Be careful with your writing, it says more about you and your personal brand than you think…

To me, there’s nothing worse than writing that doesn’t flow.  Growing up and going to school I think I had a hard time concentrating, and staying focused on my work.  When I could concentrate, though, the stuff I really liked to read was the stuff that flowed.  The stuff that felt like it was speaking to me.

I have no formal training as a writer.  A couple of really good English teachers along the way, and a trip through graduate school got me going.  Now I write to live.  Literally, I do.  The process really helps me live my life.  It has become part of me, like breathing.  Because if I stop.  Well, you know what happens when you stop breathing…

There is one question I ask myself as I type every sentence, and then read the piece back to myself.  “How does this sound?”  If it sounds good and feels like it flows, then I know I’ve done a good job.  If it sounds and feels the same as if I had just explained it to you verbally, than I know I’m good.  That’s what works for me.  Does it always go perfectly?  Absolutely not.

Over the years I’ve developed a pretty good knack for nailing stuff pretty well on a first draft.  I’m grateful for this gift.  And that is really what my blogging is really all about.  It doesn’t have to be perfect, but remember, it better sound good.  This goes for your email broadcasts too.  People don’t expect them to be perfect, but it they don’t flow, and I have to work too hard to read them -  look out.  I may be pointing out your errors on this blog some day.

The email I received today contained a very good underlying client success story.  Unfortunately it was lost amidst the muck and mire of bad writing, bad punctuation, and bad proof-reading.  Read your writing back to yourself out loud before you send it out.  This will tell you a lot.  It was obvious with the email I received today that this was not done.  If it had been, I’m pretty sure I would have received a more polished finished product.

Everything I write isn’t perfect either, especially when I’m working fast to get an email broadcast or blog post out.  But man oh man, don’t let your stuff contain the stuff I read this morning.  Fragment sentences?  Punctuation in the wrong place?  Run-on sentences that start with one thought and end with a completely different one?  Please, watch yourselves.

Many of us are working with highly educated folks.  If you want them to read your stuff, and for that stuff to reflect well on you, make sure it flows.  The world, and your personal brand online will ALL be better as a result.

Now, I’m going to let this one sit, re-read it after a cup of coffee and then send it along to you.  I would love to know what you think.  You can leave your comments below…

John

The system I used to capture this idea is a perfect example.  The dictation software I used is an iPhone app called Dragon Naturally Speaking.  You open the app, hit the record button, speak your thoughts, and then Dragon generates text that you can email or text to yourself, or wherever else you might want it to go.  It’s beautiful.  Seamless.

I had just been to Starbucks to buy my espresso beans for the week, and had an inspiration during my exchange with one of the baristas.  As a writer, these inspirations are frequent for me.  Often, I’m writing in my head all day long.  It’s nice to capture some of those thoughts and ideas when I can…

I had purchased my own gift for Christmas this year – a really nice espresso machine.  I put down about one and a half months worth of lattes purchased over the counter and took hold of ‘Serena‘ and a new love affair began.  It has taken a couple months to build my own system around making lattes, but the practice of building this system has been well worth the work.  I now prefer my version of the latte even more than the one I used to ask the barista to make for me.  And it costs about 75% less!

As an aside, I encourage you to read, “Pour Your Heart Into It ” by Howard Schultz.  Howard is the CEO and founder of Starbucks and will give you a very close look at what it takes to build a true system and why it is vital to your success.  Not just your success as a business owner, but your career success in general.

OK, back to my story…

I have two Starbucks within my daily life radius.  There used to be three but as I heard someone say in an interview recently, the recent downturn in the economy has forced on all of us one giant enema, and ALL of the excess is getting trimmed down and eliminated wherever necessary.  And this will be good for all of us even though it might not feel like it right now.

Anyway, I’ve discovered that one shop does a much better job at grinding my espresso beans then the other.  And because I read Howard’s book, and because I’ve read many others that discuss the importance of a duplicatable system, I asked one of the baristas today why their beans come out so much finer, fluffier, and ultimately tastier than the beans I’ve purchased from the other shop.  “I buy my beans here directly as a result of this.”  I said.  To which the general manager replied with a big smile, “I don’t have any problem with that!”

Her answer was telling.  In fact there seemed to exist in the answer a sense of pride that resulted directly from the implementation of a system that they were proud to follow because of the results that it produced.  “We calibrate our machine weekly.”  One of the manager’s staff replied, almost before I could even finish asking my question.

