Cutting These Bad Habits Transformed My Business


Hi Reader,

For years, I struggled with bad habits.

Habits like staying up at night binging Netflix, scoffing Dairy Milk chocolate, and doom-scrolling on Twitter.

One likes drinking too much Guinness at the weekend and sleeping in late with a hangover the next morning.

Some of my personal bad habits were holding me back.

I could tell you what I did to fix them, but I don’t write about personal development. You’ve got James Clear if you want to read about turning yourself into a jacked early-morning lark.

So, instead, let me tell you about my bad business habits, the ones that drained my bank balance and sucked up my energy levels.

I wrote hundreds of SEO-optimised articles for our Google overlords for a few years because I wanted more traffic. Who needs to create a product if they’ve traffic, right?

I spent thousands monthly on a team of freelance writers and editors because I believed it would grow my business. Freelancers come and go… and you’ll pay for it

I gave away my best tutorials, explainers, and round-ups… because random netizens said, “Thank you”. Random people who will never buy.

I recorded over-produced Reels for Instagram because I wanted to go viral. Virality doesn’t equate to more money in the bank account.

I spent hours coaching beginners at bargain basement prices because they asked for help. Beginners take up far more time than any other type of client.

A business coach called me out on my bad habits. “You’ll never grow your business if you keep working like that,” he said.

So, like a junkie hitting rock bottom, I detox-d my business.

It didn’t happen overnight, but I quit as many bad business habits as possible.

And ye-Gods, getting off the content production line was a massive release.

Sure, I’ll miss the dopamine rush of going viral, but my content strategy these days attracts my ideal clients… and they’ve more money to spend than beginners.

With all those extra hours in my week, I took up a few new business habits. Healthier ones… the equivalent of running and lifting three or four times a week.

Now, I write and send a daily newsletter because I like practicing in public, and it engages my ideal clients.

I reuse my newsletter as content for my socials because it only takes 10 more minutes.

I create content using insights (instead of value) because it attracts my ideal clients. I can help them more… and in less time.

I’ve one hybrid offer because it’s much easier to sell.

I coach business owners who want to add an extra $10k to their bottom line because they’re ready to invest in their business. Reply “HABITS” if that’s you.

Write on,
Bryan Collins

Grammarly is running a back-to-school offer for September. You can claim 50% off any Grammarly plan.

I've partnered with Grammarly as it's a tool I use for my business. I use this app daily for grammar checking, plagiarism checkers, AI generation, and more.

Claim your 50% discount

Bryan Collins's newsletter

Do you want to grow a profitable content business? If so, join 25,000 readers. I share daily insights about personal brand building, writing online and growing a profitable business. It's for creators, coaches and business owners.

Read more from Bryan Collins's newsletter
woman wearing coat

Hi Reader, In 1990, Canadian model Linda Evangelista told Vogue, “We don’t wake up for less than 10,000 dollars a day.” Today, supermodels earn over $20,000 per show but here’s the thing: You gotta know your number. What’s your time worth? Conversion Kate knows her number. She’s a new coach. Her number is $150 dollars for a 60-minute call with her clients. But she really wants to charge 500 dollars per call. Some of Conversion Kate’s jobs include finding clients, customer research and writing...

A man laying in a hammock on a patio

Hi Reader, I stopped doing a few things this year. I bought into the myth of hustle culture. So, I started over-engineering my business. An example? I segmented my email list for a few years. I wrote five and seven-day sequences for different parts of my list. My email marketing software sent groups of subscribers a specific sequence depending on where they opted in. I spent hours writing and testing content in these sequences. After a few months, these sequences dated. If I changed my offer,...

A person holding a smart phone with social media on the screen

Hi Reader, Early last year, I hired a video coach. He’d a big viral account over on Insta. Thousands of followers and millions of views. I signed up for a three-month contract that cost $6k. Not cheap, but he helped me with a short-form content strategy for a few months. He taught me about great hooks, how to script the first 3 seconds of a video and retention curves. I followed his advice, and some of my videos went viral. The coach knew his stuff, and he delivered on his big promise but…...