Business

I’ve used two web hosts since buying the meryl.net domain around 1995. The first charged a bit, had a lot of problems (email delivery and keeping the site up also known as server uptime) and provided subpar customer service. At the time, the rate was probably standard with fewer web hosting services and it being the earlier days of the Internet. (Yes, that is the old meryl.net logo here.)

Another web host came along that charged much less for more features than the original. Some people may not consider it the most powerful web host — it’s a smaller service than the biggies most small to medium businesses use. Because of excellent customer service, I signed up my nonprofit organization with the same web host. Eventually, someone else became the webmaster of that website and complained about the host. (I don’t remember the exact comment.)

Since using the phone through the relay service takes more time than a typical phone call, I prefer to submit questions and trouble tickets through an online system. This web host has that. And most of the time, I get a reply within an hour — regardless if I assign the item as low or high priority. Furthermore, the provider helped me with problems outside the scope.

Because of their superb customer service, I’ve stuck with them since 2003. Sure, it has occasional down time and sent a couple of messages elsewhere instead of my inbox. They’re ready to tackle and solve my problems quickly and efficiently. Like humans, companies are going to experience problems despite using the best quality products and services with a tight process in place.

Here are six easy ways to show the love to your clients and hold on to them:

1. Promote. If a client writes an article, I’ll link to it from Twitter. If I hear a writer needs to talk to someone that my client fits? I forward that opportunity to the client. When a client in the email marketing business publishes a new issue, I link to the newsletter wherever appropriate. Another client offers free webinar, and I help spread the word.
2. Remember. I wrote an article about a product the client sells. Weeks later, I come across a Lego-lized version of the same product. I shared that with the client who got a kick out of it. Sometimes it’s fun and sometimes it’s educational.  It shows I care about them and want them to be successful.
3. Listen. Sounds obvious, but freelancers might not understand the client’s request and start working on the project without understanding what the client said. It’s OK to ask for clarification. Better to ask and get it right the first time than produce something off target and have to do it again.
4. Ask. After working with a client for little while, I ask for feedback. When requesting feedback, I let clients know they can be short or long as they want without taking up too much time. I ask one open-ended and one yes/no question: “What can I do to better serve you?” and ”Are you happy with the work?” Asking also means probing to figure out what clients want. One way to do this is to ask for examples of what they like.
5. Fix. You and I aren’t machines. We make mistakes. It’s how we handle those mistakes that makes a difference. Don’t charge or add a discount to the invoice to fix something. A simple and sincere apology may be all you can do.
6. Thank. I wrote notes to clients using a cool invention known as a pen. This is one thing computers can’t replace and the reason why kids still need to learn cursive.

How do you keep your clients happy? Share a memorable customer service story where you were the customer. How about a story of how you helped a client?

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When I think summer and song … first thing that comes to mind is “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess. I don’t have many favorite slow moving songs, but that one sounds beautiful and has lovely words. Witness…

Summertime,
And the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’
And the cotton is high

Your daddy’s rich
And your mamma’s good lookin’
So hush little baby
Don’t you cry

Photo from flickr user itsjustkate

It flows and captivates. Why don’t I like more slow songs? I think part of it is because they’re harder to hear and follow. For example, I love “Sunday” from Sunday in the Park with George, but I can only hear the latter half of the song. I saw the song in its entirety on TV with captions and liked it. Some of the lyrics:

Sunday, by the blue purple yellow red water
on the green purple yellow red grass
Let us pass through our perfect park
pausing on a Sunday

By the cool blue triangular water
on the soft green elliptical grass
as we pass through arrangements of shadow
toward the verticals of trees
Forever . . .

Beautiful way to describe the famous painting by Georges Seurat.

As for other things that come to mind with “summer,” it’s all the usual stuff: swimming, 4th of July, vacations (rare), the smell of suntan lotion, camp.

Over to you: What do you think of when it comes to summer? Can be songs, activities, whatever.