Now, I have no idea whether or not the other store on University Avenue is calibrating their machine on a weekly basis.  It certainly seems they are not.  What it seems to me instead is that the shop out near my fitness studio is doing a much more effective job of following and implementing the system that has been created for them.  And as a result, I’m shopping there more often.

Can you see why I love these systems so much?

John

PS  I’ve created many systems in my businesses but so far the one I’m about to tell you about next is the one I’m most proud of so far.  It is the system I use to sell personal training at my fitness studio here in Madison, WI.  This system is so good, so fine tuned, and so effective that potential clients actually pay me to sell them training.  That’s right, I get paid to sell fitness training at my studio.  If you’re interested in reading more about this system, just follow the link below.  I’m planning to offer a very small teleseminar where I will give you this system…

Here’s the link:  CloseLikeANomad.com

Here’s the story…

I own a personal training studio in Madison, WI.  If you follow me, you already know that.  What you might not realize is that I do much more than work with clients to help them achieve their health and fitness goals.  Of course, if you read this blog regularly, youalready know that too.

Here’s my point…

For me, 2010 is a building year, and one of the things I’m building is a bigger more well-rounded presence online.   In conjunction with that, a presence that says to the world that I do more than just work as a fitness coach.  This is important for many reasons which I will continue to discuss on this blog.  It is also important for me professionally, because in order to move forward in my fitness career, I feel it important to communicate these changes to my clients, and to everone else in my network.

I’m excited about this journey.  I have a lot more cool stuff coming down the pike.  Next on the agenda is to get my new membership site launched as soon as possible.  I’ll keep you posted on that.

In the mean time, I encourage you to visit my new blog site and hub for all my work.  I’m proud of it for one, and secondly, it outlines in detail the wide variety of services I offer as a writer, fitness coach, and entrepreneur.

I also encourage you to consider how you might do this for YOU, YOUR business and the advancement of YOUR career.  It remains vital that you develop your voice and your presence online.  In the information age, you cannot ignore the importance of this, and of making sure that people can find you, learn about you, and hopefully connect with you in a way that is fulfilling, and that brings you more of the right opportunities.

Good luck!

John

As a writer, life and work can get awfully lonely sometimes.  Though that’s how we like it, us writers.  Off on our own tapping away and trying to make sense of the world.  In fact, it’s the only way I can make sense of my world.  That’s why I do it.  That’s the first reason.  The second reason I do it is for you, my readers.

To me there is nothing more pure than written prose that forces me into new thought patterns and shakes me loose from my day to day existence.  Something that really forces me to consider something new or something old in a new and more inspiring way.  I hope I do that for you, and yet often I hear nothing.  Kind of like all those messages we send into outer space just in case there IS life out there somewhere.  We keep sending them, and nothing comes back.  Which is why I write for me first, and then for you.  It’s better that way.  It’s reason enough to do it.  It heals me.

Every once in awhile, though, I do get a message back.  Often just at the right time and in the right place.  And that heals me too – deeply.

Yesterday my assistant passed along the following message from a reader…

“Your blogs sustain me.  Knowing that such a motivated individual such as
yourself is out there to share his wealth of knowledge is such a feeling
of satisfaction – people are getting what they need.”

“Please never remove me from your distribution list.”

-Bridget

I thank you Bridget.  I’m getting what I need too.  And the sheer beauty of the reciprocation is that then everyone gets what they need and I get to keep writing.

Have a great weekend everybody!

John

More text goes here

Of course, any time something like this happens it’s an excellent opportunity to re-assess on many levels all of the systems that take care of staff management, etc.  These systems are NEVER perfect and ALWAYS need more work, especially in my case.

You may have already heard the expression that “People Respect What YOU Inspect.”  And if you’re a studio owner or manager of anyone, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.  For me, this part is difficult…there are so many other more interesting things I’d rather do than check-up to see if you washed the toilets last night.

Managing a lot of people is NOT what I do best and is NOT my preferred activity, EVER.  This might sound a little brash or insensitive.  Tough!  Over the last year I’ve worked very hard to contract my business model down to the point where it feels much more manageable, and where I can spend good productive time building my way into more and more information marketing.  From the day I started my first paper in graduate school, I have been madly in love with the work of researching, reading, and then writing about what I know.  This is what I like to do best.  I always will…

Still, I realize that I will always need a small number of staff members to help run my operation (which will always include the fitness part).  As such, like it or not, I’ve got to get better at managing my people.  But first, I need to make sure and hire the right ones.

