Success in Sweatpants

The Not Just for Writers Creative Writing Hour

I am inspired!!! I am excited!!! I am disorganized!!

So disorganized, in fact, that nowhere in this post do I mention the price for this session...so I came back and added that info on right here: Zero. Nada. Nothing. Zilch. No cost. In a word (that spam filters aren't crazy about), free.

I haven't launched a big marketing blitz for this, because it just hit me this afternoon that I want to offer this workshop to you. I don't want to wait until I have everything nice and tidy--web pages, emails, and all that jazz--so I'm sloppily offering this invitation to a workshop that will add more sparkle to your life (I promise!).

I haven't told you this...in addition to being a certified Book Yourself Solid coach, I am a certified Amherst Writers and Artists creative writing workshop leader. I facilitate writing exercises that ditch the editor that lives in all our heads and lets out our respective Muses.

Writing is an art form that belongs to every one of us.

No matter what kind of writing you want to do (a family history, a story for your kids, a poem or two) or whether that writing has dollar signs attached to it or not, spending time putting pen to paper in a safe and supportive community can be a fun and inspirational experience.

Writing and sharing our words with one another, hearing the music in our own writing, the beauty and power in our poetry and prose, and receiving affirmations from others helps our voices get stronger and our writing to grow in depth and artistry.

Through writing, we honor our legacies, histories, memories, imaginations, and shared human experience.The generative writing of the AWA method gives us a way to sift through our feelings and experiences. It enables insight and self-discovery, both as a person and as a writer.

For an hour every Friday, I will create a safe and supportive telespace for people who want to write, employing exercises that free your imagination and tap your life experiences. 

Everything you write is confidential, even if you read it to us out loud (but you don't have to do that!). Preserving this confidentiality lets us really step out with our writing and try new things, no fears!

Here is the info...pass it on to anyone you know who would enjoy spending an hour just writing.

Every Friday, starting December 5th
Noon ET/11 am CT/10 am MT/9 am PT
Phone: (218) 339-4300  
Passcode: 637405#

 

REMEMBER!

The Not Just for Writers Creative Writing Hour is

FREE

EVERY FRIDAY

FANTASTICALLY FUN

Ditch the USP!!

“You must have a USP!” has become a universal chant of business experts the world over, and though their intentions are good, I think that we need to stop and really think about the concept and how it relates to business in a practical way.

As a way of standing out from the competition, the unique selling proposition is a useful concept. Any way you can differentiate your product or service in the buyer’s mind is good. To come up with a USP, you have to stop and think about what you are offering, why customers would buy from you instead of someone else, and how you can best convey those reasons to your market. That kind of strategic thinking is always useful because it is not something we often make time for.

So pondering a USP as an exercise to hone our marketing messages is a good thing. The place where I think many companies get hung up is on the word “unique.” If you believe that you must always have a USP, you are going to have to revise it frequently.

Why? Because no matter how unique your selling proposition is, if it works, it won’t be unique for long.

Here are some examples of what I’m talking about: Many years ago, a man named Montgomery Ward came up with something completely new--offering an unconditional money back guarantee. More recently, a gentleman by the name of Joe Sugarman also came up with something completely new—the idea of offering a toll free phone number to order products from his catalogs or infomercials. And a guy by the name of Joe Karbo was the very first person to write a “how to get rich” book based on his own personal experiences, and from his own viewpoint.

All three of those examples were unique—in fact, they all caused quite a stir in their respective markets when they were introduced. And they all worked brilliantly to capture sales. As a result, instead of being unique today, all three of those USPs have become common practice. While that’s not surprising, it does point out that any USP is going to have a finite shelf life.

Still, a USP does have a place in the product development process. And for either products or services it can work really well to gain a temporary market lead—until your competition catches up. But creating a USP simply because that’s how it’s done—as many marketers and business owners do—can waste time and resources.

A USP is a revenue-generating tool among many other revenue-generating tools. Use it for a specific product or marketing campaign when you are confident that having one is really going to pay off. Otherwise, invest your resources on other tactics.

Having said all that, I assert that there is one feature that remains unique no matter what—your personality, or, if you want to say it fancy, your company’s culture. The customer’s experience of working with your company will always be different from their experience of working with someone else. There’s no way to replicate that part of the purchase process.

So, though you will gain by applying the USP as a tool for specific marketing campaigns, in the long run your ability to get and keep more customers resides in how you interact with them day after day, month after month, and year after year. Investing time and resources in understanding your personality as a business, aligning it with your market, and expressing it in all your interactions is what will give you the best return in the long run.

Speaking of working IN the business...have I got a resource for you!

