1. Writing to Improve Communication skills

The ability to express my thoughts and complex information has been important in my career in sales. Whether it be sales proposals or technical reports, it was essential that I could convey accurately and succinctly information that other people could understand and hopefully act upon.

English Language was my best subject at school, so I have always found it easy to find the right words to express what I was thinking. However, like any skill it needs practising and honing. I therefore started a daily writing habit many years ago, so that I could maintain and improve this skill.

I started this blog, so that my writing could be seen by others and hopefully benefit from the information. This evolved over the years, so that I have self-published longer form content into several books.

2. Therapy Writing

I feel better after writing, it is a form of therapy. Often if I am anxious or even just filled with a sense of ennui, writing seems to unblock something in my mind and it can lift me out of the fog.

I’m not sure of the process of why this happens. My hypothesis would be that thoughts can become circular, as we try to make sense of the world. We are going round in circles in our mind. Maybe writing provides an escape route for these trapped thoughts. Just like the discomfort of trapped wind, maybe we just need a good belch. It goes without saying that I wouldn’t publish this type of writing and I may not even read it back.

3. Work Through Problems

In a similar way to therapeutic writing, I will often write to work through some problem or issue. Here, though, I am looking for a certain insight. I will approach this with stream-of-consciousness writing.

First, I think about the problem and then just write. I will then keep writing, exploring all the angles of the issue. Certain passages will lead to other trains of thought, so I will explore these. If I go dry, I will force myself to write some more. I can take a break if I must, but I will then return to the writing, until there is no more to write. I will then get a feeling inside that I have put all my thoughts down and I am ready to analyse them.

The next step is to then re-read what I have written. Often most of it is gibberish, however I will highlight or underline anything that seems relevant or seems like an insight. It’s amazing that usually some course of action will reveal itself.

4. Organise Your Thoughts

The mind does not operate in a linear fashion. If we let our mind wander, our thoughts will seem to flit from one unrelated subject to another. The subject matter doesn’t appear to be linked logically, but there will be some connection, however tenuous. In a similar way to the two examples above, writing out our thoughts, to get them out of our heads can be a step towards organising them.

Mind mapping

To organise your thoughts, rather than using stream-of-consciousness writing, it can be useful to use mind mapping. Developed by Tony Buzan, Mind Mapping is a way of putting your thoughts, on a particular subject, down on paper. If you start off by writing one word or phrase in the centre of a piece of paper to represent the central theme of the subject, you then draw lines out to represent all the related thoughts, in a spider formation. See below:

Repeat with the sub-themes, by radiating sub-sub thoughts. Keep radiating out until you exhaust the subject. The important thing is to use one word for each theme. This vagueness helps the mind come up with related thoughts. What you are left with can look like a jumble of nonsense, however the pictural nature of the Mind Map allows you to see connections.

I use mind mapping to plan outlines for blog posts and nonfiction books. Once I have an outline, my creative juices are able to fill in the gaps.

5. Creative Expression

Talking of creative juices, I believe that everyone is creative, but just like anything else creativity can be developed with practice. Having a creative outlet whether it is writing, art, music or whatever, can make you a more rounded human.

Don’t be a consumer all the time

Over consumption is epidemic. There is so much to consume today from TV, Podcasts, social media and mindless scrolling. If we are not careful, we will become a species of zombies, constantly plugged into the matrix. Instead of consuming, why not produce content or art.
Writing for me, is my creative outlet. I hope I am perfecting my art, maybe you can let me know. However, even if nobody reads a word I write, I am exercising a core faculty of my human being – my creativity.

6. Find Your Voice Through Writing

Most writing is someone’s opinion. Opinions are neither right nor wrong, they are just that – opinions. I write so that I can broadcast my opinion. Are my opinions not as valid as anybody else’s? Somebody may disagree with my opinions, but that is fine. That is why they are opinions.

In a similar way, your opinion should also be heard, or at least expressed. Why not start your own outlet where you can voice your opinions. You deserve to be heard.
I truly believe in freedom of expression and I believe much of the current cancel-culture is extremely dangerous. Stamping down on freedom of expression, throughout history, never ended well.

7. The Business of Writing

Could you make writing your business? Its feasible although difficult. The best way to look at it is that you may make some extra cash. I myself have made a small amount of money with my writing, although no way near enough to live off. Yet.

