Podcasts about on writing well

This is the 7th episode of season four. I started this season in January of 2024. My intent was to document the process of writing a book. But even though this season is over a year long, there have only been 7 episodes, and that's because I took a 9 month break. I want to talk more about what happened during that break, and how I was derailed from my plans, and how I recovered. The Four Disciplines of Execution [affiliate link] On Writing Well [affiliate link] by William Zinsser Swimming in Tech Debt (my book) Help This Book (book sharing platform) Useful Books Community Transcript

The late afternoon sun filtered through the windows of our tiny department office as I ran in to grab the papers I'd just printed. As I waited for them to finish, I examined the old books stacked on the shelf above the printer, brought to our school in  Bulgaria by another ex-pat teacher many years ago, judging by the dust. One caught my eye - William Zinsser's guide to writing nonfiction - On Writing Well. I snagged it with my papers and headed upstairs. Little did I know, I had just picked up my new favorite writing book, and the one that would give me my most consistent improvement for my own writing. It's the switch that made me start this podcast with “The late afternoon sun filtered through the windows” instead of “It was late one afternoon.” Did you spot it?  Welcome to the Thursday edition of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast, a podcast for English teachers in search of creative teaching strategies. Today we're talking about a simple but highly impactful piece of writing advice you can give to every student. I heard it first from William Z all those years ago, and now I want to share it with you. OK, here's the simple rule. Students need to watch out for the verb “To be.” Sure, it's useful. I just used it. But it's actually too useful. It can quickly become the driver of any piece of writing with constant lines like: “He was bored,” “they were hungry, “she was late,” “we're tired.”  When we see writing like this, we might be tempted to launch into a fairly complex explanation of show don't tell. But it's even easier to give students a highlighter and ask them to find all the “to be” verbs in their piece. Have them highlight “was,” were,” and “are,” then pause to take in the fact that their whole piece is now bright yellow. Then show them how to flip the switch. Let's take “he was bored” as our model. How can a kid write “he was bored” without the “to be” construction?  How about this: “After six hours of waiting at the airport gate, Ben had finally mastered the art of sleeping standing up.”  Or we can try “They were hungry,” switching in “Jen and Jenny felt sure they could eat a dozen of the salted caramel cream donuts immediately. Each.”  As you can see, in general the switch away from “to be” leads to far more specific descriptive writing. It's like a game, shifting writing from black and white to full color.  Will there still be times when “to be” makes sense? For sure. You don't want kids to change it every single time. But making them aware of the potential can make a huge impact on their writing. I know it has on mine over years of writing for you!  If you're looking for a way to help students remember this tip, try spending fifteen minutes on a poster project. Invite every student to create a poster featuring a boring “TO BE” sentence in black and white, with the “To be” verb construction in red. Then have them make a second poster for a new version of the sentence with more vivid description matched by more vivid, colorful imagery. Put the best ones up on your wall as a reminder of this tip, then refer back to your models when students are editing their writing.  Such a simple rule, but it makes such a big impact. Remind your students that “to be” can BE boring, and you'll help them level up their writing game across genres.    Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. Join our community, Creative High School English, on Facebook. Come hang out on Instagram.  Enjoying the podcast? Please consider sharing it with a friend, snagging a screenshot to share on the ‘gram, or tapping those ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to help others discover the show. Thank you!   

Very pleased to share that Bob Walkenhorst joined me for Episode No. 139, and it was a privilege to get to know him a little bit.I really enjoyed gaining a little bit of insight into Bob's perspective of the live-music scene in 1980s Kansas City as he and The Rainmakers really found their writing and gigging groove.As a 71-years-young rock star, Bob's still gigging twice a month at Mike Kelly's Westsider, and you can glean more details about those shows if you give his Facebook page a follow.His Web site, bobwalkenhorst.com is absolutely full of treats, including 12 LPs, unique prints, a book, and the means for you to hire him to do music for your private events.Bob and I of course chatted up a few of his favorite records, and those were these:Simon & Garfunkel's Bookends (1968)A Tramp Shining (1968), Richard HarrisJoni Mitchell's Blue (1971)Warren Zevon's self-titled album (1976)Early Days (1994), The WatersonsFind all of Bob's music on Apple or Spotify and don't forget to check out his book, Whirlybird Day, whilst perusing his Web site.Thank you for your support of the progrum.Note: I flubbed an author/title situation during my conversation with Bob: Stephen King's book is called On Writing Well; Writing Down the Bones is by Natalie Goldberg.copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the audio samples contained within this episode. They are clips from a tune called, "Pick Me Up," by The Deadbeats from their 1999 album, Lounging, c/o Space Hopper.

"The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word...these are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence." --"On Writing Well" by William Zinsser As professionals, how we communicate is a reflection on us. It's a reflection on our skill & acumen. It's a reflection on our team, our company, and our concern and respect for our reader. Writing is a craft. It takes practice. Nobody is a great writer. We all write bad first drafts. It's in the revision process where bad writing gets better. It's in the editing process where better writing gets good. It takes practice. It takes reps. And the same goes for verbal communication. How we speak, how we convey messages, how we convey our knowledge clearing & concisely is also a reflection on us as professionals In this episode, I dive in on both subjects. How can we become better communicators. I offer a few ideas for all of us (myself included...) to help us become better conveyors of information. Connect with me anytime!! LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bob Hildebranski, PE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hildebranski.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Contact Page Link

Why do so many churches and Christians make such a big deal of the Bible? Isn't it just an out-dated, irrelevant piece of ancient literature? Shouldn't we keep it on the shelf and use more modern books to teach us how to live? These are the questions we'll explore today.--The PursueGOD Truth podcast is the “easy button” for making disciples – whether you're looking for resources to lead a family devotional, a small group at church, or a one-on-one mentoring relationship. Join us for new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Find resources to talk about these episodes at pursueGOD.org.Help others go "full circle" as a follower of Jesus through our 12-week Pursuit series.Click here to learn more about how to use these resources at home, with a small group, or in a one-on-one discipleship relationship.Got questions or want to leave a note? Email us at podcast@pursueGOD.org.Donate Now --before we examine the Bible, let's start with some fun trivia about all those other books on the shelf…10 notable best-selling books of all time:The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss - 10.5 millionThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain - 20 millionThe Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - 29 millionTo Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - 40 millionThe Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle - 43 millionPurpose Driven Life by Rick Warren - 50 millionThe Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis - over 85 millionHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling - 120 millionA Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - Over 200 million Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes - Over 500 millionTop three best-selling books of all time:The Quran - Estimated 800 million copies sold and distributed.Quotations from the Works of Mao Tse-tung - Over 900 million copies sold.The Bible - Estimated 5 billion copies sold and distributed.So, back to the question we'll unbox today:Q. Is the Bible Just Another Book?Think about how all of those other books were written: All of those other books were the product of one or more clever mindsThey all followed a similar process:Come up with the conceptCreate a storyline, characters, etc.Do some research if needed for accuracy Write and re-writeMy favorite book on the topic: “On Writing Well” by William Zinsser“Simplify, simplify.”“There's no minimum length for a sentence that's acceptable in the eyes of God.”“Writers must constantly ask: what am I trying to say? Surprisingly often they don't know.”"Ultimately the product any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about, but who he or she is."But this is what separates the Bible from every other book: it is not the product of one person's ideas or creativity. Nobody had to dream up the storyline or characters, and no one had to read “On Writing Well” to turn out the best chapters and verses. The Bible, Christians believe, is unique because it alone was inspired by God. Here's how Paul explained it to Timothy:2 Timothy 3:16 (NLT) All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.See Where Did We Get...

Watch this episode on YouTube -- https://youtu.be/ZbO7WegbCnE I discovered Alberto on Medium.com and was impressed by the quality of his writing. Alberto is an Italian writer and blogger who helps aspiring content creators become prolific by building custom systems that fit their busy lives. He started blogging in Italian in 2010 but then boldly stepped into the world of English writing to reach a wider audience. In this conversation, you'll hear him talk about: His early beginnings in digital content creation His transition from writing in Italian to writing in English Recommended resources for non-native English writers Writing on Medium.com His writing process and approach Using ChatGPT ...and other things related to writing, content creation, learning English, and digital entrepreneurship. If you find this useful, please email me to let me know. All my contacts are on my website -- https://fabiocerpelloni.com/ Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 01:38 - Switching to English 13:08 - Gaining Confidence 16:30 - Loving English 24:38 - Writing on Medium 35: 26 - Getting Better at Writing 43:30 - Writing & ChatGPT 52:08 - Books for writers 55:10 - Alberto's course 01:01:44 - Conclusion Links & Resources: - Medium: read Alberto's articles on Medium.com -- https://albertocabasvidani.medium.com/ - The Unstoppable Creator (Alberto's newsletter + free email course) -- https://albertocabasvidani.ck.page/052d7c645d - The Tilt for content strategies and business insights -- https://www.thetilt.com/ - Ali Abdaal and Nicolas Cole -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIfEgvpEufU Books we mentioned: - "Storyworthy" by Matthew Dicks - "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield - "On Writing Well" by William Zinsser - "The Art and Business of Online Writing" by Nicolas Cole - "The 4 Hour Work Week" by Tim Ferris Find out more about me and my work on my website -- https://fabiocerpelloni.com/

Estelle Erasmus brings her 30 years of experience to Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about what it takes to break through submission slushpiles, the key to exemplary essays, honing our writer's voice and giving editors what they need, pitching story vs. topic, the art of companion pieces, conveying our passion and investment, and her new book Writing That Gets Noticed.   Also in this episode: -podcasts as a way to reach readers -the pace of online outlets  -researching before you pitch   Books mentioned in this episode: On Writing Well by William Zinsser The Situation and the Story by VIvian Gornick  When She Comes Back by Ronit Plank   Estelle Erasmus, author of Writing That Gets Noticed: Find Your Voice, Become a Better Storyteller, Get Published (June 2023), is a professor of writing at New York University, the host of the Freelance Writing Direct podcast, and former “All About the Pitch” columnist for Writer's Digest where she also teaches classes on pitching, personal essay writing, and getting started in writing. She has written about a variety of subjects (health, beauty, fitness, publishing, business, travel) for numerous publications. Her articles for the New York Times and Washington Post have gone globally viral (with more than 500 comments on her New York Times piece, “How to Bullyproof Your Child”). She has appeared on Good Morning America and has had her articles discussed on The View. She has also taught, coached, and mentored many writers who have gone on to be widely published in top publications. She received the 2023 NYU School of Professional Studies Teaching Excellence Award, is an American Society of Journalists and Authors award winner, and was a cast member in the inaugural New York City production of the Listen to Your Mother storytelling show. Learn more at www.EstelleSErasmus.com and register for her latest classes. Also, follow Estelle on Instagram, TikTok, and X, and sign up for her Substack Connect with Estelle: Author of WRITING THAT GETS NOTICED  Available to order now. www.estelleserasmus.com (sign up for her newsletter) Sign up for her substack Adjunct Instructor, NYU (Sign up for my latest classes) Recipient 2023 NYU SPS Teaching Excellence Award Freelance Writing Direct Podcast (iTunes) (She speaks to Cheryl Strayed, Ann Hood, Noah Michelson, Alan Henry, and more) Freelance Writing Direct Podcast (YouTube) Follow me: Twitter, Instagram, TikTok Writer's Digest: What to Do to Maximize Your Launch Week And Get Your Book Noticed https://estelleserasmus.com   – Ronit Plank is a writer, teacher, and editor whose work has been featured in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Writer's Digest, The Rumpus, American Literary Review, Hippocampus, The Iowa Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot and was a Finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards, the Housatonic Book Awards, and the Book of the Year Awards. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, the Best of the Net, and the Best Microfiction Anthology, and her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' Eludia Award. She is creative nonfiction editor at The Citron Review and lives in Seattle with her family where she is working on her next book.   More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/ More about HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE, a short story collection: https://ronitplank.com/home-is-a-made-up-place/   Connect with Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://twitter.com/RonitPlank https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank   Background photo: Canva Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

Chapter 1 Interpret what On Writing Well is aboutOn Writing Well by William Knowlton Zinsser is a renowned and influential guidebook for nonfiction writing. The book provides valuable advice and techniques for improving writing skills, focusing particularly on nonfiction forms such as journalism, memoir, and business writing. Zinsser emphasizes the importance of simplicity, clarity, and brevity in writing, aiming to help writers communicate their ideas effectively to readers.The book covers a wide range of topics related to writing, including principles of good writing, avoiding clutter and jargon, finding one's voice, structuring articles and books, editing and revising, and maintaining consistency and coherence. It also addresses specific challenges that writers often face, such as conducting interviews, conducting research, and writing about technical or specialized subjects.On Writing Well combines practical advice with engaging examples and anecdotes, drawing from Zinsser's extensive experience as a writer and teacher of writing. It has become a classic in the field of writing instruction and is widely used in writing courses, journalism programs, and by aspiring writers and professionals alike. The book has been praised for its timeless advice and accessible style, making it a valuable resource for anyone looking to improve their nonfiction writing skills.Chapter 2 Is On Writing Well A Good BookYes, "On Writing Well" by William Zinsser is widely regarded as a good book for improving one's writing skills. It has been a popular and influential guide for both professional writers and beginners since its publication in 1976. Zinsser provides practical advice, writing exercises, and engaging examples to demonstrate various principles of effective writing. The book covers a wide range of topics, from grammar and style to the art of storytelling, making it relevant and helpful for writers in different genres and fields.Chapter 3 Key Features of On Writing Well"On Writing Well" by William Zinsser is a guidebook for aspiring writers that emphasizes the importance of simplicity, clarity, and humanity in writing. Zinsser believes that good writing is a result of hard work, discipline, and a willingness to constantly revise and edit.The book is divided into four parts: Principles, Methods, Forms, and Attitudes. In the Principles section, Zinsser discusses various principles of good writing, such as simplicity, brevity, and empathy. He encourages writers to focus on their audience and to use plain, understandable language.In the Methods section, Zinsser provides practical advice on different aspects of writing, such as grammar, usage, and the importance of revision. He emphasizes the importance of revising and editing, and encourages writers to cut unnecessary words and phrases.The Forms section discusses different forms of writing, such as memoirs, travel writing, and science writing. Zinsser provides examples from various genres and offers tips on how to approach each form.Finally, in the Attitudes section, Zinsser explores the emotional and psychological aspects of writing. He encourages writers to be honest, to find their own voice, and to take risks in their writing.Throughout the book, Zinsser provides numerous examples and anecdotes to illustrate his points. He also emphasizes the importance of reading widely and learning from other writers.Overall, "On Writing Well" is a practical and insightful guidebook that offers valuable advice for writers of all levels. It emphasizes the importance of clear, effective communication and encourages writers to...

