Because being real is something you can’t fake.

We live in a world saturated in advertising, sales emails, and strangers telling us to “click here buy now.” But in this digital wasteland of empty promises and snake oil hustlers lay your golden opportunity.

The way we see it, there are plenty of people in the marketplace who ignore “fast food” messages of cheap, easy, and convenient. They want truth. They want real. They want results. And they buy what they want, no matter the price. So how do you talk to them so they become clients for life? And how do you change the conversation so you connect with them… right from the start?

That’s what we help you do around here. Nail your message. Spark a real conversation that’s so awesome, they can’t look away. Be someone who’s “disarmingly genuine” in your writing, talks, and videos. Brand yourself so that you appeal to high-end clients. Get your projects done — and out into the world — so you make money. With a style, voice, and point of view that’s all your own. (So it shimmers naturally, without you having to gussy it up with magic, manipulative, mind-controlling power words).

Welcome to the neighborhood. We’re glad to join your team of advisers, creatives, and colleagues getting you where you want to go.

Keep up the good work,

Stella

Why you need a mailing list if you want to sell online

Published March 10, 2015

You don’t need to buy a big list to find buyers.

I see so many business owners pouring their time into low price point offers. Ebooks. An online course. A one-off teleseminar.

They think that the low price is a selling point.

If it’s just $37 (or $27 or $147), more people will buy it. Right?

Well, maybe.

But maybe not.

Because you’ve got to ask yourself: who’s gonna buy this?

Where are the buyers going to come from?

Often, when I ask a business owner this, they answer something like, “we’re going to buy a list” or “facebook.”

And … Read the rest >

Posted in business

It’s not all about the facts.

Published March 3, 2015

“Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify, simplify! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumbnail.” – Henry David Thoreau

Dude.

Henry David Thoreau was right.

One of the things that plagues business owners who are crafting their own copy, be it web copy, emails, or sales pages, is our crazy need to throw everything we’ve got at our audience (in the hopes that SOMETHING will convince them to hire us).… Read the rest >

Posted in copywriting, how to write, marketing online

Confessions of a time bandit

Published February 24, 2015

Time and I are having ourselves a bit of a bumpy ride lately.

As in, it seems to shape shift. And I keep trying to hang onto it.

I had a colleague last year tell me that she was working on getting out of “time poverty.”

I know what she means, you guys.

As the business grows, it seems that EVERYTHING shape shifts. I can’t drink as much beer. I have to eat greens every day or I start feeling weird. I go to bed earlier. I understand relaxation, massages, and naps to be required, not luxury. Pleasure isn’t just … Read the rest >

Posted in business

7 things people who sell with emails do that you probably don’t (yet)

Published February 17, 2015

The secret to selling through email isn’t about data or memorizing tried-and-true patterns of persuasion. It’s more about who you are, and knowing how to position that in a way that really resonates with your reader. Here are 7 secrets to selling through email, for the rest of us:

Let go of jargon
Too many professionals never get any traction on email because they are trapped in the glass jars of their own training. It’s like fireflies – so pretty, but there’s something inherently caged and limiting. To connect with people and move them in your writing, you must learn

… Read the rest >

Posted in copywriting

How to get people to open your emails (even when you’re selling)

Published February 10, 2015

“Being someone people want to hear from.”

A lot of technical ink has been spilled on the subject of getting your emails opened and read.

Read-rates!
Conversion!
Click-throughs!

Today, I’d like to take a different approach to getting people to open your emails.

I call it: “Being someone people want to hear from.”

I know, it’s less technical. And honestly, it’s a cheaper technology.

Case in point. Last night, as I was wrapping up my day, I was going through my ritual of deleting and unsubscribing from emails.

But there was an email from my best friend.

I immediately stopped … Read the rest >

Posted in copywriting

4 ways to get your writing done faster

Published February 3, 2015

“writing” isn’t what most of us think it is

“I’m not a writer”
“It takes me forever to get a newsletter out”
“The process is agony.”

These are the sorts of things people confess to me, when it comes to writing about their work.

Take my client, Yvette. She’s a sharp cookie, and a natural speaker. But after one of my talks, Yvette came up to me and said, “You know how you mentioned people who hate writing? That’s me. Can’t stand it!”

This happens to me all the time. And as a lover of challenge, I say: bring. It. … Read the rest >

Posted in copywriting

Why Everyone Should Add Real Feelings To Their Writing

Published January 27, 2015

People are hungry for real. There’s so much fake stuff out there.

As an adviser and writing mentor to business owners, I find myself talking less about “hey, here’s the formula for writing a headline” and more about feelings these days.

As in, I think it’s a good idea to name real feelings in your writing.

Now, before we go any further, let it be said: there’s a certain amount of Fake Emotion on the internet. Everyone’s excited about their new thing. Everyone’s thrilled by what they are about to tell you. Everyone’s confident that no matter what you’ve tried, … Read the rest >

Posted in copywriting

3 ways to get your website done even if it’s not perfect

Published January 20, 2015

With a few exceptions, every business needs a website.

But in 6 years of helping business owners get their websites written, I’ve noticed a phenomenon that is downright crippling to making money in business.

It’s not just a phenomenon – it’s an epidemic.

What is it?

Perfectionism, combined with an error in thinking. The perfectionism tells you, “it has to be perfect for it to work.”

And the thinking error is that you can’t “get out there” or ask people for business UNLESS your website is finished.

Man, I cannot tell you how crazy this idea makes me.

Because it … Read the rest >

Posted in copywriting

How to repel cheapskates online.

Published January 6, 2015

Don’t expect that a great website will do all the work for you. It takes hustle.

Cheapskates.
Tire kickers.
People who don’t make great clients.

There comes a time in every business where you realize that there are people who show up to consults or initial sessions… who are NON-ideal clients.

They have a dysfunctional relationship with money.

They wish you didn’t charge so much.

They trash talk people they have hired before. (It’s all someone else’s fault).

You have a little voice inside you, however faint, that says, “you know? I don’t think it would be that fun to … Read the rest >

Posted in copywriting

5 tips to create a money-making website

Published December 31, 2014

Is your website doing all it can for your business?

Man, are there a lot of terrible websites out there!

Worse, they aren’t making their owners any money.

In my work helping business owners nail their message and understand what sets them apart in the marketplace (hint: it’s who they really are), I can tell in one glance whether a website is making money for its owner.

Here are some tips to make sure your website is doing all it can do for your business:

Be clear, not clever. The two biggest problems business owners have here are: 1) using insider language and the jargon of their industry (that the

… Read the rest >

Posted in copywriting