Pretty Girl Karma

Surprisingly, this post applies to my male readers too – and to people that don’t consider themselves to be pretty (you really are, like it or not).

Writers, freelancers, work from homers – whoever you may be. At some point in your illustrious career, some lovely person has said this to you, “That’s so cool that you work from home! You can just wear your pajamas all day and no one will care or see you!”

Uh huh. It’s true. We could do that. And some days, I’m sure we all do.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and proclaim, superficiality be damned, that what we wear, how we costume ourselves, really does matter. It affects what we think about ourselves, how we act, how we talk, what we say, what actions we take.

When I dress in sweats and running shoes, I’m casual, I slump – sometimes when I look from the work I’m doing on my computer down to my clothes and back up again, it occurs to me that I’m maybe I’m only ‘playing’ writer.

So, I don’t do that anymore. Because when I wear jeans that fit in all the right places, my good bra that erases 3. 5 years of pregnancy and nursing with a single clasp, a beautiful and stain-free sweater and shoes that make me almost as tall as most other people who are on the shorter side of average height – then, I feel it when I’m sitting in this chair.

I’m confident, I’m worthy, I’m an adult, I’m a professional. I’m in touch with my power source. I own it. You can see it in the way I hold myself, in the way I walk, in the way I am and in the way I do. I dare say it’s my pretty girl karma. Because what I put out, comes right back at me – respect, value, compensation for what I’m worth, hotness, good people, great projects.

And in this case, karma is not a bitch. (Unless you piss her off.)

This post is dedicated to the FANTASTIC Kelly Diels who, when I told her that I dressed hot for the big Dragon Tattoo Blog Hunt launch yesterday even though no one saw me all day, remarked, ‘Of course…pretty girl karma’ without skipping a beat – and sparked my brain and ignited this post. Kelly gets it and just so you know, Kelly always looks hot and always shows plenty of Cleavage. I love her to bits.

What about you? Do you have power clothes? A power look? Are you affected by your threads? How?

Image credit: AlyssssylA

Filed under Critical Copywriting, How To, The Business | Tags: copywriter, freelance writer, freelancing, marketing writer, small business owner, work from home, Writing | Comments (24)

Are You Sitting In the Wrong Room?

It finally feels warm here today, so I’m allowing myself to think about spring cleaning…the business.

Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been working away at this for awhile or you’re anywhere in between – I encourage you to take a good look around and ask yourself honestly how things are going. If your answer sounds anything like this:

Things are going okay. I’m doing all that I can. I’m doing everything I’m ‘supposed’ to be doing. This is the most I can hope for in this economic climate. What else could I possibly do?

Then, I invite you to listen to this story.

When I was 20 weeks pregnant with my daughter, we found out that she was really small. Everything else about her looked fine, other than the fact that she was tiny. By the time she was 35 weeks it seemed like she just wasn’t getting what she needed in her internal home – at all. So, the doctors wanted to take her out.

The very idea of this turned everything we knew on its head. She wasn’t fully cooked! Babies are supposed to thrive in the womb for a specific amount of time. All of the conditions on the inside are ‘supposed’ to be perfect. So, how could bringing her out make it better?

All I know, is that it did. When we brought her out of the womb and into the room 5 weeks early at 2.8 lbs., she thrived. Gained 2 oz. per day, hightailed it out of the NICU in a week and a half, floored the doctors, never had a thing wrong with her.

Think about your business, your creativity, your productivity. If it’s moseying along, but not flourishing. If you think there could be more – even though you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing. Think about doing something else. Find out if you’re sitting in the wrong room.

Maybe you need to:

• Switch professions
• Find a niche
• Join a social network like Twitter
• Attend some live conference or workshops
• Shift your workstyle
• Change the physical space where you usually work
• Collaborate with other creatives
• Write in a new medium, like blogs, white papers, annual reports
• Get a new computer
• Combine forces with another freelancer who complements your work (a writer and a web designer, for example)
• Go directly after a company that you’d like to work with…

There are so many ways to ‘change rooms’…What could it do for you? How will you do it?

FYI – Flexpaths is a great resource, if you’re thinking about changing careers or creating a flexible work environment.

Image courtesy of RBerteig

Filed under How To, The Business | Tags: business development, business growth, copywriter, designer, freelance copywriting business, Julie Roads, small business, small business owner, Writing Roads | Comments (6)

Funny. Life is Still the Same. Ish.

Last night was Passover – when Jews from all over the world and their friends remember our history as slaves and celebrate our freedom.

Now – of course I understand that my life is mountains better than my bondaged ancestors. I’m not that deluded.

But, at our Seder last night, we were asked to role play (something I truly abhor) and my character was that of a Jewish slave woman in Egypt. The description looked something like this:

You work 12 hour days working with all different kinds of people that you don’t know, doing hard labor that is sometimes demeaning around people that can make you feel uncomfortable. Then, you go home & have to perform wifely duties such as cooking, cleaning, mending, caring for family & ‘stuff’ to please your spouse….

