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I'm 2 weeks into being a dad, I haven't written a Wednesday issue since, but … everything I scheduled is still performing well.
👋 Welcome back to Content to Commas. If your business has a busy season coming, I need you to read this one before it starts.
We're 2 weeks into the newborn trenches. The baby eats every 2-3 hours around the clock.
So I'm up at 10, midnight, 2AM, 4AM, 6AM, you name it. Not complaining, this is such an interesting and cool time.
But I don't even have time to publish manually right now, and everything I had scheduled on LinkedIn and Instagram went out anyway and is still performing solid.
This issue is one I'm writing for myself. Luckily for you, you get to see me do it in real time.
📍 In this issue:
how to learn the seasonality of your business
why I schedule everything, and the “guru’s” advice I'm ignoring
the 3 months that pay for close to a third of my year
the "don't forget about me" baseline I'm running until further notice
There's also a prompt at the bottom that builds your version of this calendar, but you have to scroll for it 😉
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📆 A Content Calendar by seasons
You’ve probably heard advice like …
“ NEVER scheduled your content “
“ You have to be live in the app “
“ reply to every comment the in the first hour “
… I'm different …
I'm a big proponent of scheduling, and the last two weeks are the whole reason why. We all have lives we want to get back to.
Social media should be a tool that gets you a thing, without becoming a whole thing in itself.
Before the baby, I was posting twice a day on LinkedIn.
Right now it's 2X-3X times a week, all scheduled, and engagement is still great.
Do I reply to every single comment? no.
Will some gurus tell you that's terrible? maybe.
But you have to do what's best for you.
a year ago, I broke down the calendar method that runs my week. Adding "dad" to the job title has me redoing the entire calendar, and this time it's built around when my business actually makes money.
You know your business the best. You know when life gets the busiest and those peaks and valleys should decide your content, and not for the sake of likes, for the sake of continuously pulling in more business.
Here's my year in quarters (it’s how my mind works):
Q4 (October to December): the money season. Holiday, ecom, and marketing budgets all peak at once, so partnerships, consulting, strategy calls, and production work stack up. These three months can be close to a third of my annual revenue. I prep for them every year, and I mean every year, and even when we were planning for a baby, being available for Q4 was part of the plan.
Q1 (January to March): the quiet season. Brands are getting budgets approved, so brand deals, consulting, and the other third-party streams slow down. This is when I lean on the income I control directly: webinars, speaking, and maybe coaching, with affiliates and courses running in the background all year.
Q2 and Q3 (April to September): the 9-to-5 season. Steady revenue, a few peaks and valleys, and honestly a constant grind sometimes. The exception is June, where Cannes Lions turns the month into about 2X a normal one. These are the months I make sure the savings are in the works.
💡 PRO TIP: Because someone sees your content this month doesn't mean it pays you this month.
When does your business make the most money?
🗺️ The Season Map
Every single month, I want you to know the minimum you're going to publish no matter what, the posts whose only job is to say, don't forget about me.
Right now that's all optimizing towards and I'm okay with that.
Then, on top of that, stack the moments that actually lead to money.
For me that's SXSW, Cannes Lions, and VidCon.
Every industry has its own version, and once they're all on one page, you can finally see which ones are worth your time and which ones are just expensive trips with a lanyard.
here’s a framework for you:
Map the money. Track your last 12 months of revenue and mark your peak season, your quiet season, and your steady months.
Bank for the quiet season. What you publish in your peak is what fills your quiet season, so make it before the peak.
Set the baseline. Pick the minimum you'll publish every month, no matter what.
Stack the tentpoles. Add the industry moments that lead to revenue, and only the ones worth the trip.
I think everyone reading this should have Claude or ChatGPT build the revenue calendar that sits under their content calendar.
Here’s an AI prompt to you help you:
You're my revenue calendar strategist. I run [what your business is] and I sell [your offers] to [who buys them]. My money comes from [your streams: brand deals, consulting, speaking, affiliates, services].
Map my next 12 months, month by month: every tentpole moment in my niche and industry (conferences, platform events, buying seasons, budget cycles) and the revenue stream each one feeds, when my buyers approve budgets versus spend them, and which months are likely peaks, valleys, and steady.
For each month give me the moment, why it matters for money, what I should publish the month before it, and a 1 to 5 score for whether it's worth my time. End with the three moments worth the most to me and the three I should skip.
