by Trish on January 8, 2010
Yes, I still miss Hawaii. Can you tell?
My word for 2010 (each year I choose one word to focus on for the next twelve months) is real.
Or as we’ve been talking about on the blog, authentic.
I had such big plans for this blog in 2009. These plans fell to the side because of a too-busy schedule, oh yeah, I went to Europe! 
In 2010, I’m making decisions about what I absolutely MUST spend my time on to get to the goals I’ve set for 2010. I waver back and forth whether or not continuing to develop this blog is worth it. I think I’ve decided that it really isn’t a priority for me this year.
Don’t panic!
I’ll still update this blog, but on a less-regular basis. I’ll pop in with interesting tidbits that I find. I will finish an ebook on authenticity (that is on my list for this year) and you’ll be the first to know about it. I will create a blogger-author press kit and you will have first access to it as well. I am not in the mood to charge hundreds of dollars for these products. I like seven dollar ebooks, don’t you? So these will be seven dollars. Yes, 7 dollars.
I’ll be developing a book on blog content this year and you’ll get the benefit of my latest, zaniest thoughts on that. Plus you’ll watch as I attempt to sell a book based on a blog. And I may change my mind and come back here and really just churn out the content. Who knows?
For now, I’m focusing on doing the two things each day that will bring me the closest to my goals this year: writing 2500 non-blog-related words a day and marketing constantly to find top-notch clients for my editing, writing, blogging business. I really believe in marketing, even if you’re maxed out with work. We must market MORE. That is the name of the game in business for 2010.
I have some deeper thoughts about that and I’ll share them as my marketing gets underway this year. In the meantime, what two activities should you be doing instead of reading this blog? I’m serious.
The two greatest things to bring you the closet to your goals this year. What brings you the most results in the least amount of time? Expand your time. What brings you the least amount of results but takes the greatest amount of time? Downgrade the time you spend on those worthless tasks.
Read this article and tell me you will follow Ramit’s and my advice in 2010.
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
by Trish on January 4, 2010
I was here four days ago (I have the sunburn to prove it!):
It was wonderful! I admit I was not thinking about blogging while I was there. I was snorkeling with the fish and sea turtles and having the time of my life! Now my burnt back itches, but I will survive.
Back this week with the 2010 plan for this blog. Finally, I intend to actually execute the plan. Sheesh!
Have a great Monday!
by Trish on December 15, 2009
No reason to keep pushing as we near the holidays. Seriously. What’s the point? These days should be used to hunker down, to plan for 2010, to think about next year, to rest, to spend time with family and friends, to enjoy the results of your hard work in 2009, to really soak up the spirit of the season.
Some ideas:
1. Sit down, ignore the Internet, and read an empowering book. Read something that blows your mind, like Seth Godin’s new free ebook. Download it here (Michael Hyatt is one of the writers featured in the ebook).
2. Watch a good movie. Amazing how letting your brain rest actually inspires it. I like anything Christmas-related, but even something silly, like The Hangover, I hear, works.
3. Talk it up. Meet a colleague or fellow entrepreneur for coffee. Amazing how talking about your ideas for 2010 can flower into something amazing. I’ve been doing this lately (I’ve got one scheduled for this week too!) and it really kick starts my planning ability. It gets me excited about the new possibilities for the next year.
by Trish on December 14, 2009
Say when the holidays are here and you’re busy with family and friends? Should you still blog? Should you just try to do it all?
It’s up to you. What would be the result if your blog wasn’t updated during Christmas week? Or if you took a break for New Year’s week? Would your clients wonder what had happened to you or would they understand?
A few ideas:
1. Post a picture blog. Just collect pictures from Flickr or elsewhere on the Web and post them that week.
2. Answer client questions. A lot of business blogs are doing this throughout the entire month of December.
3. Get a few guest bloggers. A business blog I know has asked a colleague to answer questions while she’s gone this entire week.
I’m deciding what my focus will be as I prepare to take an extended holiday trip over these next few weeks.
