“It’s not you; it’s me.”

Those words are probably some of the most frustrating to couples and would-be exclusive relationships worldwide, but those same words are also indirectly [...]]]> Clients are still confused about their about pages–below is a repost to help clear some of the brain (and about page) clutter.

“It’s not you; it’s me.”

Those words are probably some of the most frustrating to couples and would-be exclusive relationships worldwide, but those same words are also indirectly costing you clients.

Friends, (may I call you ‘friends’?) a misconception has infiltrated the internet and plagued entrepreneurs with an ‘it’s not you; it’s me’ mentality.  This misconception?  That about pages are actually about you.

A little small business 411—nothing on your website is really about you.

Nothing.

Because, online, people like it when things are about them.  Otherwise they get…

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And if you’re suffering a ‘that was way harsh, Ty*’ moment from that sobering piece of knowledge, let’s put it a different way.

You’re on a blind date.

You look gorgeous in your sequined tank that features just a whisper of cleavage but not so much that your date forgets he’s a gentleman and attempts to get handsy.  Your two best friends are having dinner across the restaurant, ready to pounce with stilettos in hand in case said date turns out to be a serial killer.

Luckily, he isn’t.

However, you do notice that he hasn’t stopped talking for at least 10 minutes.

He’s going on and on about his degrees, frat brothers, how good he is at his job, and that time he did this really funny thing that everybody thought was really funny.  And because he hasn’t addressed anything you care about, (or you, for that matter), you lose interest and start to tune him out.

That’s exactly how potential clients feel when they go to your about page (and they will go to it) and are bombarded with a rundown of your credentials.  Except, they aren’t forced to sit across a table from you for the next hour; potential clients can simply click themselves away for good.

How are you going to remedy this?  Make your about page about you, but only as it relates to your target audience.

-Let them know up front exactly how you can make their lives better

-Tell a compelling story—one that, yes, is technically about you, but that your ideal clients can relate to making them feel like you totally get them

-Leave the boring stuff (e.g. degrees and certifications) for last if you need them at all.  People are much more interested in making connections and are no longer as easily wooed by the acronyms behind your name

How do you make your about page appeal to your ideal clients?

*Clueless

For more help on writing your about page, check out the Say What? Workbook.

Create a sense of urgency.  (How’s that for getting right to the point?)

Your readers like you, they’re into you, they get a little happy in the pants when they see your new post or newsletter pop up in their inbox.

Your readers are engaged, inspired, and overall crushing [...]]]>  

Create a sense of urgency.  (How’s that for getting right to the point?)

Your readers like you, they’re into you, they get a little happy in the pants when they see your new post or newsletter pop up in their inbox.

Your readers are engaged, inspired, and overall crushing hard on you and your products and services.

They may even have worked with you before—and you want to make that happen again.  This isn’t the time to play coy, bat your eyelashes, and hope they notice.  It’s not the 50’s, and this isn’t Mad Men.

This is the time to take an action to inspire an action.

Case in point: Kristen Lawlor of Little Laws Prints

Kristen’s been a client from the beginning.  I adore her brand—she’s fun, sassy, and isn’t afraid to highlight these attributes in her business.  It’s what her right people love most about her.

When clients receive their custom prints from Kristen, they also get her business card with a promo code for a percentage off of purchases.  But they were missing it and, after seeing my last post, she decided to create a separate postcard for it.

She told me the gist of the postcard and that she wanted to offer her clients a percentage off of all future purchases.  In other words, the offer was always open.

My crazy response to this?

“If people know they can use something whenever they’ll be less likely to use it. But if it has an expiration there’s a sense of urgency. Kind of like how a man might start to act right if he thinks you’re going to leave him.”

Don’t ask.  Sometimes my brain just goes there.

Here’s what I came up with for the back of thecard:

(this isn't the actual card)

I’ll let you know how it works out for Kristen.

How can you take action to inspire action (and urgency) for your right people today?

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You know how you go to a conference or networking event and come home with a load of paper (e.g. business cards, postcards, flyers) that you barely look at then throw in the trash?

Yeah.  People are doing the same thing to your stuff too.

