I grew up in the dawn of the internet era.

I remember being around 12 years old and sitting at my grandparents’ monster-sized IBM, logging in to CompuServe for the first time. They were the first people I knew who had The Internet (which was very much a “capital I” sort of thing back then), and it felt like the future. They told me I was allowed to try out a text-based online game (a MUD, if you speak nerd) called “British Legends,” for which they were charged a whopping $12.95 an hour. I played for nearly an hour and a half.

Basically, you were given text prompts with short descriptions of the area you were in, and you typed back an interaction or direction. “North” or “Pick up book” or “Examine door.” It was a lot like Zork or Colossal Cave or The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy game (all of which I was a big fan of at the time), except for one crucial difference:

There were other people there, too.

Real people. People who were sitting at their keyboards at their own computers literally anywhere in the world and who were playing the same game as me at that exact moment.

Naturally, the second another player walked into the room with me, I froze.

During my illustrious hour-and-a-half career in British Legends, I didn’t speak to another player, and I don’t believe any spoke to me. I do vaguely recall following someone around for two or three minutes, enamored with the idea that this was a real person exploring ahead of me. They were just a line of text — “Jimbo475 is here” — but that was the turning point for me. The Internet was full of people, and I wanted to meet them.

Of course, the knowledge that I, a 12-year-old child, was encountering other human beings online resulted in a few Very Serious Talks with my parents about Internet Safety. Because, as they explained to me, people online could be anyone. Stranger danger, gone global.

I never played British Legends again — way too expensive, and I couldn’t hog the phone line forever — but that was just the beginning of my history of meeting strangers online.

I spent some time in chat rooms in the ‘90s, mostly just watching other people have conversations (hi there, introvert). I’ve played more games than I’ll admit, including another MUD — free this time — where I logged a not-low-triple-digit number of hours in college. Social media has removed the game aspect from most of my interactions these days, but I’ll admit I do sometimes wish I had to explore the dark forest to see what those not-really-friends from high school are up to.

Some of the people I’ve met online have been creeps, of varying degrees. Some may have even been dangerous, but I never suffered more than a few vaguely intrusive (and quickly deleted) emails and private messages. Some of the people I’ve met online have turned out to be some of my dearest friends — online and in the “real world.” Being able to communicate with people all over the world has been absolutely life-changing for me.

But here’s the thing: My parents were absolutely right.

People online could be anyone. And the truth is, no one I’ve ever met online was exactly the person they are in the real world. Including my friends. Including me.

I won’t rehash what we all know about social media. Of course not every brunch I eat looks this good. Of course I took 20 selfies before I posted this one. Of course my kids were fighting 10 seconds after I took this video. If I posted my questionable oatmeal and shiny forehead and screaming children, people would be concerned, when really, it’s all pretty normal.

Every piece of content we put out for the world to read or view or watch or listen to adds to our story. It doesn’t need to be a tell-all —  no one expects your About Page to spill all your darkest secrets or your Instagram to be all #nofilter all the time — but it does need to be authentic. You can share just a portion of who you are with the world and keep other parts for yourself without telling a story that’s false. Honestly, we all do it. It’s not a bad thing.

There are parts of my life that I don’t share in my business, not because I’m ashamed of them or want to keep them secret, but because they’re not relevant to the way I choose to interact with my readers and clients and friends. I’m probably a bit softer and more gentle in my online presence when my personality is more analytical and direct, because most of our clients appreciate a softer touch before I really dive in there and get things done for them. The way I speak when I’m writing content for my own blog or website isn’t exactly how I speak, though it’s still very much me — just a bit more polished, a bit sharper, a little clearer, maybe a bit cleverer. My brand voice is not my voice, but it comes from the same place…just a little better.

Of course, there is a world of difference between polishing what we have and presenting a face that isn’t ours at all. Maybe we feel shame or fear about some aspect of ourselves and don’t want to let anyone else see that. Maybe we see something different working for other people and want a taste of their success.

But when we’re telling someone else’s story, we aren’t telling our own. The momentary success we might experience becomes a weight holding us back when we realize that it means we have to keep up the facade forever, that the people who would love to share in what we truly have to offer will never connect with us, because the story we’re telling isn’t the story they need to hear.

The masks we wear are almost guaranteed to slip from time to time. When they show a slightly less polished version of the self we’ve presented, our Right Person is likely to understand — they’ve shared a regrettable selfie or two themselves. But when our masks slip to reveal a completely different face, when the story we’re telling doesn’t match up at all with who we are underneath, there is a dissonance that is going to alienate the people we’ve worked so hard to attract.

