Escape from Cubicle Nation

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Hi Everyone!

This is a quick note from my old Typepad domain to alert you that I just moved blogging platforms from Typepad to Wordpress last week.  It appears a few of you got dropped from the RSS feed or email subscription for some reason during the transition, so if you still want to get updates from me, I would love it if you would go to the new site, www.escapefromcubiclenation.com and click either "Subscribe by email" or "Subscribe by RSS," according to your preference. The buttons are in the left-hand column.

We did our best to make the transition smooth, but you know how things go - in even the best-laid plans, drama and adventures ensue.

You will know that your RSS was dropped if you did not get my first post on the new blog, entitled The Book is Here! that is dated April 30.

I am really excited about the new, more readable format, and hope you love it too!  Check it out here.

I hope we can stay connected!

Update from Pam before wild week

I am writing this on my way to Sedona, where I am going to relax for a couple of days before starting what is sure to be a busy and exciting adventure.

So many of you have been with me on this journey for a long time, trading emails and blog comments, talking with each other on calls and even, occasionally, meeting in person!

I wanted to give you a little behind the scenes update so you know what I am doing in the next few weeks and why I am doing it.  And for those of you who have similar plans to write books or launch programs or start a company, maybe my successes and failures can help you a bit in your own journey. 

Here are some things you will see happening:

The Book

After what seems like a long time, the Escape from Cubicle Nation book will actually be hitting bookstores and shipping from online booksellers on April 30.  A number of you got early copies with your pre-order, and I have been totally excited to hear your thoughts about the book.  It seems like most of that communication these days has been happening on Twitter.  I jump up and down in my chair when I imagine real readers holding the real book.  It is pretty exciting.

I had the great fortune of giving my very first finished copy of the book to my Dad, when he was visiting here in Arizona.  I know he reads my blog so sorry for embarrassing you Dad, but we both got choked up.  My Dad has been hugely inspirational to me as a writer (I dedicated the book to him) and seeing his pride and excitement as I handed him the first copy is something I will never forget.  See for yourself here.

The Book Launch

At a high level, here is what I am doing for the book launch:

• Coordinating with bloggers who have gotten early copies of the book and will post reviews
• Working with the media to get the word out by traditional channels like newspapers, magazines and radio.  I am working with my publicist to schedule 20 interviews in different markets so we get broad coverage and reach people where they live
• The day the book launches, I am doing a call with Suzanne Falter-Barns, who encouraged me to create this brand and start this blog for a class assignment.  I thought it was really fitting to talk about the whole journey from idea for a blog and brand that was a glimmer in my eye to full-blown book.  Join us here if you want to hear the story! (My blog is not quite 4000 today, but it was at one time - Technorati is fickle!)
• I wrote a number of special pieces for the launch, some of which came out (like the New York Times piece, and an article The Myth of the Stable Job for Powell's, the wonderful independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon), and some will come out later.  I will be sure to keep you updated.
• We are going to see about live television after the book gets out in the world.  Hopefully we can get some buzz going and producers interested, since the topic of layoffs, meaningful work and starting a business are very timely!  You all know it is my dream to sit across from Matt Lauer on The Today Show and talk about the book, so let's see what happens.  And The Daily Show and Colbert Report are also on the dream list, so John and Steven, if you are reading (hah!), call me!
• I will be asking anyone who reads the book and enjoys it to spread the word to people in your life who need it.  Seth Godin has influenced me a lot in this regard, with his views that things worth spreading will spread. 
• For those of you who have the book already, if you are inspired, you can send me a short 1-minute video with your impressions, takeaways and thoughts for other readers. I look forward to posting some of these videos during launch week.  You can send the link to pcs (at) ganas (dot) com.

The Blog

After many years of your patience with my homegrown blog design, that many of you diplomatically remind me every now and again is hard to read, cluttered and clunky, I am shifting blog platforms and moving to Wordpress.

My hope is that this move will make the blog much cleaner, easier to read, and integrated with the rest of my business.  While my friends at Typepad have been great over the years (especially my great buddy Andy Wibbels who works for SixApart- sorry bro!), it is really time to move to a platform that will support growth, look better and integrate with applications I want to use.