================================================== ==SUSCRIBETEhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNpffyr-7_zP1x1lS89ByaQ?sub_confirmation=1================================================== == DEVOCIÓN MATUTINA PARA ADULTOS 2023“YO ESTOY CONTIGO”Narrado por: Roberto NavarroDesde: Montreal, CanadáUna cortesía de DR'Ministries y Canaan Seventh-Day Adventist Church 17 DE JULIO "SOBRE MUCHO TE PONDRÉ" Su señor le dijo: "Bien, buen siervo y fiel; sobre poco ha sido fiel, sobre mucho te pondré. Entra en el gozo de tu señor" (Mateo 25:23). William Zinsser comenzó su carrera como escritor de obituarios para el Buffalo News. Cansado de buscar palabras para honrar la memoria de los muertos, se armó de valor y le dijo al editor en jefe: "¿Cuándo me permitirán escribir una historia decente?". Cuenta John Ortberg que, con tono refunfuñón, el viejo editor le dijo: "¡Escucha, muchacho! Nada de lo que escribas será leído con tanta atención como esos obituarios. Si escribe mal una palabra, si confundes una cita, una familia se grabará herida. Sin embargo, cuando le haces justicia a una abuela oa la madre de alguien, haces que alguien cante una canción, y te estarán eternamente agradecidos. Pondrán tus palabras en un cuadrito". *Desde ese momento, el joven Zinsser comprendió que su tarea no era pequeña y se empeñó en cumplirla con fidelidad. Ese muchacho llego a convertirse en uno de los mejores escritores de lengua inglesa. Su libro On Writing Well ha sido el libro de texto para la formación de una nueva generación de escritores.Si Zinsser no hubiera sido fiel al realizar la pequeña, pero importante tarea de escribir obituarios, no se hubiera convertido en el gran maestro del arte de pulir la prosa. Fue lo pequeño lo que lo preparó para lo grande. En la famosa parábola de los talentos encontramos a Jesús dictando esta sentencia: "Su señor le dijo: 'Bien, buen siervo y fiel; sobre poco ha sido fiel, sobre mucho te pondré. Entra en el gozo de tu señor" (Mateo 25 :23).Campo en lo poco; fiel en lo que no parece trascendental, esa es la propuesta de Jesús. Es la fidelidad en el servicio humilde lo que abre las puertas de las grandes oportunidades. La fidelidad nos augura más trabajo y la aprobación del Señor. No hay cámaras, ni luces, ni likes (me gusta); pero el Padre, lo que estamos haciendo en privado, pronto nos recompensará en público. Todo el que asuma con fidelidad las tareas que Dios le ha encomendado recibirá una recompensa maravillosa: entrar "en el gozo del Señor". ¿Acaso hay un mejor premio que ese? Quizá nuestra fidelidad a Cristo sea motivo de lágrimas en nuestra circunstancia actual, pero muy pronto seremos llenos del gozo inacabable del cielo.* John Ortberg, El ser que quiero ser (Miami: Editorial Vida, 2010), p. 247.

There's writing, and then there's writing well.  Every form of communication in business requires a solid handle on the written word. From marketing and sales copy to public talks to pitches, if you can't write it, you can't share it.  William Zinsser's On Writing Well is different from our other recent Must-Read (Stephen King's On […] The post MBA2208 Must Read: On Writing Well by William Zinsser appeared first on The $100 MBA.

There's writing, and then there's writing well.  Every form of communication in business requires a solid handle on the written word. From marketing and sales copy to public talks to pitches, if you can't write it, you can't share it.  William Zinsser's On Writing Well is different from our other recent Must-Read (Stephen King's On […] The post MBA2208 Must Read: On Writing Well by William Zinsser appeared first on The $100 MBA.

In today's episode we explore how to go from vague idea, or a spilt page of words, to a polished, shaped piece of writing, how to develop the discipline of editing your own work, and to learn to trust your own opinion, and knowing when it's time to get support from elsewhere. The episode includes:-       How to know when a piece of writing is ‘done enough'-       The main thing you need to know about editing-       How I turn an idea for a book into the actual book (spoiler: I don't write a ‘first draft' until very late in the process) – and how this information might help you and your workWith inspiration from John McPhee, Robert M Pirsig and Julie Cadwallader.I hope this podcast will help you write fearlessly, and with joy, and build a writing practice that nourishes you for the rest of your life. I'd love to see what writing it inspires – feel free to share by tagging me @bethkempton #fearlesswriterpodcastBethXxPS Please note there is a chunk of silence in this podcast. It is supposed to be there for the weekly writing exercise!Click here to download the transcriptThe theme music for The Fearless Writer Podcast is The River sung by Danni Nicholls, co-written by Danni Nicholls and me, Beth Kempton. Listen on iTunes / Spotify / Youtube and feel free to add it to your Instagram reels! See here for the lyrics and full credits.***Did you know the audiobook version of The Way of the Fearless Writer includes a full meditation album to help get the words flowing? You can get it here. Resources mentioned in this episode:•      From Draft No.4 by John McPhee (Farrar, Straus & Giroux p.180 •      On Quality: An inquiry into excellence by Robert M Pirsig (Mariner)  •      Blackbirds by Julie Cadwallader Staub in Poetry of Presence by Phyllis Cole-Dai & Ruby R Wilson (Eds.) (pub. Grayson Books) p.50 •      The Way of the Fearless Writer by Beth Kempton (Piatkus). US/Canada edition HERE.My recommendations for books that will help you shape your writing: On Writing Well by William Zinssner / Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr & E.B. White / New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors (Oxford) / The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick More at bethkempton.com / dowhatyouloveforlife.com / Instagram

Today's show is our attempt to answer this question: How do you add more impact to every single sentence? It started last week when I read this article from The Economist. It's a British magazine, and it used to be my favorite. I hardly read it at all anymore. But… I was scrolling through Twitter and the AKA, also called the All-Knowing Algorithm, served up an ad for an article in The Economist with the headline, “What to Read To Become a Better Writer.” So, I clicked. You know, many people say that the AKA knows even more than Google! The article starts with a very strange picture. Three women at an outdoor café. Two are having a drink, laughing, having a great time. The third one is writing on an old-fashioned portable manual typewriter. Scowling and trying desperately to concentrate while her friends are partying. I have always thought the British have a strange way of looking at things. The article recommends five books. I cherry-picked some tips from three of them that would be especially useful for copywriters when you want to add more impact to your writing. The main thing I was looking at when I was cherry-picking these ideas from more than 1,000 pages of books is: What's going to give each sentence in your copy more impact? I know a lot of people recommend power words or startling statements, but a reader can only take so much of those things. Too much electric intensity can wear out a reader. For most of your copy, what's important is clarity and momentum. Clarity often comes from leaving things out or fine-tuning some of the words you use. Momentum comes from moving your reader emotionally, which is what we usually think of as entertainment. In movies, novels and songs, that emotional movement comes from the reader's or listener's reaction to a story about someone or something else. In copy, we focus on something else: The readers themselves. People get moved when they think about something wrong in their lives, and they get just as moved, though in another direction, when they think about getting something they want that they couldn't get before now. The books I went through are not copywriting books, and so they cover things that are different from what we're concerned about when we write copy. But there's one area of nearly 100% overlap: Impact. Writing that keeps the reader reading. And that's what I was looking for when I got these tips for you. I found the best stuff from three books, and we'll put links to them in the show notes. They are: On Writing Well, by William Zinsser. I first read this book nearly 50 years ago, when I was a journalist. I've come to appreciate it more over the years, and have assigned it to mentoring clients to polish up their writing skills. Other copywriting teachers also assign this book. It's mostly for journalists and business writers, but many of his ideas work for copy, too. The second book I learned about in the Economist article: Style Lessons in Clarity and Grace, by Joseph M. Williams and Joseph Bizup. The two Josephs go into a lot of depth about little things that make a big difference. We'll cover a few of those things today. The third book, I didn't like a whole lot, even though the writer of the Economist article did. I don't think there was too much we could use, but there was one very important thing in there. So I'm not recommending it, but I'll include a link just in case it piques your curiosity. It's called A Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century, by Steven Pinker. Book Links: On Writing Well, by William Zinsser https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0090RVGW0 Style Lessons in Clarity and Grace, by Joseph M. William and Joseph Bizup https://www.amazon.com/dp/0134080416 The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century by Steven Pinker https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00INIYG74/ Download.

This week's featured Sunday Story Time book: “On Writing Well” by William Zinsser. Join the author conversation in Ink Authors: https://www.facebook.com/groups/inkauthors/ Learn more about YDWH and catch up on old episodes: www.yourdailywritinghabit.com Learn more about me, “Christine Ink,” and how I support authors: https://christine-ink.com/ 5 Things To Know Before Hiring a Book Coach: https://christine-ink.com/book-coaching-2/

LSAT Instructor and Admissions consultant Jimmy D explains the importance of simple, clear, and direct language in your writing, particularly personal statements. He highlights the classic, On Writing Well, by William Zinsser. Free electronic version of On Writing Well: http://richardcolby.net/writ2000/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/On-Writing-Well-30th-Anniversa-Zinsser-William.pdf If you'd like to purchase a hard copy or audio version: https://amzn.to/3Tf3z4q Book a free consultation to work with Jimmy one on one: http://www.jdlsat.com/free-consultation.html --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jdlsat/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jdlsat/support

There's a line in a song that says "Words are hotter fire. Words are wetter than water." You might not think that words possess a superpower that can help you change the world, but if you're in the job of influencing people to change, language is your secret weapon. In this episode, I talk through some of the mistakes I see people make and how you can get better at crafting your written story and your copywriting. I hope you take the time to master the art of sculpting words that deeply move people, and through that, you can spark a revolution. I recommend you read these books: On Writing Well, by Willian Zinsser https://amzn.to/2Ty9qsr The Sense of Style, by Steven Pinker https://amzn.to/3dDF6DH * * * How to Save the World is a Podcast About the Psychology of What Gets People To Take On Sustainable Behavior and Climate Action: Environmental engineer, designer, and author, Katie Patrick, hunts down the latest behavioral science literature from top universities such as Harvard, MIT, and Stanford to unearth the evidence-based teachings you can use to rapidly get more people to adopt your environmental campaign, program, or product. Sign up for Katie's free behavior and gamification design course at http://katiepatrick.com Join my Gamify the Planet masterclass training in climate action design for $25 / month http://katiepatrick.com/gamifytheplanet Get a copy of the book, How to Save the World on Amazon This podcast is supported by our friends at Earth Hacks who run environmental hackathons, Conservation X Labs who promote community-driven open tech development for conservation, and Climate Designers - a network of designers who use their creative skills for climate action. Contribute a monthly donation to the How to Save the World podcast at patreon.com/katiepatrick Follow on Twitter @katiepatrick, Instagram @katiepatrickhello, and LinkedIn Book a 90-minute Idea Storming Call with Katie: https://calendly.com/katiepatrick/idea-storm

Max Li is Co-founder and Head of Design of Airwallex , where he provides the creative vision for the business, and is responsible for developing and managing Airwallex's product design initiatives. Leading a global team, Max drives the implementation for designing functional and human-centric products that enable quality user experience in every market where Airwallex operates.Previously,  Max was a professional architectural designer with extensive experience in architecture, product design and user experience. Max also ran a coffee business prior to founding Airwallex, making his entrepreneurial experience so far both diverse and unique.In this episode, Simon and Max discuss his biggest lessons in building a unicorn company, how self-belief plays a huge part in success, and the future of business + technology. 5 books that Max recommends:For an excellent cover all guidebook to building products: Build, by Tony FadellFor emotional baseline: The subtle art of not giving a fuck, by Mark MansonFor perspective: 21 lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval HarariBooks with behind-the-scene, detailed processes for different industries are always good reads, recently: Secret Life Of Groceries, by Benjamin LorrIf language (especially writing) is not your forte: On Writing Well, by William ZinsserTopics0:00 - Intro1:25 - How Airwallex was born6:33 - Raising money7:46 - Transitioning from a cafe to Airwallex8:40 - Staying focused12:41 - Max's Family Background14:23 - Working with co-founders18:10 - Changing roles19:40 - Self belief21:00 - Biggest lessons on reflection23:10 - Imposter syndrome25:05 - What motivates you26:51 - The future30:51 - Regulation challenges32:35 - Max's thoughts on the Metaverse35:03 - Approaching competition37:24 - Luck39:36 - Startup culture44:52 - Advice for your younger self47:20 - Do you have any regrets50:31 - OutroMax Li: https://www.airwallex.com/ukStartmeupHK: https://www.startmeup.hk/startmeuphk-festival-2022/HKBN / HKBN Enterprise Solutions:www.hkbn.net / www.hkbnes.net

How do you balance rationality and irrationality as a business leader? How do you position your company and product to disrupt the market? Kipp and Kieran go on a deep dive on how playing it safe is actually hurting your business, how to know when to hire a head of marketing vs. a product marketer, using emotions to position your product, and more! Plus, We answer one of YOUR questions. Shoutout to Fanny Kuhn for leaving their review! Do you want to be the next featured listener question? Leave your questions in the reviews and we may feature you next. Links Mentioned: Loom https://www.loom.com/  Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari https://www.ynharari.com/book/sapiens-2/  The Hard Things About The Hard Things by Ben Horrowitz https://a16z.com/book/the-hard-thing-about-hard-things/  Hooked by Nir Eyal https://www.nirandfar.com/hooked/  Rework by Jason Fried https://www.amazon.com/Rework-Jason-Fried/dp/0307463745  The Platform Revolution https://www.amazon.com/Platform-Revolution-Networked-Markets-Transforming/dp/0393249131  Stratechery https://stratechery.com/  Not Boring Newsletter https://www.notboring.co/  The Hustle Newsletter https://thehustle.co/  Milk Road Newsletter https://www.milkroad.com/  Positioning The Battle for your Mind by Al Ries https://www.amazon.com/Positioning-Battle-Your-Al-Ries/dp/0071373586  Ready Player One by Ernest Cline https://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/0307887448  Principles for The Changing World Order by Ray Dalio https://www.amazon.com/Changing-World-Order-Nations-Succeed/dp/1982160276  Shoe Dog by Phil Knight https://www.amazon.com/Shoe-Dog-Memoir-Creator-NIKE/dp/1471146723/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1654105299&sr=1-1  Direct Mail Copy That Sells by Herschell Gordon Lewis https://www.amazon.com/Direct-Mail-Copy-That-Sells/dp/0132147505/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2544SEVJ4RL7Q&keywords=Direct+Mail+Copy+That+Sells&qid=1654105342&s=books&sprefix=direct+mail+copy+that+sells%2Cstripbooks%2C68&sr=1-3  On Writing Well by William Zinsser https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548/ref=sr_1_1?crid=30RQWSPYFT6FV&keywords=on+writing+well&qid=1654105374&s=books&sprefix=on+writing+well%2Cstripbooks%2C78&sr=1-1  New Rules of Marketing PR by David Meerman Scott https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/books/the-new-rules-of-marketing-and-pr  The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley https://www.amazon.com/Rational-Optimist-Prosperity-Evolves-P-s/dp/0061452068  Twitter Blue https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/twitter-blue  Thank you for tuning into Marketing Against The Grain! Don't forget to hit subscribe and follow us on Apple Podcasts (so you never miss an episode)! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/marketing-against-the-grain/id1616700934  If you love this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review https://link.chtbl.com/h9_sjBKH and share your favorite episodes with friends. We really appreciate your support. Links: Kipp Bodnar, https://twitter.com/kippbodnar  Kieran Flanagan, https://twitter.com/searchbrat ‘Marketing Against The Grain' is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Produced by Darren Clarke.

