making a masterpiece of the leftovers

I grew up with a single mom, as one of three kids. And one of the things my mom was REALLY good at was stretching every dollar well beyond its breaking point.

That meant a lot of buying in bulk, grabbing the clearance meat and throwing it in the freezer, and a LOT of easy throw-it-in-the-slow-cooker type meals.

Which ALSO meant a metric ton of leftovers – which is not a favorite for a lot of folks.

But I personally LOVE leftovers… because mom was also brilliant at reimagining and transforming them into new meals.

That gigantic pork roast might be sliced and served with mashed potatoes the first night.

The next night, it’d be shredded and sauteed in spices for tacos.

Then it’d be rough chopped and scrambled with eggs and cubed potatoes for breakfast.

And as a result, I’m probably one of the few people on the planet (or at least in the States, where we’re spoiled and incredibly fortunate) who looks forward to leftovers.

They’re an opportunity to either eat something tasty again, without having to cook it again… or they’re an opportunity to be reinvented into something else equally (if not more) delicious.

That’s not entirely dissimilar to how I view business. 

If you’ve been in business for awhile and have a catalog of products, or have been consistently putting out content (or both!), my friend… get ready to feast.

Because if you haven’t looked at that catalog in awhile, you’re literally sitting on a goldmine… and the reason is simple: different things are tasty to different people.

Maybe you have a high-ticket online course that includes coaching – but some of that course could easily be completed by someone motivated. So out of that same material, you could create (and sell): 

• a 5-day mini challenge
• a worksheet/exercise bundle
• a package of standalone audio or video downloads that teaches parts of your course

I can think of half a dozen more ways to repackage and repurpose that content, but what I shared above is enough to get you started.

And I know some folks feel squeamish about selling the same info in multiple ways. I’ve heard the term “money grab” thrown around.

To those people I say… cool, you do you. I’ll be over here giving my tribe what they want.

I see it as providing options. Some people don’t WANT the full course and the coaching. But they’d happily pay for a time-limited challenge or some videos.

Some people want all the extra coaching and hand-holding because they know they’re not likely to do it on their own, or they feel like they can’t do it alone.

With all my clients, I try to keep those “leftover” pieces of content in mind these days. Especially since there are so many different learning styles and ways to consume/implement information.

Sometimes you’ve got many of those different learning styles in your audience – and they’re just waiting for you to create options that work for them. If you don’t, they can find someone who will.

So… maybe it’s time to learn to love the leftovers.