If all goes well, the new blog will go live this week, before the book drops.  You won't have to do a thing - the URL will remain www.escapefromcubiclenation.com, so it should be transparent.  But for some of you who have been with me for a long time and who may have subscribed to my original Typepad URL, you may find you need to click the RSS button on the new site to resubscribe.  I know we will work all that out after the launch, and like all technology projects, it will have some bumps along the ride. So thanks in advance for your patience.

I also know, from having worked on a lot of web projects over the years, that some of you will not like the new design or long for the old days.  I wish I could make the perfect thing that will appeal to everyone, but of course we know that is impossible.  I promise to give it my best shot and, at the very least, I promise to write good content for you. Change can be hard, even when it is good in the long run, so thanks for hanging in there with me.

New posts (or lack thereof)

I really apologize for my anemic posting schedule lately.  This is what happened when I was writing my book, and it is happening now when I am getting ready to launch it.  This is a matter of time, energy and sleep.  In the final 2 months of writing my book, my husband took the kids out all day on both Saturday and Sunday in order to give me time to write.  With kids aged 4 and 18 months, this gets really strained sometimes.  I do my best to live with less sleep, and know that this hectic schedule will not be forever.  But to my kids, it is harder.  So I do have some hard boundaries about not working all the time so that I spend time with them.

I appreciate your patience so much, and look forward to getting back to writing meaty posts.

One of my regular readers was really upset with me in my last post because it seemed  to him or her (the comment was anonymous, so I don't know who it was) like all I was talking about was my book and some new programs I am working on.  I have always believed strongly in sharing 80% of my content for free, and charging a premium for the remaining 20%.  I learned this from Robert Middleton, who has a marketing philosophy and process that I find generous and ethical.  So in the big picture of almost four years of writing this blog, I feel good about the balance, falling well into the 80/20 balance.  Right now, given all going on in the business, you will hear more about the "business" side of my life.  Given that this blog is about creating a life you love, doing work that has deep meaning for you and making a living while doing it, I hope you see it in that context.  I would be worried for you if you never charged for your services, and gave everything away for free. 

I actually like to raise this topic, because I know it is something you will deal with when you really get cruising with your businesses, and move from planning to launch.  I have some specific thoughts about it and will write some posts in the near future on the topic.

I don't pretend to have it figured out.  It is a plain hard balance to achieve.  I tease my friend Sonia Simone, who wrote an excellent post on this topic for Copyblogger called "Is Your Tribe Holding You Down?", that I will leave it up to her to figure out the "poetry vs. commerce" or "sharing vs. charging" dilemma for us all.  In the meantime, never be ashamed of taking care of your family, or charging money for your special talents.

The Business

I have been working behind the scenes on a number of new things that I am really excited about.  We have a wonderful group working hard on their business plans in my new ongoing program Life After the Cubicle: A Quickstart Guide to Self-Employment.  I am totally enjoying working them on their specific plans, and watching them support each other in the community forum.  I have been wanting to provide a way to work with a larger group of people than my 1:1 clients for a long time, and this is proving very satisfying.

I will continue to provide one on one coaching services since that is the heart of my business.  I never tire of the very specific work we do together, and am lucky to have a really special group of clients.  I will keep the number of individual clients I work with to a reasonable number, since I like 1:1 coaching to be  about 30% of my business

Now that my kids are a little bigger and able to function well without me at home ALL the time, I plan on spending a little more time on the road speaking.  I have always loved to present to large groups and teach workshops, so I will be spending some time developing that part of my business.  With the book coming out, there is a lot of content I can use to develop a one or two day workshop, so I may look at rolling things out in a few cities where I have other events planned (like New York, the Bay Area, Portland and Chicago, to start).  Let me know your thoughts - would a live workshop be something that would interest you?  I would love to hear what would be the most important content to cover.

Wrap up

So <phew> that is the long-winded update!  Thanks for reading, and for your ongoing support.

I talk with a lot of other bloggers, and am convinced that I have some of the most compassionate, supportive and funny readers out there.  Instead of having to field tons of controversy or attacks, I spend most of my time saying "thank you so much for your tremendously kind and generous comments!"  What a gift that is, and I really do appreciate it.

