SBW 189: Are You Making These 3 Mistakes in Your Writing Business?
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On this podcast, I normally talk about success from a positive viewpoint. But today I want to look at it from the opposite perspective — namely, mistakes to avoid in your writing business.
Mistakes are like gasoline. When it’s handled properly, it’s the fuel that drives you forward. But if you mishandle it and don’t take it seriously, it can blow up in your face.
I want to share three critical mistakes I have made in my writing business in the last few years in the hopes that I can help you avoid these mistakes also. If I would not have made them, I probably would have been a lot further along in my business by now. However, I learned from them and am better today because of what these mistakes taught me.
You can do the same, too. Mistakes are not usually fatal. They can certainly do a lot of damage, but if you’re willing to learn from them, they can help you be far more successful than you would have been otherwise.
So, let’s dive into these three mistakes that can hurt your writing business … and how to avoid them.
Mistake #1: Failing to expand your network
It’s been said that “your network is your net worth.” That’s a crude way of putting it, but there is a lot of truth to it. Your success, in great part, comes from your network.
But what is your network, exactly? It is the web of relationships you have. For example, if you’re looking to hire someone in your business, it’s going to be hard if you don’t know many people. But it will be a lot easier to find a great team member if you have a lot of high-quality relationships with successful people.
I didn’t pay attention to building my network for a long time. I rarely connected with new people, and I didn’t put a lot of effort into seeking out relationships where I could add value. I never knew that relationships were such a critical part of your success. I just assumed that highly successful people got where they are because of hard work.
But then, a couple of years ago I started to take this a lot more seriously. The more success literature I read, and the more I started to listen to people like Dan Miller, Seth Godin, and Bob Burg, I realized that success has way more to do with your network than with your talent.
I started to be very intentional about building relationships and growing my network. I still have a lot of growing to do in this area, but now I realize how important it is. Let me share 10 ways to expand your network:
- Start a podcast and interview successful people in your niche
- Be a guest on other people’s podcasts
- Connect with people on LinkedIn and send personalized videos
- Share other people’s posts on FB and LI
- After you read a good book, email the author and post a book review on Amazon
- Join a Facebook group related to your niche
- Join a paid community or mastermind in your niche
- Start a mastermind group
- Send gifts and handwritten cards to people
- Give referrals to other people
The #1 reaction most people will have to these is, “But that sounds like so much work!” And yes, it can be time-consuming. But relationships are the most important thing you have in life. And the very reason why you must do it is that so few people are putting the time into it. There is virtually no competition because most people are not willing to do the hard work of building a great network over time.
I’ll go into more detail about these ten things in a future episode, but those will definitely get you started in the right direction.
Mistake #2: Not having a clear niche
Here is the harsh reality of business: if people don’t know what you do, they will ignore you. In the world of business, people are looking for others who can help them solve a problem. So what problem do you solve?
I didn’t think about this question for a very long time. I thought of my writing as something that may be helped, people. I also did it just for fun. Then when I created a business a few years ago, I did it by writing podcast show notes for a few clients. (In fact, I still write show notes for one client.) Over the next two years, I did some freelance work like writing articles and blog posts, and editing and formatting books. I also dabbled in consulting, coaching, teaching guitar lessons, doing part-time ministry, and some other things.
So the bottom line is that I was not focused. People had no idea what I actually did because I was sending very mixed signals to the world. Last year I decided to focus on ghostwriting, and when I chose a niche, that is when things started to happen. If you want to hear the specific reasons I chose ghostwriting, go back and listen to Episode 187, which was 2 episodes ago. I go into great detail about why I chose to ghostwrite instead of other writing niches.
The bottom line is that you need to pick a niche so people know what you do. What is the specific problem you solve? Here is the problem I solve: Most business leaders lack the time and expertise to write content that gets results. I write amazing content so you can save time, stand out from the competition, and get more leads that turn into customers and clients.
I recommend that you get a copy of Donald Miller’s excellent book Marketing Made Simple. That’s exactly how I developed that one-liner.
It’s very easy to get paralyzed by indecision. I know because I’ve been there. You’re talking to the King of Indecision here! Truly. If you can’t decide, make a list of all the things you want in your ideal writing business, then find a niche that fits those criteria.
Otherwise, you’re going to just spin your wheels and be a general writer. If you want to take your writing business level to the next level, people need to know exactly what you do, and how it helps solve a problem they have.
Mistake #3: Always studying and never taking action
You’ve probably heard the saying that there are two kinds of people: The “ready, aim, fire” people and the “ready, fire, aim” people. I have found that the most successful entrepreneurs and business people tend to be the “ready, fire, aim” people. In other words, they prepare, they take action, then they adjust and try again.
If you’re a perfectionist, this makes you very uncomfortable. You can’t stand the idea of doing something in a sloppy or messy way. I can relate because I’m a recovering perfectionist also. I can’t even begin to tell you how many books, courses, webinar, free PDF’s, email lists, podcasts, and conferences I’ve been to over the last 5-6 years, hoping that one of them would be the magic bullet that finally gave me clarity about my direction.
In other words, it’s very easy to spend all your time on the “ready” and “aim” part without ever actually pulling the trigger and firing.
This means we spend all our time preparing to write a book, preparing to launch a podcast, preparing to launch a website, preparing to start an email list or a blog, preparing to start that business or pitching a client, and so forth.
The problem with the approach is that all this research FEELS like you are making progress, but in reality, you’re just putting off the launch because you don’t want to take the risk of failing.
So whatever you’re working on, whatever project would move your business forward, I encourage you to set a deadline and just pull the trigger whether it’s ready or not. You can always go back and make adjustments.
We imagine that the world is watching our every move and that if we are less than perfect, we will be the object of ridicule. But nothing could be further than the truth! The world is moving way too fast for people to pay that much attention to you and me. Plus, we are all too self-absorbed to be worrying that much about everyone else.
So just launch that sucker and adjust as you go. Imagine what your life and business would have been like right now if you had just launched your project 6 months or a year ago. This time next year, you will have wished you had taken a lot more action and did way less research and study.
Thanks for Listening!
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