Go get it.
I had the good fortune of meeting Chris Brogan on Tuesday night…and to listen to him tell story after story, all of them heavy with hidden ideas and more than a fair bit of laughter. One in particular keeps playing in my head…
Chris’ phone rings and he answers. A pipe fitter or roofer or something of that nature is on the other end, chewing his dinner loudly into the phone.
In between chomps, slurps and smacks, he tells Chris, “Someone told me I should call you.” Chew, swallow. “That you might be able to help me.” Burp, gulp. “Do you think I should have you help me or should I invest in some of those door hangers (I would call this door knob spam – see picture to the left)?”
“Door hangers,” said Chris. “Go with the door hangers.”
There’s an obvious lesson here about saying no. That even as freelancers or starving artists, and even in these dismal economic times, it’s important to just say no to the guy chewing in your ear, the guy that doesn’t get it. And by ‘it’ I mean: you, what you do, the value of your work and what he should be doing with his marketing money.
But, this story reeks of something else. Because when you sit around and wait for the phone to ring (not implying that Chris was doing that – this is an extrapolation, people), you’re likely to get some real crap. Or at the very least, you’ll get something passing as ‘okay’ but not what you really want. (Of course, a beautiful goose might also randomly waddle over, squat and lay a golden egg on your doorstep – but that’s another post).
I think Brogan’s story is a bit of a call to action. Who do you want to work with? What do you want to write? What do you want to do? Go get it. Make it happen. And make it happen the way you want it to. Seek, search, pull ‘em in.
Chris had a choice, and he took it. And those door hangers? I always throw them in the trash.
Image credit: CogDogBlog
Check out the latest interview on The Daily Norm: Alexa DiCarlo, Sex Educator, Sex Worker & Sex Worker Rights Activist
Practice business the Twilight Way.
Trust me when I say that this post is not for teenagers or tweens, it’s for everyone. And, it’s actually about writing, freelancing and my other usual topics. I promise. It really does have a point.
Until this weekend, I’d avoided all the Twilight hype. Robert Pattinson didn’t do anything for me and I don’t really like vampires and scary things – so I just maintained a polite distance. But, let’s be serious, it’s a little hard to escape it when you live online (and have a teeny tiny addiction to celebrity gossip. As I’ve said before, I don’t drink, smoke, drug or eat white sugar – give me just this one thing!)
My in-laws and my millions of nieces were here this weekend. (There are 13 of them). And, I just so happened to walk by one of their makeshift beds on Saturday morning and there was Twilight, just sitting there. I thought, I’ll just read the first couple of pages, see what this is all about.
Swear to god, it was like falling down the proverbial rabbit hole. I couldn’t stop reading. I had no sense of anything going on around me. I just read. My sister-in-law was sitting next to me studying (grad school) and then suddenly she was getting in the shower, and I asked her when she got up and why she was all sweaty; she said, “About two hours ago – I went for a run and down to the pond.” I had no idea, but she totally got it because she read all four books in one weekend, in Florida, with her boyfriend, who she wouldn’t talk to because he wasn’t Edward or in the book (the vampire, the god of Twilight, for those of you who are still abstaining). Apparently that story is not a rare one.
Long story short. I read the first book of 500+ pages in about 7 hours. Woke up the next morning, went to buy the second book and read that one in about the same amount of time. Down the the rabbit hole, like I said. I have a company to run, clients to write for and a family to love…so I’ll wait to get the 3rd and 4th book until next weekend. As I read voraciously, I was asked by a bewildered adult if it was like Harry Potter. “No,” I replied. “It’s like 90210 with vampires.”
So, why, oh, why did this happen to me? I’m a smart, mature, 36 year old woman! The writing is good, but it’s not the best thing I’ve ever set my eyes on. It’s meant for adolescents, after all and that’s obvious. So, WHY?
When I made mention of my guilty pleasure on Twitter, many (and by many, I mean a lot) of women and a few men readily joined in my excitement. And, then, someone simply tweeted, ‘You are not alone’ with a link to a blog post by Erin Gates called, Pop Culture Digression: The Twilight Phenomenon Explained that just laid it out, all crystal clear like. (And her blog normally has nothing to do with this foolishness either, which I loved, of course because it made me feel like less of a loser.) Erin wrote this:
“Edward causes such a stir because his character is the perfect man. He’s handsome, wealthy, romantic and devoted. The mysterious, brooding bad boy who writes lullabies on the piano for his girlfriend but also rips out the throats of bad guys in defense of her honor. He says things like “You’re my own personal brand of heroin” and “I don’t think I have the strength to stay away from you any longer” (cue knee buckling). He is the perfectly impossible combination of poet, athlete, intellectual and bad ass- the human(ish) equivalent of a unicorn…Every woman wants to feel coveted, craved, defended and protected and well, that’s just what we get from reading about this fictitious character who was crafted to feed that desire (because let’s face it, we don’t always get that from our real life men.)
