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I Write…

once uponWriting content sounds very easy. It’s just a case of sitting down and pouring forth ideas, right? Well… it’s not really that easy. It has to be structured. You have to know what you are going to write, how you’re going to write it, and how the reader will react to it. You have to understand that the reader can click off your website at any moment. You want to keep them there, but you don’t know how. Why don’t you follow the rules of writing content? Let’s take a look at them.

What Do You Want to Achieve?

One major reason for taking your time when writing content is to decide what it is you want to say. What are you hoping your content will accomplish? Is the purpose of your article to explain how something works, put a customer on a determined conversion path, build brand trust? Whatever goal you’ve decided on, have it in mind before you start writing.

And Your Point Is…

Every piece of content you write should have a pretty big hook built into it. Whether it’s a current event, a problem, a joke or an educational piece, you want to decide how you’re going to draw people in. Keeping the hook in mind will help you frame your article and organize it in your head. It will also determine the writing style that you use. Give it a try.

Walk Like a Panther… Think Like Your Reader

Before you put your fingers to the keyboard, get into the heads of your audience because your content is for them. If you’re attempting to explain something, talk about it from their point of view. How deeply would they need something broken down? Which terms would they use? Where might they get confused? Put yourself in the place of your customers and write like they would.

Read Your Content Out Loud and Proud

If you want to improve your content, read it to yourself before you publish it. If you find yourself stumbling over something or think you’re being bland, it may turn your reader off. I never publish or commit to any piece of writing before I’ve read it aloud to myself several times. If you try this technique, you will find yourself writing much better content.

And Then Root Out the Typos

Everyone falls victim to typos. Be careful and re-read your work. Even the biggest books from the biggest publishers have a typo hiding in their best selling books. Take your time, root them out and then publish when you know you’ve done your best.

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I Teach…

sleepThis week, we are going to look at coaching and beginning a career in coaching. You’re now in a position to be a coach, and you’re ready to begin… but where do you start? How do you get those crucial first clients? How do you know how much to charge? What do you do? What have others done? This article is all about the first crucial steps towards success as a coach. Let’s take a look…

A Clear Path to Success

One of the most useful pieces of advice is to have a plan and see how you will fulfil your goals. In the meantime, have smaller, doable goals, so you know you’re on track. Each time you achieve one of the smaller goals, you will find yourself closer to success with the bigger goals. You should always be looking at the bigger picture—where are you and where do you want to be?

Keep It Simple

Nobody in the world can do it all. That being said, you should plan on putting in lots of hours and energy into your business, at least for the first year or two until you have a good clientele base with a waiting list, and you have a reliable marketing engine. Later, however, you will want to learn the power of saying “no.” Nobody needs to work 100 hours a week.

Family Support

Your loved ones can also assist you in your endeavors and make it easier. Rather than feel bad that you’re not doing as much for everyone else, use your coaching skills to fully communicate what you’re really up to. When you share your inspiration and how much this means to you, the people who care most about you will whole-heartedly join your team, and they may even help you find clients.

Look After the Money

When you know you have enough money coming in already, you can afford to trust the process of attracting clients. Starting a business is not like starting a new job. You won’t get a reliable paycheck every two weeks. But your time investment up front will pay off handsomely if you go the distance. Reduce debts by negotiating for lower interest rates. Stop paying for things you aren’t using. Be careful with your money, and you’ll go far.

Promote, Promote, Shout

In your first year of coaching, even if your coaching skills aren’t fully honed yet, share your excitement and inspiration about coaching with pretty much everybody. Don’t be attached to getting them to understand coaching the way you do. They probably won’t. But do share your energy.

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I Speak…

writingA huge part of public speaking is knowing about your audience, and knowing how you are going to approach that audience. This week’s public speaking article is all about your relationship with your audience. How do you capture their interest, and how do you know what their interest is? How do you turn a mundane subject into something people will want to listen to? Well, buckle up, and let’s take a look at some of the steps!

Research and Understand Your Audience

When you are in front of a business audience, it is important to know their background. Are they colleagues, middle managers or trainees? Finding out about their business experience and their companies will be very important. Armed with this information, you can make a passing reference to their company’s history or profile, which they can relate to. You can tie your information to the subject that matters to them.

Go Beyond Your Words…

You are communicating a message or information, or entertaining. Or it may be a combination of all three. The words you are using are merely a vehicle for conveying your ideas. They are not sufficient on their own. You must feel what you are saying.

Don’t JUST Read Your Speech

There are several reasons why this could be disastrous. If you just stand in front of the audience and read, you will be in danger of boring your listeners. Remember that really dull college professor who droned on for hours on end? That would be you. The more you read, the more you will chance mumbling and failing to make eye contact. Improvise, and feel your way towards a great speech.