Which brings me to my point…

Far too often in my own career I’ve experienced the job interview as a potential candidate and realized something very profound – most people doing interviews have absolutely no idea what they are doing.  Really, it’s true.  I learned early on that if I took advantage of my strong and intense personality, that I could easily take control of the interview and end up asking more questions than my potential employer.  Great for me, but not for the employer.

Remember, the person who is asking the most questions and talking the least is the person who is in control of the conversation.  So, as an interviewer, your first job is to Shut Up!

To keep you interested, I uncovered a list of really cool, fun and interesting questions that I encourage you to work in to your interviews.  It is just these types of questions that will tell you more about a candidate than any of the other basic ones.

In fact, my favorite question to ask, which tells the best story about a person is this one…

“What is your most powerful personal asset?”

You would be surprised at how this one weeds out the weanies.  I actually had one girl tell me that it was her “good looks.”  That experience told me that I needed to do better with my screening process but that’s a different blog post I’ll write another time.

In the mean time, be sure to check out these interview questions from Microsoft, Google, and IKEA.  They’re awesome!

Interview Questions from Microsoft, Google, and IKEA.

And here’s the one I promised that’s not written into that article…

“Why are man-hole covers round?”  I’ll look for your answers in the comments section of this post.

In the mean time, here’s a list of simple questions I use.  They get the conversation started and then I look for places where I can dig for gold…

“Tell me about yourself?”

“What are your strengths?”

“What are your weaknesses?”

“Have you worked with clients before. If so, What’s your favorite part of the work?”

“What do you like about working with people?”

“Why did you choose fitness as a career?”

“Why aren’t you in better shape than you are now?  And what do you plan to do about it?”  And how do you think this will affect your work with clients?”

“What is your most powerful personal asset?”

“Why should I hire you?”  (This one always tells me a lot about how good a salesman this person is and how well they can or cannot promote their personal brand)

OK, now go find some great people….ExerciseCareers.com is a great place to start

The first paragraph of the article said it all…

“A Japanese leader (Toyota) in the auto industry is accused of negligence, causing
car accidents and dragging its feet with investigators. A giant recall is
ordered, top executives are hauled in front of Congress, and losses snowball.
Consumers flee in droves, trial lawyers lick their chops, and analysts say
the company’s brand is permanently tarnished.”

So, how will Toyota begin the long journey back out of the cave they have dug for themselves?

They’ll have to come out of hiding. Out from behind the anonymity that big corporate execs often get too comfortable in.  Out into the open where everyone can see them, like a movie start out for coffee on a Saturday morning, their hat holding unwashed hair closely under cover.

This will likely be difficult for them.  The Japanese culture is one that prides itself in humility and respect for authority.  As the author of this article pointed out…

“Grandstanding and mea culpas
do not come naturally at Toyota. Like many other Japanese manufacturers, it is driven
by engineers bred to act deliberately. Top managers are often chosen because of their
connections in the company and their skills in the workshop, not their charisma or
links to shareholders or customers.”

When your long time company mantra has been to under promise and over deliver, while remaining as quiet as possible about your success, the job of winning trust from the public again through total exposure, honesty, and authenticity looms large.

For me, I simply found it interesting that in order for Toyota to recover,  they will need to be more personal, open, and transparent.

Much in the same way the rest of us work so hard to build our own personal brands, Toyota will need to move out from behind those quiet walls and scream big promises about how they plan to over deliver.  They will need to move way outside their comfort zones and the norms that have become so commonplace for them.   And ultimately connect directly with their customers.  Something they probably should have been doing more of all along…

The house idles on a Wednesday evening.  I can hear the hot water heater trying to catch-up with the evening dishes that have now been laid down to rest for the night.  I look forward to joining them soon…

Outside in the distance, just a few blocks from the living room window I can see that the lights from the outdoor hockey rink at the park are still burning.  Volunteers have gathered for their evening ritual of shoveling the surface and then spraying down a new layer that will be frozen long before morning.  I’m grateful for those who have dedicated their time to grooming the ice this year.  The kids and I have had a good time playing hockey and learning what natives have known for a long time.  The hockey is as pure as heaven itself.