(Or adding your information, without your permission, [...]]]>  

You know how you go to a conference or networking event and come home with a load of paper (e.g. business cards, postcards, flyers) that you barely look at then throw in the trash?

Yeah.  People are doing the same thing to your stuff too.

(Or adding your information, without your permission, to their newsletter or marketing list.  Two words for this: NOT COOL.)

Let’s stop spending the money you’ve earned in your fantastic business on marketing materials that barely see the light of day.  Because your lone business card or postcard will reap little reward at the bottom of a trash can.

It’s not that people don’t like you.  (I mean, who could resist that face.)  But while going through all of their newly acquired conference swag, people are faced with one simple question:  What am I supposed to do with all of this?

And if your stuff—whatever piece of promotional material it might be—doesn’t provide an immediate solution and/or a connection, then it will likely be on the curb with last night’s takeout cartons and a week’s worth of dirty diapers come trash day.

So when I was preparing for an upcoming conference, I wanted to make sure I had something other than a business card that might entice people to hang onto it.

Here’s what I came up with:

It’s a postcard.

The front has the I-need-attention-so-look-at-me! ‘about me’ and a promo code exclusively for conference attendees.  The back of the card has a few tips for writing an About Me page followed by a discount on copy services using the promo code on the front.

Women in the market for hiring a copywriter could jump all over this.

Women who can’t hire a copywriter yet but are looking for some tips will like this too.

It just might make the desk…or cork board, or ‘good to know’ file.  Either way, it should definitely avoid the takeout cartons and dirty diaper party longer than a business card or a postcard with solely my info on it would.

Fingers crossed.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

*Did you like this post?  Subscribe in the sidebar for more goodness straight to your inbox.*

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Instastories are very short stories I’ve written inspired by photos I’ve seen on Instagram.   The stories are fiction and in no way represent the photographer’s actual life.  

The story below was inspired by the two pictures above.  It is based on [...]]]>  

Instastories are very short stories I’ve written inspired by photos I’ve seen on Instagram.   The stories are fiction and in no way represent the photographer’s actual life.  

The story below was inspired by the two pictures above.  It is based on a woman who accidentally takes pictures of her feet as she’s walking and the memories these pictures bring forth.  The story bounces in and out of an internal dialogue with her daughter about these memories.  

Photos by Summer.

In This Sound

Sometimes I accidentally take pictures of my feet as I’m walking.

The photos clutter my phone.  Lopsided, blurred images of making it through the day—shoes mid-stride and diligent against the pavement like lock-jawed soldiers trudging forward.

I think it’s my subconscious pointing out how artistic I could be if only I would stop giving a damn about trying to be artistic.  Or how beautiful life could be if only I would stop giving a damn about trying to make it beautiful.

Or perhaps it isn’t my subconscious or God or the stars or kismet.

Perhaps I’m simply careless with my thumbs.  They push buttons I don’t mean to push from time to time.

Today my shoes are orange.  Orange oxfords with chocolate brown laces and too-clicky soles.  I sound like a tap dancer as I walk to work—clickety clack, clickety, clack.  Like the homeless guy at Canal Street Station who wore short tuxedo pants, his white ankles an unwelcome interruption between his black pants, black tap shoes.  Man, he could dance.

“He hasn’t been homeless for long.”  That’s what your dad said when we first saw him.

“What makes you say that?”

“He’s still dancing.”

“Oh, c’mon,” I nudged your dad, looped my arm through his as we walked.  “There’s always a reason to dance.”

I don’t know what happened to him, the homeless man of tap dancing fame.  He slunk away, exited unnoticed.   I think of him from time to time when I wear these shoes—clickety clack, clickety clack, clickety clack clack clack—those always-tapping feet.

But this was before your time.  Before you were here and before you were gone.

I was wearing these shoes when I found out about you.

Remember?  I squatted over the toilet in the ladies’ room on the 12^th floor.  Bleach, that acrid and noxious odor, layered the surfaces, sinks and handles, invaded my senses as I hovered.

I peed on the stick.  Two gloriously pale and faded blue lines.