Practice, Practice, Practice

You need to get really familiar with the contents of your speech. If you lack confidence, the best way to do this is to try and memorize the main points, and you can use a list of notes for this. You have to go over and over it again, timing yourself so that you do not go over the time allocated. If you prefer, you can also use cards with the main points on them, just in case you forget. A good idea is to number the cards, just in case you drop them! Give it a try—it’ll work like a charm.

Become Personal

No, don’t take this the wrong way. Nobody wants to hear the ins and outs of your divorce. But people still love stories. An anecdote or two can work wonders. Tell them about your personal involvement in a project and what went right or wrong. Jokes are great, too, although these should be kept to a minimum. All these things are important for bonding with your audience.

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I Write…

writingAs we’ve been talking about content over the last few weeks, I’d like to discuss creating good content this week. The kind of content people will actually want to read. The fact is that you can hire a great content writer, but you still have to understand the rules of content—you have to get the basic marketing facts. And some of them can be found below!

YOU Not Me

People love themselves. It didn’t take the advent of the selfie for that to be evident. So, create content that is customized to your audience. Use their names, their faces – anything that makes the content about them. Make everything about the people you want to sell to.

Everyone IS Listening…

One of the most overlooked sources of content is your customers. They ask questions about your brand everywhere. The content might not go viral, but your customers will appreciate being heard and responded to, and it will lessen the burden on your content writer. Plus, the feel-good factor will really please your customers. A company that actually listens to people? Who’d have thunk it?

We’re Only Human

Try to capitalize on the human side of your brand by being human in your content. And remember, just like humans, brands are not perfect. They make mistakes, and they can laugh at themselves. It’s okay to make fun of yourself—seriously!

Content Is FREE

Creating content that is free does not mean endless self-serving, evergreen articles replete with shameless plugs and links to your product pages. It means investing the time to create something of value to people. It can be as simple as one piece of useful, well-designed content, like a cooking cheat sheet or in-depth, brand-free buying guide. Become a trusted resource for valuable information first. For example, look at the toys McDonalds gives away—those are useful gestures that bring kids back again, and again, and again. Think of your content in the same way.

Cute Is GOOD

It is never more evident that we are sold by sentimental content than when the ads with cute turtles, kittens, or doggies come onto your TV. Cute means sales.

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I Teach…

fear11Many life coaches themselves fail, and that failure can be caused by a multitude of problems they personally have not dealt with. These can range from not understanding the amount of energy and time required, not having a motivational touch, or simply life coaching only for money. To succeed in anything, you have to have a love for it—not just a desire to cash in. Let’s take a look at five reasons why coaching businesses fail.

You Aren’t Living It!

Why on Earth would you coach someone on something you don’t—or wouldn’t—do yourself? People can smell a lie a long way. If you want to be the best life coach in the industry, you need to do more than just learn and give your knowledge. You need to start living it! Walk the walk, and lead by example—don’t just lead with words.

You Just Haven’t Mastered It

There are coaches who are pretty good at a lot of different things and are so excited to share their knowledge with their clients, yet fail miserably to differentiate themselves because they are, frankly, a dime a dozen. The best thing you could do as a coach, for your coaching business and your clients, is to pick a maximum of 3 very specific topics to coach on. If you’re a life coach, which specific parts of life will you focus on? The more targeted and focused you are, the more focused your clients will be, and the better results both you and your clients will see. If you’re an expert—be an expert!

It’s Not You… It’s Me

Just because you are able to get people revved up, doesn’t mean you’re bound to be a great coach. In fact, the definition of motivate is to give someone a motive to do something. That does not mean they’ll actually do it. Most coaches can give great strategies. The difference in going from good to great in coaching is getting your clients to actually take action.

Your Own Motives Have Priority

As a business or life coach, it is imperative that you focus on what your coaching clients want and need, NOT what you personally want. Your motives should be their motives. The second you prioritize what you think is important versus what your coaching client thinks is important, you have failed.

A Single Approach Is the Wrong Approach

If you’re not getting through to your coaching clients, it’s not them, it’s you. When you have only one approach, your level of influence will suffer tremendously, and neither you, nor your clients, will see results. Having only one approach is like driving down a dead-end road; it’s unlikely you’ll ever reach your destination. Just because one approach or strategy worked for you before, it does not mean it’ll work every time.

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I Speak…

sleepSo, we’ve spoken at length about public speaking and ways to excel as a public speaker—but we haven’t spoken about actually getting work as a public speaker. This blog is all about ways to find work. It’s not easy to convince someone to pay you to speak—sometimes it will seem impossible—but if you truly want to be a paid public speaker, you should be exploring these avenues.

