Work Better, Not Harder

During the past two weeks, I've been repeatedly reminded of The Secret and its message of asking the Universe for what you want and being open to receiving what comes. Except it's not the Universe I've been asking - it's my friends (aka business colleagues). Since the new year started, I've been doing a lot of strategizing and planning about how to adapt my business to a changing life situation. I'm rethinking the way I do things, whether I should even be doing some things, and how to make the best use of my time (while still loving work). Phew! From all that strategizing, I got a list of options, then pros/cons and risks/costs, and finally a pared-down list of things to pursue. One of the things on that list is to make sure to let all my friends know what kind of work/clients I'm looking for. As it turns out, talking to some of those friends, asking for advice and suggestions, as I went through this process has led directly to new opportunities.

It's time to write your next blog post. Or maybe the time has already passed. What do you think when your deadline is looming? My own lament is often, "What can I pull together fast that will be useful?" I talk to a lot of small business owners about blogging - while teaching, networking and over coffee. What I know is this: everyone has different reasons for blogging, or not. Before starting a blog, there are many different reasons, mostly related to the unknown. Once our blog is started, there is another set of obstacles that might give us grief: coming up with ideas adapting your ideas for writing starting to write finishing writing editing and proofing finding or creating graphics keywords and publishing Understanding what stops us , can help us uncover ways to conquer it. This will be my 575th blog post. You might think I've got all the obstacles wrangled - and I did for quite a long time. But since the beginning of this year, I've been st

After sending out clients' newsletters, I'm often asked by them why someone would have unsubscribed. The worry seems to be that something in that particular issue made them disconnect. This is rarely the case. I can't tell you all the reasons people unsubscribe but I can tell you that it is always about them. Lives change, interests change, jobs change, priorities change, time changes... all of these things can result in unsubscribes.  You should never take unsubscribes personally. You can typically expect list attrition - the natural pattern of unsubscribes you can consider normal - to be 25-30% per year. That industry-wide benchmark is not as useful as the one your own list will give you over time. You will see what your typical unsubscribe rate is. As long as you are growing your list faster than that rate, you shouldn't spend too much time worrying about unsubscribes. On the other hand, if you are experiencing a sudden spike in unsubscribes, you will want t

You've just finished an insightful new article for your blog. You're anxious to publish it and find out what your readers think. Depending on the topic and type of article you've written, it might make sense to do a little research before publishing. Researching after writing might seem backward but it has helped me many times. Here is why I often research after writing: To check that I haven't missed something really important on the topic. To see what others' opinions are and whether there are points of debate I haven't addressed. To make sure my information, instructions or lists are complete. To develop a headline by seeing what shows up in Google searches. Every time I research after writing, I've been glad I did. I often find ways to enhance my article and, even if I don't, it gives me confidence that I've done a good job. Click to Tweet this Article