“Who takes a pregnancy test at work,” your dad joked.  He is always good for a smile.

I was wearing these shoes when I found out about you.

Oh, how the simplest occurrence redirects a life.  A right turn instead of a left.  Answering a phone instead of letting it ring.  Moving instead of standing patient and still.

“Wait right here, sweetheart,” your dad must have told you.  “I’ll be just a second.”

Isn’t a second an eternity when you’re four?  I can see your bright brown eyes with a glint of amber, sweet pennies with which to swallow the world.  How they must have sparked upon spying the meticulous fluff of a cat across the way.

How you must have set off running from the front porch to greet it.

How your dad must have set off running from the house and into the slippery morning as he glimpsed your little legs bounding across the lawn and into the street.

How that dear girl, hardly seventeen, must have wished she’d driven right instead of left.

I’m at a crosswalk.  Cars halt.  The white silhouette of a man blinks on a lamppost across the street and I am permitted to walk again.  Clickety clack, clickety clack. The sound unearths a buried ache and I search the gray, barren sky in hopes of finding you there.

A tree rocks steadily with the wind.  A tangle of  balloons idles past.

The branches, those tired and bare limbs, reach out towards them.  Grabbing at happiness as it floats by.

*Find more fiction here.*

Know when to say when…

That’s what a guy I hardly knew wrote in my high school senior year book.

He was cute and straight edge, (does anyone besides me remember ‘straight edge’?  Am I totally dating myself?  Probably.), and so naturally I thought he was being incredibly insightful and [...]]]>  

Know when to say when…

That’s what a guy I hardly knew wrote in my high school senior year book.

He was cute and straight edge, (does anyone besides me remember ‘straight edge’?  Am I totally dating myself?  Probably.), and so naturally I thought he was being incredibly insightful and profound.

Truth is, ‘know when to say when’ is neither of those things.  It’s plain common sense.

As an entrepreneur you inherently possess a crazy gene.  A ‘no pain, no gain’ gene.  A ‘this makes no freaking sense but I’m going to do it anyway’ gene.

At times, the road most traveled and the straight edge of common sense eludes you.

So when you’re sitting at your laptop feverishly creating then deleting, or in your studio and office reworking the same clay, stitch, or fold for the ninth time, a grand piece of common sense doesn’t seem like an option:

Give up.

(Say what, Tiffany?!)

Yes.  Give it up.

Quit.

Know when to say when.

Toiling over the same project for hours on end with nothing but a string of stale ideas isn’t doing you any good, anyway.

Give yourself a few hours (if not the rest of the day) to recharge and relax until your brain starts throwing around the sort of fantastic ideas that got your business up and running to begin with.   Once you’ve had some time away, the ideas will start rolling back.

Try:

-Baking/cooking (unless that’s your business)

-Going for a walk or run (it gets the brain working and works off what you just ate—two points for you)

-Read something completely unrelated to your business (my choice is usually fiction)

-Watch a documentary on Netflix (some of my favorites are here, here, and here)

-Meet up with a girlfriend (but don’t talk about work)

-You can also check out this post: 44 Ways to Unplug from Work

What do you do when the ideas aren’t coming?

*Psst!  Did you like this post?  Awesome.  Sign up in the sidebar and get posts delivered straight to your inbox.*

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Hello you.

A client once told me that my custom inquiry really helped her think about her brand and what she was trying to convey with her site.  Her business isn’t new, but sometimes we get so busy with the daily ‘stuff’ that the big picture goes a little blurry.

Reading/ writing [...]]]>  

Hello you.

A client once told me that my custom inquiry really helped her think about her brand and what she was trying to convey with her site.  Her business isn’t new, but sometimes we get so busy with the daily ‘stuff’ that the big picture goes a little blurry.

Reading/ writing fiction has had me thinking about ‘the big picture’ of brands lately.  I know.  That seems like an odd train of thought but, give me a second.

I spend more time on Amazon reading the 3 star reviews of novels than seems normal.  Generally, people seem to have an issue with character development—either a lack thereof or a character’s actions were, well, out of character.

The reader didn’t understand the character and their motivations.