My Book Club series isn't dead! These are the juiciest tidbits from William Zinsser's On Writing Well, a book that's always on my list of recommended books on writing. “Can you recommend a book for…?” “What are you reading right now?” “What are your favorite books?” I get asked those types of questions a lot and, as an avid reader and all-around bibliophile, I'm always happy to oblige. I also like to encourage people to read as much as possible because knowledge benefits you much like compound interest. The more you learn, the more you know; the more you know, the more you can do; the more you can do, the more opportunities you have to succeed. On the flip side, I also believe there's little hope for people who aren't perpetual learners. Life is overwhelmingly complex and chaotic, and it slowly suffocates and devours the lazy and ignorant. So, if you're a bookworm on the lookout for good reads, or if you'd like to get into the habit of reading, this book club for you. The idea here is simple: Every month, I'll share a book that I've particularly liked, why I liked it, and several of my key takeaways from it. I'll also keep things short and sweet so you can quickly decide whether the book is likely to be up your alley or not. Alright, let's get to the takeaways. Timestamps: 0:00 - Please leave a review of the show wherever you listen to podcasts and make sure to subscribe! 4:28 - Triumph Male & Female are 25% off this week only! Go to buylegion.com/triumph and use coupon code MUSCLE to save 20% on anything else you order or get double reward points! Mentioned on the Show: Triumph Male & Female are 25% off this week only! Go to buylegion.com/triumph and use coupon code MUSCLE to save 20% on anything else you order or get double reward points!

In this episode I share my February, March & April 2022 Writing stats.  I share a writing tip that I picked up along the way and I tell you about what I've been reading.  I also read and reflect on a free-writing piece, which can be found at: spuntoday.com/freewriting.    The Spun Today Podcast is a Podcast that is anchored in Writing, but unlimited in scope.  Give it a whirl.      Twitter: https://twitter.com/spuntoday  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spuntoday/  Website: http://www.spuntoday.com/home  Newsletter: http://www.spuntoday.com/subscribe      Links referenced in this episode:     Derek Sivers notes On Writing Well by William Zinsser https://sive.rs/book/OnWritingWell   The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. (Buy Here)   1984 by George Orwell (Buy Here)   Video SparkNotes: Orwell's 1984 Summary: https://youtu.be/h9JIKngJnCU   Free-Write Post: Levels of Reality - https://www.spuntoday.com/freewriting/levelsofreality   Check out my Books: Make Way for You – Tips for getting out of your own way   & FRACTAL – A Time Travel Tale  http://www.spuntoday.com/books/ (e-Book & Paperback are now available).    Fill out my Spun Today Questionnaire if you're passionate about your craft.  I'll share your insight and motivation on the Podcast: http://www.spuntoday.com/questionnaire/      Shop on Amazon using this link, to support the Podcast: http://www.amazon.com//ref=as_sl_pc_tf_lc?&tag=sputod0c-20&camp=216797&creative=446321&linkCode=ur1&adid=104DDN7SG8A2HXW52TFB&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spuntoday.com%2Fcontact%2F    Shop on iTunes using this link, to support the Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTop?genreId=38&id=27820&popId=42&uo=10    Shop at the Spun Today store for Mugs, T-Shirts and more: https://viralstyle.com/store/spuntoday/tonyortiz    Outro Background Music: https://www.bensound.com    Spun Today Logo by: https://www.naveendhanalak.com/     Sound effects are credited to: http://www.freesfx.co.uk    Listen on: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Google Podcasts | YouTube | Website 

In this episode, Jake talks about the process of how you can write a best-selling book in a hour a day. He shares the 2 most important pieces of knowledge that you need before getting started; your INTENTION for writing the book and the motivation for WHY NOW. Once you have the answers to these 2 questions then you are ready to begin the process. Jake Kelfer is a lifestyle entrepreneur, life elevator, and coach to ambitious entrepreneurs and freedom seekers helping people write and launch bestselling books. He is a 3x bestselling author, a high-energy motivational speaker, investor, and the founder of the Professional Basketball Combine which has helped 70+ NBA draft prospects turn their dreams of playing pro basketball into their reality. He and his work have been featured on Forbes, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and many other major media outlets.Follow Jake on InstagramJakes WebsiteFollow Candace on Instagram

Description: How do you transition from being a leader in an office to successfully leading remotely? What do you do when only part of your team returns to the office? Many of us have had a crash course in exactly those situations, which is why we brought Valentina onto the show to talk with us. Valentina is an expert in remote communication and leadership, as she both trains companies with these challenges, and has been a remote leader for many years. Our focus today is on how you can to use asynchronous communication at the right times, bring out the best of both worlds when you're in a hybrid team situation, and how to avoid the pitfalls of one-size-fits-all leadership when it comes to communication in person and remotely. Learn about how Amazon and others have improved their meetings here. Learn more about the basics of asynchronous communication here. Psychological Safety is an important concept to embrace regardless of where your team members are located. Learn about the fundamentals of it here. You can check out Dr. Katerina Bohle Carbonell's talk on analyzing communication patterns here. When you're managing remote employees, 1 on 1s are very important. Learn how to have great 1 on 1s here, and specific questions to ask remote team members here. Books that Valentina recommends:The Culture Map by Erin Meyer and Valentina wrote and made a presentation about one of her favorite concepts from the book here. On Writing Well by William Zinsser Everybody Writes by Ann Handley Key actions for you to take today from the interview: Make sure you have 1 on 1s, and always prepare an agenda: Don't skip them for any reason except sickness or vacation. They're a key place to maintain the relationship and give + receive feedback. Do a meeting audit: Which meetings can be shortened, shouldn't be there, or can be replaced with a document/written discussion? It's not all, or nothing; you can have a shorter meeting because it's better prepared with an agenda, just as much as canceling it altogether. Start declining meetings, and say why: This makes it safe for your team members to do the same. Your example then matters as you should show that even when you don't attend you may ask for an update after, or the topic and give brief input asynchronously. Where to find and follow Valentina: You can learn more about Valentina's work at TheRemoteEmpire.com and she has an in depth, cohort based course on remote leadership here.