Enjoy the changes this week, and if you tune in to the Today Show and see me ribbing Matt Lauer, you will know my evil schemes worked. :)

Welcome New York Times readers!

I was really pleased to write an essay in this Sunday's New York Times entitled Is This the Time to Chase a Career Dream?

Despite so much conversation online and off about the death of traditional journalism, I was extremely honored to write for such a well-known and well-respected publication.  I learned so much through the editing process which reaffirmed what I have known for a long time:  while the structure of traditional media has to change, the craft of journalism is more necessary now than ever.

If this is your first time visiting my blog, I have been writing for nearly four years about how corporate employees can leave their jobs to start a business.  An introduction to the blog with a good selection of starter posts is here.

I also wrote a book Escape from Cubicle Nation:  From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur which is being released on April 30.

You can read the first chapter here: Download Ch 1 escape from cubby nation

 

And if you are ready to get started moving on your own creative plans, you may enjoy a new program I just released:  Life After the Cubicle:  A Quickstart Guide to Self-Employment.

Enjoy your Sunday, and I can't wait to hear about your own creative yearnings!

And if you read the NYT article and have a comment, please send it to the email at the end of the post.  I know they would love to hear your thoughts!

Plant a hundred flowers and watch what blooms

Yesterday, I looked at the list of things to do to get ready for my book launch on April 30 and I got a little overwhelmed. 

There were articles to write, interviews to schedule, review books to send and journalists to contact.  It seemed like each time I crossed one thing off the list, twelve new things would pop up in its place.  I felt a little anxious.

Then I experienced a serendipitous sequence of events: 

• A few good friends with large reach generously offered to promote the book to their lists.  And they wanted to introduce me to other people in their network who would be interested in spreading the word
• A couple of journalists I have been friendly with for a long time asked to write stories about the book
• A number of clients sent emails with suggestions for marketing the book to organizations and associations

Sitting back in my chair, I had the strong realization that the words of my mentor Guy Kawasaki, stolen from Chairman Mao, were coming true:  let a hundred flowers blossom.

My interpretation of this concept is this:

• When you get to the point of spreading the word about something you have created, good will will either exist or it won't.  This good will is developed over thousands of tiny interactions, conversations, smiles, links and messages over many years with an extended network of people. If you have acted in a spirit of integrity and generosity with your work, you will see the results.
• You don't have to know the "value" of everything you are doing to grow your business as you grow it.  I always chuckle when brand new business bloggers want to know the exact return on investment of spending time commenting on other blogs, and the specific sales conversion numbers that come from blogging.  Certainly, you want to have a good idea about the kinds of people and blogs you are interested in, and how they relate to the core of your business.  But you also want to just try things and connect with people just because it feels good.  There is random creativity and magic that happens by following your muse.
• Believe in what you create.  While most people would love to see great financial success and millions of people loving their products or services, what really matters, in the end, is that you are proud of what you do.  If your book or blog post or coaching hour or code or photograph or custom scarf makes one person glow with delight, you should be proud.

Grow, flower, grow!

If you try to launch a product or service too soon after planting your seeds, you will feel like you are kneeling down and shouting at the ground, drowning it in water and begging the sprouts to emerge.  This will not only be frustrating, but frankly impossible, since businesses, like plants, have a natural and organic path to growth. So make sure to start planting your seeds (i.e. nurturing relationships and providing valuable information to your community) as soon as you start to work on your business.

Ten people

Seth Godin recently wrote an intriguing post about how ideas spread, entitled First, Ten.  He says:

This, in two words, is the secret of the new marketing.

Find ten people. Ten people who trust you/respect you/need you/listen to you...

Those ten people need what you have to sell, or want it. And if they love it, you win. If they love it, they'll each find you ten more people (or a hundred or a thousand or, perhaps, just three). Repeat.

If they don't love it, you need a new product. Start over.

When I read this, I heaved a big sigh of relief.  Even though I decided against a gigantic coordinated email push to drive sales on Amazon, as was popular for many years to promote books, I had flashes of doubt, thinking I needed to be working harder, bigger, faster on promotion.