Bookkeeping. Ugh. As simple as it is as a concept (plus = in, minus = out, right?), it can be a tricky beast.

If you are like me--well, like I used to be for quite a while--you are tracking your income and expenses on a homegrown spreadsheet. When I was doing this, I would send the end of year spreadsheet on to my CPA for tax preparation. And always ALWAYS, there was stuff. Stuff that didn't add up right. Stuff that caused questions that I couldn't remember answers to (it was invariably something from ten months back). It drove me crazy.

Crazy enough to finally say "UNCLE!" I put my bookkeeping and other financial record keeping into the capable hands of IAC Professionals. It's been great. IAC is relentlessly customer service focused, and always responds to my requests, questions, and issues with cheerful can-do-ness that makes my day.

Thing is, some freelancers and free agents are not at a stage of business growth where they can afford the kind of service that I'm getting from IAC. And IAC knows that. Which is why, in their brilliance, they have created IAC EZ.

I'm tempted to just repeat everything that's on the site's home page, but I'll let you read it for yourself. The main point is that you can do the same level of data management (actually, a BETTER level) that you've been doing with a spreadsheet--only now you do it in IAC EZ--and this resource takes care of all the bookkeeping "stuff."

Yes, it costs money. After your 14-day free trial period, you will pay a whopping $19.95 a month (I'm being facetious about the "whopping") for the service. And you will have all the reports, records, and data you need to manage your business finances without putting way too much time into doing it yourself.

Here is one of the screens...one of my favorites. It's an example of a profit and loss report, showing how you can filter the report by using "tags." This gives a level of data management that you can't get from a spreadsheet.

I'm tellin' ya...if you don't have the means to hand all your record keeping over to IAC to take care, IAC EZ is your best bet. WAAAAY easier than QuickBooks Online, WAAAAY smarter than a spreadsheet. You will keep time spent on bookkeeping to a minimum so that you'll have more time for billable work!

(P.S. Just so you know (given how jaded we all tend to be about this kind of endorsement), I'm not getting any kick back for this endorsement. I work with IAC, am a huge fan of their business approach and services, and think that this new resource is terrific for freelancers and free agents. So it's a no-brainer for me to tell you about it....no percentages involved!)

I'm going to shoot the guy who started the "work ON your business, not IN your business" thing

I've been gone a little while...at least I've been gone from the "compose new post" page.

I've been messing with webby things

I'm not into computer settings. I like to use my computer the way it arrived in the box, only changing things here and there as time goes by. I don't like having to do stuff to my browser, just want it to work. Ditto my web site. Ditto my blog.

So it's taken me way more time than it should have to reinstate my domain mapping for Success in Sweatpants. Which bugs me, because folks trying to find the site or clicking on a link in one of my many listings out in cyberspace won't end up here.

Spending time on stuff that's not our forte is too frequent an occurrence for those of us working at home, trying to keep overhead costs down and to minimize the waiting periods that inevitably ensue when having someone else do stuff for us.

And even though the people asking us to pay them money so they can tell us how to run our businesses look down their noses at owners spending time IN their businesses, I think that there are times when doing so is called for. In this case, I need to know the little intricacies of domain mapping--it's really not that hard to master, only needs to be attended to once, and it keeps my company from being held hostage by the third party contractor who would take time and money to do it.

I save my spendable time and money resources for more value-producing stuff, like my bookkeeping (done wonderfully well by IAC Professionals). The web messing may eventually go to someone else, but for now I'm going to master it so I can manage it effectively when I outsource it.

Yes, I know I need to work ON my business, but I often end up working IN my business because I hate to wait for stuff to get done when I've given the work to someone else, and then have to pay them for it besides. 

And I don't need some supposed expert implying that success will not be mine because I do that. I don't believe that is true, and neither should you.

Beard Yourself....

 

...and Kiva gets a dollar. Fun and philanthropic...pass it on!

Freelancing in this economy: THINK before you react!

In the current economic climate, with all the fear, uncertainty and doubt brought about by the numbers and the election campaign, I believe that the last thing any freelancer or free agent should do is react big and start changing things.

Clients are concerned, worried about their own businesses, maybe pulling back. But reacting to that by lowering prices (as I know some freelancers are doing) or simply panicking isn't the best way through this part of the river's rapids.

My great buddy and associate, Karen Swim, tee'd up a similar topic on our co-blog, and then podcasted about it...listen and enjoy.

