{!date dayname+0}, {!date long+0} Dear {!firstname_fix} Have you been "snowed in" this week? It seems half the country has been trapped by snow. I was amazed at one point when a café owner interviewed on TV in the wilds of Scotland said the business was suffering because customers had not been able to get to them. Then there was a grumble that the Government should be doing something. Hang on a minute...! Snow, in the winter, in the northern tip of Scotland - surely it is not unusual..? Business planning means just that - making plans. If you know it is going to snow and that you cannot get customers to your café surely part of your plan is to allow for that? Some people do like to blame others - psychologists call this the "locus of control". The café owner has an "external locus of control" it seems - where people believe that events control them, rather than any real self-determination. So, when it snows, or when the trains don't run do you blame others or do you seek ways of overcoming the difficulties? If you are in the blame game, you could well have an external locus of control - and sadly that is not a trait shared by top entrepreneurs who are generally "internal locus of control" people. Your success is often determined by your locus of control - being "internal" and determining your own actions really helps. So, perhaps the snowy weather will give you the opportunity not to blame the Government, but to have some extra time to do something else. In other words, whatever the weather - stay in charge...!
YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED: Is it worth getting a "ghostwriter"? Ghostwriting is where someone else writes material for you, but you publish it under your name, as though you had written it yourself. Usually a ghostwriter produces the text for a book, such as a celebrity biography. You don't think Hillary Clinton really wrote it herself do you? (Her "autobiography" was written by journalism professor Barbara Feinman Todd.) Even Katie Price (aka Jordan) admits she doesn't write her own books...! Gosh, I suspect you are amazed...! There is a story - I doubt it is true - but apparently Katie Price met J.K.Rowling at some glitzy ceremony and got into conversation about books, which ended with Jordan saying "What? You mean you write them yourself?" And one ghostwriter I know tells the story of meeting his celebrity for the first time, whereupon the famous individual asked my writer friend, "So, what is this autobiography supposed to be about then?". I kid you not. Ghost writing is not cheap for celebrities. They are looking at a standard fee of tens of thousands of pounds plus a percentage of sales revenues. A typical contract can net the ghostwriter several hundreds of thousands of pounds just for one book - indeed some earn millions. But ghostwriting is not simply the preserve of celebrity autobiographies - you can benefit from ghostwriters too. Online, content is king. But that means you need to spend a considerable amount of your time producing content. And that can take you away from your main task, running your business or serving your clients. To truly benefit from online content you need to be adding material every day. All of the research studies on business lead generation show that the sites which add content daily are the only ones really benefitting. But if you can't produce content every day you certainly need to add content more frequently than your competitors. But how do you produce that material if you are busy running your business? This is where business ghostwriting can help. You need to find someone who can understand you, get to know your business and your audience and produce material as though you had written it. In other words, this is a more in-depth relationship than a hired copywriter. You need your ghostwriter to be "you" in text form. You can find potential ghostwriters at sites like Elance or Guru. You can also search for ghostwriters on Google of course. But don't neglect local sources. Start with your local newspaper - there will be journalists there who would like some freelance income...! They are employed for their writing ability plus they can write quickly..and they are nearby, so you can meet up and deepen your relationship, enabling them to get to know your business better and thereby write from a more informed standpoint. Local copywriting companies or public relations agencies would also be worthwhile exploring, though they are likely to be more expensive. If you would like a booklet on working with ghostwriters you can get one delivered by email simply by sending an email to gjghostwriting@aweber.com. I didn't write it...! But it does contain some useful information on working with ghostwriters. The fact of the matter is, your website needs more content. Rather than spending time on doing that yourself, you could benefit from a ghostwriter - so yes, they are worth it. Remember, you can always ask your question and get it answered in this newsletter by going to: http://www.grahamjones.co.uk/questions
WHAT I LEARNED THIS WEEK: There is more than one currency When people ask me what my speaking fee is, I simply state my normal amount of money required. Sometimes people say it is too expensive - I like that...! But cash is not the only currency. Yesterday I was reminded of this when a new potential client asked me to speak at an event next year. They asked me my fee and they simply then said "wow, that's a lot of money". I asked their budget and it transpired the amount of money that had put aside for my speaking fee (or at least the amount they are admitting to - remember it is a negotiation here) was one-seventh of my actual requirement. We were a long way apart. But I wanted to speak for this organisation as much as they wanted me to speak for them. In other words, there is value in both of us moving our positions. That's when I mentioned "alternative currencies" to them, such as free advertising. Could they offer me the remaining six sevenths of my price in another way. It transpired there were several options. The result? I'm going to get my normal fee - but much of it will arrive in other "currencies". What other currencies do you accept, as well as cash? If you want to check out what else I've been doing for the past week, you can always look at: http://www.grahamjones.co.uk/week
THIS WEEK'S "MUST BUY": Amazon Gift Vouchers It's only a few weeks until the holiday season. So, just choose ten of your best contacts, customers, suppliers, friends - whatever. Then go to Amazon and get an email gift voucher for a tenner. Then just send them out. All you will need is £100 - but the return you will receive in warmth and goodwill will pay you pack several times over. To find out more about this idea visit: http://GJurl.com/amazongifts So, that's it for this week - see you in seven days...! Kind Regards
Graham Jones Web: grahamjones.co.uk Tel: +44 118 336 9710 If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter than you can delete your name from the mailing list by clicking this link: {!remove_web} Affiliate Links: Some of the links in this newsletter are affiliate links providing me with a small commission when you purchase the item. However, I only use affiliate links for products which I personally value. |
