Food Processing

Food Processing

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Food Processing
Food Processing
Healthy Habits for Growth
Recipe Workshop

Healthy Habits for Growth

Long game, regular check-ins

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carla lalli music
Mar 28, 2024
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Food Processing
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Healthy Habits for Growth
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Hello! Let’s try something new.


In today’s post:

  • My unconvincing attempt to convince you (I mean, me) that I have my priorities in order

  • How, where, and when to promote your work

  • Tips for creating momentum and engagement from

    Rachel Karten

  • Insights on intention and transparency from Sophia Roe and Jess Damuck


How is it Thursday???? I am so delinquent!

You know how reasons and excuses can really blur together? Well, in an effort to offer context (???), this is what my week entailed:

Sunday: Gym + panel prep

Monday: multiple idea pitches due + panel + parenting

Tuesday: recipe development all day for next round of videos + parenting

Wednesday: typing up recipes and then frantically pulling sh*t together to drive up to CT with Cosmo to spend the Easter weekend with my folks. A 2 1/2 hour drive took 4 hours 🤪. (I rented an electric car that I’m thinking about leasing and am getting the feel for it. Currently sitting in the town pizza place, because they have 4 EV chargers in the parking lot.)

Thursday: slept in, then sent out another pitch that I should have sent on Monday! And here we are.

The fact that I didn’t post here sooner is wrapped up in there somewhere—but not because I was too busy. The true reason is that other tasks took precedence—on those, I was answerable to outside entities and their deadlines. I am highly outside-deadline-motivated, but over time I’ve become worse and worse and holding myself to self-imposed internal deadlines. In practice, this means, I have an easier time letting myself down than disappointing others. I had a video come out yesterday—who knew? Did not promote it. It’s Easter weekend, a big cooking weekend—I should have bundled recipe content and sent it out here and on IG. Did I do it? Not … yet? That said, I think I took two days off the entire month of March.

Promoting the work I have already done is also work. And while I love making videos, I don’t love ringing my own bell week after week. (There’s only so much fire this Leo can stoke.) I know it’s important to be consistent. When I fail to amplify the content I worked so hard to create, I feel like I’m failing, and that creates a negative feedback loop. Rather than celebrating a new recipe release, I often have anxiety about not following through. I am working on this!

I like this giant Post-It with the week at a glance, which I’ve started using on Sundays to set priorities for the coming week. When I’m done, I stick it to the fridge and enjoy crossing things out that I accomplish during the week!

I’ve tried many tools and techniques to tighten my grip. Content calendars, Google calendars with reminders, digital checklists, Notes app, hand-written notes, Post-It notes, week-at-a-glance planners, and truly the best intentions. Baby Carla couldn’t sleep if she left work undone. Current-day Carla goes to sleep nightly with a giant floating bubble above her head filled with The Stuffs. It’s a jimble-jamble-scrimble-scramble up there.

Rachel Karten publishes on schedule and at a very high level every week. I admire her so much for that. She juggles content calendars for big brands. She is always looking ahead but she is also always nailing the Right Now. I asked her what daily and weekly habits creators should practice for growth and engagement. Her multi-pronged advice provides a strategic road map for all of us.

  1. Focus on discovery-oriented platforms, namely TikTok. Their algorithm is powerful and can launch a creator from obscurity to celebrity in a matter of months. We’re not worried about it getting banned.

  2. Make content for the platform you choose, as often as possible. Is that 2x/week? Once a week? Choose what is sustainable for you, and stick to it. This content should ideally be created specifically for the platform as opposed to being repurposed content from somewhere else, ie a cutdown of a longer video (a lot of my short posts are taken from longform videos; this isn’t optimal!). Show up with a post, a story, a Tiktok that reinforces what your brand is about. Is it service? Is it entertainment? Is it advice? Whatever it is, dip in.

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