Pull back the curtain!
You know that scene in the Wizard of Oz?
The one where Dorothy arrives at the Emerald City… and the wizard is being all intimidating and aloof… until Toto runs behind the curtain and finds this balding goofball, hiding behind his microphones?
That’s what we as service providers are called to do. Pull back the curtain. And show how the (ahem) proverbial sausage is made.
Look, I can teach you seven tricks from Sunday about how to write snappy copy.
But what I really want to show ya is how to amuse yourself so much that your joy and know-how is flippin’ CONTAGIOUS.
If there’s one thing I hope all my writing students learn from Stella, it’s this: your writing FORMULA is as important as your writing STATE.
That’s a little heady.
So let’s break it down.
Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to teach what you know.
Not from a place of desperation. Or practicality. Or even for a huff of the fumes of your own productivity.
And, for heaven’s sake, not from a place of MARKETING. Egads. Anything but that!
Rather, what if every word you wrote or spoke about your business came from the same spot that your favorite elementary school teacher taught from?
A place of wonder. Of awe. Of delight and enthusiasm. Of kindness and gentleness. Of guiding your flock to see some really cool stuff about this world. And to blow their minds about what’s possible.
Adults aren’t all that different from 10 year olds, you know. Most of us flippin’ LOVE field trips. And, believe it or not, your area of expertise is a field trip to the rest of us. We have no idea about the intricacies of your field.
We just want your sausage recipe.
So go ahead, let us see you geek out. Share your enthusiasm. Plumb the mysteries of your craft. Just leave the rest of us a step-by-step recipe for getting results.
Mighty thanks to txcrew for the photo of the Emerald City.
Oh, and in case you want MY sausage recipe: 1 pound ground pork, 1 teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper, 2 teaspoons toasted fennel seeds (slightly crushed), 3 tablespoons red wine (better taste it, just to be safe), 2 teaspoons chopped parsley, ½ teaspoon dried chile flakes. Mix well (don’t crush) with your hands. And make into meatballs, add to pasta sauce, fry it up as a patty. With thanks to Alice Waters’ The Art of Simple Food.
Posted January 4, 2012 at 6:00 am | Permalink
My business is eventually to be about child protection talks to parents and secondly pride and survival for adult survivors of abuse and then thirdly maybe children as well. I would like to blow minds around what is possible but it isn’t easy to lightly deal with this stuff cos it is scarey for some + has been painful for others and may still be at times. Bottom line I want “strong”, “united” and “change” to be key words.