If you write non fiction ‘how to’ type books and blogs, you could build up a following, or tribe in the modern parlance. If you truly provide value, some people may be willing to pay you for coaching or consultation work. You will need to have marketing skills as well as writing skills, though.
The first thing to think about is whether you are writing to entertain or inform. Or you could do both as in infotainment.

If you want to make writing your business, be prepared to commit to the very long term. It can take years to build up a following and even then, the remuneration is meagre.

Where can you write?

What platform can you write on?

Daily journal

If you are just starting out writing, I would suggest starting the habit with a daily journal. This can be just for yourself. If you hit on a great idea, then maybe you can start to expand on it.

Weekly blog

Once you get into the habit of writing every day, then you could expand into writing a weekly blog. If you can write about 200 words a day, then you could in theory publish a weekly blog of around 1,000 words. You would write for 5 days and have one day for editing, publishing and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Writing 200 words a day is not hard at all. This section is around 200 words and took about 15 minutes, so that gives you an idea.

If you would like to know more on how I write, read my post on How to Write a Weekly Blog Post. In this post I show you how to structure your time so that you consistently manage to create and publish regular content.

Self-Published Books

As you develop your style and your knowledge of the subject matter grows, why not write a book? It may take you a few months to write, format and publish, but the process is as easy as ever with Amazon KDP. I’ve written several books, please check them out.

I’ve given you the reasons why I write. If any of this resonates with you, then start today. Find your voice and get writing.

The post 7 Reasons Why Writing is Good For You appeared first on Mike Holden Sales.

Do you want to start blogging, but are not sure if you can and should? This post is for you. I’ve always wanted to be a writer, but I never knew how. When you think about that last sentence, it might seem strange. It’s like saying I’ve always wanted to be a jogger but don’t know how. You just do it.

So if you want to be a writer: just write. Then you’ll be a writer.
There are two useful beliefs for you to adopt as you start on your blogging career:

1. You can be an authority before you get the results. You don’t need results now to be able to write. Say you want to write about being a successful entrepreneur; you don’t need to be one, you can share your journey.
2. You can do it part-time, because  you don’t need to drop everything to become a blogger. In one hour per day, you should easily be able to write a decent sized blog post per day.

The steps to being a blogger

1. Have a vision

Having goals is not enough. Who do you want to become? How do you want to be known? Instead of focussing on how much money you will make, concentrate on what you will contribute.

See yourself in a better situation than you are in now, without justifying where you are now. If you tell it like it is, you will stay where you are.

Change your language:  “I don’t understand” “It’s easy for him” or “I don’t have the money/time/skills …”. These are all examples of disempowering language and they don’t serve you. Change what you say to yourself.

2. Immerse yourself in your chosen field or market place.

You could get coached or go to training courses or seminars. Devour all the books you can on your subject. It goes without saying that you should follow other blogs and contribute.

3. Create Content with authority

The fastest way to become an authority is to teach. You can teach in many ways such as a writing your blog or posting videos. The added benefit of teaching is that you also learn and gain insight. Invest in your own education and share your learning with others. Blogging really is the best and simplest way to do this.

If you imagine that the various social platforms you use, such as Facebook, twitter and YouTube are spokes, these will generate the traffic to your blog. Your blog will become the hub of your business, especially if you self-host your blog. You will have full control over the platform, whereas you have no control over Facebook etc.

4. Build and Serve your audience

Go where you are celebrated, not tolerated. There are always more content consumers (learners) than there are content providers (teachers), so it should always be easy to find a small niche audience that love what you do. Write for them, not the masses.

Learn to generate leads for your business daily and serving these leads with solutions to their problems. Engage with your target audience.

5. Monetise

Finally, you can monetise your blog. This should always be your final consideration after you have built your audience, served them and engaged with them.

How can you provide more value, in more detail, in a way which people might pay you for it?

The post Blogging To be an authority appeared first on Mike Holden Sales.

In selling it is becoming more and more important to have your own platform. We are living in such a dynamic world and who knows what the future for selling is. One thing I do know is that most research is done online, by your prospect. They will check out your company’s website and reviews. They will check out your Social Media profiles. Once way to stand out from the crowd is to have your own weekly blog, where you can establish yourself as an authority in your field.

Why should you write a weekly blog post?

First, why should you write a weekly blog post? Why would I recommend you do this?

