Stella Orange finding the message that makes your cash register sing

Nasty, brutish and short

How do I find time to write my blog?

Ah, dear pilgrim. Here's one of the first things I wish they'd cover in the DIY MBA program (my alma mater): having a blog is one thing, but writing it regularly is entirely another.

A blog is like a pet. Maybe more cat than dog. So long as you feed and care for it regularly, everything's fine. But if you stop giving it kibble (or scooping all the spam out the comment litter box), things get ugly fast. Spend too much time with the blog and not enough with your clients and customers, and you start being the cat lady.

There are 2 things that tend to hang business owners up on the blog front: 1) what to write about 2) when to do the writing. (A third shadow concern: how long should it be?)

Now, I know this isn't all of you, but for those of you who are still intent on getting your blog up to speed (or up & running for the first time), Stella finds herself sounding like a broken record on the following points:

1. Set a goal for frequency. Consistency is most important when writing a blog; it lets your readers know they can count on you, and you follow through with what you say you are going to do. I write on Mondays; it's now 10:57 and there are crickets outside my front door, doing their thing under the moonlight... and here I am. It's not glamorous, but I made a promise to make Mondays the day I write for my subscribers. So here I am. {mwah}

2. Pick 5 topics that are yours. One thing I help my clients do is come up with their "talking points" and go-to messages and metaphors for the work that they do. You don't need me to help you do this (but we'd surely have a ball!): pick your 5 areas that plug into the work that you do, and then start brainstorming topics and tips under each of those categories. I love mind maps for this--and as my Charm School for Sales Pages students will tell you, the only place for a mind map is a ripped-open brown paper grocery bag. See a photo of Stella's unpatented and totally stealable brown bag method in action here.)

3. When in doubt, go Hobbesian. Thomas Hobbes' 1651 text Leviathan describes the ideal form of society and government, which he believed was a strong central ruler with absolute power. Without this, humans will default to chaos and anarchy, and our lives will remain "nasty, brutish, and short." (Bet you didn't realize Stella has a degree in Poli Sci... and still totally geeks out on Mary Wollstonecraft to this day). Bottom line is, when it comes to writing a blog post, you must ditch your perfectionism. 350 words is great - but not if it takes you 3 hours. Become a recovering perfectionist like Stella, and when people tell you they find typos in your off-the-top-of-your-head writing, you say "thank you for paying such close attention to me!" and leave it at that. No relapses into perfection here; remember, the perfect is the enemy of the getting it done so your clients see how awesome sauce you are.

Why not start with 175 words, once a week? Pick a day, any day. Just make sure you're giving readers info they can use (which is probably stuff you tell your clients, and find yourself repeating).

Oh, and final note: have fun with the headline! Intrigue and genuine conversation bits are the name of the game.