But, the thing is that this isn’t just about women being unsatisfied by their men, or every woman wanting to be ‘coveted, craved, defended and protected’ – this is about every person wanting to be ‘coveted, craved, defended and protected’. Whether you’re in a romantic, familial, educational, professional, client/freelancer, parent/child relationship – it doesn’t matter. We all want to be those things. And, if you read the books or have a heartbeat (um, or not, in Edward’s vampire-case) you’ll realize that the one ‘giving it out’ also gets quite a lot from the deal.
I’m ghostwriting a book for a client right now – and it’s about using client relations as a main factor to building a successful career (in a very different kind of industry from mine) – his main point is that if you make your clients feel outstanding, if you build the relationship genuinely – it will feel good to both sides, and most importantly, it will stick.
Everyone wants to be loved. The client and the writer. The boyfriend and the girlfriend. The guy at the desk at your printer and you as you drop off your order. It’s completely basic, elemental. We are addicted to the books because we get to live that kind of love vicariously.
Erin Gates also wrote this: (after she compared Twilight for the 18+ female crowd to Internet porn for the entire male crowd)
“It’s an escapist fantasy that allows you forget all the bull going on in your life and just enjoy the pleasure of a hot, undead teenager who would kill people for you and then buy you a brand new Audi for your birthday.”
We want the love, but we also just want to feel like everything’s okay and hopeful and safe for awhile. We want our attention taken to a good place.
I’m not suggesting that you tell your client, or the kid at the drive thru window for that matter, that “You’re my own personal brand of heroin” – you can’t be Edward and Bella in real life. Seriously, don’t. You’ll get arrested.
But I am suggesting that you experiment by taking it down several notches. What if you treat your clients like they’re truly special, with total respect, letting them understand that their business is safe with you, that you always have their best interests at heart. What if you really hold their attention with the work that you do and the person that you are.
Would they become addicted to your work and to working with you? Would it bring them so much joy and good feeling that they would be clients for life?
I don’t think that acting this way could create Twilight hysteria around you and your business, but who am I to say? But, even if it doesn’t take you that far, I can’t imagine how it won’t lift you a bit higher on the food chain.
Image credit: Angie22Arts
Filed under How To, Myth or Reality, The Business | Tags: business, client relations, edward cullen, erin gates, freelance copywriter, freelance writing, freelancing, twilight | Comments (11)Geek Girl Camp
Leslie Fishlock is brilliant for several reasons:
1. She had a dream.
2. She made it happen.
3. She decided that women needed a good, supportive, informative, affordable place to get their geek on.
4. She made it happen. (Oops, did I mention that already?)
5. She enlisted the help of several very smart and wonderful people (Janel, Reiko, Chris and on and on)
How many brilliant women do you know that get flummoxed at the words: social media, Photoshop, blog, Facebook, excel? There is nothing wrong with you because you don’t have all of this mastered! You just need a good place to learn how to do it, use it or even realize that you want to hire someone else to do it for you so you can focus on your thang.
Geek Girl Camp – Zoolander from trb design on Vimeo.
Leslie’s answer? Geek Girl Camp. An affordable unconference for women where $135 gets you 6 workshops (out of 30+ to choose from) on a wide variety of tech/geek topics, discussion groups, help desks, Q&A’s, in other words – the works. Oh, and a cocktail party at the end. And great schwag.
The first Geek Girl Camp was this past Saturday on Cape Cod, and I was honored to teach 6 workshops on blogging and social media. It was SO much fun, that I’m going back for more this Thursday, March 12th for the Boston/South Shore edition.
I’ll be teaching the following workshops and would love to see you there (register here):
- The ABC’s of blogs. There are so many parts to a blog – and they all work together to make your internet space a success. So, if these words sound like Chinese: headers, tags, categories, widgets, plugins, links and more – then this workshop is for you! We’ll define them and discover how to use them on your blog.
- Blogging for business (without sounding like a used car salesman). How can a blog help your business authentically? We’ll explore ways to use a blog to build a mailing list and a subscriber list, create and grow real client relationships, sell products and services, advertise, promote yourself, connect with other business partners and establish yourself as an expert in your field.
- Blog writing. Yes! It is different than other writing! This workshop will cover voice, audience, purpose, strategy, content, length and formatting for blog writing. We’ll explore the ins and outs of different kinds of blogs – depending on who’s in the workshop.
- Twitter! And why it will change your world and your business. Twitter is one of the most influential social networks today – with over 5 million users and growing at a rate of 5-10,000 per day. This workshop will help you set up a profile and teach you how to use it effectively as a marketing tool.