So yes, be aware that the people you encounter online may not be exactly who they seem…but realize that behind that warning is a sense of possibility. What story do you want to tell? How can you show up online as your most authentic self, but the very best version of your authentic self? People online can be anyone. Who will you be?

High-quality, consistent, authentic content allows us to tell a story that is rich, engaging, and attractive to our Right Person. It gives us the ability to connect with the people who need what we have to offer and positions us as experts in our field. If you’re struggling with how you show up online — or if you’re doing okay but could use some help polishing your digital presence — check out our Summer School special. Now through June 24th, you can take 15% off any two courses in our classroom, including the upcoming live cohort of Run Your Business Like a Magazine, our popular content strategy course, which begins on June 25th. This time around, we’ll be hosting four live phone calls for you to get answers to all your content strategy questions, so we can connect even more directly. I can’t wait to hear what conversations we’ll have!

In the comments, I’d love to hear:

How do you determine what story you want to tell? Do you feel like your online persona matches who you are offline?

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My daughter recently started preschool.

Go ahead, take a moment to bemoan the passage of time. It’s my new hobby.

With the total upheaval of our schedule, it’s been hard to find the time or motivation to keep up with everything, if I’m being completely honest. Client work, sure. But blog posts, web updates, social media, not-so-pressing emails? I’m…a little less focused.

It’s been really good for her — this is the first time she’s been away from me and around kids on a regular basis — and I’m sure it’s good for me, too (and not just because I’m walking or biking the half-mile to her school twice a day). But it’s also been a huge change, and a major emotional adjustment. And she’s already gotten sick twice.

That’s not all, of course. It never is.

There’s the family stuff, as usual. (When you have a big family, there’s always some sort of family stuff.) And it seems like lately, every time I read the news, there’s something new to worry about. If it’s not the threat of nuclear war, it’s literal Nazis marching down our streets. It’s collusion and corruption and floods and widespread wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth.

And I’m supposed to blog about marketing tactics.

I think, especially for those of us who are particularly sensitive to the world around us, it can feel like we’re constantly on edge, and that can make it hard to focus on things that feel a bit…banal in comparison. Who can think about a sales funnel when the world is ending? (It’s not. Not today, anyway.)

So how do you keep on keeping on with business as usual when it feels like life is anything but?

Well, there are a few different approaches you might take.

1. Use your voice.

When it feels like the world is falling apart — personally or globally — you want to talk about it, right? So use your platform to amplify the signal of people who are doing good work. Take a stand. Ask for help. Share your feelings. Your business does not exist in a bubble, and it’s okay to acknowledge that. This approach is probably the most healthy, and certainly the most helpful. Tackling these problems head-on — in your own way, however you can — is the way we create change. You might even build this into your business — plan for a portion of proceeds to go to a charity that means something to you, or schedule time to dedicate to something important to you, whether that’s a volunteer organization or family dinner every night (or once a week). Be explicit about your priorities, and it will be easier to build your life around them.

2. Plan ahead.

One of the nice things about having a few blog posts in the bank is that you can just drop one into the schedule when you’re feeling less than motivated. Of course, this means you need to do some planning and set aside some time to actually write a block of posts before you need them, and it doesn’t really help with more time-sensitive work, but you might be surprised by what a difference this makes.

3. Remember that life goes on.

While it may feel strange to talk about business when the “real world” is all that’s on your mind, people are still working. Your clients and your readers still want your support, even if you feel strange offering it. Don’t shy away from being in business. If you had a desk job where you had to punch a timecard each day, you wouldn’t stop going into work when the world got you down — or at least not for long. Which leads me to my next suggestion…

4. Take a nap.

Or a walk. Or a vacation. Sometimes, you need to acknowledge that life takes precedence, and business will wait. If you miss a blog post, will the world end? Will you find genuine relief from a day off? When your job description doesn’t come with a vacation package, it’s easy to find yourself working 24-7, 365, but sometimes, life calls for a day off. Just make sure a day doesn’t turn into a year.

5. Know when to back down.

You can’t shut down every time there’s a bump in your life, but there are some occasions that call for a moment of respectful quiet. I, personally, have found myself really turned off by businesses who refused to adapt their calendars immediately following a major event, especially one that would be considered a disaster. A general rule — if a large portion of the world (or, at least, of your audience) is glued to the news because of something major unfolding, don’t butt in with an advertisement. At best, you’ll be ignored, and at worst, you’ll come across as callous. If you’d rather not talk about what’s happening, just step back and keep quiet until some time has passed. And if you’d prescheduled a few posts that you weren’t able to cancel in time, follow up with something relevant and heartfelt. No one expects you to shut down your business, but be aware that while you’re promoting, other people may be hurting. Be kind.

