Whenever I consult with clients, I share a lot of helpful, wise advice that I would do well to listen to and implement myself.

Top on the list is the importance of repurposing content. The clients we work with have decades of experience; most have been writing articles and blog posts for years.

Yet, because most are also busy building businesses or working traditional (and BIG) jobs, they struggle to find time to write new content.

For some context, I’ve been writing online for about 6 years and have published nearly 1000 blog posts. I imagine the authors we support likely have far more content, individually and collectively, that they written over the years, both online and offline.

And yet — we all feel the pressure to produce new content, while the content we’ve previously produced contains great value and insight, but remains unseen, like treasure hidden beneath the dirt.

This morning, for example, I sat down to write this post and mentally checked off a list of possible (new) topics, while a quick search of my blog archives unearthed two helpful posts on the topic of repurposing content that are likely both under-read and under-shared. This post talks about the wealth you have in previously created content and how to leverage it effectively while this post speaks specifically to creating a system for cataloging your legacy content.

Why do we feel the pressure to write new content when we have already penned hundreds of thousands of words? Partly, I believe, because we haven’t taken the time to properly evaluate the content we’ve previously created; we haven’t organized it to make it accessible; we don’t have a plan or vision for how we can repurpose and redistribute it.

If you, like me, have already created a wealth of content that you’re not adequately leveraging, consider a break from creating new content. Instead, invest your time in creating a library of the content that you’ve already written, then work out a plan to repurpose and share your past work.

This also frees you to engage others in sharing your message with the world, because though it’s difficult to outsource thinking creatively, it’s far easier to enlist an assistant or editor in re-packaging content that already exists. Or, if you repurpose your own content, you will invest far less time than if you write something by starting from a blank page each time.

The content you’ve created in the past has tremendous value.

When you bring the best of what you know to the world, you are rich — and you enrich others.

Becky Robinson

I am the founder/CEO of the Weaving Influence team, the author of Reach: Creating the Biggest Possible Audience for Your Message, Book, or Cause, and the host of the Book Marketing Action Podcast. I’m a wife and mom of three kids, and I enjoy running, reading, writing, coffee, and dark chocolate.