It makes me wonder how often people jump onto a site and are like ‘dude, I don’t get it.  What is this person really about?’

Here are 4 questions to help bring your brand focus back:

1. What’s your business’ story?  How did you get started and why?

2. What are 6 words you would use to describe your business?

3. What do you want clients/customers to know most about your business?

4. How do you want your clients/customers to feel?

Your brand should encompass all of these answers–they are the driving force behind why you do what you do.

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Yesterday my family and I celebrated my husband’s 34th birthday.

I make a cake for each member of my family on their birthdays because 1)who doesn’t like a pretty cake, and 2) I like to make my family feel special on the one day a year that celebrates them.  [...]]]>  

Yesterday my family and I celebrated my husband’s 34^th birthday.

I make a cake for each member of my family on their birthdays because 1)who doesn’t like a pretty cake, and 2) I like to make my family feel special on the one day a year that celebrates them.  I tailor each cake to what each person adores, gets excited for, or to reflect their personality in some way.

My son has seen Toy Story 3 at minimum 4,937 times and carries his Woody doll everywhere he goes.  Thus one of his cakes was complete with cowhide, rope, sherrif’s badge, etc.  My daughter loved Hello Kitty and flowers and two years ago that’s what she got.

My husband is simple.  The epitome of patience and support.

He is quiet, kind, and would wear either sweatpants or basketball shorts all day every day depending on the season if he could.

(He also has biceps for days, y’all.)

His cakes are never fussy or overdone.  They are classic, tasteful.  He eats every piece with a tall glass of milk.

I know this because I’ve been with my husband for over 13 years.  I’ve listened to him, traveled with him, cheered for him, talked with him.  Spending time with him is the only way I can really get to know him and what he likes, wants, and needs.

Spending time with your target market allows you to get to know what they like, want, and need from you.  It lets you know what products and services to create, what to talk to them about in your copy and how to talk to them about it.

How can you start doing that?  The same way you and your mate started—simply start engaging.

1. Jump on Twitter and join a chat containing your target market (#omhg lead by Jessika Hepburn is a great one for creatives.  Or try #YFEchat for young female entrepreneurs on Thursday nights)

2. Read and comment on blogs.  Find a blog with your target market and read through the comments, hear what they’re saying, what they’re concerned about.  Leave helpful comments.

3. Attend conferences, meetup groups, webinars or teleconferences where your target market will be.  Listen to what they’re saying and how they’re saying it.  Respond with the solution for their specific issue.

4. Do a little market research and create a short survey for your current subscribers/Twitter followers/Facebook fans to find out what they want most from you

How did you get to know your market?

I recently worked with a client who asked me to help her ‘sound like her but more professional.’

Clients use the word ‘professional’ a lot but while studying their target market, getting all up in their brand business, and overall getting to know the client as a person, I realized [...]]]>  

I recently worked with a client who asked me to help her ‘sound like her but more professional.’

Clients use the word ‘professional’ a lot but while studying their target market, getting all up in their brand business, and overall getting to know the client as a person, I realized that ‘professional’ isn’t what they mean.

Nope.

They don’t want to sound ‘professional’ per se, they want to sound like the best version of themselves.

And you want to sound like the best version of yourself.

The best version of you:

-knows how your right clients and customers want to feel

-is open, honest, kind, and ready to help where others can’t

-is personable, real, a human being with a story to inspire others

-knows what the heck she’s talking about

Because there’s nothing sexier to a potential client or customer (yes, sexy) than finding someone that:

-understands them

-they can trust

-relates to them

-can help them solve a problem

Revisit why you started this gig in the first place and find a focus from there.  Think about your brand, what you’re all about and why that should matter to anyone.

Write how you talk and edit from there.  Whittle away words and jargon in your copy that you don’t use in your everyday life and that your right people don’t understand anyway.  Organize your thoughts in such a way that your right people will follow along and say ‘now this girl gets me.’

Because ‘professional’ isn’t entirely in the specific words you use, but a combination of how you use them (their intentions), the actions behind them, and how they make people feel.