It’s impossible to completely separate our work from our lives. Behind every business is an actual human, and it’s important to remember to be gentle with ourselves. We live in an imperfect world, and sometimes, that needs our attention more than another blog post about how to optimize your email marketing or make the most of social media.

In the comments, I’d love to hear:

How does your life factor into your work? Do you find it hard to shut out the outside world when it comes to your business?

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Here’s the thing: we like to make business hard.

Harder than it probably needs to be. There are plenty of things about running a company of any size that are hard enough as it is. Taxes come to mind. Also, deciding whether and how to scale. And maybe deciding on your brand’s color palette, if you are a person who loves ALL THE COLOR.

The creatively entrepreneurial mind likes to complicate that which doesn’t necessarily need to be complicated. Partly, that’s because you’re gifted: you recognize the beauty of complexity, you appreciate nuance, you want to hold hands with context always and forever. These are traits that make you a natural born business owner, especially one that’s The Voice Bureau’s type of Right Person.

One thing that, perhaps surprisingly, should NOT be hard is figuring out what to write on your blog.

And how it connects to the big picture of what you do, why you do it, and who you’re doing it for. Yes, seriously.

Your blog should be like the (not so) secret diary of your business’s brain, heart, and spirit. It should tell your Right Person exactly what they want to know (but maybe didn’t know they wanted to know) about the very thing you do, believe, offer, value, create, sell. It should answer questions they didn’t even know they had, but really, the answers to these question are everything for them.

This may all sound intimidating, but the truth is, everything I just said in the paragraph above is already encoded into the DNA of your business. And you, my friend, made that DNA. You know it. You are it.

When you trust your business’s DNA — when you trust yourself — then blogging becomes fun (again. or maybe for the first time ever.).

If you follow what’s in your business’s DNA, blogging stops being hard. And it becomes more effective, because you’re catering to your actual Right Person, not some idealized version of who you think that is or who you want it to be.

We all enjoy conversations about our favorite themes and topics. You know that friend you just can’t wait to get together with because you get to indulge in your favorite discussions, AND you feel seen, met, heard, witnessed, and responded to? That’s how blogging can (and should!) feel, and that’s also how your Right Person feels when he or she reads your best and most DNA-aligned stuff: seen, met, heard, witnessed, and responded to.

Good blogging from a connected and aligned place is a form of delight. And delight is FUN.

Good blogging — FUN blogging — can and should be planful and purposeful, too. It’s all part of the same motion. When you own that your business’ DNA is exactly what your Right Person connects with, and when you stop fighting it and allow yourself to develop a plan that caters to who YOU really are, blogging is going to be easier, more fun, and more effective.

Our latest course, Run Your Business Like a Magazine, is designed to help you put a content strategy in place that honors your business DNA and makes blogging fun — for you, and for your readers. Enrollment is open through February 5, 2017. We’d love to have you with us in this 4-week, step-by-step, build-your-content-strategy-and-let’s-get-to-the-fun-already experience.

In the comments, I’d love to hear:

Is blogging fun yet? If not, what seems to be standing in your way?

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When I’m talking to new business owners, one of my first pieces of advice is simply, “Get yourself out there.”

If you’re not tweeting or posting to Facebook or blogging or talking up your products and services on a milk crate out on the corner, no one is going to have a clue what you’re doing. And I don’t care if you’re the best darned financial-planner-who-maps-investment-strategies-using-astrological-charts on the market, if your Right Person hasn’t heard of you, your Right Person isn’t hiring you.

Almost five years ago, when I started working for myself (and, soon after, with Abby here at The Voice Bureau), I had great intentions. I would work 12 hours a day! I would have a gorgeous website, packed with interesting material! I would have signature offerings! I would blog every week! My social media presence would be consistent and clever and engaging!

I started off okay. Pretty soon, though, life happened.

 

A few months after I began working for myself, while I was still getting things off the ground, I accepted a temporary contract position at the Home Shopping Network as a digital content producer. And about three weeks after I started at HSN, I got pregnant. Suddenly, I found myself working a full-time job, writing and editing for a growing client base, and so freaking tired I could barely keep my eyes open for my twice-hourly trips to the bathroom. Fortunately, I managed to sidestep the morning sickness I’d heard so many horror stories about — though I did develop a sudden and powerful aversion to bananas for a few months — but even without puking my guts up, pregnancy wasn’t exactly the minor adjustment I’d hoped it would be.

When faced with an overwhelmingly large to-do list and rapidly decreasing energy reserves, I did what seemed the most rational: I evaluated my list and cut out anything that seemed unnecessary. Cooking? Eh, my husband is an excellent cook, and he didn’t retch at the smell of browning meat. Housework? That’s an easy one; I wasn’t supposed to touch most cleaning products anyway. Promoting my business? While I was certainly open for business, adding more clients to my shrinking schedule wasn’t exactly top priority.