Try thinking along these lines:

• Streamline operating expenses as much as possible. Especially look at all those recurring subscriptions that hit your credit card every month and dump the ones you're not using any more.
• Don't drop prices--when things go back up again you'll find yourself in a pickle.
• Instead of fiddling with prices, offer clear discounts. Early bird discounts, discounts for pre-purchase of blocks of time (or multiple units of some offer), long term client discount, and so on--there are lots of ways you can craft discounts that cut client's costs for your services without slashing your rate card.
• Package your services in easy-to-swallow ways.
• Offer fixed price deals when you can do so without incurring too much risk on your part.
• Team up with other freelancers to joint venture--even freelancers who might be considered competition. Karen and I, for example, could be thought of as competitors because we are in the same type of business, but we have worked together brilliantly in many many instances.

I hope this list sparks your ideas and suggestions...and please tell me what you are doing in your freelance/free agent practice to navigate the economic rapids.

My First BlogTalkRadio Segment

Here is my first segment of the Book Yourself Solid show on Blog Talk Radio. The show airs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Coach Davender Gupta and I share the control board and talk to the other Book Yourself Solid coaches about what it takes to get booked solid. Subscribe, listen, enjoy! Oh, and if you can listen live, call in and talk to us!

Something's Happening Here

I have great news for all freelancers who want success in sweatpants! (Yes, I said freelancers, in spite of my conviction that freelancing is dead!)

I am now a certified Book Yourself Solid coach.

For any of you who don't know what this means, I refer you to Michael Port, who has been helping service professionals book themselves solid for many years now. He is my mentor, and his program is one reason why 4R Marketing, my at-home marketing consultancy, went from zero to over $100K in less than two years.

The Book Yourself Solid system is....well....a system, with very clear stepping stones and building blocks that, taken in order, can book any freelancer SOLID.

Watch this space.

With BYS as my platform, I will be launching some great programs specifically for freelancers and all about getting more time and more money than you ever thought possible.

And, as always, I will be sharing nuggets here to help you grow your freelancing practice AND have time for the rest of your life.

It's all about freedom! In fact, that's my new tagline:

Success in Sweatpants--Freedom for Freelancers

Hope you check back often, or, better yet, subscribe to the Success in Sweatpants feed so you don't miss anything!!!

Trish

GUEST POST: 6 Obstacles to a 6-Figure At-Home Writing Income

Today's post is from the lovely Amy Derby, one of my Twitter friends, talking about some of the obstacles that keep virtualpreneur/freelance writers (and other creative types) from earning six figures in their businesses. -- Trish

“You’re so lucky,” people like to tell me. “You earn a six-figure income pursuing your passion from home.”

When my family and friends say this, I just nod and smile. When aspiring freelance writers approach me with this sentiment, I get a little worried. Earning a decent living as a freelance writer has nothing to do with luck and, quite often, little to do with writing.

If someone had told me going into this that I would spend more than seventy-five percent of my time doing (or delegating) administrative tasks, looking for work, marketing my services, networking with potential clients and colleagues, talking with and coaching clients, tracking my expenses and any number of other tasks that have nothing to do with writing, I would have jumped off the freelance ship before I ever got on board. I outsource, I delegate, I employ accountants and virtual assistants, and yet I still spend only about twenty-five percent of my time writing.

Six-figure freelancers wear more than six hats. We also face a lot of obstacles getting to the point where we are able to afford those hats.

1) Ourselves: From the beginning, we are our own greatest obstacles. We hate our day jobs and want to freelance, but we’re so comfortable in what we hate that we fight ourselves. Maybe we think we don’t have what it takes to make it as a full-time freelancer, so we hang onto our cubicle lives during the day and try our hands at freelancing on the evenings and on weekends. We sacrifice more time than we have trying to prove to ourselves that we can do it. Sometimes we stay stuck in this should-be transition phase so long we get burned out on freelancing before we ever make it a career.

2) Our Families: Once we decide to go for it, our families aren’t always supportive. They don’t think writing is a real job. They’ve seen us stressing ourselves out trying to work full time and write part time, and they’ve seen the rewards we’ve reaped as small in comparison to what we’ve taken from our families – our time, our attention. If we’re lucky, they’ll come around and support us eventually.

3) Failure: Sometimes we fail. But before we do, we expend so much energy worrying about whether we’ll fail that it’s almost like we’re setting ourselves up. Failure isn’t a bad thing, as long as we can learn to look at it as a learning experience and pull ourselves up from what wasn’t working and into something that does work. Meanwhile, we have bills to pay and families to feed. On one hand, it’s realistic to keep our ventures low-risk so that small failures won’t break us. On the other hand, if fear of failure is keeping us from taking risks and putting ourselves full-force into what we want to do and be, the chance of succeeding big is smaller.