Universities, Colleges and Schools

Look around you. Chances are, you live close to a university, college, state school, technical school, or some other educational institution. Team up with a professor or department head to hold a forum a subject relevant to you and the educator’s interest group. Invite people from the community to attend, as well.

Network in Your Business Groups

These lead exchange or facilitated networking groups are designed to be a tightly knit group of individuals from diverse businesses who meet regularly for the purpose of bringing business opportunities to the other members. Popular groups are Le Tip, Business Networking International (BNI), and Local Business Network (LBN). Join your preferred group and let the members know that you’re interested in speaking opportunities.

Clubs and Special Interest Groups

Music fanatic? Mother of a child? Coder with mad skills? No matter what your interest or circumstance, there’s a group for it. And if you can share information on a topic that’s relevant to its members, they’ll welcome you as a speaker.

Local Publications

Most areas have a magazine or newspaper devoted to area business news. Check out the periodical’s Events page (in print or online), then contact the organizations who have listed presentations and pitch them for speaking.

Your Clients

No need to get all fancy and overlook one of your most highly qualified sources! Ask your clients which groups they belong to and whether they accept outside speakers.

Other Professionals Who Speak Professionally

Look around at your colleagues, competitors, and other professionals who target the same audience you do. Check their websites and LinkedIn profiles to see where they’ve spoken. You can follow in their footsteps.

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I Write…

once uponThis week, I’d like to look at four signs that you need a content writer. If you are thinking about hiring a content writer, you are really hiring an expert who can write content to appeal to your audience. You are also hiring someone to correct problems that your blog may be having—poor visibility, poor audience participation—or just poor internet salesmanship all around. If you are encountering these problems, then you may want to find yourself an expert to help you correct them.

Why Content Matters…. And Why You Need Traffic

There is one rule to online business. You must blog! If you have a business with an Internet presence, you need a blog with lots of content. Blogging can certainly get boring, but it really does affect your bottom line. On average, blogs increase business. Businesses that blog get more traffic from Google and more visitors surfing in from other sites, which benefits revenue and brand loyalty. It’s a win-win!

Low Engagement…. No Effect

If people aren’t coming to your blog, you’re more than likely doing something wrong. The problem is, it could be any number of things. You might have a basic problem like lack of promotion, incredibly boring articles, poor targeting, or ten other reasons. You might be facing a competitor’s aggressive marketing campaign. Alternatively, your blog might just be too new. Pretty much everything you do on your blog affects engagement, so the problem could be almost anywhere. Don’t give up if you don’t get a million hits on your first day.

Irregular Habits

If you have a personality-driven blog, a lot of ideas, and the time to put it together, it’s fine to sit down and write what’s on your mind when you feel like it. As long as the ideas keep flowing, your audience will be receiving new content and hopefully coming back for more.

Missing Those Crucial Opportunities

When something happens that affects your business or your community, getting your voice out there can enhance your authority, expand your reach and deepen your connection to your customers. The right commentary at the right time is what viral posts are made of, but you need to have someone ready to react. Building an audience over time will ensure your voice is heard when you really need it to be.

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I Teach…

coachFor those of you who are wondering about the possibility of working with a coach, I’d like to talk a little about the ways a life coach can actually add to your life and encourage change for the better. I think we’ve talked a lot about reasons for getting a coach, and finding the right coach—but today this is all about coaches and their abilities. For me, a coach has to be someone who has experience, expertise, wisdom and the ability to listen. For you, the coach may be someone who gives you confidence or helps you discover new things about yourself. Let’s take a good look at coaches…

Finding Your True Purpose

Life coaches know that finding one’s purpose isn’t something that requires meditating for a few years on a mountaintop. That’s just unrealistic. A good life coach knows that an individual’s true purpose comes from a special combination of their hidden talents and passions. A good life coach will help you uncover those talents and passions that will then reveal to you your true purpose in life.

Motivating YOU

Sometimes, when we least expect it, life punches us in the face. We lose our jobs, we lose a loved one, we fall into old bad habits, we sink into depression, and so on. And if left alone, it could take years – if ever – to get back to our old awesome selves again. A quality coach will help us move past these obstacles and learn from them.

Building Your Confidence

Whatever it is you do in life, you’ll do it better and with more enjoyment when you’re confident. The opposite is also true – even the simplest tasks can be outright terrifying when you don’t have the confidence you need. Life coaches understand this better than anyone else.