Stay tuned!
by Trish on December 10, 2009
I think I qualify as dull. This week has been a blur of work, todo lists, and stress. The impending holidays make it difficult to continue the regular marketing and networking (no one is in the office or interested in talking too much business) and yet running a business continues along.
How to be more interesting?
I read.
Here’s what I’ve been reading this week.
The British Medical Journal is coming under fire for consorting with a television news crew in their quest to get Roche, the maker of Tamiflu, to give them a full set of data. Kate Johnson, a medical journalist, reports her take on the story here.
Tim Ferriss, author of the 4-Hour Workweek, has a 100k contest for entrepreneurs in the United States that starts January 1, 2010, using Shopify. See post here (and related information on contest rules).
I’ve been watching the newest TED talks. See all new release and archives here.
Have a great day!
by Trish on December 8, 2009
What? There are risks?
Yep. Read on.
1. There are significant negatives in your company’s reputation and you aren’t prepared to respond to them. Blogging requires an authentic effort to attempt to communicate and interact with your core audience. If you’re putting up a blog to try and hide behind it, well, it won’t work. People will find out the truth. Just ask Tiger Woods.
2. You don’t have set guidelines in place that define what your blog is and is not. You don’t put Youtube videos on your business blog showing your firstborn singing in her first Christmas pageant, and you don’t use the blog to feature your own personal politics. Leave that for another blog. You can talk about that other blog, but SEND YOUR CLIENTS away from the business blog if you want to talk about your darling daugher’s first solo rendition of Holy Night, okay?
3. You’re boring. Well, we all have this problem at times. Are you still yammering about the same stuff you were yammering about a year ago? Time to move along. What new innovations have you found for your business? What new management technique has been working really well for you?
4. Comments left by readers leave the company liable to lawsuits. You know, when people tell you on your blog that the miracle cure cream you sold them actually made their hair fall out. That sort of thing. Or even more muted accusations can be just as much trouble. One tip from me: comment moderation.
But all these risks can be countermanded with careful preparation and careful execution. Blogging is a great way to get your company name out in front of a worldwide audience.
by Trish on December 7, 2009
Every blogger I know at one time did not realize how much work a blog requires. It’s like raising an electronic pet. You get tired or distracted or even too busy and suddenly you realize you haven’t updated your blog in weeks and you don’t even know what to say anymore. What hasn’t been said already?
Never fear. It’s called burnout. Everyone gets it, everyone is afraid of it (thus claiming they DON’T get it), and everyone can overcome it.
1. Cut out the chaff. Are you trying to do too much with your blog? Must you write lengthy posts every time? Must you be pithy and humorous and wise beyond your years all the time? Is that really you anyway? I’m not pithy every freaking second of my life, so why would we represent ourselves that way? It’s not real. Cut it out.
2. Get your priorities right. Could you have someone else write the blog for you? Must you write it by yourself? There are fabulous blog experts out there that can take the load off your shoulders, just type into Google “blog expert” and you can find them. Or email me. I write blogs for hire.
3. Unplug. Bloggers cannot get fresh ideas or innovations by always reading someone else’s innovations. Get offline, read poetry, read books in your niche, talk to people (clients! clients! clients!) for the ideas you desperately need.
4. Grow up. Realize that what worked for your blog last year may not work this year. A blog is not a static marketing machine. It has to change with your business and with your goals. What do YOU need to do to shake things up? Overhaul? Redesign? Outsource content or design? New focus? New theme? Do it. Do it now.
5. Relax. Yeah, oxymoron alert. But seriously, relax. The blog is not supposed to be stressful. It’s more organic than that. It’s intuitive, so let it shape and form and then if you need to nip it here and there, do so. Relax. You’re doing fine.
by Trish on December 4, 2009
Sometimes we overthink this voice thing. What voice do you have now? You know it’s unique, right? You’ve developed it after reading a lot of other blogs (novels, non-fiction, op-eds, memoirs, whatever). It’s the voice you’ve pulled out from everyone else’s voice. Don’t be afraid that your voice sounds too much like someone else. It is uniquely you, trust me. I encourage everyone to read, read, read and not hide from the books so that you are writing in a vacuum. Don’t make that mistake. Every great writer is influenced by the writers that have gone before. Think of it as standing on other writers’ shoulders.