Brain food…

• Old School Book Marketing Techniques for Digital Age: Book business card — brilliant.
• How to Tell If Your Website Sucks: How timely. I just finished judging 100+ sites to write an annual top websites article. Many of websites got knocked out because they had the problems covered in this infographic. People will argue that popup windows can work — depends on popup.
• How To Respond To The “Pick My Brain” Question: Worth memorizing. [Link: John Haydon]
• So You’re Having a Bad Day: That was me on Monday, but nothing serious. Just an off day. It happens. I got through it. It’ll happen again. And I’ll get through it even though it won’t feel like it when I’m in the moment.
• The 50 Best Short Stories of All Time: Impressive list. I haven’t read short stories since college, and yet this list captures the ones I remember. Only one missing is Edgard Allan Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death. That freaked me, but I’ll take that over The Telltale Heart. I also did my 11th grade thesis on James Thurber. Boy, I wish I saved it.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• The 30 Harshest Author-on-Author Insults in History: Faulkner, Emerson and Capote insult Twain, Austen and Kerouac.
• Zork: Free download for your PC or Mac. Wow. I played this game on my first computer, an Apple ][+. What do ya mean, "What the hey is Zork?"
• America According to Twitter: Apparently, I live in Metroplex. Supposedly, I was born and bred in Funkytown. Column Five also has many other infographics. [Link: Bitrebels]
• Top 10 Manliest Quotes: We shall have our fight … [fill in the blank]. [Link: Esther Schindler]
• 10 Funny and Fabulous Flow Charts: Like Mental Floss always makes me laugh. Beware: these charts can waste hours of your life. [Link: Michelle Mangen]

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

What did I do last weekend? (Technically, two weekends ago.) I sat by the pool watching my family swim. I finished Catching Fire. (Four out of five stars.) I cheered on the Dallas Mavericks as I watched the parade on TV in the comfort of my own home. I discovered the newest shows on Broadway while enjoying familiar ones. (Yes, it meant watching the Mavericks and the Tony Awards at the same time.) I worked on the blog. I did article research.

I confess those last two are work-related. That doesn’t happen often — just when I have deadlines to meet or a lot on my plate. The blog has been around for so long and has gone through many changes that it has a few problems. I’ve tried working on the problems last week, but it took longer than expected taking up too much business time.

But it wasn’t always like that. I used to work in the evenings and one day on the weekends. I’d work on my laptop outside of my office where I could get more comfortable and be with my family. Some of these activities weren’t for clients, but for marketing and networking.

Despite connecting with some great folks, most of these activities didn’t pay. While I value getting to know others, I value my family first.

Aha Moment

I caught the final episodes of The Oprah Winfrey Show including one with memorable insight from author Toni Morrison that hit me. She described an incident when her young son came to her with a drawing while she worked. “Oh, that’s nice,” she said.

He ripped the drawing.

“Why did you do that?” she asked.

Apparently, the look on her face was less than thrilled with the interruption. -Gulp- I’m guilty of that. After hearing that story, I worked to change that and my son’s attitude became more positive. But I still need to keep practicing as I’m not batting a thousand.

Stopping the Insanity

I have four walls and a door to draw the line between my office and my home. Even with solid walls, the line between the two lives still blurs. Writers, freelancers and solo-preneurs can’t always draw a line between home and work to keep out the disruptions.

They can set rules. They can change their attitudes. They can dump activities that aren’t working.

I must’ve done something right. On the occasional Saturday or Sunday, my son asks, “Are you working?” or “Why are you in your office?”

Over to you: Do you work in the evenings and the weekends? How do you draw the line between business and home? If you could have it your way, what would you do? How can you make that happen?

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I was born and bred in Fort Worth. I’ve lived in the Dallas / Fort Worth area for my entire life except for the six years I lived in Washington, DC. So all my favorite teams are the ones from here including the Texas Rangers, Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Stars and the Dallas Mavericks. I stuck with all of ‘em through great years and forgettable years. When folks kept saying the Mavs were a joke and never contenders, I reminded them of the Mavs’ good years in the ’80s with Mark Aguirre, Rolando Blackman, Roy Tarpley and Brad Davis.

Thanks to Donald Carter for bringing the team to Dallas. Thanks to Mark Cuban for turning them into champions in a short 11 years. The Mavs almost did it in 2006, you know?

Meryl's Dad in USAF Uniform

Dads. Happy Father’s Day to all the involved dads out there who play catch with the kids, take them to school, help them with homework and be there for them. I’m lucky to be married to one of those dads. My dad (in loving memory) was one, too. We played catch many times, he took me to lots of Texas Ranger games, he embarrassed me on my way to school by waving at me while taking his morning walk and he was always there for me.

Best advice for the week: How to deal with criticism in one single step: “Don’t care. You’re not going to please everybody.” Even the nicest people have a few non-fans. You can produce the most beautiful work product and your boss, editor, client loves it. Someone, somewhere out there will hate it.