How does the marketing team at Bigtincan use intent data to influence and close deals? This week on the Inbound Success podcast, Bigtincan CMO Rusty Bishop breaks down the mechanics behind the company's account-based marketing (ABM) campaigns, including the tech stack they're using, and the nitty gritty details behind their intent data. Rusty says most companies look to intent platforms to solve their ABM challenges, but wind up spending a lot of money for poor results. In this episode, he gets into detail on the advanced keyword strategies Bigtincan is using to build an intent data set that they can then use to target in-market buyers. The results have been impressive. For every dollar Rusty's team spends on display, they influence more than $107,000 in pipeline, and more than $27,000 in closed won deals. Check out the full episode to learn how they do it. (Transcript has been edited for clarity.) Resources from this episode: Check out the Bigtincan website Connect with Rusty on LinkedIn Transcript Kathleen (00:02): Welcome back to the inbound success podcast. I am your host, Kathleen Booth. And today my guest is Rusty Bishop, who is the CMO of Bigtincan. Welcome to the podcast, Rusty. I am dying to know the story behind the company name. So let's start with having you make a quick introduction of yourself because I also, I'm going to scoop you a little bit and just say for my guests who are listening, this is going to be fascinating because Rusty has the software company, but he has been a biochemist. He's a guitar player. He's got a fascinating background. So stay tuned to hear about it. Rusty, tell us more about yourself and then also what Bigtincan is and how it got that name. Rusty (01:01): You got it. So my background, so yeah, after undergrad, I did get a PhD in biochemistry and molecular genetics studying infectious disease research for a big part of my research came out here to Southern California, to the university of California, San Diego, to do post-doctoral research and ended up being on the faculty and staff here in San Diego for about 12 years. So I did about 15 years of biomedical research in my past life. I am no longer consider myself a scientist, although I think it does probably color everything I do for certain. After that I did, I started a company with a guy named Mark Walker, who is the head of sales at a company called Invitrogen which went on to become Thermo Fisher, one of the largest life sciences companies in the world. And then we started a company based on the idea that when, when I was in the lab, when I was a researcher salespeople would come into our lab. Rusty (01:55): And that was back in the days where you could actually walk in the labs. You can't do that in more, they're all locked down, but they could literally just walk in and they'd be like, Hey, I'm from this company and I want to sell you some stuff. And they would literally break out a paper catalog and try to sell us stuff. And I, you know, at that point iPad was coming out, iPhone was coming out and we just thought, there's gotta be a better way. Mark and I created a company called FatStax which was geared and focused towards sellers, mostly in the life sciences space, those people who were coming to me and as a scientist and trying to sell me things that, that went very well. We had a great exit to Bigtincan in 2018, and I've been there ever since. And I became the CMO less than a week and a half ago. Rusty (02:41): I worked under our previous CMO who is still here as the president of the company and kind of fought my way up to being the CMO. So marketing is relatively new for me. All of that, totally new. I've been doing it for years as a founder. And of course, you know, here at Bigtincan running marketing for about two years. Kathleen (02:58): Love it. Rusty (02:59): Yeah. Lots of weird science stuff in my background. And as you did note, I was a professional musician for about two years before all of that. So it's been a wild ride I'm multitalented guy. I like that. I like to do lots of things. Kathleen (03:14): So tell me how the company got its name. Rusty (05:24): Great question. Everyone asks that. So it reminds me that that's actually a pretty memorable name. So the company was found in Australia. And the original concept behind the company was, was when iPad applications were something that people actually wanted. So that the idea was that I'd take all of your content and put it into an iPad application and the original founders, David King, who's our current CEO always talked about how people have this thing where they're communicate through string cans and how that you lose the communication. So they had the idea that if you put everything into the big team can, then you could communicate effectively across your company. So that was the original origin story. Now, of course, that was in Australia with two guys standing and above a coffee shop in Sydney. So what the real name is, I really don't know. So we'll, we'll leave it at that for now. That's how I got his name. And it's been his name for ever since then, publicly traded on the Australian stock exchange. If you want to go learn more about us as a company, there's everything you could ever want to know is right there. I love Kathleen (06:21): That story. And I definitely, when I was little, definitely connected to tin cans with a string and tried to talk through it, it was a terrible communication method. I will say it doesn't work. It's sort of like a myth, right? Like whoever did that successfully, I don't know. Right. So switching, switching gears, you you've, you know, I love that you bring this sort of brain of a scientist to the way you're doing marketing and you and I talked a little bit before we did the interview about some of the things you're working on. And I was really fascinated hearing you talk about what you guys are doing with intent data and how you're taking this very scientific approach to figuring out, you know, what, what you're going to search for within your intent data platforms to turn up results that are actually going to be meaningful. So let's back up and start with tell me what you're using intent data for in the first place. Rusty (07:18): Okay. Yeah. Good question. So I'll start with one thing which I want to clarify. I'm sure that everyone that listens to your podcast knows this already, but intent software is not ABM. Everyone seems to get that a little backwards here, especially in our company. They're like, yeah, we're just doing ABM and no, you're not. You're using an ad platform to detect intent out there in the world. So, so what do we, what do we use it for? So we are attempting to detect in market accounts at various stages, we have three different product lines that we can either sell together here on Bigtincan, or we can sell them separately. We also go to market in various verticals and the reason we needed an intent tool was because the amount of keywords that someone could enter into Google to find what we do or to solve their problems more accurately was astronomical. So the chances of us, you know, properly making our website SEO for all those keywords was approaching zero. And so in order to detect all those accounts out there in market, we we do 6Sense and we chose 6Sense. I don't know if that matters, not to the users. I think they all do very similar things. So our methodology from day one was can we detect virtually every account in market using this type of software and is in combination with other things like G2 and other intent data. Kathleen (08:45): So just out of curiosity, you mentioned you chose 6Sense. Why that platform over any other ones? Rusty (08:53): You know, it's funny, I had a feeling you were going to ask me that and I tried to go back and look, and that's a year and remember why we chose 6Sense. I think at the end of the day, it was the combination of ease of use for us as well as the second part of 6Sense, which is the ability to do predictive. And that is, you know, once we know and we detected these accounts are in market and they're searching for certain things, and they're also making certain choices with you guys, Bigtincan, there might be opening emails or 15 people that account are doing certain actions. We can now begin to predict how well those accounts are going to move through the funnel and if they are going to close and should we be working them or not? Rusty (09:32): We're about a year into building our predictive model. I will not say it's a quick process, but it's something I really wanted to get to core science brain. You know, how can we build something that would predict whether we should work these accounts or not, and you know, where we should put more activities from a marketing side. And so that was the ultimate reason we chose 6 cents. You know, in hindsight, I don't know if there's any real reason to choose one over the other, they all except for go and listen to, and really think about what it is that your company needs to achieve with these platforms. That's the key. All the sales people are really good by the way. Oh my gosh. Like, and that space, it must be really intense because the salespeople are all excellent and they will show you stuff that will blow your mind. And you'll absolutely think that this is the greatest thing ever. And you're going to look like a rockstar when you get demo these platforms. And to me, that's sort of like, it triggers one of my middle models, which when I start thinking software is going to make me look like a rockstar, I should probably stop and back up and realize it's not true. Kathleen (10:32): Yeah. The tool is almost never the solution. Exactly. Yeah. So, so you're, you're using a platform to collect intent data, to look for in market accounts. And then before we dive into exactly how you're setting your platform up, I just want to talk through, like, once you get that data back and it flags these accounts, how are you, how are you adding that into your marketing workflow? Speaker 3 (10:57): The Rusty (10:57): Variety of different weights. It depends on where we detect them in the, in the funnel. You know, if we detect them high in the funnel, like they're just coming into awareness that they have a problem. We're mostly just doing marketing. We're mostly doing, you know, ads, LinkedIn ads and those types of things. If we're detecting them far down the funnel based on our predictive model and what they're searching for, I mean, we're going to be doing seriously active outreach. We might have salespeople going after them. We'll be using things like Alice to send them gifts, to make, have them have a conversation with us. We're reaching out to our partners. We partnered with apple, which is a great go to market model for us and seeing if they're working with them. So it really just depends on where they are in the funnel when we, you know, realize that, you know, sometimes they come into funnel really fast. You'll just see a flurry of activity. And so we can, you know, we have a person, I have a person on that team, Tyler who full time monitors, what's going on in six sense. And then, you know, we do a lot of things automated, but some of it's still manual like, oh my gosh, these guys are hot, get, get, break the process and let's go. Right. So it really just depends on where we detect them. Kathleen (12:00): Nice. All right. So, so let's dig into it. So you've got, you make the decision to get one, get an intent platform and, and you're right. I do think there is a tendency for marketers to look at these platforms and think that they're going to be some sort of a magic bullet. Like I'm going to put it in, I'm going to login my account and the leads are gonna rain down on me. Right. so from, based on my conversations with you, I understand that that is not the case. So walk me through the process that you use to figure out how to get the right data out. Yeah, Rusty (12:34): No problem. So the first thing I'll point out is that, so when you demo these platforms, the most of the time, they're going to ask you for a keyword list so that they can show you what your data looks like in their platform. And this it's really powerful, actually the way that I would demo it the same way now. So there's a mistake there that it will, I will caution all, anybody who's listening on, which is this, your keywords from your website is probably what you're going to give them. Right? You have all of us have like a data dump of SEO keywords we're going after. You're already ranking for a lot of those terms. You already detecting a lot of people that are searching for those terms. So you're not going to find people far off in the market or far down in market. Rusty (13:10): You're not going to be able to segment a buyer, a group of buyers with your SEO keyless. But that is when you typically turn these things on, it's already in there for you. And so you think right out of the gate, wow, we're already doing great. We're detecting all of these companies all these types of things. So, you know, for us, it took us maybe like two or three months before we realized this is not showing us in mark. It's showing us some in-market accounts, but it was nowhere near the universe. So my first recommendation is figure out a way to get a baseline. So, you know, but coming from my science background, you always need something that is, you know, zero, you need something that, am I going to get an improvement, or am I going to get a negative out of this? Rusty (13:49): Right. And that's the way that baseline is. I don't know what baseline might be for your listeners scaffolding. Right? So for us, we get something like G2 where you say, okay, G2, tell us how many people you think are in market. Right? And we might go to Forrester or to another analyst and say, how many, what is the total Tam of, for our market? And then we kind of do some back of the hand envelope kind of math and say, well, we think this many companies should be in market today. Now, if you're a giant company that could be, you know, a hundred of thousands of buyers, if you're very focused company, that might be only 150, 200 people. So knowing a baseline to me is critical because the is going to spit out numbers a hundred percent a good rule of thumb. I like to think about this. If your Tam is a billion dollars over the next five years, right. I seriously doubt $200 million worth as in market. Yeah. Unless Kathleen (14:40): There's a ton of churn for every solution out there. Rusty (14:42): Yeah. This is like massive. Like there's always outliers, but like, so just, you know, do some, some real back of the envelope, like, you know, smell, test kind of thing, where you say is this, like, could this many people possibly be out there trying to buy what we sell? So that helps first. And then the next phase, I would say segmentation. So for us, we took the very simple segmentation, which was, you know, on the top level, the buying stages for us that's awareness, which we defined as aware they have a problem. Okay. The second one is consideration, which means they're figuring out they have a problem. And the thinking that what we sell might be one of the things they could solve it with. The next one is decision pretty obvious, right? They've already decided this thing can solve my problem. You know, now I'm looking at the various offerings that are out there and of course the last one is purchased. Rusty (15:28): So for each one of those what we did is we built a spreadsheet and that's when she had a list of modifiers and then a list of keywords. So let me unpack that for you first, give me some examples and understand what you mean. Here's an example. So I I don't give anything away. I love Peloton. I'm all about it. I ride every day. I could be their marketer tomorrow, if you're hiring, let me know. But so let's just use like a Peloton as an example. Right. So if I'm coming into awareness, okay. I might be searching for things like exercise programs. I might be searching for gyms near me. I might be searching for home gyms. Right. So I might not be actually searching for Peloton. Right. And so the things that I would add as modifiers there, especially for companies that generally sell things that people were trying to solve a problem, or have a pain they'll be searching for modifiers, like solve, troubleshoot, decrease, increase you know, and you build a full list of those modifiers. Okay. So with them, you're going to have all of your, you know, your actual terms that someone could be solving the pain for. So let's say the pain is right. Like I'm, I need to exercise more. Right. So like increase my exercise. You could, and now you just cross reference those two lists into your total list for your world of awareness. Kathleen (16:45): Yeah. That's interesting. So it sounds like if I understand you correctly, it sounds like when you first start out, you're probably going to want to upload all of what I would term your highest intent keywords. And those are the ones that are going to create the greatest amount of overlap with the prospects you already have in your database. Speaker 3 (17:09): Okay. Good. Accurate. Okay. So then Kathleen (17:13): It's the modifiers or another words like making the search strings a little bit more long tail that produce the best results. Do you do any research behind like search volume or anything like that when you do that? Or is it really just intuitive? Rusty (17:28): So we took a different tack. So we, we tried to do some search volume research long tail, just doesn't it just doesn't register enough in SCM rush or a Google analytics or any other things that are out there. So we were trying to, as I told you, our goal was to detect as many in-market accounts as possible. It was not to detect the companies that are hottest today. Right. So, you know, therefore what we decided to do, which could be completely different for you or for anyone else who's doing. This is effectively, you know, we want to increase the world so that we cash long tail, right. In LA by long tail. We mean that one person out there who's searching for that one thing, which we solve for. But when you have lots of different offerings, like Bigtincan has, there's a lot of things that we solve for, right. Rusty (18:11): So there's probably a hundred different pain points that we can go in and work with on a customer. So the modifiers give you, if you could imagine, you have to put yourself in your buyer's shoes, I'm sitting down at my computer, I'm going to put something in the magic, Google search bar. I have no idea what I'm looking for, but I know that I want to get more exercise. Right. And somehow I've got to get from getting more exercise to Peloton Peloton marketer. Right. So then in each, so that's that's where the modifier thing, this gives you the world of possible, right? Cause you're going to be running this platform me around just because someone's not searching for it today. Doesn't mean they won't search for it tomorrow or the next day or the next day. So Kathleen (18:49): You put, so you put your keywords in then with the modifiers and then what it comes Rusty (18:56): A segment. Right. So we might have an awareness segment. Okay. Let's just take that one, for example. And then, which has a giant list of keywords and their modifiers. So we're trying to find people that are searched. So when someone let's say they're searching for, you know, increase daily exercise, I'll go back to the Peloton example. Immediately we know if we get information from them down the line, they come to our website, et cetera, they were searching for that originally. So their original pain was that. So that gives us the basis for all of that. But then that becomes a segment, right? So then the next step is the further, make it take your segments out. So you might have verticals, you might have geographies, you might have. Well, however it is that you go to market. So now I might have a segment that say, you know, people in, you know, California that are looking to increase their daily exercise. So you just keep taking your segments out further and further until your segments make sense for the way that your team goes to market. Speaker 3 (19:54): Interesting. Yeah. And, Kathleen (19:56): And how did that manifest in terms of the flow of leads coming into your go to market strategy? How long did it take also? Oh, that's a great question. That's, that's a very deep, that's a multi-part question, tackle it in whatever order makes sense. How about that? Rusty (20:14): How long did it take? So you will literally begin to detect things almost instantaneously. Right. But especially if you have a broad enough net, okay. Now what will scare you, right. Is when one of the, some of the things that happened immediately, once we did this, right, was we had salespeople having the mind blown moment, which is like, oh my God, my biggest account is about to buy our competitor. You know, if we went in, because we of course put all those types of terms in there. Right. So our biggest competitor plus pricing. And so that is instant. Like you can, you will literally get instant data, right. So if people are searching for it and how do you, that's, Kathleen (20:51): That's super interesting. So how do you tackle that? Rusty (20:54): It's by priority, right? So if, I think, I think we all know if someone is already in purchase phase, you're probably not going to knock them off your competitor. Right. if someone is, you know, up and maybe just coming into decision, or they're just into consideration phase, then it's, you know, you, you prioritize those over the other ones for outreach, everything else you tackle with marketing, with ads or emails and those types of things. So as, Kathleen (21:18): As the head of marketing, when you have these different leads and some of them are very top of the funnel, as you pointed out their awareness stage, some are more middle and bottom of the funnel, how you parse it, like, are you parsing them all to your sales team? Or are you putting some of them into marketing nurturing? Like, how are you tackling that? Okay. So Rusty (21:38): Two things here. So w you do not, you do not detect leads, you detect accounts really important. I thought, I thought this too. I thought I was going to get a ton of leads. You do get a ton of leads, but you got to know how to go look for them, right. So you gotta build a step. And we actually built this up. So when when account reaches a certain threshold for us, you know, on our predictability scale they immediately go out to a third party that we've hired. That's, LeadGenius probably shouldn't give that away, but whatever. And then they go and pull the names of the leads based on criteria that we give them an advance that comes back into Salesforce, and then we start our outreach. So that's the way we get an actual lead from it. And back up there, I forgot the first part of your question. I apologize, Kathleen (22:23): Really a long, how are you parsing it out to your sales team or are you putting them into marketing, nurturing flows? Exactly. So Rusty (22:30): Parsing out to the sales team is when they come down into the later phases, like bottom, bottom end of our predicting their consideration or decision phase, those would actually so we actually took 6 cents to the next level and bought the piece that goes into Salesforce so that our sellers have access at the account level and they have a 6Sense dashboard so that they can choose accounts to go after and we actually encourage them to do so. Our SDRs also have been trained on how to, you know, when they run out of inbound, which is very rare, but when they run up inbound to go and look for, you know, in market accounts to go out and do outcome for so very everything at the top end, we're using display ads through 6Sense or through other platforms to, again, try to, to move them down. The funnel is a way that I would look at it, right. So how do we engage these people that we've detected, who've hit the awareness phase and give them things that they might be interested in so that they come down into consideration and begin to see Bigtincan as a, as a viable solution for their problems. Kathleen (23:35): And what specifically needs to happen for somebody to cross the line from, or somebody, some company to cross the line from an account that is in your ad, nurturing to an account that you think is really ready for sales outreach. Like what indicators are you looking at? Rusty (23:52): I'm looking for multiple people, which you can detect in these platforms by IP address across the organization, searching for the right types of terms. That could be into very, you know, let's say there's multiple in consideration, there's several in decision. You know, that are hitting our search terms that we've specified you know, visiting our website is using indicator that they have at least figured out that we have something that could solve their problem. So the trigger generally, it, it I'm being vague because it's all set in our predictive model and it immediately notifies us when someone has tripped a certain number of the triggers that we've given it to say, all right, you know, there's X number of people at this company doing this there, you know, three people have come to the website, they've gone past the homepage. You know, one of them hit the pricing page at that point. You know, if someone hasn't reached out, I'm probably getting upset. Yeah. Kathleen (24:44): So tell me about results. Like, we talked a little bit about how this isn't a really super fast thing to get stood up. You've been, and you've been setting this up for how long and, and using it for how long? Rusty (24:56): It's a great question. So I'd say we did not use it properly for about a year, which is why, hopefully this is helpful to people so that getting this right out of the gate could save you a lot of time. But once I, once I feel like we had a good up and running, we probably had a completely running inside of Salesforce, entire system. Like we want it since January. Okay. Let's call it eight months, seven, eight months at this point right now as, as a simple measure, right? So for the first time ever, we're, we've detected more in market accounts, then G2 tells us are in account in market. So that was, that was a signal that I wanted to get to. So I wanted to say, all right, if people are going to G2 and things like that, right. I realize that you have marketers may not use YouTube. Rusty (25:44): It's the review side for software, if you don't. So the people that go there are looking for specific things, right? I realized that once we went over that, that we hit a threshold of in-market, that was, was bigger than what we could get from other sources. So then we look at like results. So right now for about every dollar that we spend on display we're influencing $107,000 of pipeline. Wow. In our upper part. And for every dollar we display, we're closing one about 27,000. Wait, say that last part again, we're closing one close won. For every dollar we spend on display 27,000. 27,000 influenced by our platform. Kathleen (26:34): For every dollar you spend on display, you are- Rusty (26:39): Influencing a $107,000 of pipeline, and we're influencing $27,000 closed won over the last six months, per month. Kathleen (26:49): Got it. Got it. Sorry. It took a minute there. Wow. That's great. That's great. Rusty (26:55): Those are, you know, that's our average right now. So for me, I, I gotta be really happy with that. Kathleen (27:02): Has it reduced the amount of outbound prospecting that you needed to do? Rusty (27:09): Not at all. In fact it increases your outbound. Kathleen (27:13): Just because you have a larger kind of target list to work? Rusty (27:17): Yeah. You have a larger target list. The level of complexity that adds is you also have to train your outreach teams where their SDRs are salespeople to how to do outreach by looking at what people are searching for. So it, it does add a level of complexity, but what I like about it is one of the things that truly hate is when people try to personalize things for me and they just go out and say like, Hey man, you play guitar. That's cool. Like you want to buy our stuff? And that's not cool. Rusty (27:48): That's not good outreach. Right. What good outreach is, you know, I've noticed that people at your company are searching for these types of things. These types of problems generally indicate this, you know, would you be interested in talking about a possible solution? That's good outreach, right? So training your teams, how to do good outreach is harder. But so does it, you asked me, did it decrease the amount of outbound, the answers? No. it, it effectively increases it. Right? Cause you're detecting more accounts than market. Kathleen (28:16): What impact did it have on inbound pipeline? Rusty (28:19): That's a good, I don't know. I don't know the answer. Kathleen (28:22): I mean, I would think it would increase it because if you're targeting ads at those people and at least presumably it would, it would result in more inbounds. Rusty (28:30): Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't have that. I don't have that on my dashboard. I'm looking at currently, but I will definitely go look at it. Cause it does make sense that logically if, you know, you were, they were getting, becoming engaged with your brand, that they would eventually comment and be an inbound in some way. Yeah. Kathleen (28:46): So if somebody is starting down this path now, like let's say they purchase an intent platform, kind of like you did. What would be your top three pieces of advice for somebody who's starting today? Rusty (29:01): Top three. Wow. That's a good question. I love it. I think the first one is make sure that your customer facing teams know what to do with the intent data. And that means you, you probably actually need to go and build actual messaging for them. Rusty (29:25): Because they it's, we as marketers know, I think we sort of, if you're running a campaign or you're doing detection and you're developing these keywords lists, you kind of intuitively know what, how people should be out doing outreach, but your customer facing teams don't so that's, that was a big one, right? Because they'll go, yeah, they're in market and they'll just reach out with, Hey, do you want to buy herself? You've ruined your chance. Right. You blew it. So I think that's probably number one. Number two is what we talked about with the whole segmentation stuff is don't failing to take into account the long tail is probably one of the bigger mistakes that I think that you could make. Now, look, if you're one of these companies or just as magic product product that you can sell it, you can go to tech then 10 and go to town. Rusty (30:09): Right. But if you're not, if you're a person out there working for a company that solves problems for people that they don't necessarily know that your solution can solve it, then that long tail is really going to help you. Yeah. Final piece, not refining regularly. I mean, you have to constantly refine. I'll give you an example of that. So when we first turned it on our platform on pre COVID one of our SEO terms was remote learning. So as you can imagine, that's sitting there in our 6sense platform, right. So what happened with COVID? Do you know how many people search for remote learning and how can we distinguish that from someone who was looking for learning software, right. A much better modifier you know, sales, learning software, and even much better modifier. Right. Then everyone who was sitting there trying to figure it out at work, how I'm going to train the kids, get them in school. Right. So you'll, you'll get these without we're finding constantly you, you run to a ton of false positives and the false positives are really bad. Right? Cause they'll make you reach out to people who are in market. And you know, I don't, I don't see any reason to blind, like email people. It's not something I do or we do. I guess it works for some people, but it doesn't work for me. Kathleen (31:22): So how often are you refining? Oh, we never stop. We take a look at it weekly, monthly. Rusty (31:29): I mean, we have a person who's about half of his job is to run that platform and to do account based marketing on top of it. Right. Not just run the platform, but so the reason I say that is we go to market vertically and the words that various verticals use to describe things are dramatically different. And our sales people will hear those words right. On a demo or on a sales call. And they might come back and say, Hey, you know, so-and-so was talking about this thing called e-detailing. And I'm like, I don't even know what that is. Well, it's the same thing as what we're doing right now, except for it's what happens when a salesperson talks to a doctor. Right. But then there might be another 50 terms that are associated with e-detailing, for example, that you also need to add that, or you're going to hear about and you know, analysts are changing the way they talk about things all the time, easy solution right there. The way that your competitors, right? What are they writing in their books? What are they saying? All of a sudden they change their messaging. I mean, you gotta be constantly refining it. I mean, I'd love to say we have a process where every week we're refining. Rusty (32:33): One of our mantras around here is if you see something, say something and people are very good about it because we're all remote, like everybody else. And just, yeah. And you got to yeah, basically. Yeah. These days yeah, yeah. Bigtincan's all over the world and everyone's mostly remote. So slack is a great tool and training your people, right? If you see something, say something and that refines your keyword list and these tools. So you said for three, you know. Kathleen (33:03): You got me three, I love it. And I put you on the spot with that one. Rusty (33:07): One more, which I'll go for it. The fourth one which is don't just blindly measure intent around your competitors. You will get really freaked out, like really fast. What do you mean by that? So let's say you just, you just entered a competitor's name as one of your search terms, which you're going to do. Like, I promise you if you installed DemandBase or 6Sense, that's the first thing you would put in there, like how many people are searching for my competitor. But you have to realize that when people enter your competitor's name in the search bar, like 80% of those are their users are there. People who've already bought their stuff. So you got to get just blindly getting freaked out about competitors. Names and intent is, is not good business practice. But once you use your modifiers, now you can start to get, now you start breaking those competitors down. Right. And figuring out what people are actually doing. Right? Kathleen (33:54): Yeah. I could definitely see where people would start to get spun up by that. Rusty (33:57): Or for the fourth one. But that one actually, that's a good one. Kathleen (34:03): All right. So we're going to switch gears and there's two questions. I always ask my guests. So I'd love to hear your answers. The first being, of course, this podcast is all about inbound marketing. Is there a particular company or an individual that you think is really studying the standard for what it means to be a great inbound marketer these days? Rusty (34:19): Wow. You know, I knew you were going to ask me this question and I went and listened to some of your podcasts and I thought about it. So I want to give you somebody that's unusual that you might not have gotten. So one of my favorite people in the world is Tim Ferris, Tim gets so many inbound requests that he has an automatic responder that denies them all okay. On everything he publishes. He says, don't contact me because I won't contact you back. So if you had to set a gold standard for inbound, I think that's probably it, you know? So what does that let's unpack that, right. So what I'm not saying is you got to be famous to be a great inbound marketer. What I'm saying is you've got to create something that's so valuable that you had so much inbound that you're fighting it away. I think that's that to me is kind of an interesting bar to set. Now, the other side of that bar is like, that's Kathleen (35:11): Such a, it's a very high bar to hit though. Rusty (35:15): It is. But I think that we all get caught up into, I need to create this stuff so that people will click on it and download it. And it's not valuable. At Bigtincan we talk about valuable buying experiences every day? It's one of our reasons to be it's written on everything we do. We tell everyone about it. And I don't think it's very viable to send, you know, email. One, have you heard of this email. Two didn't you respond email. Three let's break up. You know, so I set the standard up there. Like we should be creating content that's so valuable that people are breaking down the door to get it now, are we doing it yet? No, but we're sure going to track. So that comes example, that example I've been studying a lot lately is Qualtrics. And the reason I've been studying them is I think that their Play Bigger move. I'll put that in air quotes to move from surveys to XM as a category is fascinating. And the way that they became a category and did inbound around that, it was just amazing. If you ever get a chance to read their 10K that they put out when they went public, it's just absolute messaging clinic. It really is there anything to read their 10K, but it is a message clinic. I mean, it's just awesome. Kathleen (36:24): Now I'm super curious. I got to go hunt that down. Rusty (36:26): Yeah. So a couple of unusual things. There's so many people doing great inbound. I mean, you interview them every day. So I think those are two unusual ones. Kathleen (36:39): Yeah. Those are some good ones. And I'm dying now to read the Qualtrics 10K. You've piqued my interest with that one. Rusty (36:45): Well, when you make a decision to be a category, you gotta, man, you gotta do it. Kathleen (36:52): A lot of people give big lip service to it and very few are able to really make it happen. So those are always interesting case studies to look at. Second question is, you know, marketers tend to tell me that their biggest challenge is just staying on top of everything. That's changing all the time in the world of marketing, particularly with digital. So are there particular sources that you rely on to keep yourself educated on the cutting edge, et cetera? Rusty (37:18): Yeah. I am not a cutting edge guy. I don't know about that. Just in time person, which means, you know and I don't mean that in a way to like give you a flippant answer, but like, you know, if we need to figure out why our segments aren't working in 6Sense, right. I'll go and search like crazy and find the blog on their website, which talks about that as opposed to staying on top of the most modern stuff. I mean that being that, so my mental mode is more to read books. And I read absolutely voraciously, take notes. My, I tell my wife all the time, if I died, just sell the Evernote, it's going to be, it's worth more than we are. But so, but there's like a couple of things that constantly refer back to so one, four hour workweek by Tim Ferriss. Rusty (38:04): I'll just say it again. I love him to death. I think it's the way it should work. I love Designing Brand Identity by Lena Wheeler. I go back to it. I feel like every day when we're doing brand here at Bigtincan. Monetizing Innovation. I get asked about pricing all the time and segmentation of products. That book is the Bible. I probably have, I feel like a broken my Kindle reader, trying to go back and forth to it back in time. And the last one is On Writing Well by William Zinter. Probably my most favorite book on how to write. My team all the time, writing things and creating content. And they're always saying, how do I get better? And I say, this is the Bible effectively. So those four books I realized that's not how to stay on top of modern marketing. Kathleen (38:44): No, that's a great answer. And I love, yeah, I love there were some books in there I've never heard of. And I too, I'm a big book reader, as you can see, I'm sure if you're listening, you can't see this, but I, I always, in my interviews, I'm always sitting in front of my bookshelf that has all the books that I love in it. And they're actually stacked two deep in the shelves that have books. Cause I don't have room for them all. So yeah, no, I love books. And thank you for being specific and mentioning titles and authors. That's great. Yeah. All right. Well, if somebody is listening and they want to reach out and ask you a question or learn more about what you talked about, what is the best way for them to connect with you online? Rusty (39:22): The best way is through Linkedin. It's, it's Rusty Bishop, I'm on LinkedIn. It's pretty obvious who I am. I do react to LinkedIn probably better than anything else. That like most CMOs, I probably get a thousand emails a day. I, I may or may not respond, but yeah, LinkedIn is great. That's the best way. Kathleen (39:39): Fantastic. And if you're listening and you liked this episode, I would love it. If you would head to apple podcasts and leave the podcast a review, and if you know somebody else, who's doing amazing inbound marketing work, tweet me at @workmommywork because I'd love to make them my next guest. Thank you so much for joining me Rusty. Rusty (39:56): Thank you. I enjoyed it. I did too. Thanks.  

