Thinking in Public: A 52-Week Content Plan for Consultants

Why publish your thinking

Buyers no longer come to you to find out what you know; they can find generic answers anywhere. They come to find out how you think and whether you are safe to trust. Publishing your reasoning lets them check that, privately, at their own pace. That is the idea behind thinking in public, part of the "Rigor" pillar in the PROOF framework.

It also forces you to sharpen your views, which improves your client work. See the wider strategy in how to build thought leadership.

The weekly note format

Keep every piece to 300 to 600 words with the same structure. A fixed format removes the blank-page problem:

1. The situation: a real pattern you saw this week, anonymised.
2. What people usually do: the common approach.
3. Why it fails: the mechanism, not just the result.
4. What to do instead: the practical alternative.
5. One question: invites replies and starts conversations.

Twelve recurring themes (use each about four times a year)

1. A mistake I keep seeing.
2. A decision I made for a client and why.
3. A question clients ask that has a surprising answer.
4. What the AI answer misses on this topic.
5. A number I track and what it tells me.
6. A tool or checklist I use, shared openly.
7. A case from the field (anonymised).
8. Something I changed my mind about.
9. A local or industry-specific rule that matters.
10. A myth in my field.
11. A comparison of two options, with my pick.
12. What I would do first in the first ninety days.

Your weekly routine (about two hours)

• Monday, 20 minutes: capture the week's client observations in a notes file.
• Wednesday, 60 minutes: pick one, write it in the format above.
• Thursday, 20 minutes: edit, cut a third, publish.
• Friday, 20 minutes: reply to every comment and email it prompts. Follow up with one person personally.

Publishing where your buyers already are matters more than the platform. Post it on your site or newsletter first, then share it in the places your clients read.

Using AI without becoming shallow

AI is useful for tidying grammar, suggesting headings and checking your logic. It is a poor source of the experience that makes a note worth reading. If a paragraph could have been written by someone who has never worked with a client, replace it with your own example. Depth is the point.

Measure what matters

Do not obsess over likes. Track:

• Prospects who mention a specific note in a conversation.
• Introductions triggered by your writing.
• Whether first calls start warmer than before.

These are the signs that your public thinking is working. Combine it with referral habits and see how to get clients as a consultant for the full picture. Get the complete 52-week content map, a tool in the book, from the book page.

Fifty-two sample topics by quarter

If the blank page is your obstacle, use this list as a starting point. Adapt each prompt to your niche. The order follows a natural arc: diagnosing problems, showing your method, proving results and looking ahead.

Quarter 1: the problems you see

1. The most common mistake in my field.
2. A symptom that clients think is the problem, but is not.
3. Why the obvious fix often fails.
4. Three questions I ask before I recommend anything.
5. A myth I hear every month.
6. What changed in my market this year.
7. A decision most clients make too early.
8. A decision most clients make too late.
9. What the AI answer to my most common client question gets wrong.
10. What a good first month looks like.
11. A warning sign I check for first.
12. What I would not automate.
13. A short story of a project that went wrong and what I learned.

Quarter 2: how I work

1. My first-week checklist for a new client.
2. How I decide between two options.
3. How I size the cost of a problem.
4. A tool I use every week and why.
5. How I run a diagnostic.
6. What I put in a written recommendation.
7. How I handle disagreement with a client.
8. How I keep projects from drifting.
9. My rule for saying no.
10. How I use AI in my work, and where I stop.
11. What I ask at the end of every project.
12. A template I give away.
13. What I would do first in the first ninety days.

Quarter 3: proof and results

1. A client outcome and how we got there.
2. Before and after: a real process change.
3. What clients say surprised them most.
4. A number I track and what it taught me.
5. What I got wrong last year.
6. A pattern across ten projects.
7. Where my advice does not apply.
8. What a fair price looks like for this kind of work and why.
9. How to tell whether a provider is a vendor or an adviser.
10. A mini case comparison: two clients, same problem, different results.
11. What I learned from a client who left.
12. What good clients do differently.
13. The most valuable question a client ever asked me.

Quarter 4: the bigger picture

1. Where my field is heading in the next two years.
2. What AI will change and what it will not.
3. Skills I think matter more now.
4. A book or idea that changed how I work.
5. A conversation with another practitioner.
6. A local or regional factor others miss.
7. A prediction I will check next year.
8. What I would tell someone starting in this field.
9. A year-in-review of lessons.
10. A checklist for planning next year.
11. What I am working on now.
12. A thank-you to clients and partners, with what I learned.
13. A short guide to working with me.

Use them as prompts, not as a rigid schedule. If a real client situation gives you a better topic this week, write that instead.

How to turn one note into several assets

Each weekly note can feed more than one channel with little extra effort:

• The note itself on your site or newsletter.
• A short post on the network where buyers read, linking to the full note.
• A talking point for your next sales conversation or networking event.
• A section in a longer guide, assembled quarterly from related notes.
• A slide or two for a workshop or talk.
• An answer in a Q&A when someone in your community asks a related question.

After a year you will have fifty-two building blocks that make it easy to produce a talk, a guide or even a book chapter.

Editing checklist before you publish

Run each note through these checks:

1. Is the first sentence specific? Cut warm-up paragraphs.
2. Is there one clear idea? If there are three, split into three notes.
3. Is there an example? A concrete case is worth more than a paragraph of principle.
4. Would a client understand it? Replace jargon with plain words.
5. Does it lead somewhere? End with a question, a tool or a next step.
6. Have I removed anything confidential? Anonymise details and get permission where needed.
7. Have I checked facts and numbers? Do not publish claims you cannot support.

Connecting your notes to sales and your email list

Public thinking works best when readers can take a next step. Add one of these to every note:

• A link to the free three-minute Vendor-or-Authority Audit for readers who want to see where they stand.
• An invitation to get the free sample chapters, which also joins them to your list.
• A link to a related guide, such as how to get clients as a consultant.
• Occasionally, a clear pointer to the book or your diagnostic offer.

Vary the call to action so it does not feel repetitive, and never push a sale in every note. The habit of giving value first is what makes the occasional offer welcome.

Handling the hard weeks

Some weeks you will be busy, uninspired or worried that your ideas are ordinary. Options:

• Publish a shorter note. A 200-word observation counts.
• Repurpose an old note with a new example.
• Answer a client question you received this week.
• Batch ahead. Write two notes on a quiet day and schedule them.
• Skip with a plan. If you must skip a week, note it and return the next. Do not let one gap become three months.

Making AI a helper, not the author

Use AI to challenge and tidy your ideas:

• Ask it to point out unclear sentences in your draft.
• Ask what a sceptical client would object to.
• Ask it to suggest a clearer heading or to shorten a paragraph.

Do not let it invent examples or experiences. The value of your notes is that they come from real practice. Every note should include something an AI could not know: your observation, your data or your decision.

If you want the full 52-week content map as a ready-to-use worksheet, with prompts and a tracking sheet, it is the Chapter 6 tool in the book. For the strategy behind it, read how to build thought leadership.