Brain food…

• How to Create a 5 Step Facebook Marketing Strategy for Your Blog: This one is doable for just about everyone.
• The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Taking a Vacation: Not just for entrepreneurs… Americans, too. My husband had been doing a lot of research on human resources stuff for his international company and Americans are sorely behind other countries in benefits and other areas. I challenged him by asking questions like “Maybe we have a better salary? Maybe we have a lower cost of living?” He had solid answers for all of them.
• 10 Reasons I Don’t Answer Your Email: I reply to most emails. The ones that don’t get a reply often fall into one of these 10.
• 3 Steps You Can Take to Reduce the Firefox 4 Memory Leak: Memory has been a Firefox problem for years. I had two tabs open and Firefox managed to hold on to 1,000,000K of memory one day last week! Bad, foxy, bad.
• World’s Worst Freelance Advice: Write what you know… seriously. If I followed that advice, I wouldn’t write about cars, Billiards or buffaloes.
• Book Marketing Q&A: Q&A worth listening to or reading.

For fun because we’re allowed…

• 10 Coolest (and 5 Worst) Father’s Day Gifts: My husband would love that Corvette Wall Shelf.
• 8 Weirdest Dog Breeds Ever: Some of these look familiar as they’ve appeared in movies and TV shows.
• Praha Opening: Choreography in a Skydive Arena. Very cool. Yes, watch to the smooth ending.
• 12 Funny Signs Found at the Beach: Some not safe for work.
• 15 Coolest Pictures Taken at the Right Time: I have one of those (not on Oddee, mind you). I captured a lightning bolt by the Washington Monument. I’m not a good photographer, but am proud of the picture that I have it on the wall in my office.
• Neon Movie Signs: Wow.

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The Mavericks make me extra proud to be a Texan. Not because they won, but how they won. Last time the Mavericks made it to the finals was in 2006 against Miami Heat — the same team they beat to win this year’s finals. It’d be easy for the Mavs to taunt them and play up on the revenge angle. They didn’t. I grew up playing and watching sports. It turned me into a competitive and driven gal. It also showed me how easy it was to get angry and want revenge on the opponent.

Mavs Man at Kids' Elementary School

Miami players LeBron James and Dwayne Wade mocking Dirk’s illness. Actions like that can easily rile up the opposing team, but Dirk and Mavs remained cool.

Mark Cuban. You know the guy is brash and always in your face. Throughout the finals, he stood in the background and shone the spotlight on the Mavs instead of himself. This is the guy you least expected to let Mavs founder and original owner receive the championship trophy, but he did. Cuban stood by while Donald Carter accepted the trophy. He also cut back on blogging and tweeting during the finals.

Here are the 10 business lessons from the Dallas Mavericks:

1. Let actions do the talking. The Mavs didn’t mock or smack talk. Rather than talk up a big game, do your best work and let it speak for you. If you make a mistake, correct it and apologize instead of making excuses.
2. Operate as a team. Yes, Dirk is the star of the team, but he had off days especially when he had a fever. The Mavericks already knew how to play like a team, so it came easy for them to carry Dirk’s load.
3. Work hard. Dirk stood out because he worked hard and practiced for hours. When the team used to practice in a public fitness center while American Airlines Center was under construction, Dirk would stay after practice was over and keep shooting baskets until a member asked him to leave. [Source: The Dallas Morning News letter]
4. Share credit. Mark Cuban let Donald Carter hold the trophy first.
5. Show restraint. When the game ended, I wasn’t sure it was over as the Mavericks walked around or exited the court. They didn’t celebrate by jumping around and rubbing it in. Even fans showed restraint in not destroying city property while celebrating.
6. Trust your team. Coach Rick Carlisle found a balance in coaching an experienced team by trusting the players. He also gave ownership to the players such as letting veteran player Jason Kid run the offense.
7. Shut out the noise. Ignore what’s irrelevant. Focus on what needs to be done.
8. Speak up. Coach Rick Carlisle spoke up twice when Mark Cuban was having one of his “moments” during a game. Cuban did.
9. Keep fighting. The Mavs made big comebacks in a few playoff games. The Lakers had a 15-point lead and the Mavs came back to win. The Mavs did it again in Game 2 in Miami.
10. Adapt as needed. Carlisle benched players even though they were instrumental in previous games.

