Just Like a Client Session

I was sitting in there in the office, and she handed me the article. “Here, this explains what I want you to know pretty well.” It wasn’t an article she had written, it was from a colleague of hers. In the same town.

On the one hand I know we’re not really into the concept of competition. There’s plenty to go around, and we can all help each other. On the other hand, what would have prompted her to use another practitioner’s marketing materials? And marketing materials they were, because at the bottom of the article was an invitation to this other practitioner’s website.

There were three reasons.

1. It made her job easier because she didn’t have to do the work of explaining what was in the article.
2. It made her look good to have materials to hand to me.
3. She hadn’t done the work herself to write the article.

In every industry, in every type of business, there are concepts, how-to’s, and fundamentals that need to be shared with clients and customers. Some of them are hard to articulate. Some of them aren’t hard, but just no one has really written them up.

Sometimes you can find source articles from the school where you got your training, or other national organization related to what you do, but chances are that they are dry, boring, and they don’t really match who you are very well.

Seriously- you know what I mean. Those downloads off the training school’s website that are printed in a tiny font, thick two or three column layout, with dry stick-figure illustrations, and the writing is academic.

It’s not that they are bad per se, it’s just not really what you truly want to hand out to your clients. But maybe it feels intimidating, overwhelming, or just plain exhausting to try and write your own?

Your Readers are Clients

Your readers are coming to you willing to receive, just like your clients are. They have needs and struggles, just like your clients. And, hopefully, a certain number of them will become your clients.

So when you sit down to write to them, write as if you were writing to a client. Write without trying to impress or convert. Write as if they have already agreed to receive from you. Write as if they sincerely and genuinely need what you have to offer. Write with an open heart and a desire to serve and give.

Because they are, they have, and they do. And you do, too.

If you can let go of needing to replicate the client session in your writing, which is impossible, but focus instead of capturing the same sense of service, open-hearted generosity and connection, you’ll have the attitude and focus for powerful articles.

Take a moment now and imagine facing a client, perhaps a recent client. Now, imagine that they couldn’t show up to see you, and they’re going out of town, but they really need your help. What could you write to them in a personal email, in maybe five to fifteen paragraphs or so, that would be helpful without needing to be as powerful as actually working with you?

Write *that.* How does that feel?

It probably feels great, easier, and good enough. You can totally do that. And yet…

Just Five Ingredients Makes It Fabulous

Which is easier: “Cook a fabulous meal!” or “Take these five ingredients, cut them up, put them in a hot pan with a little oil, then sprinkle these three spices on them while they’re cooking, and when they are tender, it’s done.”

Starting August 1 I’m going to be leading folks through a step-by-step, ingredient-based process to writing articles. Here’s where the analogy breaks down, because as you assemble your article-writing ingredients, your tomato tastes completely different than anyone else’s tomato.

This is why dozens of people can follow our article writing recipe and each person can still come out with their own unique, heart-centered, authentic and compelling articles.

Join me. Runs five weeks, August 1-29. Early-bird deadline is July 26 (coming up!).

Read the page for info and to register:

Heart-Centered Article Writing

Writing articles or other content doesn’t have to be mystifying, overwhelming, or a struggle. It can be fun and a wonderfully powerful part of your business.

If you have questions, please ask!