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6 Steps to Crack Your Email Addiction

What is it about email? Is it the instant gratification of knowing that someone is thinking about you? Or is it the obsessive need to be needed? Regardless of your reasons for being addicted to email, the fact is that if you let it, email can cause you more harm than good.
I am no stranger to this issue. I spent much of the last two years as a project manager juggling dozens of projects at any given moment. Unfortunately, one of the clients I served had many ‘last minute’ and ‘urgent’ priorities that forced me to be glued to my email. I was poised to act in order to keep the machine rolling to meet a deadline. I confess that I found it quite thrilling…most of the time.
What is the cost of emailoholism? Time. Productivity. Sleep. Relationships. Creativity. – No kidding. Obsessive emailing means you are constantly interrupted and unable to remain focused on one thing for long enough to make a difference.
So, what do you do?
1) Start small. Choose a time of day to turn off your email for a half hour and focus on something else that needs your attention. Add more times during the day as your ability to focus becomes stronger. Turn off the notification indicator that lets you know a new email has arrived.
2) Get away. At break time, leave your computer and your smart phone behind and go for a walk. Go for a run. Go for a swim. Whatever you want, just don’t take the temptation with you.
3) Tell others. Let your colleagues and friends know that you will only be retrieving email at certain times of the day and stick to that schedule. Set up auto-responders to let people know that email is checked at those times only. Force a phone call for urgent issues only.
4) Reduce the clutter. You likely get some newsletters or Google alerts that are no longer important to you. Unsubscribe to everything that you don’t really need or want.
5) Auto file. Some email programs allow you to automatically file emails that come from specific email addresses. With emails efficiently filed, schedule a specific time when you’ll retrieve and review them.
6) View once. If you’re taking your precious time to read an email, do it once. Reply where needed, file informational emails, and trash the rest. Clean out your inbox daily if possible.
Would love to hear how you tame the wild email beast.  Share in the comments!

emailWhat is it about email? Is it the instant gratification of knowing that someone is thinking about you? Or is it the obsessive need to be needed? Regardless of your reasons for being addicted to email, the fact is that if you let it, email can cause you more harm than good.

I am no stranger to this issue. I spent much of the last two years as a project manager juggling dozens of projects at any given moment. Unfortunately, one of the clients I served had many ‘last minute’ and ‘urgent’ priorities that forced me to be glued to my email. I was poised to act in order to keep the machine rolling to meet a deadline. I confess that I found it quite thrilling…most of the time.

 

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Content Evolution: Articles to Apps

When I first started my writing business, the majority of projects I worked on were articles for print publication. At that time, there was a lot of need for print materials in marketing communication so I produced copy for several brochures and newsletters as well.  In my spare time (ha ha, 3 little kids = not much spare time), I worked away on a novel hoping to one day be ‘discovered’ and revered for the magnificent stories I told.
Over the past ten years I’ve learned that in order to actually make a living in the creative world of writing and marketing communication, I would have to be adaptable. And adapt I did. Articles were often needed but they became necessary for both print publications and in the online world. I started getting busy with content for websites and to this day that is where the bulk of the requests come from. Everyone has or needs a website and many people don’t have the time to thoughtfully write compelling copy for it.
With so much writing online, the birth of search engine optimization made it necessary to become savvy in the ways of keyword research and placement. In the early days, I could see results almost immediately for pages I had optimized. Of course, now SEO is more complex and everyone is doing it so I need to keep learning and experimenting in order to keep client websites ranking competitively.
The need for long form writing has morphed into the need for ‘quick hits’. Web copy is produced in bite-sized pieces riddled with bullet points and white space for easy scanning. Blog posts are thoughtful but often short. Headlines are where the most impact is and I’m still working on improving my skills there. Landing pages are constantly needed as online marketers have figured out how to drive traffic using social media to get people to do what they want.  A recent project had me preparing copy for sales material promoting a new mobile app.
I have learned quite a bit on this rollercoaster of creativity and the speed is only picking up. How do you handle changes within your business? Do you get excited by the opportunity or terrified because it’s your first time trying something new?

writers quillWhen I first started my writing business, the majority of projects I worked on were articles for print publication. At that time, there was a lot of need for print materials in marketing communication so I produced copy for several brochures and newsletters as well.  In my spare time (ha ha, 3 little kids = not much spare time), I worked away on a novel hoping to one day be ‘discovered’ and revered for the magnificent stories I told.

Over the past ten years I’ve learned that in order to actually make a living in the creative world of writing and marketing communication, I would have to be adaptable. And adapt I did. Articles were often needed but they became necessary for both print publications and in the online world. I started getting busy with content for websites and to this day that is where the bulk of the requests come from. Everyone has or needs a website and many people don’t have the time to thoughtfully write compelling copy for it.