Then I realized that I have my ten.  Even small groups of ten.  And they are warm, loving, enthusiastic, generous and optimistic people.  And the book will do just what it is meant to do, one small group of ten people at a time.

Enjoy the view

My plan on April 30 is to sit back, survey the horizon, and enjoy watching flowers bloom in unexpected places.

Thanks to all of you for your support throughout the years -- I am eager to enjoy seeing your flowers bloom at just the right time, in just the right places.

Personal branding insight from young expert Dan Schawbel

I will never forget reading Tom Peter's article The Brand Called You in Fast Company Magazine in August 1997.  Growth in Silicon Valley was sizzling hot, and the fresh perspective on personal marketing was totally new and exciting.

25-year old Dan Schwabel felt the same thing when he read the article, although it was many years later, when he stumbled upon it on the internet.  According to Dan, it summed up what he had been doing in his own education and career since Junior High.  So he made the decision to become the personal branding expert for the new generation.

Today, Dan releases his first book on the topic, called Me 2.0:  Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success.

I interviewed him in a 23-minute podcast where we discuss:

1. How to build your own personal brand
2. Can you still build a strong personal brand if you are no longer a young whipper-snapper?
3. How to maintain focus in a busy life
   
4. How to start small and grow your visibility in national and global markets

We can all learn from Dan's focus, drive and determination.  He is, like my other young mentors Ramit Sethi, Ben Casnocha and Shama Hyder, showing that experience is not the only thing that builds a great brand.

Listen to the interview here and grab the book!

Congratulations Dan on setting a great example for us all by living a full-contact life.

Let Ramit teach your kids to be rich

As a parent, there is nothing I want more than for my kids to be happy.  So I make sure they eat well, and have lots of time to play.  I nurture their imaginations and read to them and take them outside so they appreciate nature.  I make sure to give lots of hugs, and listen to their stories, and nurse their skinned knees.

All of these things are extremely important, and will lead them, I believe, to a better chance at having happy, well-adjusted lives.

But one critical thing that I know I must do, and that I need help with, is teach them how to respect and manage money.  This doesn't come naturally to me, as a liberal arts major with a free spirit and aversion to accounting.  But I will boldly say that if they do not learn how to manage money, it will be the single biggest source of stress in their lives which will impact their health, relationships and career.

I think that part of the reason why our entire country is going through economic strife and chaos is that we do not teach our young people how to responsibly and realistically handle their finances.

When we do talk to our kids, it sounds like the teacher from Charlie Brown:

We say:  "Son, it is really important to track your spending and save money."

They hear:  "Son, waa waa, waa waa, waa waa."

So thank goodness I know Ramit Sethi, a whip-smart young man who has been sharing personal finance advice to college students and recent college graduates for years on his blog I Will Teach You to Be Rich.

His quick wit, pragmatic approach and solid information has earned him a loyal following of hundreds of thousands of readers a month.  He is also a very successful entrepreneur, having co-founded the popular company PB Wiki.  I included an interview with him in my book, since I loved his approach to starting a business and his clear, pragmatic perspective on finance and entrepreneurship.  I am proud to call him a friend, and consider him a young mentor, to help me think creatively when I get stuck in mid-life ruts.

His new book, I Will Teach You to Be Rich, was released on Monday, to these astounding results:

• The book hit #1 on Amazon all day on Monday
• It sold out of Amazon within hours
• The publisher ordered a reprint on the first day the book was released
• It hit #3 on Barnes & Noble
• And the reviews are pouring in: http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/book/reviews/

You can look at a sample chapter here:

I Will Teach You To Be Rich

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Career & Professiona How-To Guides & DIY money wealth

Some of the key messages in the book are:

• The 85% Solution:  Getting started is more important than being an expert
• It's OK to make mistakes
• Ordinary actions get ordinary results
• There is a difference between being sexy and being rich
• Spend extravagantly on things you love and cut costs mercilessly on things you don't

As soon as my kids are old enough for summer camp, I will be sending them to Ramit's house in San Francisco for some seriously fun financial education. (Ramit, you can't say I didn't warn you!)