What other lessons did you pick up from the NBA finals? What are some examples of these business lessons in action? What’s your most memorable business lesson?

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School is officially out on Monday. We had to make up two days due to the FIVE snow days we had this year. Although I like the school year schedule, I’m glad it’s out for a little bit as the kids need a break. No more nagging about homework and studying for a couple of months. Nonetheless, wish school would be year around with more breaks instead of one long break and two medium ones. But I know that’s not efficient for a lot of reasons and summer gives kids a time to take part-time jobs, go to camp or do special programs.

What’s one of your most memorable last day or last week of school memories?

Brain food…

• 10 Modern Dilemmas Twitter Presents on a Daily Basis: Thanking for tweets is a big one. I tend to limit that to DM or if it’s something different, I’ll do it in public. Don’t want to add noise to stream thanking for my own stuff.
• Words We Don’t Say: Hugo Lindgren shares a list of words and phrases left by the previous editor. Words You Don’t Say: People wrote in sharing words they never want to read again. The one word I always change in every article I edit… “utilize.” I think that’s my ultimate cringe-worthy word.
• B2B Fail: Confessions, Apologies, and Questionable Motives: Did you get a bunch of “Are you taking on clients?” emails? Me, too. The story behind that…
• Nurse reveals the top 5 regrets people make on their deathbed: In the past few years, I’ve been making an effort to live my best life so I don’t have these regrets.
• Top Ten Myths About the Brain: All those characters conking their heads and forgetting their life? Myth. Writers, find another gimmick. [Link: Diana Adams]

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 10 Amazing Ultrasound Photos: I think the rock it dude is really doing the I love you sign.
• The Value of the National Spelling Bee in the Age of Spell Check and Predictive Text: My almost third grader is the only one of my three kids to learn how to write cursive in second grade. It used to be covered in third grade, but with so much more material to cover and the use of computers — they changed when they learn cursive. I’m just glad schools still teach it. I hope the handwritten note never goes away. I get chills whenever I come across something my dad (in loving memory) wrote as he had a writing style that I always knew was his. Actually, every member of my family does except me.
• How to Make Harry Potter Butterbeer: The weather grows warmer and the last film comes nearer. I actually made this for my family using this recipe. The whip part was the best. I stirred the whip into the drink, but just didn’t quite warm up to it. Very easy to make.
• Douglas Adams … on Kindle … how meta is this? [Link: Esther Schindler]

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I’m sure you haven’t been keeping tabs on how often I blog or noticed fewer blog entries lately. Most people don’t for most blogs, email updates and websites. We get so much information that we don’t stand by wondering where the latest update is from so ‘n so.

It pangs me not to keep this blog updated much lately. But then I remind myself that I’d rather deliver nothing than something useless to you even if it affects search engines.

You don’t need a reminder of the advantages of consistent updates and blogging. What about making time for it? All the experienced bloggers tell us to make time for blogging and to stop making excuses that you don’t have time.

I do that for family.

I do that for volunteering and giving back.

I do that for clients.

I do that for exercise.

I do that for sleep.

If we “make time” for everything we want to accomplish, soon we’ll find ourselves losing sleep and overdoing it to the point that our brains feel overloaded. Speaker and author Jill Konrath wrote about this in The Year I Lost My Brain and How I Found It Again. Then today I read the top five regrets people made on their deathbed.

Multitasking is not always a good thing. It divides your attention, thereby sacrificing the quality of the two or three things you work on at the same time.

Oprah is right when she says, “Live your best life.” And that means sacrificing blog entries. If I work to accomplish all the things I’d like to do, it’d sacrifice at least one of the above and that would not be living my life. I’m not going to put off things just to make something happen.

I don’t want to regret not spending more time with my kids at every age. I already wish I had spent more time with my daughter who was growing up while I still had a corporate job and less flexibility. By the time my boys came along, I had the flexibility and fewer regrets.

In the past year, I’ve made time for things we hadn’t done together as a family. We saw the Harlem Globetrotters. We went to the State Fair. We went to the city’s International Festival. We went to the Texas Tornado hockey game. We went to LegoLand.

What will you make time for? What will you let go? How are you living your best life? How do you feel about blogging regularly or inconsistently?

On a popular weight loss show, a contestant weighing over 500 pounds kept repeating, “I have to lose my dad. I have to lose my dad.” While I’m not in the contestant’s shoes needing to lose almost 300 pounds — the amount his dad weighed — his statement shook me. His body language, his face, his words all revealed he was feeling paralyzed.