 

 

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4 Steps on How to Manage Leads

Once you've established your blog or newsletter, your readership will begin to grow.  What do you do with the leads that have trusted you with their contact information?  

Manage Leads in 4 Easy Steps

1) Capture - Initially someone will have downloaded your free report or signed up for your newsletter in exchange for providing their name and email address.  You will receive an email notification of this or your database will be automatically updated with the contact information.

 

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8 Steps to Writing an eBook

Ebooks are publications in digital form that consist of text, images, or both and are created, published  and read on an electronic device or computer.  Ebooks have been popular for years (as the quantity of pdfs in my download folder illustrates) but their value seems to have magnified since the onset of the mobile technology craze.  E-readers such as Kobo or Kindle are a wonderful way to read your digital documents on the go.  Tablets have made ebooks even more accessible to the masses.
I’ve been wanting to write an ebook on search engine optimization for several years, but never quite had (or made) the time to do it.  Within the last six months, however, my clients and colleagues have been asking the same SEO questions and I have been giving the same answers. This made it clear to me that even though this space is saturated online, my immediate network could absolutely use a beginners guide. So I sat down and started to write.  Here’s how I did it:
1) I wrote notes on what I see as the key elements of SEO. This involved my ‘elevator speech’ of what I usually tell people when they ask about SEO such as keywords, links, competition etc.
2) I went through notes and documents on the subject, pulling out the relevant pieces for someone with a beginners mind. I wanted to stay focussed on the fundamentals rather than confusing people who were just getting started.
3) I researched some of the statistics so I could illustrate just how important it is to get on page one in the search engines.  From that I created a chart in Excel.
4) I created a list of images I’d need to accompany the text.  This was a long list so asked my virtual assistant to help research a portion of the list.  I researched the rest and either purchased images, used free digital photos and credited them in the document, or took the pictures myself.
5) I wanted to build the ebook myself so I formatted the document in MS Publisher (my apologies to my graphic designer friends who may be appalled at that).  My philosophy was that I had to do as much as possible myself in order to gain the experience needed to be able to advise anyone wanting to take on such a project.  In retrospect, I would recommend hiring a professional graphic designer to put it together. It will definitely look more polished and professional.
6) Proof read, proof read, proof read then send the document to trusted friends who will give you honest feedback.
7) Polish what needs fixing and save the final version as a pdf.
8) Distribute your new ebook!
I’m still in the ‘proof read’ stage and I don’t want to tell you yet how I’m planning to distribute it (but stay tuned because it’s going to happen SOON!).
I think my biggest piece of advice is to just get started.  You know that if you research long enough you will find an ebook or other digital document that is similar to what you want to produce. Try to be original, but more important be clear on who your audience is and make sure you stay true to them when developing your message.  Share your expertise in a way that is understandable and clear and make sure that your contact information is readily available so they can call you with questions. Good luck!

ebookEbooks are publications in digital form that consist of text, images, or both and are created, published  and read on an electronic device or computer.  Ebooks have been popular for years (as the quantity of pdfs in my download folder illustrates) but their value seems to have magnified since the onset of the mobile technology craze.  E-readers such as Kobo or Kindle are a wonderful way to read your digital documents on the go.  Tablets have made ebooks even more accessible to the masses.

I’ve been wanting to write an ebook on search engine optimization for several years, but never quite had (or made) the time to do it.  Within the last six months, however, my clients and colleagues have been asking the same SEO questions and I have been giving the same answers. This made it clear to me that even though this space is saturated online, my immediate network could absolutely use a beginners guide. So I sat down and started to write.  Here’s how I did it:

 

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Small Business Week

52844znnumqw0h3This is ‘Small Business Week’ where all across the country we are celebrating Canadian entrepreneurs. The theme for this year’s Small Business Week is ‘Power up your Business. Invest. Innovate. Grow’.  I didn’t realize until today that Small Business Week has been going on for 32 years (and the term is actually trademarked!) and it was started in recognition of the contributions and achievements of Canada’s entrepreneurs.  Events are being planned all over the country.  Check out the Business Development Bank of Canada website for more info.

 

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Experiments in Marketing

19230suv8i2mbm5Small business owners are accustomed to wearing many hats, one of which is marketing. The art of marketing is essentially raising awareness of your brand and what products and services you offer while inviting and enticing people to call, inquire and purchase.

So how does one go about marketing a small business? The tools and techniques are varied, but here are a few that have helped me.  Some I’ve been doing for a while and some are currently under development for the very first time.

 

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