The big 5 writing problems (and the cure)

When you intend to use online marketing to grow your business, there are 5 problems that crop up

1. Finding time to write everything
2. How long it takes to research, post, publish and send
3. What to write – a.k.a. your message
4. What to write – not your message, but which strategy to use
5. How to persuade people using words

I spend a whole 6 months in my Uncork Your Message lab teaching my clients how to do this. But I see this dense thicket of problems causing such trouble for service professionals—I can’t keep it to myself.

The first half of solving a problem is getting clear on what the problem actually is.

If you are having trouble getting your message out of you, chances are it’s not just a message problem. There are a bunch of other ingredients to having a message that’s clear as a bell to your ideal clients.

I don’t want you being so hard on yourself about this stuff. One of the lessons I learned when I was in grad school for teaching was that we learn as we go. Which means you MUST act in order to learn something. That goes double if you are a Recovering Perfectionist like me. That is an indulgence you can no longer afford as an entrepreneur who’s on the up and up.

Couple thoughts on these problems:

- On finding time to write: you never will. Instead, schedule yourself. Set aside Mondays and Fridays to work on marketing, not client work. And then structure your time into “chunks” of 45 or 90 minutes. You can write a newsletter article, JV packet, teleseminar opt-in page, or outline your next program in 45 minutes.

- On how long it takes: are you doing everything yourself? You need an assistant. You need to be the content creator, but that’s it. No formatting. No finding photos. No loading everything into your email service. That’s not what the boss does. That’s what a helper does. Get a helper. (Talk to Marta at http://www.va-4-hire.com/ or Kyra at http://www.virtuallyidealservices.com/)

- On your message: Stick with me, kiddo. If you’re in or near New York, come to my one day workshop, UNCORK NYC, and we’ll get on your message like white on rice.

- On your strategy: You don’t need a lot of fancy or expensive marketing strategies to win. You just need to start with 3: getting out and meeting your ideal clients in real life, sending great content in a newsletter, and one more that gets you in front of the right audience (talks? Teleseminars? Workshops?).

- On persuading people: Part of it is just letting us see you geek out on what you do best, and part of it is studying enough copywriting and marketing to get the hang of the pacing and flow. Again, stick with me. That’s what we do in Stella’s neighborhood, and we have a heckuva lot of fun doing it.

So, there you have it. In a nutshell: what’s holding you up from creating YOUR online empire. You may need the help of a rock solid business coach, too, so you get the road map to building a sustainable, profitable business, step by step. Once you get the roadmap, I’ll help you make your message your own AND make sure it really connects with your favorite kinds of clients. And that is where the fun really begins.

Dude. If you are in the NYC area, and you are wrapping your head around how to marketing your service-based business in a way that’s fun, feisty, and wins you raving fans + high-caliber clients, consider rolling up your sleeves and spending the day with Stella at UNCORK NYC. May 18. To RSVP + for tickets, see: http://moneymakingmoustache.com/uncork-nyc/ Note that Early Bird ticket prices are good through April 23.

Mighty thanks to marsmet544 for the flickr photo of success.