So if you are a young adult, or have a young adult in your life who you want to see thrive and be happy in their future, buy them this book!  It would be the perfect graduation present.

And just in case you were wondering, this book is NOT just for 20-somethings.  I learned a lot myself, that I know will save me, and eventually earn me more money in the future.

To give you a little extra incentive to buy the book, we are doing something extra special for my blog readers:

If you order the book in the next 48 hours, you will get a bonus hour-long recording of Ramit and me discussing saving, investing, switching careers and making your first $1,000/month on your own.  Here is how:

Order the book and forward your receipt to cubiclenation@iwillteachyoutoberich.com within the next 48 hours.  Ramit will send you a link to the recording, free for the next 48 hours.

I am feeling really proud right now that someone who has worked as hard as Ramit has for all these years is seeing real recognition and success with a mainstream book.  As a blog-to-book writer, I could not be more inspired.  Rock on Ramit!

Escape from Cubicle Nation Book Officially on Pre-Order Today!

Hello from the hustle and bustle which is South by Southwest!

I am delighted to let you know that my Escape from Cubicle Nation book, officially hitting the shelves on April 30, is now available for pre-orders.  All of you dear blog readers have been so tremendously supportive of me while I was writing it that I wanted to do something special for the first big launch.

So starting this very minute, the first 500 people who pre-order the book and send me your confirmed order number will get another, spanking new, personally signed copy of the book as soon as it rolls off the assembly line.

It may still be wet the ink will be so fresh.

OK, I'm exaggerating.  But you will most likely be the first in your cube farm to sneak a copy into the lunch room under your arm.

I have been delighted so far with the early response to the book. 

The cool cover has quotes from my High Council of Jedi Knights members Seth Godin, Rich Sloan, Bob Sutton, John Jantsch and Martha Beck.  Guy Kawasaki wrote the foreword.

Publisher's Weekly said this:

Inspired by her successful blog of the same name, life coach Slim shows readers how to navigate the terrifying yet gratifying transition from corporate drone to entrepreneur.  She strikes a perfect balance between emotional encouragement and practical advice: “Hating your job intensely,” she writes, “is not a business plan.”  What’s here is: the nitty-gritty of getting a business off the ground, legal considerations, making the best use of social networking sites, the components of a business model, organized creative brainstorming, financial advice, shopping for self-paid insurance and benefits, and helpful anecdotes of real-life entrepreneurship.  With her humorous insights into corporate life and an appealing no-nonsense yet empathic tone, Slim deals swiftly and incisively with anxiety, fear and hesitation.  Readers will cheer as she teaches the tricks behind finding “what makes you purr”—what people will pay you to do, what you have a great passion for and what you are genetically encoded to do.  This is a standout in the start-your-own business genre.

My publisher, Portfolio/Penguin Group, calls it "a classic "sleeper" - a book by a non-famous, first-time author with huge potential. 

So here are the rules (please follow them so you don't miss out on the gift!):

1. This is for U.S. ORDERS ONLY -- I am SO sorry my global friends!  I promise to do something special for you too!  Stay tuned.
   
2. Order from the bookseller of your choice (these links go directly to the book):
   
   Amazon.com
   Barnes and Noble
   Borders
   800CEORead
   Indie Bound (to find a local independent bookstore)
   
   
3. Send your order confirmation number to a special email:  escapefromcubiclenation@gmail.com
   
4. If you are one of the first 500 to order, you will be sent a link to a web page where you can submit your address in order to send your special gift.
   
5. If I may be so bold, I ask that you please spread the word to your office mates, neighbors, relatives, Twitter buddies, Facebook friends, LinkedIn connections, golfing pals and baristas.  Basically, anyone whom you think would benefit from and enjoy the book!
   
   
6. To whet your appetite, here is a link to download the first chapter!
   Download Ch 1 escape from cubicle nation

Thank you so much in advance for your support.  It is truly a dream come true to have written a book, and I hope you find it encouraging, pragmatic and useful.

