Making Content Is So Hard, Man. Here's What Works.

Ifilmed the same twelve second clip nine times last Tuesday. Me, cutting a length of retired rope on the bench. Nine takes. Then I watched it back, hated my own voice, and deleted the lot.

Making content is so hard, man. Nobody tells you that bit.

They tell you the hard bit is the making. Learning the splice. Getting the stitch straight. Sourcing the rope. That stuff is fine. That stuff I love. I can sit at the bench in Aberdeen for six hours and not notice the time going.

Then I have to pick up a phone and say something interesting about it, and my brain just leaves the building.

The word that was killing every post

For months I led with one word. Recycled.

Recycled rope belt. Recycled keychain. Recycled, recycled, recycled. And people scrolled straight past it, every single time.

It took me embarrassingly long to work out why. "Recycled" is a claim. Everyone makes it. Big brands stick it on a swing tag and it means nothing to anybody.

"This rope already saved someone's life and now it's a belt" is a fact. It stops the thumb.

Same product. Same price. Completely different reaction. I changed nothing about the belt. I only changed what I said first.

What actually sells a recycled climbing rope belt

Three things, and none of them are clever.

One. Show the mess. My best performing clip all year was a shaky pan across a bench covered in offcuts, tape and a mug I forgot about. No script. No lighting. People trust a workshop that looks used. They do not trust a white studio.

Two. Tell the rope's story, not mine. A rope retires after five to ten years even when it looks perfectly fine, because the core wears where you cannot see it. That rope came off a wall somewhere in the UK. It held people. Now it is a recycled climbing rope belt made to your exact waist size. That is the whole pitch.

Three. Post the boring stuff too. Cutting. Measuring. Burning ends. The five quid rope keychains get as much love as the big pieces, because people like watching a small thing get finished.

I still hate filming. I do it anyway.

I am not going to pretend I cracked it. I still redo takes. I still cringe. Some weeks I post nothing because the bench is buried and I would rather make than film.

But here is the thing I keep coming back to. If I do not talk about the rope, the rope goes to landfill. Nylon takes hundreds of years to break down. Almost nobody is collecting it. Aberdeen is not exactly crawling with people fighting me for it.

So the awkward videos are part of the job. Every clip that lands is a few more metres of rope off a skip and onto someone's waist.

If you have ever wondered whether anyone is watching, they are. They just want the honest version.

And if you are buying for a climber and have no clue on sizing, the Forma gift card starts at a tenner and lets them pick. No awkward guessing.

Right. Bench is calling. I have got about forty metres to get through before Thursday.

Stay classy and remember,
Make Waste Useful.

George