kind of feels like it goes back in order. It's funny, like, I love summer and the relaxed feel of it, but I also really love when school comes and everything kind of falls back into a rhythm. So, you know, there's, there's positive and negatives in both. But that only happens if I actually let summer be summer. So I wanna talk about today how I create what I call, like, my summer bare minimum, and not a bare minimum in a lazy way at all. Bare minimum in what actually needs to happen for this business to keep breathing while I also get to be a human being in the summer with my kids kind of way. So there is a difference, and I think this is where so many solopreneurs get stuck. We think our options are either keep up the exact same pace we've been keeping all year or disappear completely off the face of the earth and then feel super guilty about it. I don't really want either of those. I don't want to ghost my audience, and I won't ghost my audience, and I also don't want to go silent and come back in September like, "Hey, guys. I know I've been gone for a while. Like, remember me? Oh, and I'm trying to launch something, so trust me. You know, maybe I didn't show up for two months in the summer, but I'll totally show up for you in my live program." Like, you know what I mean? I would very much hesitate to buy something from somebody who disappears off the face of the earth of both Instagram and email. I'm sorry. That's just how I feel. The trust wouldn't really be there. But I also really don't want to spend my entire summer trying to create brand-new content from scratch, launching anything, rebuilding every single thing in my business and then feeling shocked when I'm feeling totally fried on August 10th, okay? So there is a middle ground, and it is maintenance mode. That is the whole point of this episode. Maintenance mode is where you're still visible, you're showing up, you're nurturing your people, you're still keeping some momentum, but you're not trying to operate at your highest capacity. You're choosing the most important things, maybe even simplifying them, and letting the rest wait. And I actually think that is one of the healthiest skills that you can build as a solopreneur because your business is not going to look the same in every season. It just isn't. There's gonna be seasons where you're launching and really going after it, seasons where you're creating a lot, seasons where you are maybe really deep in client work or one-on-one work, seasons where your kids just need more from you, and seasons where your energy is lower, okay? For me, those lower seasons when it comes to energy are summer and holidays, December specifically. And it, it's, uh, you know, there's nothing wrong with that. It, it means you're not a robot, so congratulations. So let's actually get into what my summer bare minimum actually looks like. And listen, when I say bare minimum, it may still sound like a lot at first, but, uh, I'm gonna explain why it doesn't feel as heavy as it sounds because I've built this into a system, like a fully functioning system. My summer content rhythm is I will continue with my weekly podcast. I might try a summer series this year. I might do shorter bite-size podcasts for, I don't know, four to six episodes and just see what that feels like. I've never done it before, but I've listened to somebody who has, and I kinda liked it. They were just, like, more bite-size episodes, so less time for me recording-wise, which again, just saving time. I will continue with my weekly newsletter. I will post on Instagram four to five times a week, and I will bust out one blog post. Now, I know that may not sound like a bare minimum to everyone. You may be listening and be like, "Em, ugh, that sounds like a full-time job." But the reason it works for me is because it all starts with one thing. That's the podcast script. That is my content anchor. I am not sitting down and creating a podcast, then totally writing a completely separate newsletter that has nothing to do with that, and then totally making a different Instagram plan, and then writing a totally separate blog post. Absolutely not. No, no, no, no, no. That would make me wanna throw my laptop out the window. I feel like I say that in every episode, but it's kinda my line. Everything starts with my podcast. The podcast becomes the big idea for the week. It is what I would call my content rock, and then that big idea becomes the newsletter It becomes many of my Instagram posts for the week, and it becomes my blog post. So I'm not creating four completely different things. I'm creating one core piece of content and then letting that feed all of the rest of my content pieces, like my pebbles, right? So let's think of it as my podcast episode is my big rock, and then all the rest of it are my pebbles, and that's my system. And this is one of the reasons why I talk so much about sustainable content systems, because when you don't have a system, every single piece of content and platform is gonna feel like a separate job And that's really overwhelming, and that leads to burnout really quickly. But when you have this core content system, it becomes more like a little content ecosystem, and everything's connected, and everything feeds the next thing. So instead of asking, "What am I gonna post today?" Every single morning I'm asking, "What's the one main message I wanna share this week based on that week's podcast episode?" And that's a very different question, and it is a much calmer question. And by the way, with my podcast episodes each week, I'm rotating through my four content pillars, okay? So, like, it's all already kind of dictated, if that makes sense, and that reduces my decision fatigue, oh my God, like so, so, so, so much. So for example, this episode is about my summer bare minimum, okay? So from this one topic, I will write my newsletter on the week that this episode comes out about how I'm planning my summer content rhythm. I will then create a carousel on what to repurpose before you take a step back this summer, or how to repurpose your content. And I'll turn this one episode into a blog post for people who want the written-out version. So same idea, different containers, and that's how I keep showing up without making content feel like an absolute full-time