Posts Tagged ‘time-management’
Hey, Client, This Is Me! Sell With Your Writing Voice
In a crowded market, clients will be seeking personality as they read what you’ve written — they’ll click right past pages that feel “been there, read that.” They’re looking for a voice that says, “Hey, client, this is me!”
They want to know not just what you deliver — but how. Will you be funny or serious? A perky cheerleader or a sardonic commentator? Will your view of life be based on “believe and it happens” or “what you see is what you get?”
Here are some tips to add your own voice to your writing.
1. Write from the heart.
Too excited, passionate or angry to sit still? Best time to connect with your voice. Grab a pencil and scribble ideas as you jump around the room.
2. Say something new.
After forty articles on time management, your readers know about cutting projects into manageable chunks and setting priorities. Ho hum. Try “better than zero” or “turn your life into a time warp.”
3. Tape yourself talking to a good friend about a product.
Do your words sound different when you speak than when you write? Transcribe the tape into an article for easy reading.
4. Picture your ideal client (you do have one, don’t you?). Imagine that she is gushing about your service to a friend — highly recommending you. What words does she use to describe your services? What emotions come through?
5. Cut. Then cut again. When you have to trim your piece to meet a word count requirement, notice that you’re left with the most essential words — all yours.
6. Write fast. Get the words down before your inner critic has a chance to participate. Edit later.
7. Reveal yourself: family, mistakes, secret dreams. When you feel just a bit embarrassed, or feel your private persona has become more public, you’ve probably just touched your audience’s heart.
8. Be concrete — not abstract.
As writing guru Natalie Goldberg would say, “It’s a geranium, not a flower.”
9. If you’ve had voice training, be especially alert to creating the bland and the blah.
Julia Roberts could hold an audience while she reads the telephone directory. Your copy has to stand alone, without dramatic oratory. Exercise 3 may not work for you.
10. Don’t be afraid to break the rules: use slang and contractions. And it’s okay to begin a sentence with “and” or “but.”
Just tread carefully on the rules of grammar and spelling. “Your about to head off for you’re great adventure” can be a credibility-buster.
About The Author
Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D., is an author, speaker, editor, and consultant. She helps clients who want to use writing to sell and sell what they write.
Top 10 Ways to Coach Yourself to Total Success!
Coaching is about being your best. It’s about performance, about “staying the course” and, in the end, about creating and living the life you really want. Many people use coaches to make more money, win the gold prize or do something dramatic. That’s fun, and when it’s right, it’s wonderful!
But most importantly, coaching is about living up to your own standards. It is, in Henry Thoreau’s famous words, about “marching to the beat of your own drum, no matter how faint or far away.” So, do I recommend you have a personal coach? Well, duh!
But if you can’t afford one, or aren’t ready for one, why not be your own coach? Here are a few suggestions:
1. Write down your goals. Review and re-write them once a week. This is old advice, but there is power and magic in writing your goals on paper! Write them down, then review them, think about them and up-date them every week. It may only take 20 minutes, but it will double your rate of success, I guarantee it!
2. Show up! Many of life’s most important achievements simply require that we show up, pay attention, tell the truth, work hard, go the extra mile, and do our best! Superior performance is not about the future, or the past. It’s about doing a superior job right now, on the work that lies right in front of you.
3. Eliminate Distractions. Keep your eye on the ball. Life is full of frustrations and distractions. Successful people do NOT tolerate the things that drive most of crazy ? they take the time to stop, solve the problem and eliminate the distraction once and for all. Stay focused!
4. Manage your environment. Top performers know that space management is more important than time management, and they have neat offices, clean cars, orderly appointment books, and they keep an extra suit at the office, just in case. Make your office (and your home) a space where you can do your very best work.
5. Read every day. Read something useful, challenging or fun every day. If you only spend 20 minutes with a book that motivates, excites and educates you, it will make a world of difference. I promise! Aim to read at least one book every month!