Final push to make a referral to a fantastic small business

This has been a great week over at Duct Tape Marketing, as a whole series of experts have shared tips, perspectives and tactics for building a great referral business as part of Make a Referral Week.  There is a recorded 90-minute conversation with three of the top experts in referrals, Ivan Misner, Bob Burg and Bill Cates. as well as great information from Scott Ginsberg, Rich Sloan, Anita Campbell, Scott Allen, Susan Wilson Solovic , Andy Sernovitz and Michael Port.

I wrote a post yesterday on 5 Ways to Amp up the Personal in your Brand for Make a Referral Week, where I talked about one of my favorite small businesses of all time, Pat's Garage.  Check out the site and you will see why.

Great businesses like Pat's Garage make it so easy to refer -- the service is so exceptional and the service so personal that it is hard NOT to gush about it.

You must know of businesses like this!

We still have a couple hundred referrals to go before reaching our 1,000 referrals in one week goal today.  So, in the spirit of support, strength, compassion, good business and good karma, go make your referral today!  It doesn't take more than one minute.

The small business you refer will thank you, and your business will prosper as a result.

Make your referral here.

Wow. There is some serious fear out there.

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in my brief survey a couple of weeks ago which asked a simple question:

What gets in the way of defining a clear backup strategy and safety net in case your job goes away?

One hundred sixty-seven of you responded, and it was amazing how many people are feeling really paralyzed with fear.

Some responses:

“Uncertainty.”

“Too much work at existing job (ie due to layoffs/outsourcing/cost cutting/reduced and deomoralized staff left to deal with short term “issues”) to spend time coming up with a backup strategy or safety net. Work increasingly encompasses more of life in fear of being the next to go.”

“Fear that the existing backup strategy will fail.”

“Probably fear - i.e. making a Plan B requires me to actually envision the ending of Plan A.  Also - not sure how to even START the process of thinking about it - almost like it would be automatic overload - so much information, so many possibilities - how, where does one start the process of creating a Plan B, let alone finish it?”

The complete survey results are here.  I have removed any identifying notes from the comments in order to respect privacy, but otherwise they are intact.

Your responses really lit a fire under me, and I have been furiously building a program to address your concerns.  It is called Backup Booster, and it is a low-cost, practical, tactical seminar to help you break through your paralysis and get some viable short-term plans going.  I am totally psyched about it.

I am going to launch it on March 30.  But I am opening it to pre-sales today, for $30 off the list price.  So check it out and secure your spot!

---

Other News:

I head to South by Southwest on Friday for what is sure to be a fantastically interesting and fun time.  I am sharing a house with some of my favorite internet buddies:  Havi, Naomi, Nathan, Shama and Chris.  I will bring my Flip Video and of course my laptop and share the hilarity, yoga, and small business marketing genius that is sure to ensue.

On Tuesday, March 17, I am moderating a panel on Turning Blogs into Book Deals with Guy Kawasaki, Hugh McLeod, Stephanie Klein  and Kate Lee.  Hugh wrote a wonderful post about it here.  I am extremely excited about it, as it is the official "coming out" party for my book. And if we can help one blogger write a better book, or get a book deal from our collective experience, it will be great.

If you will be at SXSW, please come say hello!  I will be on Twitter @pamslim

Let the wild rumpus start

As soon as I read this passage to my three-year old from the classic book Where the Wild Things Are, I felt a wave of pleasure and a flash back to my own childhood.  I had forgotten how ripe and tantalizing the words were; perfectly chosen, crisp, simple and powerful:

And when he came to the place where the wild things are
they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth
and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws
till Max said “BE STILL!”
and tamed them with the magic trick
of staring into all their yellow eyes without blinking once
and they were frightened and called him the most wild thing of all
and made him king of all wild things
“And now,” cried Max, “let the wild rumpus start!”

Why isn’t all writing like that?

As readers, we hunger for clear, useful, insightful and inspiring words.

As writers, we long to speak the truth and say something relevant and important.

But somehow in our professional lives, we are taught to convolute, complicate and butcher perfectly good language when communicating with users, clients, customers, employees and partners.

How can we clean up our writing so that we evoke the spirit of a well-written children’s book?  Some thoughts:

In Presentations:  Trust your instincts.