Books play an important role in building our competence. But there are so many books. If you go to Amazon and search on any domain, you will get thousands of books. Which one read?Wouldn't some kind of classification help?Elon Musk said we should view knowledge as a semantic tree. We should first understand the fundamental principles, i.e. the trunk and big branches, before we get to the leaves, which are details.Wouldn't you say it is a great metaphor for classifying books?Going by what Elon Musk said, we can classify books into three categories:- Trunk books- Branch books- Leaf booksTrunk books are those that explain the fundamentals of a domain.Ram Charan's What the CEO wants you to know, Steven Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and William Zinsser's On Writing Well are all trunk books.The content of the books remain relevant for decades. So you should probably buy the books in physical form and read and re-read them.Next are branch books.They deal with one area of the field. I talked about William Zinsser's book - On Writing Well. Whether you are writing novel or a business email the principles are applicable. But Christopher Booker's The Seven Basic Plots is specific to fiction writing.There is a book called "Finance for non-finance managers." It doesn't talk about entire finance field, nor about management. It teaches corporate finance to manager. It is a typical branch book.Branch books also remain relevant for many years. So probably you should get them in physical format too.The last ones are the leaf books. A leaf book teaches you a specific skill or a trend. Say Excel 2019 or membership economy. Leaf books teach you all you need to know about an emerging trend. But to build a successful venture out of the trend, you still need trunk and branch knowledge.Leaf books are transient. So it doesn't make sense to buy them. Better to read them through a subscription service like Scribd. Or if you want to support the author, buy as an e-book.You gain from all three types of books - the trunk, the branch, and leaf books.It is possible to start with a leaf book and go down the journey into building trunk knowledge. You might begin with Excel 2019. Because of early success with it, you might become interested in data visualization in Excel and then onto data modeling using it.Even leaf books give you short-term gains. You need to be cautious because you could chase one shiny object after another, never building a strong foundation to a lasting success.If you aspire to stay successful, you should lay a strong foundation on solid principles. Only trunk and branch books teach you those rock-solid principles.Do you agree with this classification?If you liked the episode, hit the subscribe and like buttons. And share with at least one friend.Connect with me: Twitter: https://twitter.com/jjude Website: https://jjude.com/ Newsletter: https://jjude.com/subscribe LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jjude/ Email: podcast@jjude.com Executive Coaching Program: https://gravitaswins.com Thank you for listening. If you enjoy the podcast, would you please leave a short review on Apple podcast? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in finding this podcast. And it boosts my spirits.

On Writing Well by William Zinsser (1922-2015) is one of the best books on nonfiction writing. In 300 pages, it goes over writing principles, methods, forms, and attitudes. Zinsser was a master of writing, and one of the people who taught writing with gusto. He leaves an immense legacy, having influenced an entire generation of writers. In this episode, I read some excerpts from the “Principles” section in On Writing Well to give you an idea of the golden pieces of advice you'll find in this book. You can get your copy of On Writing Well here.Join The Word Leader Facebook Community to learn more about writing, connect with like-minded fellows, and get support in your writing journey.

This week the Buddies discuss their experiences moving, the importance of not living in your head, and what it means to have pride. Share with a friend!Recommendations: Man From UNCLE stories (1960's magazines/books), Jay Foreman (Youtube Channel), On Writing Well (book by William Zinsser)

Testing JavaScript Applications by Lucas da Costa (Coupon for 40% off: podjsjabber19) Lucas da Costa literally wrote the book on testing JavaScript. He's also maintainer on ChaiJS and Sinon. The podcast follows a three part structure for testing: Entrance tests, integration tests, and structural tests. These form a pyramid of testing that has the entrance tests at the base and the structural and system tests at the top. The episode also covers TDD and approaches to different kinds of JavaScript testing. Panel AJ O’Neal Aimee Knight Steve Edwards Guest Lucas da Costa Sponsors Audible.com Raygun | Click here to get started on your free 14-day trial Links Testing JavaScript Applications book Lucas' Website Lucas' Terminal Guide Why Flat Earthers are Bad at QA Picks Lucas - HiDPI (Retina) on any display Lucas - RDM: Lucas - Quartz Debug (XCode Additional Tools) Aimee - Vanilla-todo AJ - iTerm2 AJ - Fish Shell AJ - Cloud Encabulator link Steve - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRupqYXNUVw Lucas - The Sense of Style by Steven Pinker (Audiobook) Lucas - On Writing Well Lucas - Actionable Agile Metrics For Predictability: An Introduction Lucas - https://github.com/neovim/neovim Testing JavaScript Applications by Lucas da Costa (Coupon for 40% off: podjsjabber19) 

Testing JavaScript Applications by Lucas da Costa (Coupon for 40% off: podjsjabber19) Lucas da Costa literally wrote the book on testing JavaScript. He's also maintainer on ChaiJS and Sinon. The podcast follows a three part structure for testing: Entrance tests, integration tests, and structural tests. These form a pyramid of testing that has the entrance tests at the base and the structural and system tests at the top. The episode also covers TDD and approaches to different kinds of JavaScript testing. Panel AJ O’Neal Aimee Knight Steve Edwards Guest Lucas da Costa Sponsors Audible.com Raygun | Click here to get started on your free 14-day trial Links Testing JavaScript Applications book Lucas' Website Lucas' Terminal Guide Why Flat Earthers are Bad at QA Picks Lucas - HiDPI (Retina) on any display Lucas - RDM: Lucas - Quartz Debug (XCode Additional Tools) Aimee - Vanilla-todo AJ - iTerm2 AJ - Fish Shell AJ - Cloud Encabulator link Steve - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRupqYXNUVw Lucas - The Sense of Style by Steven Pinker (Audiobook) Lucas - On Writing Well Lucas - Actionable Agile Metrics For Predictability: An Introduction Lucas - https://github.com/neovim/neovim Testing JavaScript Applications by Lucas da Costa (Coupon for 40% off: podjsjabber19) 

Testing JavaScript Applications by Lucas da Costa (Coupon for 40% off: podjsjabber19) Lucas da Costa literally wrote the book on testing JavaScript. He's also maintainer on ChaiJS and Sinon. The podcast follows a three part structure for testing: Entrance tests, integration tests, and structural tests. These form a pyramid of testing that has the entrance tests at the base and the structural and system tests at the top. The episode also covers TDD and approaches to different kinds of JavaScript testing. Panel AJ O’Neal Aimee Knight Steve Edwards Guest Lucas da Costa Sponsors Audible.com Raygun | Click here to get started on your free 14-day trial Links Testing JavaScript Applications book Lucas' Website Lucas' Terminal Guide Why Flat Earthers are Bad at QA Picks Lucas - HiDPI (Retina) on any display Lucas - RDM: Lucas - Quartz Debug (XCode Additional Tools) Aimee - Vanilla-todo AJ - iTerm2 AJ - Fish Shell AJ - Cloud Encabulator link Steve - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRupqYXNUVw Lucas - The Sense of Style by Steven Pinker (Audiobook) Lucas - On Writing Well Lucas - Actionable Agile Metrics For Predictability: An Introduction Lucas - https://github.com/neovim/neovim Testing JavaScript Applications by Lucas da Costa (Coupon for 40% off: podjsjabber19) 