Want to hear from Leslie and Janel? Amongst a lot of other great press, they were interviewed on NPR. Listen here!
Filed under How To | Tags: blog, Blogging, boston, business, Geek Girl Camp, leslie fishlock, Marketing, social media, social media conference, south shore, technology, technology conference, women and technology, women-owned business | Comment (1)DBA, LLC, Inc – What’s a freelancer to do?
Up until last week, Writing Roads operated as a DBA. But, as my business has grown, the LLC (Limited Liability Corporation) title has been calling my name, and I just made it official. Still, there are even more options.
What do they all mean? And what is the impetus for selection as a freelancer or small company?
DBA stands for ‘doing business as’ and effectively allows you to ‘do business as’ any business name that you choose – without being a legal entity. As a DBA, you can set up a bank account and list your outfit in the phone book. Your tax ID # is your social security number and you have no legal protection between your business and personal life. In other words, if someone sued you for something work-related, they could take your house.
LLC is a Limited Liability Corporation or Company where the owners are considered members and the entity is legal and must be filed with the state. In addition, you must make sure that there is no one else with your name before you can become an LLC. Taxes are paid on earnings only and your personal assets are protected in the case of debt payment and collection or litigation.
Incorporation (Inc.) essentially creates a corporation (a Close Corp, S Corp or C Corp – which each have different tax and stock structures) with somewhat similar functionality to the LLC in that your personal assets are separate, but connected, but in this case shares and stocks (and shareholders) may be involved. The incorporation laws are by state and a corporation is also eligible to file for bankruptcy. Finally, corporations have the benefit of possibly uninterrupted and infinite lifespans, where a sole proprietorship holds many stipulations in the event of death by the owner.
This is, of course, a very cursory rundown of these terms, but for me it provides enough information that I know that I’ve outgrown the DBA and I’m not a good fit for the Inc. The LLC fits just right. Important note: the DBA process is free, the other two will run you roughly $800+.
I highly recommend that you speak with a lawyer and/or your financial advisor to make the best decision for yourself and your business.
A Few Fun Ways to Cover Your Ass
I’m not the only one, right?
I’m not the only one who has that little voice in my head that sometimes preys on my fears and messes with me, but mostly provides me with invaluable insights and guidance…right?
And, I’m not the only one who sometimes blatantly ignores this voice, tells it NOT NOW! I”m busy! and goes about my business with an uneasy, ‘but what if…’ feeling…right?
For the last two weeks, I’ve been living on a steady diet of my Macbook, adrenaline and dark chocolate (with a little soup thrown in for good measure). Amongst other things, sleep has been missing. But last night, I hit a wall and decided to go to bed at 8:00 pm.
When I got into bed, my little voice said, ‘Where’s your Blackberry? It sure would suck if it started ringing and woke you up!’ No one’s going to call…it’s fine, I said. My excuse? I was really warm and it was snowing outside. (Though the phone was in my dining room and I don’t have to go outside to get there.) Then, I fell asleep quickly and easily for the first time in, like I told you, weeks.
The phone rang at 9:30.
The phone rang at 10:15.
It’s the loudest, most obnoxious ring you’ve ever heard so that I don’t miss calls from John Stewart, Ellen, Arianna Huffington or Random House (in that order). I also would answer if Oprah called. Or Anderson Cooper.
Oh, and Silas started barking at 4am – anyone want a dog? Just kidding, Silas, I would never – but that’s another story. The point is that my good, long night of sleep was ruined. I am not good at being woken up, my mind starts racing and writing and worrying – and I have a hard time falling back to sleep.
So, I started thinking that scenarios such as this arise in life and work, and that while that little voice is sometimes ignored, there are other factors at play. It all comes down to covering your ass. How can you avoid ruination?
Here are some ways that I cover my own:
1. I just published an eBook. No matter how many times I edited the thing, I found a new mistake. So, I added a simple line in the book:
Oh…and by the way, I’ve tucked some adorable typos into
this book. If you can find them, you get a prize. Something fun
like a link and a shout out on my blog.
Voila, ass covered. If there are typos, they are now there on purpose and everyone’s happy.
2. I have a LOT swimming around in my head: business, creative, family – don’t you? The best ass saver in the world is a machine that not only remembers everything, but also shows me instant search results at the hint of a word cue from me. My tool is my Macbook. In every single application, I can type any word or words into the search bar to find anything I’ve worked on. Doesn’t matter if it got filed wrong or if it was last year. Did I mention the search results are instant? As in, they show up as I type.
3. Always pack food, water and floss. Even if you’re just running into town for a quick errand. If you don’t, chances are that you’ll end up hungry, thirsty and with food in your teeth.