In my prior days as a management consultant, I was brought into a project at a large multinational company with short notice and no information.  For four hours, I sat in a dark conference room with a bunch of serious-looking executives and listened to an “overview” presentation that was a minimum of 300 PowerPoint slides, with eye-crossing graphs, charts and bullets.  At the end of the presentation, although I wouldn’t admit it to anyone in public, I still had no idea what the project was about.  Seriously.  None whatsoever.  And I was no green bean; I had participated in large projects in large organizations for many years. Finally, once I was able to corner a smart-looking person, I said “Can you tell me in 10 words or less what this project is about?”  “Sure,” he said.  “It is a reorganization.” 

They could have saved 299.9 slides and 4 hours worth of my billable time if they had just said those four words.

There is a conspiracy cooked up by marketing wonks, consultants and executives to pay for words by the pound, and to question the intelligence of a corporate “professional” who does not create complex and obtuse presentations.  They are wrong. Your instinct to keep things clean and simple is right.  A few tips:

• Use clear language.  As much as you may feel pressure to use the fancy words in your industry, stick with clear, descriptive language.  Avoid jargon, clichés and insider metaphors.  If your audience is highly technical, use the terms that they relate to and expect.  If it is a mixed crowd, give a variety of clear, topic-appropriate examples, with a few specific technical references that relate to that portion of your audience.  If you still struggle to simplify your language, you could always get a gang member coach.
• Focus your topic.  Know what your primary message is, and support it with no more than three sub-points.  Cramming every feature, benefit, angle or alternative into a presentation will just overwhelm and confuse your audience.  If they want more information, they will ask for it, and then you can get to the real purpose of your presentation which is dialogue and interaction.
• Take the Presentation Zen approach to mixing words and graphics.  Powerful graphic images anchor ideas in the minds of your audience.  Cut most of the words out of your slides.  If you have to say “I know you can’t see the details of this chart, but …,” you shouldn’t include it.  Choose your graphics carefully, and make sure they truly help illustrate a point. My Dad, a professional writer and photographer, was laughing with me the other day as he recalled seeing the same “circular arrow flow chart” graphic in at least a hundred presentations in his career.  “It never made any sense, but everyone used it,” he said.

In Blogs:  Speak from your soul.

Blog culture encourages open, personal and straight communication.  But we still fall victim to being either too boring and generic, or too self-indulgent with “Here are twelve more pictures of my cat and kids plus 35 responses to memes” posts.   Instead:

Write for your audience. 

Some bloggers write about whatever strikes their fancy, and it suits them well. I tend to stick close to my readers.  Questions that guide my content include:

• What problems do they face?
• What really scares them?
• What is not being said on this subject on other news sources or blogs?
• What can I share that will make their life easier
• How can I make them feel more supported and confident?
• Who can I put them in contact with (via links or references) that will give them good information and advice?
• What will be fun and interesting to write about? 

Speak from your soul. 

Your head can play tricks on you when choosing topics.  Mostly, it will play on your fears and insecurities of needing to appear “smart” or “hip.”  Dig deeper and write what you feel is the truth.  Your truth will be different than anyone else’s, so many are bound to disagree, but that is part of the fun.  If you worry about how smart or important you sound, your writing will come out stilted and insincere.  A passage from the delightful book If You Want to Write:  A Book About Art, Independence and Spirit by Brenda Ueland sums it up nicely:

“…inspiration does not come like a bolt, nor is it kinetic, energetic striving, but it comes into us slowly and quietly and all the time, though we must regularly and every day give it a little chance to start flowing, prime it with a little solitude and idleness.  I learned that you should feel when writing, not like Lord Byron on a mountain top, but like a child stringing beads in kindergarten - happy, absorbed and quietly putting one bead in front of another.”

Use your superpowers for good. 

This is a favorite saying of my friend Marilyn Scott-Waters, a talented illustrator who has given away over 3 million lovingly illustrated paper toys on her website thetoymaker.com.  Snark and gossip are part of our lives and can be entertaining in a superficial kind of way.  But if you are going to spend hours and hours researching and writing and opining, why not do it for the purpose of uplifting and enlightening?  There are enough forces in the world right now bent on humiliation, death and destruction.  So voice your honest thoughts, just do so without shaming, scaring or ridiculing the subjects of your opinions.