Developing Your Spirituality

As happiness and success starts flowing into your life, you may find yourself at a very interesting crossroads. While you are happy with how amazing your life has become so far, there’s still something, or several things, missing. These ‘missing’ pieces are why even the seemingly most successful people in the world still turn to life coaches for guidance. Everyone needs to heal, grow and develop.

Guidance, Guidance, Guidance

Have you ever read or heard news of superstar athletes, famous politicians, and influential politicians who make careless decisions that ruin their careers? That’s the danger of success – it can take you places where your character can keep up with you.

Your life coach may keep you from going too fast. They will keep you accountable both to your life plan and to your deepest values. That way, as your success grows, your character will grow in stride with it.

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I Speak…

coachMost people feel fear at some point in their life. When speaking in public, people can find themselves panicking. I hear from these people quite often, and I wanted to put together some tips that would allow people to really get to grips with their fear of public speaking. We all know that it can be terrifying to stand in front of ten, ten thousand, or ten million people and speak—but all it really takes is organization, practice and focus… Let’s take a look at the tips.

 

Organization Is Success

When you organize all of your thoughts and materials, it helps you to become much more relaxed and calm. When you have clear, organized thoughts, it can greatly reduce your speaking anxiety because you can better focus on the one thing at hand—giving a great speech.

The Two P’s—Practice and Prepare

Nothing takes the place of practicing and preparing for your speech. Write out a script of your key points, but don’t speak from it word for word. Prepare for your speech so well that you could answer any possible question thrown at you.

Afraid of Rejection? Don’t Be So Hasty…

“What if my audience hates my speech? What if they boo me off stage?” Try to eliminate all of your fears of rejection. The audience is there to listen to you for a reason.

Focus

When you speak, try to get into a rhythm or a flow. Keep you sentences short and to the point and repeat key points. A short pause in between points can add anticipation for what you are going to say next.

Watch and Learn from Yourself

Pay special attention to:

  • Your facial expressions
  • Your gestures and habits
  • Your body movements
  • How friendly you appear

When you have gentle expressions and a calm demeanor when you speak, you will be more welcoming to your audience.

Record your speech on your phone or video camera. Record yourself giving the talk from beginning to end. Then listen to it or watch it, and make notes on how you could make it better. Some people do not like listening to the sound of their voice on tape, so it is important that you get used to your own voice and speaking style.

Give Your Speech to Another Person

There are plenty of people you can practice on. Be sure to tell the person to be completely honest with you in their critique.

Examples of people you can practice on:

  • Your partner
  • Your close friends
  • Your parents

Speaking directly to another person with whom you feel comfortable will help relax you and give you experience with getting feedback from someone. If they have questions about your speech, it is likely that members of an audience will have the same questions.

There’s Always a Teacher

Find a talented coach or mentor. There are many groups that you can join to learn the art of public speaking. Toastmasters may be the choice for you. It is non-profit and helps people get over their fears by having them practice speaking on subjects over and over.

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I Write…

writingThis blog is all about decisions—a decision that could take you to the next level—a decision that could allow your business to grow. I have put together four reasons why you should consider a ghost writer. These four reasons are a checklist. I want you to look over them and place a check against the reasons that would simplify your business life and give you time to grow, expand and become bigger. If you come away from this blog with three checks or more, I think you should investigate hiring a content writer—seriously. The time to act is the moment you realize action is needed!

Save Time

Would you rather just focus on growing your business? Hiring a ghost writer for your blog will free up some time so you can use your talents more effectively elsewhere. If you are spending more time creating content than you are spending bringing in new business, you may want to adjust your priorities.

Share Excellence

You may not be a great writer, but the business demands excellence. Perhaps you don’t need a ghost writer to take over your blog from start to finish; maybe you just need someone to proofread and edit your content before publishing. A good editor can help you fix your grammar and spelling, be more concise, and better organize your thoughts.

Cultivate Talent

You should try to update your blog with brand new content once a week. In order to keep coming up with relevant topics, you need to be clued into your industry, monitoring the mindsets of your readers, watching trends. It’s certainly an ongoing process. Some people are better at this than others. Sometimes you just don’t have the time. Sometimes you need to delegate. Again, you may not need a ghost writer to handle all your blog responsibilities… maybe you just need someone to research and brainstorm ideas with you.

Social Media Manager

Once your blog is written and published, you’re going to want to generate interest and attract new followers. This means posting on various social media, publishing an e-newsletter, monitoring and responding to comments, talking about your blog at networking events, maintaining a subscriber list, and anything else that will help get the word out. Remember, when it comes to blogging, you can’t rely on an “if you build it, they will come” mentality; someone has to constantly be plugging your blog and getting more eyeballs on it. It’s a full time job.

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