Category Archives for Writing
6 Big Mistakes to Avoid When You Write for a Living
You’ve always wanted to write full-time and make a living from it, all because you love to write. And, at long last, you’ve made it happen. But you’re also asking questions and wondering how to get it right, to quickly become a success story.
Well, the first thing you need to understand is that your writing is no longer a hobby. Instead, you’re now a professional writer and you need to treat your writing as a business, since you write for a living.
And the second thing you need to do is identify and stay away from mistakes that are big enough to limit or even prevent your success as a professional writer. These mistakes are too expensive for someone who writes for a living, so it’s better to avoid them.
Ready to find out the kinds of mistakes we’re talking about?
Let’s take a closer look at six big writing and business mistakes to avoid when you write for a living.
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How to Write For Your Business if You Are Not a Writer
You’ve heard every piece of advice about how to make your business more visible. And yet, you keep stalling over the cheapest and easiest way to build that visibility: keeping your website updated with regular blog posts.
What’s holding you back? I can hear you now: “I am not a writer! I am a doer!” Guess what? You don’t have to be a writer to keep a blog for your business.
Moreover, you also won’t have to hire anyone to do it for you. No one knows your business and your customers better than you do, so you’re the best person to write for your business.
I can assure you, if you have all that knowledge in your head, you can make this knowledge flow through your fingers and keyboard onto the screen and onto the World Wide Web, which is the right place for it to be, as people look for everything online.
Even if you are a small local business owner, you must be searchable to attract new customers, engage with the existing ones, and build trust for your brand.
The Life of a Writer: A Healthy Obsession
Last month I wrote 40,000 words writing blog posts, freelance SEO projects, and resumes—I set myself a target of producing high-quality content for my clients each month, and I intend to deliver that target 12 months throughout the year, every year, undisputedly.
Anything less than that would leave me disgruntled. What’s fascinating is that when a deadline nears, the thought process loosens up, and the words flow more loosely.
A wave of adrenaline kicks in, and I begin to make better decisions under pressure.
I come up with the goods.
4 Weird Ways a Decade in PR Has Made Me a Stronger Writer
What sort of image comes to mind when you picture a public relations (PR) professional?
Perhaps you envision a glamorous life, filled with high-profile events and parties or long days spent bopping from client meeting to client meeting in sky-high heels. Unfortunately, most movies and TV shows get PR completely wrong.
Here’s a more accurate image of a day in the life of a PR professional: head down, at a computer, tap-tap-tapping away at the keyboard.
Most people think because PR professionals work to attract the attention of the media that we aren’t doing much writing ourselves, but that simply isn’t true.
With nearly a decade of experience in the PR industry, first at a hospital, then at a tourism bureau, and now as the CEO of Jessica Lawlor & Company (JL&Co) working with my own clients, I know first-hand just how much time I spend each day writing.
Spoiler: It’s a lot.