Self Employed Success

This article is for the rest of us – people who are NOT professional copywriters, but need good copy and good headlines for our websites and email newsletters.

Let’s focus in this article on writing good headlines. Or, in the case of email newsletters, good subject lines.

The purpose of a headline or subject line is to grab the reader’s attention and motivate them to want to read further. If you can’t get them past the headline, the rest of your copy is wasted, no matter how elegantly it’s written.

(Most of the examples are funny, but you’ll get the point. )

I’ll share 3 headline writing tips today:

1. Use numbers
2. Tell a secret
3. Use emotion

Use Numbers

Formula:

• _____ (number) _____ (adjective) Ways To _____ (thing they want to do or to have or to become)
• _____ (time) to Learn/Get _____ (topic)

Examples:

• 10 Easy Ways to Wash Your Dog
• 5 Exciting Ways to Make Spinach That Children Will Eat
• 20 Minutes to Learn Chess Like a Pro
• Get a Complete Personality Makeover in 10 Minutes or Less

Tell a Secret

Everyone wants to the learn the insider secrets of people who have been successful.

Formula:

• My Secret Formula to _____ (thing they want to do or have or become)
• Insider’s Guide to _____
• Easy Success Secrets to Create _____

Examples:

• I’m Drawing Back The Curtain and Revealing My Secret Formula to Buying Pencil Holders
• 10 Secrets Steps to Finding Online Grammar Mistakes

Use Emotion

People are only motivated by two things: to go towards pleasure and to get away from pain. But pleasure and pain can be subtle. For instance, I find it a pleasure to learn something new, to increase my mastery of a subject. So if I see a headline that promises to teach me something, I will always continue reading.

Another thing that motivates people is scarcity. If you TRULY have a limited number of items available (don’t lie to people about this, folks, they can see right through a scam), then telling them how many are left can get them to read the rest of your web page or email newsletter. Also, if there is a time limit, that motivates, too.

Think about what emotion your customer wants to feel. Confident? Energetic? Free? Safe? Take a moment and put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Then you can write a headline that speaks to their emotional needs. (Look at the photo above…who would respond to a Stop sign like that?)

Formula:

• _____ (number) Keys to_____ (topic or outcome)
• Learn _____ (topic)
• How to _____ (outcome)
• Only _____ (number) of _____ (item) Available
• You Have Done _____ , Now Try _____
• Do You Have _____ (name of problem)?
• _____ (name of problem) Got You Down?
• Do You Want _____ (name of desired item or outcome)?
• Never Be _____ Again!

To up the motivation level, use phrases like hurry, last chance, and only.

Examples:

• 3 Keys to Better Prison Life
• Learn to Buy Fresher Bread
• Only 5 Seats Available for Seat Sitting 101 Seminar
• Last Chance! Special 1 Percent Off Coupon Expires Wednesday
• Do You Want a Better Goldfish?
• Find Your Keys. Find Your Children. How to Solve Your Clutter Problems.

Plain and Simple

Don’t forget the basic, informational headline. You don’t always have to get jazzy with your headline or subject line; sometimes just saying what the article is about is motivating enough. What if you were to see these simple headlines or subject lines?

• 50 Percent Off All Classes
• How To Type Faster
• The Recording Is Available Now

TAKE ACTION NOW: Now take these headline tips and write three possible headlines or subject lines for your next article or email newsletter. Play with them until they feel right. Then try them out and watch the results!

Want more information on copywriting? Let me know in the comments area of this post and I’ll create more copywriting blog posts in the future! I could write about this stuff all day.

When designing and delivering training classes, there’s only one question to ask: What is best for the students?

In a student-centric model of training design and delivery, a good instructor knows that it’s not about what I want to teach, but about what the student wants to learn.

There are many ways to deliver training material, but the two most important ones are the Lecture Method and the Workshop Method.

You’ve seen and participated in the Lecture Method thousands of times: the teacher gets up in front of the group and delivers the material, while the students listen and take notes. Occasionally the students ask questions. This works great when there is a lot of new, introductory material to be delivered and the students have no experience with the topic.

In the Workshop Method, a collaborative learning environment is established. The teacher uses hands-on exercises, Q&A, and discussions to help the student cement what they’re learning in a real-world environment and begin to apply it immediately. This method is ideal for adult students who bring a wealth of background experiences to a class, and helps them stay motivated.

Is one method better than the other? No. But the Lecture Method has the risk of being much more boring! An all-lecture class can easily put your students to sleep, especially if you’re teaching via teleclasses where they can’t see you.

Some teachers choose the Lecture Method because it allows them to be the “sage on the stage” instead of the “guide on the side.” Smart teachers choose the lecture method, wisely, when there is a great amount of foundational information the students are required to learn. Really smart teachers use both methods: the Lecture Method for the basics, then switching to the Workshop Method to allow students to process the material in a real-world atmosphere and apply what they’ve learned.

