Hey team,
We just wrapped up our second Small Creator office hours. It was fun answering your questions about putting together a YouTube starter kit, how to not overthink an essay, and if itâs important to have more than one writing buddy.
Weâll be coming back with office hours on Friday 9th Jan at 8AM GMT. Itâs completely free and weâre planning on hosting fortnightly. You can sign up here đ
Speaking of creating ...
Ever felt like âraising your standardsâ was the very thing that stalled your project?
Thatâs what happened to Bhav Sharma with her podcast. She had nine episodes recorded for season two - ready to go - but decided she wanted to add a polished, narrated intro to each one. That small âquality upgradeâ added just enough friction to stall the whole thing. The episodes never went out.
Becky Isjwara had been there too. Early in her writing journey, every newsletter issue went through five rounds of edits, with feedback from other writer friends. But when she started a much busier new job, she knew that process wasnât sustainable.
đĄ Why Quantity Wins Early On
When we start something new, itâs tempting to raise the bar immediately. We want every post, video, or episode to be âworth it.â
But for us small creators, raising the quality bar too soon slows output, kills momentum, and sometimes stops the project altogether.
Quantity isnât âsloppy work.â Itâs deliberately giving yourself enough reps to improve without burning out.
Reps matter more than results because:
You get better, faster - skills compound when you publish often.
You dodge perfectionism - if thereâs another piece next week, you canât overthink this one.
You give luck more chances - the more you post, the higher the odds something lands.
đ ď¸ How to Keep the Bar Low (and Still Improve)
Hereâs the process weâve been using and whatâs worked for us when the temptation to over-polish creeps in.
In fact, weâre going to use our own podcast as an example (very original, we know).
1. Picked Our Own Cadence
Weekly, fortnightly, monthly - the ârightâ frequency is the one we can sustain without resentment. Given timezones, work, and just general life chaos, we chose to put episodes out monthly.
2. Accept the First 10 Will Suck
Our episodes donât sound like the polished shows we love. Theyâre too rambly, the thumbnails arenât great, and weâve missed deadlines. Thatâs fine. We treat it as the tutorial level before the real game begins.
3. Simplify Your Workflow
Every extra step is a chance to procrastinate. Templates, batching, and stripped-back processes help. If making a fancy thumbnail takes too long, we opt for a simpler one.
4. Lower the Bar, Then Add Quality Later
Once the habitâs locked in, add one upgrade at a time.
Example: Beckyâs recording setup was nowhere near Bhavâs at first. Instead of overhauling everything at once, we took it step by step:
USB-C cable â HDMI cable â cooling fan for the dying ZV-E10 â dummy battery. We couldâve pre-ordered everything in one go, but taking it slowly kept us moving.
đ What Weâve Noticed So Far
Five episodes in, weâve noticed:
Momentum builds faster when the bar is low.
Progress is easier when we focus on one improvement at a time.
More people now know we have a podcast - which matters more than one âperfectâ episode.
Do we still hear our inner critics? Every episode, yes. We worry itâs too rambly, too long, not valuable enough.
But then we remember: with just a handful of listeners (hi, all five of you đ), we have more freedom to experiment than if we had 100.
đ§ A Final Thought
Lowering the bar isnât about ditching quality. Itâs about sequencing.
Start with quantity to build the muscle. Layer in quality to level up.
Place the bar on the ground. Step over it. Raise it later.
đŹ Your Turn
Whatâs one way you could lower the bar on your next creative project so it actually ships?
Hit reply - weâd love to hear it.
Bhav & Becky đ
đď¸ Last week on the Small Creator Big World pod
In our first solo pod, Becky dives into how the attention economy has creeped into journalism, and why the most future-proof reporters will be the ones that think like content creators. Check it out here đ
Proud to be 1 of 5 very loyal listeners đ but also this standards thing is so true, canât let overthinking and perfectionism get in the way of my writing â not in 2026!