Gearing up to enter a learning curve can be scary. The worst thing isn’t the awe-some prospect of change. It’s those busy moments when you’re wondering how you’re going to manage all the stuff you’re already doing as you do all the other stuff you need to do negotiate the curve.

The good news is that your instincts are right: Learning and growing and changing IS a wild and scary time. The better news is that it’s also a wonderful ride. And the great news is that you’re not going to regret it for a single second.

There IS a way to get the scary bits under control. All you have to do is ask for help. And, just as novice race drivers get helpful tips from the pros, the advice you get will give you the knowledge you need to boost your confidence and calm your nerves.

We’ve all stood where you’re standing now. We’ve all reached out for help. And now here we are… at the finish line… cheering you on!!!

So don’t hold back for fear of feeling foolish. We’re here to help.

We hate our taxes and our weight gain and our in-laws some of the time, but Change is something we loathe with a constant, burning passion.

Why we hate it is simple – the minute we Change the thing we’re used to, we feel dumb. It takes work and the whole time we’re struggling, we know that as soon as we get good at the new way of doing things we’ll have to change again.

Now What? Strategies take the hapless/hopeless feeling away and help you plan your steps in a way that makes the process fun again. We start where you are, on familiar ground, and use the things you take pride in as a measure of the way you want your future to be.

We talk about the things you need and want and why they matter to you. We talk about your goals and we look at the skills and strengths you bring to the mix. We also talk about the things that get in your way – the things you don’t like and aren’t good at – because we want to get them out of your way.

We identify what you’re passionate about. We explore all the ways that these new and different ideas are similar to things you already know and do. This minimizes that awful feeling of being off-balance that happens when we step out of our comfort zones and begin something new.

Why is so much time devoted to all this talk? Because it builds belief in yourself and the learning process. It’s the single most important ingredient in the recipe for success.

Everything we do in life – except for those automatic things like blinking and breathing – is a step-by-step process we learned from someone we trust. Walking, talking, climbing stairs, flushing toilets, getting most of the food off the plate and into our mouths… these are processes that someone we trusted taught to us. Every single one of these accomplishments was learned in steps and stages. The more we practiced them, the smoother we got. By the time we were good at it, we’d forgotten that it was a process. We’d forgotten that walking began with crawling and standing and falling and standing again.

The reason it’s so easy to forget a process is that we don’t notice it while we’re in it. We’re focused on each step as an end in itself. We don’t see the forest because we’re listening to the person we trust. When we reach our goal and look back, we don’t think about that first incredible tree. We think about the person we trusted.

When people get a great idea and decide to make it happen without bothering to design a plan, they forget that the learning curve is a process. They think that if they can see the goal, the steps will take care of themselves. When this turns out to be wrong, they get angry. They feel dumb. They lose confidence and sometimes they give up.

Failure is temporary. Giving up makes it permanent.

These people who try to start something new without planning usually make 3 mistakes:

1. They’ve no idea how to take the first step, so they guess. More often than not, they guess wrong. When it falls apart, they give up.
2. If they don’t give up, they turn to someone they know because they trust them – not because they know how to help. More often than not, this is wrong too.
3. When guessing and trusting don’t work, they figure they could do worse than copy the competition. Wrong again.

Does any of this sound like you?

If it does, that’s great! Because we can fix it. We can figure out where to start before you start… and then you’ll be on your way.

It’s January… what better time to take on Change? I can’t wait. Can you?

Branding is how custom-tailoring differs from off-the-rack.
It’s how you get where you want to go… and back.

One fine day in NYC when anything seemed possible, I answered a Help Wanted ad.
Granted, I was looking for work, but I answered this one because it made me smile:

Ever since Helen left to have the baby, it’s been crazy around here.
We can’t find anything.
No one knows how to fix the photocopier or answer the phone.
If you don’t get here soon, we’ll probably have to shoot ourselves.

The place turned out to be an employment agency. Go figure. They were running a bunch of ads. Each one was designed to catch someone distinctly different. And I’d been hooked by the one meant for me.

They sent me to one job interview. Just one. I was hired on the spot. Because this agency had done their homework. They knew exactly who and what their client wanted. It was me.

You know why this worked? Why everyone came out a winner? Branding was the bottom line. The client’s need was easy to understand thanks to their brand. The creative minds at that agency knew how to run with it. They knew the who, what, when and why because they’d listened.