The AI knows the industry calendar, but it has no idea which months actually paid you.
Your homework this week is one thing.
I want you to pull the last 12 months of revenue, by month, put it on one page, and mark your peak, your valley, and your steady months. Figure out how many times you want to post each month, by channel.
I'm building mine this month between feedings. You get to build yours with both hands free (hopefully).
Map the money first. The content calendar is easy once you can see the whole year.
See you next Saturday!
Brandon
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📌 ICYMI…
Each week, I share content on social, branding, and growth strategies. Catch up in case you missed anything.
Posts You Missed…
🗺️ The $500B creator economy, mapped: revenue, the income pyramid, who pays what by platform, and the three minimums you need before any of it applies to you → See the map
📈 Is LinkedIn cooked? How I pull a quarter million impressions a week, and the reach math behind it → Watch the breakdown
💼 If I needed a job in exactly 90 days: here's exactly what I would do, step by step → Read the 90-day plan
📬 The 10 newsletters to read if you want to make $10K a month this year: the exact reads shaping my thinking on content and money → See the list
🧪 Why platforms aren't catching AI, they're catching you: the science behind AI content, and how to raise your taste so you're not the one getting caught → Watch it
Keep Reading…
🔋 The Anti-Burnout Content Plan: capture, plan, batch, schedule. The four-phase week that keeps you posting without losing your mind. 1,600 people got this the first time, and 9,000 of you didn't → Run the four phases
🤖 What to Automate vs. What to Protect: the intern rule for AI, plus four automations that handle the grunt work without touching your craft → Set up the intern
💸 Same Money. Different Outcomes.: expense or investment? The three filters I run every business dollar through, including the Cannes Lions trip that paid for itself → Run the three filters
🔖 Your Content Only Needs 3 Things: skimmable, saveable, shareable. The bar every "don't forget about me" post still has to clear → Check your last post
⏳ How to Make the Next 6 Months Your Best: the three moves for the back half of the year, and the one rule that protects all three → Plan the back half
Worth every penny…
The tools, equipment, and systems that power my content.
🐝 Beehiiv: This how I run this newsletter. Own your audience instead of renting it from an algorithm. Newsletters, podcasts, digital products, and now community → Get 30 days free + 20% off
🎤 Wispr Flow: Talk and it types. Every word of this issue started as me talking into it, and I draft at walking speed now → Get a free month on me
🧠 Granola: No bot joins the call. The notes are just waiting when it ends. I stopped taking notes entirely → Start with a free month
📥 Fyxer: AI that clears my inbox and drafts replies that actually sound like me → Take 20% off 2 months
💾 Notion: The hub. Every list, calendar, and system I run lives in here, including the Season Map → Try Plus free for 30 days
📅 Cal.com: Booking links without the Calendly price tag. Open source, and it just works → Lock in 20% off for a year
💬 Manychat: The "comment a word and I'll DM you the link" machine. Builds your list while you sleep → Build the flow, 30% off
🎛️ AI Fiesta: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Grok side by side on one $12 subscription instead of paying for five → Try all five for $12
⌨ Lovable: Describe the app or landing page you want, and it builds it. No code. Build with Lovable →
🗺 Poppy AI: My content whiteboard. It knows my brand and can help me brainstorm with a visual template. → Try Poppy AI
📊 Gamma: AI presentations and one-pagers. Elite. Elite. Elite. → Try Gamma
Resources Built For You:
🗓️ The 2027 Content Calendar (free): 52 weeks pre-mapped by pillar, monthly themes, and a repurposing column so one idea becomes five posts. Plan the year in one sitting → Grab the calendar
🎯 The 2027 Goals Planner (free): quarterly goals, a revenue-goal section, and a review cadence built in. The whole year on one page → Get the planner
💼 The Brand Deal Tracker (free): the exact Notion CRM I use to log every brand deal, from first DM to paid invoice → Steal the tracker
✍️ The Ultimate LinkedIn Post Writer : a Claude skill that writes LinkedIn posts in your voice, with nine hook formats and a pre-flight check so AI-sounding filler never hits your feed → Get the skill
📦 The Creator OS Bundle 2027 : my working files, not theory. The content calendar, the deal tracker, the brand deal guide, the Repurposing OS, the LinkedIn Growth Pack, and the Carousel Pack. Six products for $99, about $118 bought separately → Get the whole bundle
Brandon Smithwrick, Creator of Content to Commas
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