job. And I'll make sure to link the episode where I break down this full process in the show notes, because I've talked about this b- before in a lot more detail in another episode called My Content Trifecta. So if you're someone who wants to hear more about repurposing, um, but you immediately think, "But how do I do that?" I think that episode is gonna help a lot. Now, the second piece of my summer bare minimum is that I rely heavily on content that I already have made. This is not a season where I'm trying to be the most original girl on the internet, okay? I am not sitting at my desk in July being like, "What has no one ever said before?" That's just not the energy I have in the summer. Summer's when I want to be smart about using what I've already created and what already exists. So I look back at content that has worked. I look at posts that got really good engagement. I look at topics people responded to. I look at emails that got replies, and I look at podcast episodes that had strong downloads. I look at what actually moved people, and then I reuse those ideas. In fact, sitting here even saying this out loud right now, I'm like, "Why don't you do a summer series 10 episodes long, like, relating to your most downloaded podcast episodes of all time?" You know, I've been doing this for It'll be almost a year and a half this summer, so I could look at my top 10 episodes and turn them into more bite-size actionable podcast episodes, but based on my top 10. What a great idea. I'll do like a top 10 countdown, right? So not always word for word, of course, but something pretty close, 'cause you have to remember that your audience is not sitting there with a clipboard tracking every single sentence you've ever posted, my friend. You're giving yourself too much credit if you think that people are paying that close of attention to you. People are busy. A lot of them missed it the first time. E- even if they did see it, I've had people tell me, "I needed this reminder. I saw this post originally, and I did not take action on it. I'm so glad you're posting about it again." I'm telling you, that's how people feel. And this is where my analytic tracker becomes your best friend. If you don't have this bad boy, it is $9. Grab it in the show notes. And I'm gonna keep this general because I don't wanna turn this into a metrics episode, but I want you to understand the role that this thing plays. Your analytic tracker helps you make decisions when your brain feels fried. Again, I am all about avoiding decision fatigue, and decision fatigue for me in the summer is a real thing I don't want to be overthinking my content in July. I don't want to be guessing what to repost. I don't want to scroll my own feed and my analytics inside Instagram for 45 minutes. I want to be able to look at what has already worked and say, "Awesome, this topic clearly resonated. How can I bring this back in a fresh way?" Maybe I turn an old carousel into a reel. Maybe I just reuse that original carousel in the first place, maybe update the graphic a little bit or update the colors. Maybe I take a newsletter that got a lot of replies and turn it into a podcast episode. Maybe I take a podcast episode, and I pull three Instagram posts out of it. Okay? That's repurposing. It's not just copying and pasting old content, which listen, no shame in my game, I do that as well, but it's also respecting your best ideas enough to let them keep working. I think we're so quick to move on from our own content and think we need to post all this original stuff 24/7, but it's just not true. We post something once, and we acted like it's expired, like, "Check off the list. I talked about it. Gotta move on." Not at all. If it was helpful, if it connected, if it created conversion, why would you bury it forever, right? Bring it back, give it a new look, give it a new hook, update the example, make it shorter, turn it into a story, send it to your email list. Do all the things, especially in the summer, because summer is not the time to prove that you can reinvent the wheel. Summer is a time to make the wheel a little easier to roll. Okay? Now, the third thing I'm doing this summer is I'm using the slower energy to clean up some of my backend things that I've let go. And I want to say this really clearly because I think this is so normal for solopreneurs. You are going to have backend things in your business that get so neglected Oh my God, like my website needs updates so badly I can't even talk about it, or maybe your bio needs a cleanup, or maybe your LinkedIn bio needs a cleanup, or your freebies need a second look, or your funnels that are connected to your freebies need another look, or maybe you have automations that are broken. This is normal. It does not mean you're unprofessional. It means that you're one person running your whole business. There are only so many hours in the week, and when you're serving clients or students or members and creating content and showing up and answering DMs and writing all the things and also living your actual life, some things are gonna sit in the junk drawer, okay? And that's just how it goes. So this summer, one of the things I'm doing is I'm gonna revamp my website. Not 'cause I wanna spend my summer glued to a website project, but because it feels like the right kind of work for this season. It's a little quieter, it's back end, it's not as performative, it does not require me to be on. It also doesn't require me to do it in a day, right? This is something I can work on in my own time. I'm also gonna go through things like my LinkedIn bio, um, check to make sure things are current, making sure I'm sending people to the right places. I'm actually having somebody rewrite one of my funnels right now, and then I'd like to take a look at a- another one once I've got that one checked off my list. Because those little things matter. They're not flashy. No one's gonna DM you and be like, "Wow, your LinkedIn bio looks so much cleaner." Although honestly, I'd love that if somebody said that to me, because that is my love language. But they matter because they create less friction, and less friction matters, right? Because we can get someone to say yes a lot faster if there is less friction So if somebody hears this episode and wants to join