And that brings us back to you. No matter how brilliant your vision, it takes packaging to present us at your best. [Where would Kleenex tissues be without the box?]

You know you’re unique – one of a kind – a winner. The thing is, it’s not you we have to sell. We have to work the magic that sells everyone else. We need to define the quality that sets you apart from all the rest. We have to find the words that shine a spotlight on you, your message and all the things that you alone can do.

This is a ‘Smart Start’. It saves time… it saves money… and you look FABulous!

So let’s get started. I can’t wait. Can you?

Like anything you try for the first time, translating your ideas into compelling, engaging words can be a frustrating, exhausting experience. When you’re focused on getting it ‘just right’ you can lose your natural way of expressing yourself. When that happens, you stop having fun. And as soon as that happens, you’re done.

When you reach out to a ghostwriter, you’ve typically hit that wall. You’re not sure what’s supposed to happen. The ghostwriter is the one with the experience, so it seems as if he or she should be calling the shots. But that feels wrong. You’re the one with the story to tell. That means you should be in charge. But…

It’s okay! Relax! Here’s what you need to do…

1. Let go of that breath you’ve been holding. If you haven’t written before, there’s no reason in the world you should be great the first time you try. So stop beating yourself up. Take a fresh deep breath, let it out, and smile.

2. Keep it simple. Because it is: If you’ve hired a professional writer/ghostwriter, you get to focus on your needs. Your ghostwriter will tell you what they want from you.

3. Be open. Make the decision to let the ghostwriter get to know the real you. This is your chance to get excited about your project all over again. You get to talk and laugh and let your ghostwriter do the heavy lifting.

4. Be the boss. If there’s anything you’re not happy with, say so. Your ghostwriter needs guidance to do the job to your satisfaction, so holding back and being polite is of no help to anyone!

5. Take ownership when the job is done. Ghostwriters work anonymously by choice, not at gunpoint. Thank them appropriately for their professional commitment – that means pay them well and pay them on time – and take pride in the finished product that bears your name.

Here’s why you need to contact me…

Every major decision is worthy of a second opinion. This includes your project. Whether you’ve already chosen a ghostwriter or you’re just beginning your search, you’ll benefit from the experience and advice I can share. We can do it via email or get on the phone for a collaborative one-on-one.

I can’t wait. Can you?

For the beginner, it can be a frustrating, confusing experience because we’re pretty sure we were taught how to write in school. Having a nodding acquaintance with the basics leads us to think that a book is a bunch of pages strung together and that you probably start at the top left of the first page and keep going until you reach the bottom of the last page.

That would be wrong.

Which is why so many first time authors look at books on the best-seller lists and say to themselves, “How hard can that be, really?” When they get a few pages under their belts, they sit back with a smile and get ready to love their masterpiece, only to discover that all kinds of things are missing. After all that work, it’s nothing like a book at all. How frustrating!

Should they (or you) give up? That depends on how willing you are to learn. The secret to writing great stuff and having fun at the same time is to realize that there’s an actual process involved. There’s skill and dogged day-by-day commitment. And, like anything else we get good at, we have to be willing to practice until we develop a knack. And the knack I’m talking about in this case is more than stringing words together. A very big part is understanding the role and responsibility the writer has to the reader.

Here’s the thing…

A tale only belongs to its author until it becomes a book. At that point it belongs to the public, who will have to be encouraged and enticed to buy it. You can’t expect people to hand over their hard-earned money if you don’t write something of value to them. And you can’t create a compelling message they’ll be willing to buy by flinging words at a page and hoping for the best. You can’t communicate your ideas unless you make them easy to access and understand.

So even after you get great at stringing words together, unless you’re willing to buy all the books yourself, you need to think about the reasons other people might be interested in hearing what you have to say. You need to take the time to walk in their shoes a little and package your message in a way that will make him or her willing to buy, open and read what you wrote.

Working with me as your writer-for-hire is a collaborative exercise. You and I put our heads together to discover the reason you wanted to write in the first place and the reason we’ll be able to entice your readers to buy. The steps we take to present your message as you meant it to be shared will be carefully considered. It will take our combined efforts to identify your readership, find your creative voice, select your ideas, themes and threads and begin the tale-weaving process.

Is it work? Of course it is. Will it be frustrating? At times, you bet. Will it be worth it in the end? Oh yes!!!

I’m ready to start when you are.