E21: Tom Crane is China Construction America's Head of Shared Services and Vice President of Human Resources & Communications. The parent company is the largest construction company in the world. He forms and provides operational management of the organization's Shared Services Center functions, while increasing their long-term strategic and operational effectiveness, efficiency and speed of delivery. Tom is also a member of the board of directors of Plaza Group Holdings, LLC. He previously served as Chief Human Resources Officer at Skanska USA, where he led a 70-person team and $19 million budget and played a key role in Skanska USA achieving an 85%+ employee engagement level and limiting voluntary salaried employee turnover to 12% per year. He served as Director of Media Relations for Honeywell. He holds a bachelor's degree in Communications from Temple University. Tom's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasbcrane (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasbcrane) WHAT YOU'LL DISCOVER: ●     Why a background in journalism and communications can provide a strategic advantage in the C-Suite. ●     How to influence others through your writing. ●     What Tom learned working as executive leader for three companies on three continents. ●     The moment Tom learned to write under pressure when the stock price was at stake. ●     The mental shift you must make to become an effective communicator. ●     How to improve your communication by identifying patterns in others. ●     What Tom learned from former Honeywell CEO, Larry Bossidy, about leadership. ●     The “grassroots” approach to selling your idea to the C-Suite. ●     The key for having tough conversations at work. ●     When employee turnover is okay and when it's not. ●     The most important data points you should track when it comes to employee turnover. ●     How a single relationship Tom built early in his career transformed into a big opportunity.  ●     How employees from under-represented groups can rise to the C-Suite. HIGHLIGHTS: Things to know when writing an email: ●     Your mission. ●     Your strategy. ●     Your intent. ●     Your audience. Then bring all those things together. Traits Tom would instill in every employee: ●     Self-awareness. ●     Spending more time thinking about the bigger picture ●     Accountability and responsibility for the whole process even though you only have a part of it. Tom's advice for employees from the underrepresented groups in C-Suite: ●     Establish a mentor relationship, both inside and outside of the company. ●     Stay focused of what you can produce the best. ●     Socialize your ideas. ●     Don't be afraid to be visible. ●     Let people know that you have an opinion. QUOTES: “Make it better than you found it.” “We are only the caretakers for the roles we have. That's our legacy.” RESOURCES:  On Writing Well, William K. Zinsserhttps://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548 ( https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548) Crossing the Unknown Sea, David Whyte,https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Sea-Work-Pilgrimage-Identity/dp/1573229148 ( https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Sea-Work-Pilgrimage-Identity/dp/1573229148) Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, Larry...

I recently interviewed Bea Trinidad. Bea is from the Philippines and we met through the On Deck Writer fellowship.Having grown up in Manila, Bea decided to go to university in Australia, where she set up her own restaurant and worked across the advertising and media industry. She is now back in Manila working on her family business in the culinary industry. Bea’s experiences make her a cross-cultural diplomat who has dealt with the true cultural complexities of working both in the East and West.When you hear Bea’s story, you’ll learn a lot about the differences in culture between a place like the Philippines and Australia. The Philippines, like many emerging markets, works differently compared to countries in the West and requires a sophisticated level of cultural understanding in order to get business done. It’s also important to consider that Philippines is heavily influenced by Latin culture, which is unique compared to other Asian countries. A large part of our conversation revolved around this topic! What did we talk about?The biggest business opportunities and coolest companies in the PhilippinesComparing business and life in the Philippines vs. AustraliaHow Latin culture influences the Philippines in terms of emotion and languageTypical misunderstandings in board rooms, kitchens, and more Crafting brand strategy and messaging in the middle of the coronavirusWhat makes the Philippines a major emerging market opportunityBea’s Recommendations:TV/ Film: The Godfather series, Rocky, The Queen’s Gambit, The Last DanceBooks: Barbarian Days, On Writing Well, Charles Bukowski, Atomic HabitsAudio: The Art of Happiness, Hollywood’s Bleeding from Post Malone This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit eastwesthurricane.substack.com

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Cheryl Magness, managing editor of the LCMS Reporter, joins Andy and Sarah to talk about what a writer's job actually is, how a writer can make a reader's job easier, and some things that make for good writing. Find these resources mentioned in this episode: George Orwell, “Politics and the English Language” https://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit William Zinsser, On Writing Well https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548 Strunk & White, The Elements of Style https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Style-Fourth-William-Strunk/dp/020530902X The 'Here I Write' Conference for Lutheran Writers was created by Katie Schuermann as a place for Lutheran writers, editors, authors, journalists, preachers, teachers, professionals, novices to come together and learn from each other. It was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we're overjoyed to welcome several of the speakers to our mini-conference on The Coffee Hour! Find all speakers and topics at kfuo.org/hereiwrite.

On Writing Well by William Zinsser + The Elements of Style by William Strunk provided by www.nateliason.com tips on writing…very valuable! —————————————————————

Coronavirus has changed our lives for the foreseeable future. With social distancing a reality, and in a work-from-home world, we're all experiencing "found time." For those of you, and there are many, who aspire to be writers, perhaps now is the time to take your first steps.  In this Podcast, the first of our solo series, I'll share with you steps you can take today to move forward with your writing.  Here are links to the topic expert and books I recommend; - Tune into Jenna Moreci's excellent video series for authors on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jenna+moreci - In my humble opinion, there is no better study on the economy and efficiency of word use than "On Writing Well" by William Zinsser. https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-William-Zinsser-1985-04-30/dp/B01JXOFNHI/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1584473270&sr=8-6 - For a brilliant and thorough treatise on fiction writing, try "Stein on Writing" by Sol Stein - https://www.amazon.com/Stein-Writing-Successful-Techniques-Strategies/dp/0312254210/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=stein+on+writing&qid=1584473476&s=books&sr=1-2 Hope you enjoy! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/dointhething/message

When you want the box seat view of what’s happening across-the-board in American education, you ask Liz Willen, Editor-in-chief at the Hechinger Report. She takes the gloves off for our Enrollhand interview and punches education “jargon” in the jaw, throws a strong right hook at funding cuts in the arts, and gives a head-butt to “innovative” rollouts that fail to garner support or create optimism.Join us as we listen to Hechinger's Liz Willen for a bare-knuckled round of educational enlightenment.Quotes:02:00 “I can’t just blame educators because lawyers do this (use jargon) as well, and business people have a lingo that they use that also leaves others behind.”05:45 “I’m very leery if anyone tells me that they can close the achievement gap.”11:02 “Arts education should be an enormous priority for our country, and yet, it’s often the first thing that gets cut.”14:00 “I think you see pockets of rebellion and a lot of second-guessing of the testing culture throughout the school system.”25:05 “An array of various discussions about what goes wrong (will result) when you try to do something that’s brand new and allegedly innovative, but if people don’t understand it or buy into it, change can be a very difficult and slow-moving process.”Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion:On Writing Well - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0090RVGW0/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1iNACOL - https://www.inacol.orgHechinger Report Articles - https://hechingerreport.org/anatomy-of-a-failure-how-an-xq-super-school-flopped/https://hechingerreport.org/one-mississippi-community-copes-influx-hispanic-students/https://hechingerreport.org/inside-maines-disastrous-roll-out-of-proficiency-based-learning/https://hechingerreport.org/as-states-push-for-news-ways-of-learning-some-kids-and-parents-feel-left-behind/The National Center for Fair and Open Testing - https://www.fairtest.org/Grammy Music Education Coalition - https://grammymusiced.org/Where to learn more about the guest:Liz at Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-willen-5671a38Blog - hechingerreport.org/Twitter - hechingerreportWhere to learn more about Enrollhand:Website: www.enrollhand.comOur webinar: https://webinar-replay.enrollhand.comOur free Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/

