Know what YOUR problem is?

Hello, hot biscuit.

This one is for you if you have a website or a sales page that you poured a lot of time into creating, but it’s not seeing much action.

And you can’t figure out why.

So, there are plenty of reasons why what you’ve written isn’t getting much response.

But today, let’s talk about the main one.

It’s not that what you are doing isn’t valuable.

It’s not that you are totally drooling failure who probably needs to go back and get a job.

It’s not even that you are targeting cheapskates instead of people with great self-esteem and plenty of money.

It’s that you don’t know what your problem is.

“But Stella,” you say, “are you getting lippy with me here?”

No, I am not.

I am merely suggesting that your focus is misplaced.

You keep writing about your content, your curriculum, and the experience of working with you.

But that’s not what moves people.

What moves people is when you connect with them, and communicate (in effect): I see you. I get you. And I am a wizard at solving that problem in your life that is causing you such friction, you just want it to end, no matter what.

Do you feel the clarity and the urgency here?

Now, I wish I could bottle this stuff and sell it to you in a neat digital package.

But we’re beginning to see the cracks in that sort of promise, are we not?

It just doesn’t work that way.

It’s learning process.

It’s a journey.

And whether you like it or you reject it, you will not be perfect at this instantly.

Or ever.

So, let’s just accept that we’re going to make a whole lot of mistakes as we learn how to express what we do in a way that makes people want it.

But that it’s an adventure worth having. Not just for the financial reward—though that certainly can (and does) happen. But for the ability to resonate deeply with other human beings who are ready for the change you offer.

Okay, back to our story.

The main trouble that most entrepreneurs, coaches, and business owners have when they move onto the interwebs is that they have no idea how to write about what they do.

They know how to write.

They know what they do.

It’s just that putting those two things together doesn’t work.

Because, like poetry, it’s not a straightforward process.

An example. The poet Emily Dickinson wrote:

Tell all the truth but tell it slant.

Consider making this your marketing mantra.

Now, she could have said: Don’t lie to people, but don’t be bald and direct, either.

But see how that loses the poetry?

In a real-life business example, you could say “financial independence takes courage.”

Which is certainly true.

And even a bit more compelling than what copywriting zombies write.

But the trouble is, I don’t have a “problem” of financial independence.

Or even financial dependence.

So even though you will teach me powerful tools and show me the way of financial freedom…

… the words you are choosing to invite me to step onto that road land are dead to me.

They just don’t connect.

Because what I’m worried about isn’t “financial independence.

It might be that I’m worried about how much I’ve spent to get my business off the ground (and don’t trust my decision making since I got burned on the last expensive coaching program I bought, say).

It might be that I’m worried about how I will retire, because I just went through a divorce and lost everything and am dealing with what I thought was my life falling apart.

It might be that I’m worried that I’ve spent my life expecting to marry a rich man, and I’ve realized that I have a deep desire to pay my own way, whether or not I have a partner.

Do you see how these problems are way more present for people than “financial dependence”?

So, how do you start to shift the way you write?

Couple ideas to get you started:

• Simplify it WAY down. Like you were explaining this to a 5^th grader. I’m not being insulting here – I’m just saying that you probably write about your work in a way that’s more complex (or esoteric) than it needs to be.
• Use the “would this come out of their mouths?” test. After you’ve written something – a web page, a sales page, an email – take a step back. See if the words YOU use to name the problem are the SAME words your clients use to describe the problem. When they don’t match, use THEIR words (not yours).
• “Murder your darlings.” I had a writing teacher once who gave me this advice: sometimes, you will write something you love so much. Don’t be afraid to kill it. Say you are a marketing coach. You love marketing. So you write about marketing. STOP. Your ideal clients don’t love marketing. It scares the pants off them, in fact. And the more you write about marketing, the more they develop a nervous twitch and start sweating through the armpits in their shirt. The remedy? Remove ALL references to “marketing” – instead, describe it and what you’re really talking about. Like: “connecting with ideal clients” or “growing your mailing list” or “winning more fans and followers and paying clients.” This goes triple for you if you love coaching. Try not to use the word “coaching” in your writing. See what happens.

Final thought: I want to take the idea that you have to do all this by yourself out of your head. And throw it in a garbage can.

If you need people in your life.

who hold you accountable for getting your writing projects done

and hold your butt to the fire to make it better than you can do on your own

You might want to check out my next writing production lab – a small group – focused on getting your awesome free gift, newsletter articles, and an opt-in page (for your gift or teleseminar) done.

Mighty thanks to kafkan flickr photostream for the obstacles.