Practice today. Write in the voice that you feel the most comfortable with. It’s the voice that makes you laugh with delight at what you’ve written, that makes you jump up out of your chair and scream because you just love what your imagination created. It makes YOU smile. If you like it, someone else will too.
I’m off to write with my voice and to have the time of my life. I can’t wait! Happy weekend!
by Trish on December 3, 2009
So I’ve been reading The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging this week. Very interesting. My writing teacher and client (I’m her editorial assistant) just pitched a blog idea to them (she’s so good at op-ed) and I wanted to try it myself. Where better to look for this information than from Arianna Huffington and her blog editors directly?
In their chapter, Finding Your Voice, HuffPo’s editors recommend these steps to writing a successful op-ed post:
What is your point? How would you explain your point to a batty, slightly deaf relative in one sentence? Write that sentence down. This is the gist of your piece.
Clear some space above that main point. Now think up a story that illustrates the point. This “anecdotal lede” is a staple of newspaper and magazine journalism. Reporters like anecdotes because they tend to give a human-interest perspective on the story and tend to draw readers in. If the story happened to you, great. If you put in the proper links and cite the source, you can retell a story from another newssource. You may have to write a transition sentence or two between the anecdote and your point.
Now clear some space under your main point. Give a short history of the debate.
Next, argue your point from the evidence. What makes you think you are right? Throw in two or three quotes, statistics, or stories that back you up.
Now think about who might disagree with you. Why might this person or organization think you’re wrong? Maybe it’s because they’re total idiots, but you’ll write a better blog post if you address their strongest points rather than call them names.
Write a good walk-off line. Or if you can’t think of one, write something like “I’ll be following this story and will post again when I learn more.”
Interesting, eh? I thought so. I’m working on several op-ed posts right now and am going to apply these guidelines to see if I can’t improve my own craft. And perhaps land a blog post on HuffPo! Fingers crossed.
by Trish on December 2, 2009
I’m going to upset the purists out there, but I really don’t believe blogging requires a lot of work or forethought. I don’t tend to think a lot before I blog, but I do read piles of books and it filters into my brain and I formulate my blog posts by agreeing or disagreeing with what I read. Several clients have had issues lately thinking too much about what they are blogging and I wanted to throw up a few quick tips on how to blog better.
1. Just blog. Don’t worry if someone can poke holes in your theories or will make fun of your ideas. It’s your blog, it’s not a glossy magazine (remember, most of those glossies are now bankrupt, so it didn’t work for them either).
2. Not perfect, good enough. Just make sure you’ve got your basic facts right, that you don’t make spelling mistakes (like I do on occasion), and you’re good to go! Remember, the biggest blogs started as a way of recording life happenings. Don’t overthink it.
3. You are not going to save the world with your blog. You’ll start a conversation though. And that’s the point.
4. If you’re too controlled, you’ll never let your clients see the real you. That’s what they’re reading the blog for. They want to know stuff that you may not be comfortable letting out in the open. Just let it go. But remember, it stays on the Internet for infinity and beyond. So no naked pics, please.
5. Whatever you have the toughest time talking about may be the one thing that folks want to read about. This is not tabloid material, this is being authentic. I started talking about my religious fundamentalist upbringing on my other blog and everyone is glued to it. I beat around the bush for two years though. I didn’t want to talk about it. Another friend is talking about how she has tried to stay off medication for her lifelong depression. She has avoided this since she started writing professionally, but you know what, it’s real. As soon as we both started to talk about the real stuff, our blogs took off and we were part of a conversation. For a business blog, those examples may not quite fit, but just think about it for a minute. And then see how it can apply to your business blogging.
So, don’t fret if your blogging takes all day long or you agonize over everything, just slowly start letting go of the control as you blog. Before you know it, you’ll be flying and blogging will be just like typing an email to your friends. That’s how it is for me.
