By Janice Beetle of Beetle Press and The Creative Thanks to Janice for answering my call for guest bloggers. She talks about the craft of writing and the importance of continuing one’s professional growth. My third grade teacher, Mrs. Lambson, wore her graying hair in a thick bun snug at the nape of her neck. She was a bit of a scowler, the kind of teacher you could imagine shaking a ruler at you to make a point. I remember walking to her desk one day to ask her how to spell a certain word. “Look it up in the dictionary,” she told me without making eye contact. She did not explain how one looks up a word one does not know how to spell. So, I went back to my desk, and I did not look up the word in the dictionary. Mrs. Lambson could have suggested that I come up with my best guess at spelling the word in question and look that creative spelling up in the dictionary. She could have suggested that I continue to refine my guess until I found the correct spelling. Instead, I … [Read more...]
Importance of Personal Brand in Marketing Your Business
My thanks to colleague and mentor Susan Finn, for rising to my call for guest bloggers! Her post continues the personal brand theme I started last month, with the importance of using a professional headshot. You probably think that you are in the business of ______ (fill in the blank: jewelry making, selling insurance, massage therapy, graphic arts). But really, you are in the business of marketing your business. Right now, there are people who need your goods or services. It is up to you to help them find you. Therefore, marketing is not what you do to sell your goods or services, it’s something you do FOR your potential clients. As we all know, with the internet, social media and the constant pace of 24/7 business, it is more critical than ever that a person or company brands and promotes effectively. Your personal brand, product or service might be the most awesome on the face of this earth, but if customers can’t find the value—the unique value—they are unlikely to … [Read more...]
Livin’ Large at the Library
When’s the last time you went to your local library? Do you know what they can do for you? Some years ago, I almost cried when I read about the possible closing of many of the Boston Public Library branches due to shortage of funding. Thank goodness it did not come to pass. Brian McGrory, one of my favorite Boston Globe writers, captured my feelings perfectly in his article, Treasure Islands at Risk . After you read Brian’s article, do you still say to yourself, “Who cares?” Well, I care. Let me tell you why. As someone who’s experienced my own funding shortage, I have and continue to use my local libraries for my pleasure reading and for work. I love the homey feel of each small library, the smell of polished wood and aging books, and the idiosyncracies of each employee, many of who became my friends over time. There’s nothing quite like having someone look up from what she is doing and smile when I come in the door, ask what she can do to help me—and it’s not home, where my … [Read more...]
Proofreading—Feel the Pain
If you are a business owner, you write every day. Emails, notes, newsletters, articles, blog posts, Facebook updates, you name it, you’ve gotta write it. And as far as writing correctly, you either chew your nails over “its” versus “it’s,” or you don’t—you write what you think is right and hope the reader will forgive you if it isn’t. You might think that it’s easy as an editor to proof my own stuff, but no. It’s even more painful, because I check everything I write thoroughly and still make mistakes. I’m here to tell you, though, how important it is to make sure everything you write is as accurate as possible, because it all reflects on you as a business person and professional. I have seen much in my years of editing for businesses. Believe it or not, I have seen people misspell their own company name--which to an editor is like fingernails on a chalkboard! So here’s my advice. Don’t trust that computer program. Forget spell check and grammar check; you won’t like it when … [Read more...]
Home Offices Are for Wimps—Not!
Ah, the joys of a home-based business. Not having to change out of your jammies to begin writing. Being able to just leave to do an errand whenever you want. Roz Chast’s cartoon in the 12/6/10 New Yorker, called “The Freelance Life”, uses the punch line “Honey, I’m STILL HOME!” Great life, huh . . . oh, really? I’ve worked from a home office for over 20 years. It’s not for the faint-hearted. Witness the bored cat who takes a leisurely stroll over your computer keys; the unfinished projects lying around the house that call out faintly to be completed; the realization that you’ve just spent the last seven hours tapping away without a break. It’s a challenge even for the most self-disciplined among us to work at home successfully. So, I offer a few tips for those of you who are in my situation and haven’t been doing this for your whole lives yet. Change out of your jammies. Pretend you are really going to work. I’ve found that if I don’t put on at least my lined jeans, … [Read more...]