At first I was annoyed. Dare I say, bratty. How could I know how this woman feels? cough, cough. Let’s break this down, shall we?

• You work 12 hour days (Yes. Yes, I do.)
• …working with all different kinds of people that you don’t know (Today we call that ‘working virtually’)
• …doing hard labor that is sometimes demeaning (As in writing about the benefits of mobile dry cleaning or cheap land in the Bahamas? Yes, but hey, I’m supporting my family here!)
• …around people that can make you feel uncomfortable (Uh huh – spammers on Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn and in my email box and in my blog comments – talking about how size does matter and helps you get the girl)
• …Then, you go home & have to perform wifely duties such as cooking, cleaning, mending, caring for family & ‘stuff’ to please your spouse….(Okay, the ‘stuff’ isn’t so bad, but the rest of it bites)

Holy shit! I AM a Jewish slave woman!

Besides the fact that I have chosen every beautiful moment in my life…and love it. Still…I love a good Kvetch. Don’t you?

Image courtesy of Irargerich

Filed under News, The Business | Tags: copywriter, copywriting, freelance writer, Julie Roads, passover, small business owner, work life balance, Writing Roads | Comments (7)

what happens when technology fails

I don’t cry very often. I can count the times I’ve cried so far this year on one hand – in March when my brother told me he had to give his dog away, in June as the credits rolled on the Sex & the City movie (who am I kidding? I cried through the entire movie) and yesterday when my email wouldn’t work. Yes, I cried like a baby when I could neither send or receive email on my computer.

I’m a little bit ashamed, not so much by the tears, but because of my rabid dependence on the internet. I was frozen, paralyzed by my inability to email. It was suggested to me that I ‘use the time to get some writing done’ which sounds romantic and all, but when I’m done writing, my email will still be down.

Ahhh, and we’re back to the freelancer’s dilemma. I can’t call IT and tell them to deal with this while I work. So I sat on the phone with some young, and fairly rude, guys from Bluehost for over an hour. They told me that they had done all that they could, that no one on their team ‘knew Macs’ and that this was obviously a Mac problem, not a server problem. Really? Because when I signed up for Bluehost, it didn’t say ‘We do not support or service Mac users.” That’s when I started to cry: my life had ended and my precious work day was slipping away.

And then I remembered 1-800-275-2273, otherwise known as Apple Care, otherwise known as manna from heaven. I talked to Stefanie, and she was so nice to me, sincerely kind – even though I was crying and lunatical. She walked me through everything – even through checking my mail via the Bluehost webmail page to make sure it wasn’t a server issue – and let me assure you that she did this even though she doesn’t ‘know Bluehost’. My ports had ‘reset’ themselves to the wrong numbers overnight – something that I find rather creepy and rude. But, now I know where the ports are and I know the numbers they like – I even wrote it all down so I wouldn’t have to go through this next time.

I lost two hours yesterday, and it wasn’t completely world-ending. I’m not thrilled with Bluehost (usually their customer service is so good and so not 16 year-old, smart-ass & boy-like). I am thrilled with Apple and have been since the day I walked into the store to by my Macbook (note: I haven’t purchased a new iPhone or engaged MobileMe). And a big THANKS to my techie angel, Stefanie.

Filed under The Business | Tags: Apple, Bluehost, copywriting, customer service, email malfunction, internet dependence, Julie Roads, small business owner, virtual company, Writing Roads | Comments (2)

good customer service (when it’s all so personal)

This morning I attended a great networking event about customer service. A panel of both seasoned and seedling women business owners shared their experiences about how to make customer service work.  And the panel was moderated by Bonnie Marcus, an inspired business coach. www.womenssuccesscoaching.com

They all had wonderfully insightful things to say:

1. practice active listening

2. always find a solution – even if it can’t be the solution your client is looking for

3. acknowledge and validate your client’s experience

But, the one that is totally ‘stuck in my craw’ (if you can tell me what show that quote is from, I will make you brownies), was this one cccrrrraaaaazzzzzyyyyyyy word: DETACH.

I know! As writers, designers, small business owners, how do we not take things personally when criticism or dissatisfaction comes our way?  How do we step back and say to ourselves, “oh, she’s unhappy about word choice, but not with me.” That is so hard. For me, I am my words. This is my blood, sweat and tears (and my laughter, connection and joy).

I manage, somehow, because I have to. I act like an adult, I stand up for myself, I admit where I’m wrong, I problem solve – and I feel better for being a ‘big’ person. I get through it – I do everything I listed above – because everyone’s experience is real, and I’m human too, I get it. A wiffle ball bat and a big cushion for when that phone call is over…well, that helps too. 

How do you do it?  How do you detach so that you can provide professional and great customer service to your clients when there is a negative issue.

Filed under How To, The Business | Tags: copywriting, criticism, customer service, Marketing, professionalism, small business owner, Writing | Comment (0)