4. I ask for as much information as possible to be delivered to me via email. Many times, especially when meetings are scheduled weeks in advance, I forget all of the details. This applies to countless other situations. But, if everything is documented in my email, I can do a search (see #2) for that topic or name, and read the whole story – re-acclimating myself to the details, actions and expectations.
5. Be completely honest all the time. I’m not trying to sound like your mother, really, I’m not. But if you are completely honest 100% of the time, you will never waste any time, or screw up a relationship, by trying to remember what you said, who you said it to or when you said it. Or so I’m told.
6. Back up. People, if you aren’t backing up your work on your computer, I simply can’t keep talking to you. Do it.
7. Turn off your phone before bed. I’m sure that Ellen will leave you a message…and why would she call in the middle of the night anyway?
Your turn because there must be a zillion more ways to cover your ass, and I’m exhausted from all the not-sleeping.
How do you cover your ass? Go.
(p.s. this post is dedicated to my buddy, James Moreau)
Filed under Blogging, How To, Marketing, Myth or Reality, Networking, News, The Business | Tags: business, copywriter, Julie Roads, marketing writing, worklife balance, Writing, Writing Roads | Comments (13)Learning to walk (as a way to move forward)
This post was inspired by Ann Hession, an extraordinary life & business coach and human being.
We were talking about change and growth – and how as momentum builds, old systems (fundamental and foundational systems) have to be adjusted, reworked and reset. Ann provided the most intriguing example.
When people weigh a lot, as in obesity, they move in a specific physical way in order to accommodate the bulk that they have to carry around. Then, when they lose a large amount of weight – as in hundreds of pounds, they literally have to learn how to move again to match their new weight. Ann mentioned that because of her work as a massage therapist, she can spot people who used to weight a lot – because of the way they still move.
Bring it back to writing and social media. When you grow – as a writer, a business owner, a marketer – you have to let everything grow. But some of your stuff (or they way you do your stuff) is ingrained – it’s practically as innate as, wait for it, the way you walk.
Examples:
1. You’ve expanded your marketing plan to include Twitter, but you haven’t built in any time to actually use it. Your daily schedule wants to go on as is and so does your internal clock, but you need to re-evaluate and shift.
2. You’ve increased your fee structure, but your internal idea of your self-worth hasn’t caught up. You need to take stock of your experience, skill and expertise and stand fully behind the new fees.
How does this apply to you? Do you have realtime examples? Could this help you move forward?
Filed under Blogging, Critical Copywriting, How To, Marketing, Social Media, The Business | Tags: Ann Hession, business, fee schedules, Julie Roads, Marketing, marketing writer, self-worth, social media, social media marketing, Twitter, Writing, Writing Roads | Comments (12)Recession? Just say NO.
This post is inspired by my belief that we are all in control of our destinies – that when I wanted a beautiful post and beam office in my backyard, I set my mind to it and was typing away inside its walls 3 weeks later. It is also inspired by Dr. Ivan Misner, the founder of BNI (Business Networking International) and a wildly successful business man, who is currently on a campaign (seriously, buttons and all) headlined by this statement: “I refuse to participate in a recession!”
My biggest frustration is that we aren’t actually in a recession, but it’s all that the media wants to discuss. They use their standby fear tactics to create panic in us lay people, and they create a pandemonious cycle of violence. It goes like this:
The Media: Makes the following overblown statements, ‘We are facing a terrible recession. No one will buy anything. Businesses will go bankrupt. Gas will increase to $20/gallon. You won’t even be able to afford rice.’
People: Panic and do what the media says instead of going along just fine with their lives. They believe we are in a recession. They stop buying things. Their businesses suffer. Gas prices do increase. No one goes near rice (why look when it is so expensive).
The Media: Is thrilled that now the things they said were happening are actually happening. So they say them again, times 30.
People: Panic and do more of what the media says. And on and on.
The reality is that if we, the people, just say no to the media and to the recession. If we keep moving along in our lives. If we feel good knowing that our businesses are growing. If we keep spending our money and enjoying life. (If we find an alternative to gasoline). We will be fine. I got three new clients yesterday because I believe in my business, my clients and their businesses. It’s about attitude and living your life. Not the one the media prescribes. It’s about staying positive.
Would you rather do business with someone moaning that times are tough. Or someone who is happy, positive and focusing on a productive future?
Recession? Nope. No recession here. Just blue skies and the sound of fast fingers on a busy keyboard.
Filed under Myth or Reality, The Business | Tags: bad economy, BNI, building your business, business, copywriting, Dr. Ivan Misner, freelance copywriter, law of attraction, Marketing, recession, Writing | Comment (1)