Animalz is quickly gaining a reputation for being one of the top content marketing shops in the B2B SaaS world. Here's how they approach content creation... This week on The Inbound Success Podcast, Animalz marketing director Jimmy Daly dives into his process for creating content for Animalz. As the guy in charge of both marketing AND sales for Animalz, he splits his time between marketing/lead generation and closing deals. When he's on sales calls, Jimmy pays close attention to the questions he gets from prospects and turns each of those questions into an article on the Animalz blog. This process has netted strong sales results that the company can track directly back to the individual articles Jimmy creates. This week's episode of The Inbound Success Podcast is brought to you by our sponsor, IMPACT Live,  the most immersive and high energy learning experience for marketers and business leaders. IMPACT Live takes place August 6-7, 2019 in Hartford, Connecticut, and is headlined by Marcus Sheridan along with special guests including world-renowned Facebook marketing expert Mari Smith and Drift CEO and Co-Founder David Cancel. Inbound Success Podcast listeners can save 10% off the price of tickets with the code "SUCCESS."   Click here to learn more or purchase tickets for IMPACT Live Some highlights from my conversation with Jimmy include: Jimmy is responsible for marketing and sales at Animalz, which is a B2B content marketing agency. Because Jimmy is involved in both sales and marketing, he is constantly listening on sales calls for the questions prospects are asking and turning them into articles on the Animalz blog. Jimmy thinks that a lot of marketers do buyer personas wrong and focus too much on creating fictional characters. In his case, he thinks of his audience on a spectrum from tactical to strategic. If he's writing to a tactical audience, that person needs instructions on how to do something. If he's writing to a strategic audience, they need a framework for how to make a big decision.  By focusing on creating content about the questions he gets in the sales process, Jimmy can in some cases attribute three or four deals worth $50,000 to $75,000 to an individual blog article. When new articles are published, Animalz emails them out to its newsletter distribution list, but Jimmy is also a fan of using Tweet storms to gain traction and visibility online. Another form of content that Animalz has seen get strong results for its clients is thought leadership articles. They define thought leadership as essays that express a strong, original point of view. The average new article on the Animalz website gets 3,000 to 5,000 views in the first two months after publication.  Resources from this episode: Save 10% off the price of tickets to IMPACT Live with promo code "SUCCESS" Connect with Jimmy on LinkedIn Follow Jimmy on Twitter Check out the Animalz website Listen to the podcast to learn more about how Jimmy leverages the conversations he's having with sales prospects to build a more effective marketing strategy for Animalz. Transcript Kathleen Booth (Host): Welcome back to the Inbound Success Podcast. I'm Kathleen Booth and I'm your host. And today my guest is Jimmy Daley, who's the marketing director at Animalz. Welcome, Jimmy. Jimmy Daly (Guest): Thanks so much, Kathleen. I'm happy to be here. Jimmy and Kathleen recording this episode together . Kathleen: Yeah, I'm excited to have you here because your agency has come up twice on this podcast before. As my loyal listeners know, I always ask my guests who is doing inbound marketing really well, company or individual, and two times now I've had one of my guests say Animalz. I think most recently it was Barron Caster at rev.com. So whenever I hear that sort of pattern happen, I think I need to talk to that person. Jimmy: That's awesome. That makes my day. Kathleen: Yeah, so I'm glad you're here. And for the listeners, can you just talk a little bit about who you are, your background, as well as what Animalz does? About Jimmy Daly and Animalz Jimmy: Yeah, absolutely. So I'm a longtime B2B content marketer. I've been working in some capacity in content marketing for almost 10 years. I started as a writer, evolved to kind of managing freelancers and other writers, and now as a marketing director at Animalz, I'm responsible for new business. So I'm in charge of marketing the company and then also doing our sales, which has been a very interesting evolution, as I think we'll probably get into a little bit. Jimmy: Animalz is a content marketing agency. Primarily, we work with B2B SaaS companies. We've been around for about four years. We're a distributed team, a fantastic team too, we have some really great people. We work with awesome customers. I feel we've built a model that allows us to hire great people, pay them good salaries, that allows us to create really, really high quality work, which helps us attract fantastic clients. So it's a great system and a really fun place to work. Kathleen: That's great, and obviously, it's contributing to you guys producing great work, because the word on the street is that you're a good agency to work with. Aligning Sales and Marketing Kathleen: One of the things I was fascinated by when you and I first connected is how you talked about, I asked you what was really moving the needle and you talked about some of the ways that you're kind of aligning sales and marketing. Because you kind of are like a one-man sales and marketing team, correct? Jimmy: That is correct, yes. Kathleen: Yeah, and it's funny we talked about- Jimmy: To caveat by saying... Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. It feels unfair to take too much credit for all the amazing business that we get because so much of it is driven by word of mouth. I feel fortunate that in my first role doing sales that we have very low volume requirements, right? We're not like a SaaS company that needs hundreds or thousands of new customers a month. We only need two or three or four for a really fantastic month. Kathleen: Yeah, but it's interesting to me because I think there's a lot of conversations that happen amongst people that work at really large companies about what is the best way to achieve sales and marketing alignment. I think that sometimes the fact that there are just a lot of people involved kind of serves as a barrier to seeing what could be a much simpler and more elegant solution. I liked when you talked about how you address this issue that you could be a larger team doing what you're doing, you just happen to be one guy. It shows how when you're one person and you have to do it all, how you align with yourself. So I want to talk about that a little bit. Jimmy: Yeah, definitely. Well, certainly, it's easier with just one person, right? I'm a writer at heart and so I'm constantly looking for ideas to spark what will be the next blog post for the Animalz blog. Luckily, I get so much of that through our sales process, right? So I spend a lot of time on the phone, meeting potential customers, trying to close deals, onboarding new customers, and that provides me with a lot of fodder for blog posts. Jimmy: We have a very, very lean process where basically I am just constantly observing the things that I'm hearing in those sales calls, and then documenting them on the blog in one form or another. So if I hear two or three different people on a sales call mention a similar thing, then that gets jotted down. That goes in the editorial calendar. There's probably two dozen of those in the editorial calendar right now that have not even been written yet. Actually, one thing I've learned very related to this is that most B2B SaaS companies have very, very similar problems. Because we're so specialized in that niche, it allows us to by speaking to one company, we can speak to almost all of them. Kathleen: Yeah, that's a great point, and it really hits home, because one of the owners of IMPACT is a man named Marcus Sheridan, who has literally written a book called, They Ask You Answer. He wasn't a marketer by trade, he was a pool guy. He had a pool company, and he just started listening to the questions he was getting from customers because he was out on sales calls all the time, and then answering them. The answers that he wrote in the form of blog posts generated a tremendous amount of traffic, leads, and then eventually sales for the company. Now of course he's a marketing speaker and an author. But what I love about that approach and what I so appreciate is it's so elegant in its simplicity. I often say, at least in the case of Marcus, it took a non-marketer to figure out that that was a thing. Jimmy: Yeah, that's so interesting. Kathleen: It's common sense, right? It's solving for the people. If one person has a question, odds are there's like hundreds, if not thousands of them, out there with the same question. They just haven't happened to reach out to you directly to ask it yet. Jimmy: Absolutely. Now that I've had this experience of experiencing the full circle of someone finding a blog post, reaching out, talking through problems, realizing there's another blog post to be written that sparked someone else to reach out, et cetera, et cetera, I, thinking back on previous jobs, realized that I hadn't spent hardly any time talking to customers. I was just so focused on optimizing a piece of content for search or doing keyword research or trying to build links to a piece of content that I overlooked this very, very obvious fact that you have to actually talk to the people that you're trying to reach so that you can have a very nuanced understanding of their problems. Do You Really Need Buyer Personas? Kathleen: Yeah, and it's funny that you say this because I also have had long conversations with Marcus about the concept of buyer personas, because he actually says you don't need buyer personas in marketing, which is somewhat controversial because I feel like go to any marketing conference, read any marketing book, talk to any marketing expert, and then I'll be like start with buyer personas, right? Jimmy: Right, right. Kathleen: His point is, it's kind of related to what you're saying, which is that instead of spending a month doing all this research and interviews and this and that, and then creating this like fictional profile, if you spend that same month and just sit down and catalog 50 questions and write 50 answers out in the form of blogs, you'll be so much further ahead than you would have been had you done a month's worth of audience persona research, which I think is true. Jimmy: Fascinating. Kathleen: That's sort of what you're saying. Like, no staged interview can substitute for an actual live sales conversation. Jimmy: No, it's so true, and I would agree with Marcus that I'm personally not a huge believer in buyer personas. I'm sure in some cases they're executed in a way that's really useful. Typically, the way that we see them executed is like, Software Sally is a mid-career manager and she has this problem. It's so fictional that it's hard to take this fake demographic and turn it into a marketing campaign. Jimmy: We actually think about that in a very different way, which is so like when I'm writing a post for the Animalz blog, I'm thinking of the reader on a spectrum from tactical to strategic. If we're writing to a tactical audience, that person needs instructions on how to do something. If we're writing to a strategic audience, they need a framework for how to make a big decision. And a lot of little steps is actually not very helpful. They need more of an overarching principle. There's kind of a mix of those different things, but I found that to be a much more effective way to think through, okay, we have this topic, there's this tactical way we could go about it, but if we want to reach this more decision maker level person, we have to kind of take a step back and try to understand the higher level problem and address it from that angle instead. Kathleen: No, I always say we get caught up in this term buyer persona, and as you say, people tend to create these somewhat useless but entertaining profiles of people who don't exist. What we really need is buyer persona, it's good audience research, which essentially is what you're doing when you have these conversations with people and catalog what they're saying. Jimmy's Process For Capturing Content Ideas Kathleen: So let's talk through an actual example. You're having these sales calls, you're getting these questions. Walk me through your process. Is it simply you just make a note and you say, "Oh, I better go write a blog on this?" Or do you have a structured process around it? Jimmy: I wish I could say I had a very structured process. I don't though. I think over years of doing content marketing, I'm tuned in, right? I'm observing very carefully what people are saying, how they're saying it. Are they frustrated? Are they excited? I sort of pull those threads as I uncover that we're onto something. Jimmy: A very good example of this happened, I don't know, probably almost a year ago now, where I got on three sales calls in a week and three different people told me they had this exact same problem, which was that their organic traffic was actually declining over the last three months or so. I thought that was very interesting, and in each case it had prompted them to do some research about why their traffic was declining, reach out to some friends to try to help them figure out what was going on, and then that prompted them to reach out to an agency to potentially help them. Jimmy: To me, that was like the most obvious example because it happened in such a short period of time. But we wrote a blog post about that, about why organic traffic declines and things you might do to reverse that trend. That post has been hugely successful for us. It turns out a lot of people have that problem. Just through our very, very lean process, we made sure that it was documented, published, distributed, and I could attribute probably three to four more deals that were closed, at least in part, as a result of that exact article, and those deals are good for, $50,000 to $75,000 a year each. Kathleen: Wow. Jimmy: So, it's a easy, simple process with a big payoff. Kathleen: I love hearing that kind of data because you always have people who say, "I don't have time to blog," but I don't know anybody who's billable rate is as high as $50,000 an hour, or let's say it took you four hours, $10,000 an hour. Even some of the best attorneys I know don't charge that much. So, there's a good case there for spending the time. Jimmy: Absolutely. Animalz Content Promotion Strategy Kathleen: Now you've mentioned you write it, you edit it, you optimize it, and then you distribute it. Can you just talk through a little bit, I mean, is this a case of you write these blogs, you put them on your site, and it's, if you build it, they will come? Or is your content distribution or promotion strategy somewhat responsible for the results you're getting? Jimmy: That's a good question. So a few things happen. I should again caveat this by saying, as an agency, we have very low volume requirements. Our blog frankly doesn't get all that much traffic, doesn't need a ton of traffic in order to really help the business. Two to three new deals in a month is a fantastic month. So I actually don't go crazy distributing content. Jimmy: We have an email list with a few thousand people on it. They get everything. I have a personal email newsletter with about 5,000 people on it. I include our stuff in that. We have a really strong network of customers that we will sometimes ask to help us amplify content. Then other than that, I'm a fan of tweet storms. Whenever I publish something new, tweet storms have been a really useful way for us to get stuff out. Then I ask our team to help re-tweeting or sharing stuff. So again, it's simple. The reach is not enormous, by any means, but it's big enough that it works. Kathleen: That's great. Have you done this with clients or have you advised clients on doing this and have they seen similar results? Jimmy: Hmm, that's a great question. In a few cases, yes. In some cases, it just doesn't quite work. So like for example, many of our customers are B2B SaaS. Their primary objective is growing organic search traffic. So we're doing the things you would probably expect. We do a lot of keyword research, we write really long informative posts, we optimize them for search, et cetera, et cetera. That provides a certain amount of leverage in their distribution, because over time they can get a lot more traffic out of organic search than we'll ever be able to get for them doing one-off promotional things. Jimmy: For some of our other customers though, there's this bucket of customers that we work with, and we produce thought leadership content for them. That type of content also works very well using the same very simple mechanisms that we use for our own content, because it's more about making an impact, sharing an idea, and less about the more traditional content distribution where it's about basically page views. Kathleen: Now can you define what you mean by thought leadership content? Because I know people use that term in different ways. Jimmy: It's funny you ask that. I have a half-written blog posts about this exact topic, because you're right, people do think of it in very different ways. The way that it typically manifested Animalz, a thought leadership content strategy is built around sort of this idea that we internally call movement first, where the emphasis is really on sharing strong original ideas and that is like the core of the strategy for that type of content. It often looks more like an essay than it does regular content marketing. It often lives on Medium or a different part of the site than the rest of your blog content. Those things don't all have to be true. Jimmy: We do have a couple of cases with customers where we're doing SEO-driven content with thought leadership characteristics. Simply meaning that we've started with a keyword, but then we've taken a very different approach to the style and the tone of that article. I guess ultimately it means different things. To me the thing that it really means is this piece of content is born from a great idea and it is hopefully encapsulated in that article in a very concise way. Kathleen: That's interesting, and I love that you mentioned not all of this content lives on your site. You mentioned Medium, which I'm always curious about Medium. I think it has so much potential, but you can also, if you don't do it right, spend a lot of time with no results. Jimmy: No, totally. I'm actually personally not a huge fan for the problem that you just stated. We have encouraged a couple customers recently to launch personal blogs that are affiliated with the company that they work for, which is a strategy that I'm liking so far. Obviously, there are institutional hurdles to jump over when you do that kind of thing. Kathleen: Right. Jimmy: But owning the platform provides a bunch of advantages that tend to make it worth it. How To Approach Bottom of the Funnel Content Kathleen: Yeah. Going back to this notion of sales and marketing alignment, at a very, very simplistic level, what you're talking about is being very mindful of the questions you're getting in the sales process, and then answering those questions in your articles. I feel like this has the potential to be incredibly powerful, but it also has the potential to be insanely misused by content creators who venture into the territory of being overly self-promotional. In other words, using a sales question as an excuse to write a blog that is all about the company and their products as opposed to bigger picture questions that a prospect has. Can you talk me through, like do you have any personal guardrails around how you handle that type of content, what topics you'll cover, what you won't, and how often you venture into that very, very bottom of the funnel kind of topic area? Jimmy: Wow, that's a really interesting question. I don't know that I have come across a situation yet where the only answer to the question is you should hire Animalz. I mean, certainly I drop mentions in there occasionally, but just as a company we think about this so differently. Jimmy: I'll give you an example. You know our core business is content marketing services. Through this process of closely observing the problems that come up on sales calls and then also the problems that come up with customers, because there's plenty of those too, we're in the very early stages of building out some software solutions to address those problems. I anticipate that in the future, this problem that you bring up will become more top of mind because we're going to have more things to promote, right? There's just so few companies that are interested, willing, and ready to hire an expensive content marketing agency, that hopefully there will be many, many more that would be interested in paying $10 or $50 or $100 a month to use a piece of software that would solve some of these same things. So yeah, that's interesting. I imagine that's something that we'll have to be asking ourselves more closely over the next six to nine months. Kathleen: Yeah, I think a good example is a question that everybody gets at some point in a sales process is how much does it cost, right? That's a very different question than what do I do if my organic traffic is declining? How much does it cost in the wrong hands could be answered in the form of an article. That's basically like a substitute for your pricing page. In the right hands, it's an opening point for discussion around the factors that impact cost. Jimmy: Got it, okay. I think I better understand your question now, so that's a great point. In general, I would like for us to be as transparent as absolutely possible. Interestingly, we find that many of our customers do not have strong Google Analytic skills. So as I write the post about how to diagnose problems with the organic traffic, I just explain exactly the steps I would take in Google Analytics to start doing the research. We're happy to tell you exactly what those steps would be. Then the hope is, and often the reality as well, is that that's just the tip of the iceberg. It's one of so many possible things going on that they ultimately possibly could need help with. It sounds Cliche, but we established that little bit of trust early on, so hopefully they'll think of us when the time actually does come. Kathleen: Yeah, it sounds like your focus is much more on educational topics than it is on, I would call them sort of sales topics, but it's really that bottom of the funnel, those types of questions, which I like. So you're answering questions that are educating the audience and making them smarter, not so much answering questions that help them choose to pull the trigger and purchase from you. Jimmy: That is correct, yes. Kathleen: Yeah, there's an important distinction there. Jimmy: Definitely. The Results Kathleen: Can you tell me a little bit about, do you have any sort of data around like the traction? Do these posts tend to get, percentage-wise, more traffic than some of your other articles? You mentioned that some of them have led to deals. What have the results been from using this approach? Jimmy: That's an interesting question. I can tell you, as I mentioned, none of the posts on our blog are what I call whales. None of them are just like outliers getting tons and tons of traffic. For the most part, they all are, I don't know, they probably 3,000 to 5,000 visits in their first two or three months of publication, which is just okay, but it's not- Kathleen: Which is great, if that's the right 3,000 to 5,000 people, that's all that matters. Jimmy: Totally, yes. Kathleen: You could have 300 to 500 people, and if they were the 300 to 500 people that are looking for an agency, then that's all you would need. Jimmy: Yes, totally. The reason I'm having a little trouble giving you a really specific quantitative answer on how effective they are is because something I've noticed in our sales process is that almost no one reaches out as the result of one interaction or mention of Animalz. It's always two. So they might say, "I heard about you guys at a conference, or a friend mentioned they liked a blog post by you guys, or I'm in this Slack group and someone shared an article that you guys had written." Then sometime later on, they were on Twitter or they were searching for something, and they came across a second piece. It seems to be the power of those two things together that prompts people to reach out, but it's very difficult to track what what those two things are, because usually one of them, or in many cases, one of those things has happened offline and we're not going to be able to get data on it. Kathleen: It's funny that you mentioned that because as I mentioned at the beginning, I reached out to you after hearing your name twice. Jimmy: Yes. Kathleen: I think I'm proof in the pudding. Jimmy: Totally, yes. I think this is probably a little different than the way that most SaaS companies operate. So agencies are able to grow by word of mouth in a way that SaaS companies simply are not. I know I keep throwing out caveats, but we are writing about SaaS content marketing all the time, but we are not a SaaS company. Therefore a lot of it is like do as we say, not necessarily as we do. Kathleen: Interesting. Well, I love that. I love the process. Any other guidelines for somebody listening around how to write those articles or how to make them especially useful? Jimmy: Get feedback on them from people that don't work at the same company that you do. So that's something that I do. I don't do it as often now, but I did it quite a bit when we were initially getting the Animalz blog rolling. I just reached out to friends in the content marketing world and asked them to review drafts of our posts, and I got a lot of really good feedback on that. Kathleen: I love that. That is so simple. It's so simple and something that so few people do. Jimmy: Yes, totally. You can just get better feedback if you don't talk to the person you're asking to review it on a daily basis. I'm part of a couple of Slack groups full of content marketers, a Facebook group full of content marketers. Those have been really amazing resources for getting good feedback on work. I discover things in those feedback sessions that I can't imagine I ever would have figured out any other way. Kathleen: Oh, can you share any of those Slack or Facebook groups, the names of them? Jimmy: Yeah, so there are a couple. So there's a Facebook group I'm in that I believe is just called Content Marketers with an exclamation point. Very good group. I started a Slack group of my own called Content Marketing Career Growth. There is another one I'm in. It is called Content in UX, which is also very good. It's a huge one. There's a ton of people in there, a really, really good community. I'm sure there are others. If you'd like, I can send you links. Kathleen: Yes, please do, and I will include them in the show notes. That would be great. Jimmy: Cool. Kathleen: Yeah, I found similarly some of those groups to be incredibly helpful. I mean, we have our own group which has IMPACT Elite, that's a Facebook group, and then I am a member of Online Geniuses, which is huge. It's all different marketing disciplines. Then I think I might be a member of Content in UX. Sometimes there's so many groups I lose track. Jimmy: Yes, it is easy to lose track. Kathleen: But that's a great tip, to just go outside. If you were talking to a company that had a larger sales and marketing team, any thoughts or advice or insights for bigger company teams on how to operationalize a process like this? Jimmy: Yes, so the first thing, in a perfect world, this would be easy to do, I would have content marketers get on sales calls and I would have sales people write blog posts. Not as a way to test them, but just to have them operate in the other person's world every now and then. I feel like it's trendy, especially for SaaS companies to say every one of the company does customer support twice a year or something like that. I think that if you are going to be doing marketing to support a sales team or you're doing sales that is hopefully the result of high quality marketing, you have to be in the other person's shoes at least every now and then. I would definitely recommend that. Jimmy: Also, there was a thing, I spent a year working at QuickBooks doing content marketing for them, and they had a program set up where once a week they would have a real live QuickBooks customer in the office. They were there for the day and people from around the company could book time with them and ask them questions. So you knew that every Thursday from 9:00 to 4:00 a customer would be there and you could schedule time with them and you could ask them whatever questions you want about how they found QuickBooks, what did they find useful, what do they not, et cetera, et cetera. Jimmy: I think for companies of a certain size, assuming you have enough customers to support a program like that, it's a great idea because we would find that in our weekly content meetings, our team would get together and questions would come up that we just didn't have answers to. Then somebody would say, "Oh, well, why don't we just ask the customer on Thursday?" So we'd book time and we would do that. Kathleen: That is so nice to be able to do that. Jimmy: Yeah, it was fantastic. Maybe it's once a quarter, maybe it's twice a year for smaller companies, but formalizing the process is important. Kathleen: I love that. I wish that I could have a customer in the office every week, but alas, we are not in that position at this point. But no, that is a great point about switching roles and sitting in the other seat, because I do think sometimes there's this very natural tension that builds up between sales and marketing, I think you and I talked about this, I used to be on our sales team. Now I'm on our marketing team and I have much more empathy for our salespeople than I think I would have otherwise. Jimmy: Yes. Kathleen's Two Questions Kathleen: Yeah, it helps a lot. Well, shifting gears, I'm curious to hear now that I told you several people have mentioned Animalz name when I've asked this question, I'm curious to know who you're going to talk about. So company or individual, who do you think is doing inbound marketing really well right now? Jimmy: Such a good question. So there's a few that come to mind. Am I allowed to offer more than one? Kathleen: Yeah, go for it. Jimmy: I tend to find that companies that do inbound marketing really well build steam and build a strong reputation over time. So I'm a big fan of not just people who are kind of off my radar today, but who have been there for a couple of years and a few that stand out. One company that I think has just done an incredible job over the past five or six years is Wistia. One, because their branding has evolved from, well, it's still friendly and kind of playful, but it's so refined now. It's tangible. The good vibes are tangible when you visit their site. They write really high quality stuff. Their videos are excellent. I mean, I'm not really a video person, but I find myself on their site all the time because I'm just curious what their marketing team is up to, because there's always something new and a little different going on. So that's one that I would call out. Kathleen: That's a good one. Jimmy: You mentioned Barron Caster from Rev at the beginning of this podcast, and it's funny, I was actually just on a call with him this morning. As I've been exposed to what he and the team over there are doing, I am increasingly impressed. One thing that I like about what they do is that their product marketing is straightforward, obvious, but not overly promotional at all. Jimmy: A good example is they have their product marketing team, and they've tied this into their content strategy as well, their product marketing team has come up with solutions for all the possible entry points to a transcription service, and I find that they've just done it in such a perfect little way. So for example, they built iPhone apps for phone call recording, right? That creates this very easy transcription workflow for journalists or anyone who has to do research or interviews for their job. They did the same thing with a voice recording app. They have a Zoom integration. They've just figured out all the little ways that people might work transcription into their day-to-day, and they've addressed that. Jimmy: I find that type of subtle, very useful product marketing to be inspiring, right? Because they're not hammering you with ads and obnoxious copy. They're just kind of offering you a dozen different ways to build their really, really good product into the work you're already doing. So I love that. Kathleen: Yeah, I would agree. They do a nice job of really tightly aligning marketing and product. Jimmy: Yes, yes, definitely. Kathleen: Well, a second question, digital marketing is changing so quickly, and the number one gripe I hear from marketers is that they have a really hard time keeping up with everything. So how do you personally keep up and stay up to date and educate yourself? Jimmy: I do most of that offline, to be honest. There's a couple of blogs that I keep track of, like Tomasz Tunguz blog I really like, especially now that I work in sales. He talks about sales quite a bit. He also talks about just the SaaS industry, which I find to be increasingly useful information as I spend less time on the ground doing the marketing and more time talking to customers. So that's one. Jimmy: I'm a very loyal reader of Ben Thompson's Stratechery blog. Similar thing, like his really deep dives on business strategy I find to be useful. I feel like that has provided me with a lot of context for conversations that I have with customers. Jimmy: But like I said, I try to do quite a bit offline too. So one really fantastic resource that I read recently was Jim Collins, Good to Great. Kathleen: Yeah, that's a great book. It's such a classic. Jimmy: It's so good. You know, the examples that he uses in there are just timeless. They've stood up so well. Kathleen: Absolutely. Jimmy: So that's one. I have a book on my desk that I keep keep with me all the time, called On Writing Well by William Zinsser, which helps me with the day-to-day writing of blog posts and emails, but also sales proposals now. Whenever I find myself getting stuck on something, I'll open up that book and the answer is always in there. Kathleen: And it's called Unwriting. Jimmy: It's called On Writing Well. Kathleen: Oh, On Writing, got it. Jimmy: Yes. William Zinsser is the author. Kathleen: Great. Oh, lots of new good ones here. I always like when I hear new ones, because this is how I stay up to date is I just ask other people and then follow their lead in my podcast. Jimmy: That's a great idea. How To Connect With Jimmy Kathleen: Well, Jimmy, if somebody wants to learn more about Animalz or wants to reach out and connect with you online, what's the best way for them to do that? Jimmy: Yeah, animalz.co, we have a kind of outdated, not very fancy website, but hopefully the content there is helpful to you. We also have a podcast and you can find all that stuff on there. Kathleen: Animalz with a z, important to know. Jimmy: Yes, Animalz with a z, and then if you'd like to reach out, please do. Probably the best way to do that is Twitter. I spend a lot of time on Twitter, probably too much, but it's just Jimmy_Daly. Yeah, if you ever want to chat content strategy, hit me up. I love chatting about it. Kathleen: Great, well, thank you so much. And if you're listening and you liked what you heard, you learned something new, I would love it if you would give the podcast a five star review on Apple Podcasts. If you know somebody else doing kick-ass inbound marketing work, tweet me at WorkMommyWork, because I would love to interview them. That's it for this week. Thank you so much, Jimmy. Jimmy: Thank you, Kathleen. That was fun.