So seriously, be yourself—and I don’t say that as a bunch of woo woo mysticism and light.  Being yourself is a tool.

Wield that thing like a hammer.

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Hello, friend.

Today I bring you a story–a short story I wrote based on the picture from Instagram you’ll see below.

Who doesn’t find Instagram inspiring?

Sometimes I see a photo in my feed and think of the story it could tell, what could have happened around this photo, who were the characters, what [...]]]>  

Hello, friend.

Today I bring you a story–a short story I wrote based on the picture from Instagram you’ll see below.

Who doesn’t find Instagram inspiring?

Sometimes I see a photo in my feed and think of the story it could tell, what could have happened around this photo, who were the characters, what were they doing, how were they feeling.  I have a few photos in mind to write more stories for, but this first one is inspired by Designlovefest*.  I immediately thought of morning when I saw it.

Here’s her tale.

Morning.

It unfolds in a breath, a quiet stream of emerging light and sound.  The pink-orange sun swells beyond the landscape before my eyes; the trilling of a tumescent bird, her warble a welcomed string of notes, a burst, a cry no longer captured by the night.

You are here.

You arrived near 2am with flowers.  A cast of pinks, purple, a spray of orange petals; their leaves and limbs extended between us, you in the doorway with your tired eyes and lopsided grin, me at the window in a nightshirt and frizzed hair, encased in the flickering glow of an indecisive street lamp.  You said ‘Hello there,’ and I drank tea, smiled into the steaming cup.

A stretch of sun falls through the window, collides and breaks across the curtains, the flowers, the floor, the sheet above your exposed ankle as you sleep.  Your parted lips move—open, close, open—a silent discourse as I lift my head from the pillow and sit upright.

Dust floats along the water in a polka-dotted glass.  A hairclip of jewel-toned stones rests in a ceramic dish.  They sit on the window seat where you first kissed me, first slid the clip up and along my temple to catch the wayward hair about my face.  ‘Do you remember’ I whisper but you are still asleep.  I hear your breath, the slight whistle of your exhale, and lay back beside you, my leg across yours.

We’ve had mere hours yet tonight you will leave again.  It is a necessity that causes my heart to beat in a different way, a hiccupped stop and stutter until I forget your absence, bury it in the busyness, the mire of everyday.  Until I am no longer stupid, (oh, to remain so unaware) at the crosswalk, in the grocery line, in the shower, at the park—a quiet moment erupts and there you are in my mind, unforgotten.

Tonight your side of the bed will contain only a dip, the imprint your body has left behind.  Your scent will stay a day or two, weave in and between the layers before it fades.

But until then, we have this morning.

It unfolds in a breath, a quiet stream of emerging light and sound.

*Image by Designlovefest.  This story was not sponsored by nor does it represent actual events in the lives of Designlovefest members.  It’s fiction, kids.

You can find more fiction here.

This is inspired by a post by The Story of Telling: 5 questions you need to ask about your ideal clients.  Check that out when you get a chance.

Clarity is so golden—and necessary if you’re going to float steadily along in this entrepreneur boat.

1. Who are you?

What are [...]]]>  

This is inspired by a post by The Story of Telling: 5 questions you need to ask about your ideal clients.  Check that out when you get a chance.

Clarity is so golden—and necessary if you’re going to float steadily along in this entrepreneur boat.

1. Who are you?

What are you especially good at?  What do you enjoy?  And because those answers are sometimes different, what are you especially good at and enjoy?

2. Why did you start your business?

The real reason outside of money or needing something to keep your mind occupied.  What’s your story?  How did the idea of starting your business make you feel?

3. What does your ideal work day look like?

How many hours would you work?  What would each of those hours entail (e.g. client projects, admin, planning)?  What would you do in your off hours?

4. Who do you want to work with?

What type of people do you work best with?  Who do you enjoy working with the most?

5. What is your plan to keep your ideal business from slipping into one that doesn’t quite fit?

What can you do to make sure you meet the ideals and qualities of the above 4 questions?

These questions have helped considerably as I’ve had a few come-to-Jesus meetings with myself about reshaping my business.  What are some other questions that have helped you plan for 2013?

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