Fast forward to today. I now have two amazing little girls who keep me up all night. I’m at the helm of The Voice Bureau. I’m still tired, but it’s just sort of who I am now. Check back in 18 years.

This is the part where I promise to blog more, where I take my own advice, get back on that horse, and tell the world via a weekly missive just how much I love good SEO, what tired buzzwords you should cut from your vocabulary, what one simple marketing tip will cut inches from your waistline and add inches to your wallet.

Copywriter, heal thyself. Or don’t.

Because you know what? While I may intend to share my thoughts more regularly, I don’t want to feel guilty when a surprisingly engrossing client project or a crying baby keeps me away from blogging. Sometimes, I just want to do the work.

So what’s a writer to do? Well, I’ll tell you.

Sometimes — just sometimes — you skip the blog post. You find other ways to connect, and you make it work, and you try again next week.

Maybe you focus on networking for a little.

Okay, I am the introvertiest introvert who ever introverted. The idea of attending one of those schmooze-and-drink mixers literally makes me want to close up shop and get a day job that involves never seeing a human during business hours again. Rare jungle animal researcher. Desert island cartographer.  Professional hermit. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t value human connection.

I really love our clients. They (you) are awesome. And they know people who are awesome, too. That’s why referrals are literally the best.

Try reaching out to your previous clients from time to time (or, better yet, stay in touch). You never know which amazing client has an amazing friend who needs you.

And don’t underestimate the power of testimonials. It’s like having a wingwoman on hand at all times. “Oh, The Voice Bureau? They’re great. You should go out sometime.” (I’ll be taking my own advice on this with a new page soon, I swear.)

Or maybe it’s time to try a different medium.

So maybe I’m feeling burned out on the blog format.

Okay, what about speaking engagements? I played Flight of the Bumblebee backed by a combined group of every band in my high school. I laugh at stage fright. Bring it. Podcasts? Why not? Video series? An excuse to brush my hair on a weekday? Look how fancy I am!

Think outside the blog. There are other ways to get your message out there.  Like social media.

(Before you get too excited, you probably shouldn’t ditch your blog for Pinterest.)

 

But when you’re just not feeling up to writing out that long blog post, maybe a few pins, a handful of tweets, a catchy Instagram meme, and a mini Facebook rant would be more your speed.  Nurture those audiences, and when the day comes that you cannot blog another blog, they’ll be happy connect with you where you are.

A note to remember: social media is great for growing your audience and connecting in bite-sized pieces, but it brings the added challenge of inviting readers back to your place afterwards, and it doesn’t help establish your website’s search rankings. Podcasts and videos can help, assuming your Right Person likes those (and you’re hosting them on your own site), but if they’re looking for a good read on their lunch break, they may not be interested in something they have to listen to.

However you decide to get around it, though, you can’t ignore your blog forever.

Maybe you take a week off and try something new. Maybe it’s easier the following week. Or maybe one day you look up and realize you haven’t blogged in six months, and Instagram isn’t doing crap for your SEO.

If you don’t feel like you can get back on track on your own, you might want to get some help.

So where are you feeling stuck? Are you not blogging because you’re too busy with admin work? Maybe it’s time to hire a VA.

Having a hard time organizing your thoughts? A copywriter can help with that. (No, it’s not cheating. Yes, getting help with one or two posts might be all you need to get the process down. Yes, we do offer this.)

Not enough hours in the day? Maybe you need a housekeeper or a nanny or a dog walker or a grocery delivery service. Sometimes, you’re stuck because all you’ve done since your last blog post is work. Get someone else to pick up the slack and go get yourself some ice cream or go for a bike ride or play a video game. A change of scenery might just be the spark you need to figure out what you want to say.

Of course, this is a good time to mention that a solid content strategy — one that takes into account who you are and how you like to work — will make blogging a whole lot easier.

If you are super clear on what you’re saying and to whom you’re saying it, that blank Word doc is a lot less overwhelming. Your editorial calendar should have built-in failsafes so you’re not stuck blogging when you’re not feeling it. You should even be able to batch-write some posts so you’ve always got one ready to go.

That’s what Run Your Business Like a Magazine is good for. It’s happening soon, and I’ve cut the price pretty dramatically (just this once) because I really want you to check it out. Because great content attracts great clients. And great clients make all of this craziness worthwhile (sleepless nights and everything).

 

In the comments, I’d love to hear:

What do you do when you’re feeling stuck on a blog post? Do you just skip it and hope for the best the following week (or month)? Do you find some other way to connect?

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