6. Attend a “University on Wheels”. Listen to educational, motivational and fun tapes while you drive. At least listen to soothing, appropriate music, rather than the “terror of the day” on talk radio! Fill your mind with the BEST information you can find!
7. Use a Master-Mind group. The term refers to a group of people who are committed to helping you be successful. Often, they meet once a week. Think of them as your “Advisory Committee”. Bounce ideas off them, ask them for advice, let them coach you!
8. Focus on values. Take time every week to review your values, the things that cost you nothing, but make life worth living. Write them down, share them with a friend, and remind yourself of what’s most important to you. Remembering your values will get you back on course!
9. Play more! Play a game of tennis, wrestle with the dog, shoot hoops with the kid next door. Laugh, get sweaty, have fun. It doesn’t cost; it pays!
10. Practice Gratitude! Periodically, ask yourself how many “good” days you’ve had this week. Notice what made the good ones good, and do more of the good stuff! And, be grateful. “I was angry that I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet.”
Even the most sophisticated modern cruise ships must constantly monitor their course. On our last cruise, Mary and I took a tour of the bridge, and were told the ship had no less than 5 automatic navigation computers, and that at least 2 officers were on duty at all times. Why the redundancy? Because having a cruise ship get lost, even briefly, is a very bad thing!
How many navigation systems do you use to guide your path? Having a handful of books, journals, friends and daily routines to “coach” you is not expensive, it’s the best investment you’ll ever make! Set up routines and use the best resources you can find to stay on course. Coach yourself to the top!
Here’s to your success!
© Copyright 2003 by Philip E. Humbert. All Rights Reserved. This article may be copied and used in your own newsletter or on your website as long as you include the following information: “Written by Dr. Philip E. Humbert, writer, speaker and success coach. Dr. Humbert has over 300 free articles, tools and resources for your success, including a great newsletter! It’s all on his website at: http://www.philiphumbert.com
Want To Beat The Odds? Disaster Recovery Planning is Essential
Statistics show two out of five businesses go out of business within five years of experiencing a major disaster.
These statistics are staggering. Even if the business survives the initial attack or natural disaster, it typically leaves the business so devastated that long term survival is not possible for 40% of the businesses hit. Disaster recovery planning can ensure the viability of a company after an attack. Proper planning helps companies to develop contingency plans and put them in place that limit the losses in the event us such catastrophes. It is not just the big guys that need to plan, disasters leave small companies even more devastated.
Business of all sizes should develop a business continuity plan, and test it on a regular basis. Every department and every employee should have a clear idea of how they should respond to a disaster. It this is not done, the company will have a much harder time recovering from disasters of monumental magnitude. The bottom line, disaster recovery planning for the continuity of your business is a key to survival in the new millennium. Business continuity planning is no longer something the big guys do. It is something the “smart” guys do.
It is not a factor of size; disasters hit companies of every size. If you have a small business website you are as vulnerable as a large corporation when a new virus is released. If you had a mom and pop hamburger stand next to the world trade center, your losses in terms of percentages of the whole, were just as large if not larger than the multi-national corporations. Plan for the disaster, and your business can recover with the least amount of losses; fail to plan, and you could be out of commission for weeks, even months, or in 40% of the cases?forever.
You can find expert disaster recovery planners and business continuity planners to help with solutions that are not obvious. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel! In the wake of 911, and the terrorist attacks that are prevalent around the globe all businesses must prepare for the strong possibility of further attacks. It is not a question of if we will have further attacks; it is indeed a question of when. Can your business really afford to ignore the odds?
Renee Rich is a success entrepreneur and freelance writer offering guidance and suggestions for small to mid-sized businesses concerned with business continuity, time management, strategic internet marketing, business & money. Her many articles on these topics can be found at http://www.business-continuity-4u.com.
She gives information and tips to help grow your business, save money, and make informed buying decisions. For more information go to: http://www.business-continuity-4u.com/Strategic_Internet_Marketing.htm