No.
It’s not that I’ve gone hoarse.
I recently wrote an article in which I commented on why I think it is a good strategy to write in my blog on a daily basis.
And I also indicated why it is not advisable to write articles of excessive value.
But what I didn’t explain in that article is what do I write?
OK, I can’t write doctoral theses.
OK, I have to write things that interest my audience.
OK, I have to write things that they want to read.
So that they remember me.
So what do I write?
And I was in that dilemma when I think I finally found my voice.
I know that finding my voice seems a bit… let’s say mystical.
With celestial choir music and a background image of the heavens opening.
Actually, I’ve often heard that concept and it’s always felt like a bit of a sell-out.
What is finding your voice?
Yes, your voice is what makes you unique, what makes you special.
But what I want is to give a professional image.
I’m not going to be here telling the same story I’m telling in a dinner conversation with family and friends.
So how do you manage that?
It’s actually been a lot simpler.
It’s about explaining the things that happen to me on a day-to-day basis.
And explaining them as I would really tell them to my family or friends.
And try to link them (a little bit) with professional topics.
Although it may not always seem so, it is possible to find some lesson or moral of what happens to us that we can apply to business.
So yes, I’ve had a meeting with someone and something interesting has happened to me.
Then I can write that down.
Maybe mention to that person to say that’s the reflection I got out of it.
And with that, write something down.
There are a few advantages to that.
The first one?
I just have to think about my own life. What happened to me yesterday.
I don’t have to do market research on what my potential customers will be interested in.
I don’t have to do research for a doctoral thesis.
I don’t have to write a sophisticated document.
That’s a big advantage.
On the other hand, I tell it like a friend or acquaintance would tell it.
I might hide some details out of confidentiality.
Or so that they don’t get annoyed with me (depending on what I’m telling).
I don’t want to run out of friends.
Therefore, it is very easy to tell.
As if they were my own words (which they are). As if I’m talking about it with someone.
In fact, what I’m doing right now is dictating what I’m thinking to a recorder.
It transcribes it.
Then I’ll transfer it to the computer, make it a bit prettier and I’ll have another article to publish.
And that brings me back to the concept of finding my voice.
Because if this is really what happens to me and this is how I would tell it.
And that solves big problems for me that writing very often requires.
Which are having to spend a lot of time preparing and a lot of time writing.
It also allows me to speak in a very informal tone.
That may not give as professional an image as, a priori, I would like to give.
But (I think) it gives an image of a real and close person.
What I talk about are my experiences.
With that I achieve another of my objectives: to make the article easy to read.
I think it is entertaining in tone. You tell me, dear reader.
And hopefully there will come a point when you can look forward to that message in your inbox every day.
Because you know it won’t take you more than a couple of minutes to read it.
And maybe it will bring a smile to your face.
Maybe it will give you some food for thought.
Maybe even something that you can apply and make something better in your life or your business.
And, selfishly, you might remember me when you find yourself in a situation where I can help you.
I think that the heavy guy who writes every day talked a few months ago about something similar to what is happening to me now.
Because, subliminally, by telling my life story I’m telling what I do, who comes to me, for what kind of problems.
So maybe one day you will feel identified.
I’ve always considered myself a bad salesman.
It seems very forced to me to try to put a commercial speech in a conversation.
Even in bad taste.
But nevertheless, I feel very natural at explaining what I do in my day-to-day life.
Whether that has any practical business consequences, time will tell.
Now comes the part where you have to give the conversation a little twist to try to provoke a thought based on what you have just read.
Something like…
How do you sell yourself? Can you use your day-to-day life to explain, with practical, real, credible examples, how good you are at whatever it is you do?