Photo from sxc.hu user vivekchugh

This “it’s too big of a goal” thinking can overpower people in all parts of their lives. Many set big goals and objectives thinking of only the result. Then reality hits when they see how much work and time it will take to reach this big goal. Paralysis, delays and procrastination follow until they stop trying and fail to reach their goal.

Make it happen. It can be anything you need to change or do. Lose five pounds. Write 100 words. Work on the project for five minutes.

Change Overwhelming Goals into Doable Ones

A more doable approach is to break the big goal into smaller, more manageable goals. This doesn’t mean ignoring the big goal of losing 200 pounds, earning your first million or serving your 10,000th customer. To turn these big goals into bite-sized goals, set smaller goals of losing 10 pounds for this month, earning extra $100 a week or finding two new customers this week. As soon as you reach this smaller goal, bump it up. Thinking smaller and accomplishing those little steps will give you the satisfaction and motivation to continue.

You can apply this approach to many situations with these steps:

1. Identify what you want to change or accomplish.
2. Create a bite-sized goal that brings you a step closer to what you want to change or accomplish.
3. Reach goal? If yes, go to the next step. If no, go back to step two and try again or modify the goal to something more reachable.
4. Celebrate and up the goal.
5. Repeat steps two through four until you reach your big goal.

Start with Five Minutes

Instead of thinking “I need to write an 800-word article,” start by writing 100 words or writing for five minutes. Continue this process, building your way up to the big goal of the 800-word article. This approach of small steps cuts the chances of your giving up.

This do something for five minutes approach works great for when you’re not in the mood for working on something. Do it for five minutes and see what happens. For email addicts, close your email application for five minutes. Increase the time as you adapt. For web-based email, try using a different browser that you never use when you need to do something on the web. Make it a rule that you can’t open the web-based email application on that browser.

I’ve had a few days when I didn’t check email between first thing in the morning and noon. That’s HUGE for me. It took a while to make it happen, but I started by closing my email app and switching to “Contacts” in Gmail so I’m not staring at the emails waiting for me. I have good days and bad days when it comes to checking emails less often. It’s progress.

I check email obsessively on days when I want to hear from someone. That desire for a little connection is one that changing email habits won’t cure.

I picked up this philosophy from the the short “One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way” by Robert Maurer.

How did you make it happen?

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Something about my brain helps me stay organized. I like things to have an assigned spot because I know where to look for them when I need them. A cluttered room turns my brain to mush and weighs me down. I can’t focus in a messy area, so it’s a good thing I have a private home office space where I spend most of my day and kids’ stuff aren’t welcome. (Kids and spouse, however, are always welcome.) My house isn’t cluttered, but it doesn’t take much to make me squirm.

I’m the same way about my computer, its folders, its screen space. My filing system hasn’t changed much from the first time I settled on one.

Desktop

While modern versions of Windows do a better job of using a similar system and helping you save files to the Documents-type folders, some apps continue to post files wherever they like or in its own folders under Application Data. Some web browsers send downloads to the Desktop, which eventually clutters it.

My Desktop currently has two columns of icons and I make sure it stays that way as the Desktop has only frequently used apps that don’t start without my help. For example, I don’t need the anti-virus app on the desktop because it always runs. I also don’t need Adobe Acrobat on the Desktop because I rarely start the program. When I do, accessing it from the Start menu is fine. Usually, I click on a PDF file and that loads Acrobat. I use shortcut keys to run Word, Excel and other frequently accessed apps. Those don’t appear on the Desktop.

Yes, I use all methods for opening apps and files. Start, Desktop, Quick Launch, shortcuts. Everything has its place and I try to avoid having duplicates such as Word on the Desktop, Start and Quick Launch. It appears in none because I use a keyboard shortcut.

Three Rules for Writing Work Documents

1. All content in the Documents folder. This applies to everything, not just writing work. Content includes Word, Excel, backups for money apps, text, web pages, pictures, pdf, smartphone backup files, videos, music, emails, family tree and cookbook files. This makes backing easier when it’s all under one giant folder instead of all over the place. Windows has improved this by creating a Library of My Pictures, My Documents and My Music. Each time I load a new app, I check the options to make sure it saves all data files somewhere in Documents instead of Application Data.
2. Folder for work. All business work goes in the “Freelance” folder.
3. Subfolders in work folder. Each client gets a folder. If a client has clients, I create subfolders for the subclients. For example, I do content work for B2B Company that includes writing emails and landing pages. B2B Company has its own clients. The work I do for B2B Company is mostly for its clients and sometimes B2B Company itself.