Here’s an example of how I use these two methods in one of the classes I teach:

In my Marketing Planning class there is a lot of foundational information to learn about the psychology of marketing and creating a marketing strategy for your business. These lessons are generally taught using the Lecture Method, but I throw in some discussion questions and allow a fairly large chunk of time for Q&A. When we move into the lessons about writing your own marketing plan, we switch to the Workshop Method.

Here’s how I apply the Workshop Method in class:

• I ask students about their specific situation and how they’ll apply what they’ve learned in class to their own business marketing
• I give them homework assignments which they can submit to me for review and comments, which keeps the learning going between class sessions
• Students write their marketing plan in a step-by-step format using a workbook I’ve designed for the class
• I ask questions related to the material where students fill in the blanks from their own life experiences (You’d be surprised how much you know about marketing just by having been a consumer all these years!)
• I ask students to debate the pros and cons of choosing specific marketing techniques

Getting your students active in their learning process keeps the energy high, keeps them motivated, and most importantly, keeps them learning at a peak rate.

And while you’re at it, consider this: When giving speeches, what if you combined the Lecture Method with the Workshop Method? Professional speakers can spice up their speeches by moving away from the model of I Talk To You and You Listen, too.

There appears to be two types of small business owners: people who jump right into running their business and marketing their products and services with little or no planning, and those who plan a strategy — and a service or product design — before they ever dream of offering it to the public.

Is one better than the other? Yes and no.

Planning often allows you the time to brainstorm and think through possible scenarios before you commit your time, energy and money into your business idea. Ninety-five percent of the time, I advocate planning, especially if you’re starting a new business or launching a new product or service. The time you spend with research and working through possible alternatives, as well as the time you spend thinking about how you might handle worse-case scenarios, will reap huge rewards later on.

On the other hand, over-planning often leads to inaction. A phrase I love that sums it up is, “Analysis Paralysis” — the inability to move forward on a project because you feel you don’t have all the facts, and the unwillingness to move forward until you’re 100% sure of success. Every self-employed person will tell you that there’s no such thing as being 100% sure of anything.

There is a place for jumping in the world of small business. Jumping allows you to be flexible, and to ride the wave of enthusiasm and passion. Jumping allows you to be 85% sure and then go for it. Good Jumping is action, combined with knowledge, courage and trust.

So when is jumping okay? Jumping is okay if you’ve already got a solid business foundation underneath you. This means that your finances are in order, you’ve already got a working business model that brings in reliable income and steady administrative processes that support your next great adventure. Jumping is okay if you’ve done as much research as you can and have a good sense that your project is advisable, even if you’re not 100% certain of its success.

In the end analysis, a combination of planning and jumping is required of all self employed people. The key is to find a balance point.

People seem to be moving to a new home more and more often as our society becomes more mobile. Moving house is stressful enough; what do you do when you also have to move your home office and be up and running for business quickly?

Here are some tips to help (from someone who just did it a month ago!):

1. Work backwards. Start by packing the items that you won’t need immediately and label those boxes, “Unpack Later.” A few days before the move, pack items that you can live without for the first week and label those boxes, “Unpack Sooner.” Finally, the day before your move, pack the items you will need as soon as your office re-opens, and label those boxes, “Unpack Immediately.”

2. Choose “immediate” items carefully. What do you really need during the first few days of business? Some items to consider: client files, stapler, tape, pens, telephone, notepads, computer, printer, printer paper, and a clock.

3. Give yourself time. After you move to a new home, you need time to unpack all your personal belongings as well as your business boxes. Give yourself a week after the move before you start up your business again so that you have time to do all the tasks involved without stressing yourself, your family and your pets.

4. Notify your customers. About a month before the move, begin to notify your customers that you will be unavailable for the week of the move. It’s helpful to explain to them that you will be without phone or email during that time, but that you will pick up voicemail and email starting on your first day back. Also notify your customers of your new address, new telephone number and new fax number, as needed.

P.S. Don’t forget to pack your “office cat!” 

A woman in one of my mastermind groups posed a question today: why did she spend all her time doing research and never actually go on with “doing” the thing she was researching? She loved looking up information, finding resources, interviewing people, gathering facts. But taking these facts and applying them to her business seemed to always be put on the back burner.

It’s called “analysis paralysis.” The idea is this: if I could just gather this information, if I could just find this fact, if I could make this list a bit longer — you get the drift. As a small business coach, I see this my clients get caught in this trap all the time.

The cause is simple: it’s easier for many people to research than to “do” because gathering research is often a successful task, while acting on the research is fraught with the possibility of failure, stress, or pressure. So we stay in the research mode because it’s safe and we get a lot of positive feelings about having uncovered the information we need.

Don’t get me wrong: research is vital. I’ve seen many businesses fail to thrive because they haven’t done the marketing research necessary to see if people WANT TO BUY the service or product theywant to sell. The key, as always, is balance. When you find yourself doing more and more research, then you can bet you’re procrastinating on the “doing” side of things. You have two choices:

1. Try to figure out why you’re not doing the work, or
2. Just do the work.

Either choice is valid, but guess what? Choice 1 is still “research!”