Though I live with a dull ache that I did not possess last winter, I relish in my ability to move on the slick surface.  The discomfort is a small price to pay for the lift it provides to my spirit and the core of who I am.

This reminds me of a conversation I had this morning with my yoga teacher.  She eloquently described my innate body awareness as a treasure.  Thought at times this heightened sense of acuity can feel like a burden, I know it is not.  And I was glad to be reminded.

Those of us who have been chosen for this path know deep down how special this feeling is.  In fact, we connect with it so strongly that we make it our life’s work to share it with others.  The problem is, not everyone understands what we do.  Not everyone understands what we are trying to do.

One of the great ironies of my own work as a fitness professional is that sometimes clients become disenchanted with the relationship and they depart quietly into the night, like the last flicker from the light around the hockey rink.  They reach a point where they simply cannot find a way through the obstacles that are keeping them from knowing what I know, from feeling what I feel.  Very often this is only fear.  And instead of embracing it, they cower, go away frustrated and often angry directly at me, their coach.

This is OK with me.  I am much more concerned about being respected, than liked.  This is not a popularity contest.  And though I might be building close relationships with my clients, there comes a point where my job as a coach takes precedent.  This is where I earn my miles as a leader.  But only if I do the right thing.

I don’t and NEVER will sell myself out for anyone.  I won’t sacrifice my principles, my standards, and my intensity because I’m afraid it might turn people away.  I make a bonfire out of my reputation on a regular basis, because authenticity is what truly matters to me.  This is who I am, and this is what makes me a great coach.  And like it or not, this is what separates the champions of life.  Our clients are most likely never going to the Olympics, but that doesn’t mean they should be allowed to back-off on the pursuit of goals they earnestly told you they wanted to achieve.

The road to success in any venture is paved with hard work, hard choices, and hard lessons about what holds you back.  If you’re ready to face those lessons and embrace the fear, I’m right here with you.  But if you choose instead to work harder at justifying your limitations instead?  Well, that’s certainly your choice.  Just don’t expect me to accept them, because I NEVER will.  Even if that means you’re going away mad, frustrated and with me as your scapegoat.

Your Success is YOUR choice, not mine…

I discovered later that day that the email he was referring to had been sent at 9:30 PM the night before.  The email where he explained that he was quitting without any further notice.   It was only 9 AM in the morning the next day.

The truth is he needed to go anyway.  I was going to make sure of that once I had his replacement fully prepared.  He lacked the initiative I expect from the people who work for me.  Which is why I’m sharing the story with you here today.  This story provides a good example of why most people are not successful in their lives.  They expect the world to deliver them money, riches, opportunity, and anything else they deem important to them.  While at the same time not expecting to have to go out and get it – to make it happen.

Seth Godin, on his blog today hit it right on the head.  And his post was short and to the point, as any really good blog post almost always is.  So I have included the whole thing here to help make my point.

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The relentless search for “tell me what to do”

There is a concept that my yoga teacher has shared with me on more than one occasion – “Beginner’s Mind”

Learning to approach every moment in this way is a great form of renewal.  Otherwise, you will likely find yourself stuck in old patterns of reaction that are merely a product of old worn our belief systems.  Destroying and forgetting what you did before is what allows you to carry on and create new things.  A new life, a new project, a new business venture, or a new job.  Maybe even a new relationship with a loved one.

This is the essence of life.

During winter time, especially here in Wisconsin in February, it is often difficult to find that sense of renewal amidst the dead and frozen landscape.  And this makes it tough to see new life.  Even though it is there, only waiting for the sun to burn a little warmer so that it can rise.  The same holds true for your spirit.   Life and contentment reside within you ALL the time.  The challenge is in your ability to heat it up when it goes cold and lies dormant, often keeping you awake at night.

Tackling even a novel task that is new to you creates new synapses.  This is one of the reasons regular exercise is so good for you.  Your body is forced to renew during every workout, especially during your recovery.  And every one of those workouts brings fresh blood, oxygen, and nutrients to cells that were dormant until you moved them.  Every one of your new movements, thoughts, and actions, creates out of no where an electrical impulse that moves you.

Spring is coming, and I can sense my own need for renewal, and a deeply rooted drive to carry it forward like a running back into the end zone.  I don’t look forward to the hits I’ll take along the way, but there’s glory in the end and along thw way…