One reason is to find your voice. You have something to say and somebody somewhere needs to hear what you have to say. Your blog could be for instruction, entertaining or information. It could help someone somewhere and make their life better. The more you write about your subject, the more you will know, through your research. People will automatically perceive you as an expert.

Build your audience or tribe as the marketers today call it. You may plan to make money with you blog or build a potential client database. Being a trusted fount of knowledge in a certain niche area will help you no end.
Another reason is to get into the writing habit. Writing your weekly blog post forces you to get into the writing habit. It forces you to get over perfectionism and procrastination. Tell yourself, that you will write a weekly blog post and stick to it. Eventually this will be ingrained and you will need to meet your own deadlines.

The next reason to write a weekly blog is so that you can practice writing and get better. The more you write the better you will get. As you hone your skills, you will find out what works and what does not. What is more likely to receive favourable comments and what does the world ignore?

Choosing your subject matter

What are you passionate about? What would you spend your time doing if you did not have to work? If you won the lottery today, what would you do first (after having a holiday and going on a spending spree)?
What are your interests? Look at your book collection, is there a genre that you read about more often. If you go to the library or bookstore, which section do you go to first?
In what issues to you care? What would make you write a strongly worded letter to your MP? What causes do you support?
Once you know what area you will write about, then you can choose what to name your blog.

What will be the address of the blog site? (AKA Uniform Resource Locator or URL)

Once you have a broad idea of your subject matter, then you can get your URL. If someone is going to visit your blog, they will need to know if it is worthwhile spending their time reading it. The first clue is finding out what your blog post is called and what the URL is. This needs to be short and punchy and specific to your area of writing.

Before you decide this, however, think about where to host your website. With a WordPress site, you can get started straight away and it is free. You can pick different themes and designs for your blog site. You could even pay a small annual fee for some fancier themes and templates with e.g. Elegant Themes.
The downside with hosting your site on WordPress is that you will have a generic WordPress URL address.

If you do not want a generic myblogname.wordpress.com URL, you can get webhosting, with a host like Bluehost .
You can then install WordPress onto your hosting. There will be an annual cost for your web hosting and you will have to pay a few £ for you URL. It will look more professional if you can have a .com or .co.uk, for instance.

Organising your space and time

Professional writers will have a space that they go to write. This should provide comfort and minimise distractions.
Writing needs to be a habit. The first thing in installing a new habit is to set a time every day to do it. In the case of writing a weekly blog, you will need to set aside around 30 minutes every day. Is there a time in your day where you could spare 30 minutes a day? It might be early in the morning when it is quiet. Alternatively, could you find 30 minutes at lunchtime, or perhaps in the evening? Just as long as it is the same time every day.
Next is to allocate each writing task to a specific day of the week. Here is what I do in my week, to ensure I get my blog our every week:

Sunday

I think about different ideas and what the objectives of the post will be.

Monday

I will now know what the post will roughly be about, so I can now brainstorm/ mind map the ideas. Then I start to build an outline. What will be the beginning, middle and end i.e. the rough structure.

Tuesday – Thursday

This is when you will actually write out the post, following your outline. I find it easiest to write in a word processing program such as Microsoft word, because of the spelling and grammar checking facility. It is important to write unedited, don’t worry about spelling or grammar, as you will sort this out on Friday. This brings us to …

Friday

This can be the longest part of the blog and really the one you should take most care with. One typo can undermine your whole message, so make sure your review it thoroughly. Firstly, the obvious spelling and grammar check, but also does it read well. Read it through several times. Read it aloud. In addition, does it meet your original objectives? Once you are happy, publish. Don’t be shy about this; you can always tweak it after you publish, if you spot something later.

Saturday

This is for SEO and social marketing, spreading the word. There are many free SEO plugins on WordPress eg Yoast, which will walk you through the process of making your post Search Engine Friendly. This means that Google will find you post easier and more people will find you. Next, you can share your post with your networks on e.g. Facebook and Twitter. You may have a separate Facebook page for your blog, which will be open to the public, so even more people can find you. (Here is mine)

Sunday repeat

Start back with thinking about your next post. It doesn’t matter if your previous post was not to the standard as a Dickens or Shakespeare. Just get it out there and move on. Remember you are honing your skill in a market place, where you will get feedback. You can learn as you go and get better and better.
As ever, I wish you peace, happiness and success. If there is anything you are struggling with let me know in a comment and I will aim to help.

The post How to Write a Weekly blog post appeared first on Mike Holden Sales.