In phone interactions with customers:  Ditch the scripts.

I cringe every time I hear a dejected, underpaid (or hyper-cheery – even worse) customer service representative answer my call with “Hi, my name is Sue, how can I provide you with excellent customer service?”  The last thing that is on my mind after waiting on hold for twenty minutes is how Sue can provide me with excellent customer service.  What I care about is getting my questions answered and my problems resolved.

So if you have staff that answers the phone to talk with customers, skip the scripted nonsense, and encourage your folks to be polite, friendly and flexible. 

In sales copy:  Cut the hype.

Most of us have to sell our ideas in writing.  If you work for yourself and sell a product or service, you may have to create marketing materials or a sales letter.  There are well-documented copywriting recipes that specify what color or font size to make your headlines, which ‘words that sell’ to use at which part of the letter, and how to format and use testimonials from satisfied customers.  Study these examples, as you are bound to learn something from them, but don’t become a slave to a formula.  In addition:

• Show your personality. Don’t suddenly change your voice just because you are writing a sales letter.  Use the style and language that you know makes your audience comfortable.  Don’t be afraid to be playful and funny, or serious and straightforward, if it fits within the style and spirit of what you are selling.
• Don’t insult your audience with infomercial nonsense like “But wait, there’s more!”  We are all tired of reading advertising copy that jumps out and screams at us.  And as Seth Godin said:

“the most effective technique is making stuff worth talking about in the first place. True viral marketing happens not when the marketer plans for it or targets bloggers or skateboarders or pirates with goatees, but when the item/service/event is worth talking about.”

• Use the “slime gauge.” Put yourself in the place of a potential customer.  Read your words and see how you feel.  Do you have a vague sense of embarrassment?  Do you have a sudden urge to take a shower?  Go back and scrub your document of any marketing slime and focus on the real, tangible benefits that make you truly proud of your product or service.

In messages to potential partners, customers, or mentors:  Bring back foreplay.

Email is a great way to begin to build a relationship with someone who interests you.  But too often, we forget all rules of human interaction and jump right to a jarring, intimate request, such as:

“I see that your blog reaches a similar target audience as mine.  I am sure they would be interested in my product, so could you link to it?  I will link to you if you link to me.”

Such crude, direct language turns me off immediately.  Instead:

• Treat online relationships like all relationships.  Just as you wouldn’t go up to someone you had never met at a networking event and kiss them on the lips, you shouldn’t demand something the first time you approach someone online.  “Link exchange” is a thing of the past.  Before someone knows if they want to share you and your ideas with their audience, they want to get to know and trust you.  So let that intimacy and trust build naturally, based on mutual interest and exchange of ideas.  If a joint venture, book review, link exchange or product endorsement is meant to happen, it will.  And you may just make a real advocate and friend in the process.
• Focus each part of the email conversation in the moment, not on your “closing goal.”  In personal and business settings, you can feel when someone is going through the motions to try to “close a deal” with you.  The most obvious examples are an overzealous suitor in a bar, or an enthusiastic relative recently introduced to a business scheme who is hot to sell you new skin products.  Avoid this uncomfortable dynamic by just enjoying each email interaction as you have it.  Look for ways that you can support, inform and encourage your “object of affection.”  If there is not a natural momentum or energy, back off and put your attention elsewhere.
• Be respectful of the other’s time.  You may find that you build a natural, friendly connection with someone that you really admire.  Or you may develop a truly supportive and friendly mailing list of interested customers.  Do not jeopardize this relationship by asking for too much input, or sending too many messages.  Email clutter is a real problem these days, and if you go overboard, you will soon reinforce a connection between your name and the delete button.

Common sense is rarely common practice.  So if some of this advice gets you ostracized, ridiculed or even fired, all I can say is “Welcome to the other side.”  Your audience will thank you for standing up for truth and clarity.

Let the wild rumpus start.

(image credit:  the awe-inspiring Maurice Sendak)