the waitlist for The Messaging Edit, I want that to be easy. If somebody lands on my Instagram and wants to find a free resource, I want that to be easy. If somebody goes to my website and they wanna understand what I do or how to get started, I want that to be easy. And to be really, really honest with you guys, I don't feel like that's easy right now. So summer is a really good time to ask yourself, "Where are people getting stuck? What needs to be updated? What have I been ignoring because it's not urgent?" I don't know about you, I tackle the urgent stuff first all the time, and then that other stuff just sits on the back burner. So I want you to think about this for your business. Your summer bare minimum might not only be about content. It might be about cleaning up parts of your business that support your content, because sometimes the content's working, but the back end is really messy, okay? So as you plan your summer, I want you to think about one small back-end refresh that you can do. Just one, okay? By the way, the birds are chirping outside my window, but it's so nice out and I can't stand having the windows closed, so if you hear them, and my editor, you know, didn't get them out, just enjoy it. Enjoy those robins and cardinals chirping to each other outside my window. That's summer energy, right? So the other reason I'm using summer this way is because I really am gearing up for The Messaging Edit. The Messaging Edit is my live five-week program. Round two is happening this September. It is gonna be limited to 30 women, and I am so excited to bring it back because the original 30, holy results did they get. Um, but I also know that if I want September to feel strong, I can't spend July pretending I have unlimited capacity, right? So I need to prepare in a way that feels steady. So part of my summer is gonna be getting ready for that, thinking through what I need to adjust, uh, what worked from the first round, really looking at feedback from my original 30 students, and tightening up the overall experience, making sure the messaging is super clear. And this is another reason why I think summer maintenance mode is so useful. I'm not just coasting, right? I'm creating space for better decisions. There is a huge difference between preparing from a regulated place and preparing from a, "Oh, shit, I've got three days and everything is on fire," kind of place. Okay? I've done both, trust me, and the regulated place is just so much more beautiful. Okay? Now, I also wanna talk about taking some real time off, because this is the part that still gets me sometimes, I'm not gonna lie. Inside the Content Coven, I host weekly calls every single Wednesday, and during my family vacations, I take those calls off. This used to stress me out a lot. If I'm being honest, like, honestly, it still stresses me out, but there's a part of me that wants to overdeliver all the time. I don't want anyone to feel like they're missing out or, oh, they paid for this and I'm not delivering, right? But my members are so insanely supportive of me, like almost aggressively supportive. They have basically threatened to boycott my calls if I try to host them from vacation. I'm not even kidding. Okay? First of all, rude, but second of all, how deeply appreciated are they, like, from me, right? Third, it's such a good reminder that sometimes expectations we're stressing over are not even coming from our people. They're coming from us. I am the queen of this. My members are not asking me to take calls from my vacation. They are not asking me to be available every single week. In fact, they've said, "I actually appreciate when you take a week off, because it actually gives me that Wednesday off to have a little more time for my business." Okay? So that is a reminder that I have to give myself. Maybe you need to too. You're allowed to set your business up in a way that supports your life. That's why we started our businesses, honestly, for the most part You don't need to overexplain it. You don't need to apologize. You just say, "Hey, here's the summer schedule. We're gonna take a couple calls off, 'cause I'm gonna be with my family. Go enjoy your time." And that's enough, and your business is going to survive when you're on vacation, I promise you. So my friend, you are not doing something wrong by slowing down in a season where your life requires more from you. You are allowed to build a business with seasons. I talk about that a lot. Mine is so built on seasons, and that's what works for me. Okay? As for me, I'll be over here keeping my summer rhythm simple, using my podcast as my anchor, repurposing what's already worked, cleaning up my website, checking the backend bits that need love, taking my little family on vacations, and gearing up for the messaging edit round two in September. And if the messaging edit is something you've had your eye on, make sure you join the wait list in the show notes. Round two, again, is limited to 30 women. We're diving into your messaging, your content, your offer language, and how to make what you do so much clearer to the people who need it. And if what you're craving right now is more ongoing support with your content systems or your consistency or keeping your visibility going without making yourself crazy, that's actually exactly what kind of thing we're doing inside the Content Coven. But for today, let's start with your summer bare minimum. Write it down, make it realistic. Let it be lighter than your usual pace, and please, for the love of all things summer, do not host any calls from your vacation. I'll be telling myself the same thing. I'll see you next week Thanks so much for hanging out with me on The Creative Bodega Podcast. If you loved this episode, please be sure to share it with a fellow solopreneur who could use a little content creation inspiration. And hey, don't forget to check out the show notes for any resources I mentioned on the episode to help you create content that feels easy and actually gets you results. If you want even more Canva and content tips, head over to my website, thecreativebodega.com or find me on Instagram under the same name. Until next time, keep creating, keep showing up, and most importantly, try and have a little fun with your content. I'll see you on the next episode