4) Success: All successes, big and small, affect us. Long before we reach the six figure income mark, success has the opportunity to taint us. Some of us get quite cocky and begin to slack off on our marketing efforts, or we develop an attitude that folks should be drumming down our doors begging us to work for them. If this is the case, success will surely be short-lived. Failure is only one badly-accepted success away.

5) Changes: The more we endure, the more we grow. If we’ve done well in finding clients and working with them, accepted our successes gracefully and used our failures as tools rather than weapons of self-destruction, we have changed. Our inner fraidy-cats might still rear their heads occasionally, but we have grown up. We have learned, through trial and error, what works and what doesn’t. Unfortunately, a lot of times what we learn is that to continue to grow, we will have to change even more.

6) Decisions: There comes a time in the lives of most successful freelancers where the path forks. Do we continue along as we are now, or do we pave ourselves a new road? Many freelancers earn six figures for a year or two and decide that’s it; they’ve had enough of living a life of working for others and decide to work for themselves. Some choose to write ebooks, create ecourses or develop other products to give them a passive income. A few take some of their earnings and get away from it all to pursue a fiction writing dream -- that novel they’ve always wanted to write. Some enjoy what they’re doing so much that they decide to become a bigger version of what they already are and expand their solo writing business into a partnership or larger operation. They hire employees and create an enterprise to reach more clients and earn more money. Any of these decisions will be a difficult one, one which will probably make them feel a bit like how they felt back in the beginning when they were leaving the false-comfort of that pseudo-cozy cubicle to pursue the freelance writing life.

Along the way, we learn to deal with obstacles. If we’re lucky, we learn to see these obstacles not as scary trolls guarding our bridges but as navigational signs along the highway telling us we’re headed in the right direction. If we’re smart, we also learn to sell hats.

What obstacles have you had to overcome to get to where you are now?

---------------------------

Amy Derby intentionally left her corporate paralegal life in 2004 to accidentally journey into the adventures of freelancing. She now earns a six figure income blogging for lawyers and hopes to retire by the time she’s 30. She prefers a life without hats.

How (and how NOT to) have a mediocre business

Content is king when it comes to marketing on the Internet. You try to keep visitors coming back by providing free content: Articles, reports, newsletters, ebooks, ecourses, and the list goes on and on. Any market, any industry--search on a key word, and you will find a passel of sites with copy in all shapes and sizes.

So content is king and there's already a lot of content out there no matter what market you are in. Is it any surprise that the latest gimmick being used by eager but talent-challenged web businesses is to do what I call "reverse plagiarism?"

Here's how you reverse plagiarize:

• Search key words for the type of content you want to make your own.

• Shop among the results to find articles, reports, ebooks, or other items that fit your market and your own business.

• Capture them (or buy them if you need to, it's a small investment).

• Then hire a copy writer to rewrite them just enough to keep search engines from highlighting your quasi-original work.

And Voila! You now have your very own content to provide and sell on the Internet! Wow!

This is biologically accurate "viral marketing," with content mutating as it replicates across the Internet. And it is being practiced by the hundreds (if not thousands) of mediocre businesses every day, all around the world.

This tactic skirts the edge of ethics. OK, so it isn't illegal. You're not going to get sued, since there's no law against having "extremely similar" content to someone else. But it's a parasitic practice where you suck off someone else's work and knowledge. If a business owner can justify doing this kind of thing, what other corners are they going to cut? Is this someone I want to do business with, either as a customer or a vendor? No.

And besides the fact that karma will eventually get you, if the stuff you are lifting to reverse plagiarize is really good, it is highly likely that your customers and prospects have already read it in its original form. No amount of thesaurus-aided rewriting is going to hide the cadence, organization, and overall tone of the article. It's going to be an obvious derivative.

On the other hand, if the stuff pull isn't all that great to begin with (which begs the question of why you'd be using it in the first place), all you're going to do with that thesaurus is create more mediocrity. Why would any business that wants to attract customers think that generating more low quality content is going to do the trick? Add to that the chance that you'll add more inaccurate or misleading information to the Web.

Either way, how does practicing this kind of not-quite-cheating enhance your image in the marketplace? What does it really say about your business ethics and professionalism?

If you want content for your site, do this instead:

• Scope out what you want and hire a good copy writer who will give you a decent fixed price for the content you've listed.

• Make sure they understand what you want to say, who will be reading it, and what results you are looking for.

• If your own expertise and knowledge of market are needed, dictate into a digital recorder or have your writer interview you while they record.

• Then, turn them loose to get the job done. You will end up with truly original content that represents you accurately.

You can use a service like Copyscape or Doccop to make sure you don't end up having somebody plagiarize you. The reverse plagiarists, unfortunately, will likely replicate you undetected--in this case, I guess you have to just figure that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and hope for the best.