Folder System

The folder system looks like this:

Documents

• Freelance
  • B2B Company
    • Marketing Automation Company
    • CMS Company
  • ePublisher Company
    • Computer Hardware Company
    • Health Services Company
    • ePublisher Marketing –> I do content for the client, but I make sure the subfolder has a different name.
  • meryl.net: business-related, blog and guest blogs I do for others
    • Receipts
    • Blog posts
    • meryl.net archived –> When I create archives for old stuff, I give them a unique name as I try to avoid having two folders with identical names. Sounds trivial, but makes a difference especially when searching.
• Emails
• Education: volunteer as I often volunteer for schools and school work – both as a student and educator
• Finance: Quickbook and Money original and backup files.
• Pictures
  • Family
    • Kid 1
      • 2000-2005 (from early to pre-digital camera days when I had fewer digital photos)
      • 2006
      • 2007
      • Repeat for all.
    • Kid 2
    • Kid 3
    • Husband
    • Me
    • Print: I have professional printers print select photos. My photo printer does a nice job, but not to the same quality as professional services. I have family albums (real ones complete with plastic pages) and people look through them all the time. When I download new photos, I put the ones I want to print in this folder for the next time I order prints.
  • Friends
  • Others
• Music
• Textfiles: This is the personal version of “Freelance” folder that contains stuff related to my kids and non-business content.

Some people opt to do it the following way and it works. I had already created my system before this setup came about.

Library

• Documents
  • See above system. It’d fall under here except for pictures, music and videos.
• Pictures
  • See above system for pictures.
• Music
• Videos

I rarely use the search feature to find files. Yes, it takes a few clicks through folders and subfolders to get to the document I need, but I find them quickly. Without those subfolders, I’d be looking at a long list of hundreds of files.

How do you organize your many files?

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Writer confidence comes with experience. Even so, many of us — me, included — let things get the best of us and we lose confidence. “Oh, I’ve been lucky to make it this far.” Or we get scared and fear someone will open the curtain and discover no wizard back there.

Photo from sxc.hu user aiyaz

The writing profession is a tricky one. We don’t learn how to cut, repair and sew bodies in grade school. We do learn how to read and write. We don’t learn the law inside out so we can quote cases to defend our client in grade school. We do essays and theses. (I did one on James Thurber.) It’s easy for us to fall in the trap thinking, “What makes me a writer when everyone has to write papers in school?”

What makes you a worthy writer?

You treat it like a business. Guess what? Writers are in a business. Grade school doesn’t require you to take finance or learn people management and marketing skills. The closest required class is economics, which runs for only one semester with government taking up the other semester. (This is a Texas education requirement that was around when I was in high school and continues today.) Much of what I know to run my business didn’t come from grade school. Some of my management and people skills comes from college and graduate school. I also picked up some from past jobs and reading.

Treating writing like a business involves marketing, planning, accounting, management. I don’t simply write article after article, post after post, tweet after tweet. I also do problem solving, project management, research and content strategy.

You don’t do the mill thing. Many writers write for pennies and keep doing it even after producing a bunch of lousy articles filled with keywords and little substance. Confessions of an Ex-mill Writer is a must read. It shows how one person got her start by writing for a mill and it didn’t help her writing career. She had to cut it off and start over. Mills are not a stepping stone to a writing career.

You don’t make “no time” excuses. Many say they want to write and never do it. Many folks say they don’t have time to do that novel, memoir or short story. That excuse is no different from the “I don’t have time to exercise” excuse. Believe me, I’m busy that I gave up some activities because I needed to make time for exercise. So writers who have done it and got paid for it — you’re ahead of the majority!

I started my writing business on the side to my corporate job. With gentle nurturing and without aggressive marketing, the writing business grew. Early on, I had no plans to make it a full-time career. I fell in love with the work and pushed harder in the couple of years before I retired from the corporate world for the writing business.

Successful people occasionally question their worth no matter how long they’ve worked at their careers. That’s being human. That’s our overstimulated or under simulated brain taking over. Just don’t let it stop you from moving forward. (At least, not for too long.)

What do you do to show you’re a worthy writer?

Lori Widmer’s post on Writers Worth Week inspired this post.

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