This week we’ve caught Wiemer Snijders. A Dutchman with a famous banana, Wiemer is one of the most prominent figures at the forefront of Marketing Sciences. Currently a Partner at The Commercial Works, he recently published Eat Your Greens: Fact-Based Thinking to Improve Your Brand’s Health, which features contributions from 35 of the world’s top marketers, including the likes of Byron Sharp, Mark Ritson and Bob Hoffman. Listen to him talk on how the scientific approach is helping to turn around marketing, the possible root causes of the lack of long-term strategic thinking in the industry, and a whole lot more. ///// Wiemer's Links: Twitter: @wiemersnijders (https://twitter.com/wiemersnijders) Eat Your Greens (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eat-Your-Greens-Wiemer-Snijders/dp/1789016754/ref=asc_df_1789016754/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310623486223&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2182702425048267567&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007247&hvtargid=pla-565474847988&psc=1&th=1&psc=1) by Wiemer Snijders The Mind Is Flat (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mind-Flat-Illusion-Mental-Improvised/dp/0241208440/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2YE8R8MJ5W316&keywords=the+mind+is+flat&qid=1560433977&s=books&sprefix=the+mind+is+flat%2Cstripbooks%2C137&sr=1-1) by Nick Chaker Bad Science (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bad-Science-Ben-Goldacre/dp/000728487X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=22F00JXZAZRGE&keywords=bad+science+ben+goldacre&qid=1560434006&s=books&sprefix=bad+science%2Cstripbooks%2C137&sr=1-1) by Ben Goldacre It’s A Little More Complicated Than That (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Think-Youll-Find-More-Complicated/dp/0007505140/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=) by Ben Goldacre How To Lie With Statistics (https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Lie-Statistics-Penguin-Business/dp/0140136290/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1P3L1OS1GD21O&keywords=how+to+lie+with+statistics+by+darrell+huff&qid=1560434023&s=books&sprefix=how+to+lie+with+%2Cstripbooks%2C140&sr=1-1) by Darrell Huff Naked Statistics (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Naked-Statistics-Stripping-Dread-Data/dp/039334777X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=naked+statistics&qid=1560434038&s=books&sr=1-1) by Charles Wheelan Economics Facts And Fallacies (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Economic-Facts-Fallacies-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465022030/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Economics+Facts+And+Fallacies&qid=1560434057&s=books&sr=1-1) by Thomas Saul Factfulness (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Factfulness-Reasons-Wrong-Things-Better/dp/1473637465/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3PD5CUX13C725&keywords=factfulness+by+hans+rosling&qid=1560434073&s=books&sprefix=Factfulness+by+Hans%2Cstripbooks%2C125&sr=1-1) by Hans Rosyln Progress (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Progress-Reasons-Look-Forward-Future/dp/1786070650/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=progress+by+norberg&qid=1560434090&s=books&sr=1-1) by Johan Norberg The Consuming Instinct (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Consuming-Instinct-Gad-Saad/dp/1616144297/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=The+Consuming+Instinct&qid=1560434108&s=books&sr=1-1) by Gad Saad On Writing Well (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Well-30th-Anniversary/dp/0060891548/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=On+Writing+Well&qid=1560434130&s=books&sr=1-1) by William Zinsser /////

Writer's support group meets existential discussion in this episode! Writers of any interest or level will take away from this in-depth and candid conversation about the art, struggles, and methods of writing. Join author Kristen Bradshaw of the young adult novel, The Guardians of the Cross, and writer extraordinaire, Chelsea Moore, as they motivate, challenge, and encourage you to keep writing. Books/Authors Mentioned: Ray Bradbury Margaret Atwood Janet Evanovich Alice Hoffman Leigh Bardugo Rae Carson Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. On Writing Well by William Zinsser Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Dave King Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction by Jeff VanderMeer The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert Magic Lessons with Elizabeth Gilbert Podcast

In our fast-paced and entertainment-saturated culture, it’s easy to let book-reading fall by the wayside. In fact, many studies show that after college, the average person only reads 3 more books for the rest of their life! And don’t be tempted to think that the reading of books is old-fashioned and no longer relevant. There is power in the written word. And whether you’re an entrepreneur, business person, or simply someone who wants to continue to grow, reading books is an effective way to continue your personal development.   “You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.” — Charlie “Tremendous” Jones Click here to download or listen to this episode now. Tip of the Week Since developing Parkinson’s in 2011, I have been receiving deep-tissue massage therapy as part of my treatment. I started with once a month, then once a week, and these days I get 3 massages a week. Here’s what this has taught me: your body is the frame through which you see the world. If the frame is bent, twisted, or in pain… you will experience the world that way. Get over your hangups, and go get a massage from a reputable massage therapist. Try it at least once per week for a month or more and let me know the difference it makes in your life! Spiritual Foundations Pray Prayers of Proclamation. When you have a need, do you pray or do you plead? Do you begin your prayers with words like, “Please God, please! God, I beg You to have mercy!” Prayers that plead and beg imply that your heavenly Father is not willing to help you. Yet, He is far more gracious and willing to give to you than you are willing to ask, think or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20) He desires above all things that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers. (3 John 1:2) In fact, long before you have a need, God has already met that need. Long before you knew you needed a Savior, He sent His Son to be your Savior. This is your God! He is a good God. So when you beg Him for something, you are actually saying that He is reluctant to give and needs to be persuaded strongly before He will move. Yet, He is not like that. Jesus knew the heart of the Father. When He saw the woman bound with a spirit of infirmity, He did not pray, “Oh Father! She has been suffering for 18 long years! I beseech You, Father, have mercy on her. Please, please heal her!” No, when Jesus saw her, He immediately proclaimed, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity!” He spoke this way because He knew the heart of the Father. He knew that the Father wanted her delivered from her crippling condition. At the end of a church service, I don’t stand and pray, “Oh God, please bless Your people. Oh God, do keep them. Oh God, be ever so gracious to them!” Instead, I proclaim, “The Lord bless you. The Lord keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you!” Beloved, when you pray, proclaim your healing, protection and provision because your Father’s heart overflows with love for you. And when you declare it, He sanctions it. When you declare it, He establishes it! Feature Presentation “9 Reasons You Need a Book-Reading Plan“ Here are 9 reasons you need a book-reading plan: Reading helps keep you current. Books can help keep you current on business trends and strategies. You can either spend thousands of dollars flying around the country going to seminars and masterminds or spend a few dollars on a book! Consider reading Michael Hyatt’s book, Your Best Year Ever – A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals. Provides material for your own writing and podcasting. Reading books offers you fresh information, strategies for presenting that information, and great stories to share with your readers. Read Chris Ducker’s book, The Rise of the Youpreneur. Reading books exercises your brain. Joseph Addison wrote, “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” Believe me, in this competitive environment, you don’t want a “flabby” brain!  I challenge you to read a book like, Miracles by Eric Metaxas. I guarantee that book will give your brain a workout.   Expands your worldview. Let’s face it. Most of us live and work within a fairly small bubble of relationships. Our market is defined by what and who we know. Reading can broaden our perspective. Consider reading, Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant by W Chan Kim. Stimulates new ideas. Frequently, I’ll be reading a book and the content I’m reading launches me into a totally new idea. Reading does that! If you need some fresh ideas and new thinking for your business, read a book. Try reading, The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. Increases your vocabulary and conversational skills. Whether you realize it or not, when you’re reading, your mind assimilates new words and phrases. These new modes of expression become part of your vocabulary and find their way into your conversation without your conscious effort. Read Perry Marshall’s book, Evolution 2.0. Makes you a better writer. When you read a book that’s well written, your own writing begins to take on the qualities that you admire in others. Here’s a book that focuses on writing skills, but also features writing at its best: On Writing Well by William Zinsser. Corrects and/or corroborates your thinking. Reading what others think about a topic can either correct our misconceptions or confirm what we’ve held to be true. A best-selling classic that will either challenge or confirm your beliefs is Lee Strobel’s The Case for a Creator. Enriches your life. So far, we’ve been talking primarily about growing our intellect and our business. But reading for pleasure offers many benefits as well. Reading a book before bedtime is a great way to wind down and relax. Recreational reading opens a whole world of history, intrigue, humor, adventure, and fantasy. Reading kicks the borders off your imagination. Patrick Rothfuss’s epic novel, The Name of the Wind, is sure to provide you with an enriching experience. Creating A Reading Plan Commit to read a book a month. Create a list of books that you want to read. Read on an e-device or paper. (Consider the option of highlighting and scribbling notes in the margins of a printed book.) Find a reading buddy. Listen to audiobooks. (The retention rate for listening to a book drops significantly over reading it.) Resources Mentioned In This Episode Permission to Prosper is your key to unlock the vaults of wealth, wellness, and wisdom that will prosper you and everyone around you. Join us at this life-changing event, where we will help you construct your own prosperity blueprint… remove the inner conflicts about money, wealth, and possessions… and learn from our world-famous speakers, including Jeff Goins, and more surprise guests to be announced soon. VIP seating and red carpet perks are also available, including personal time with Ray. To get the details, and to get your ticket now at the lowest possible price, go to permissiontoprosper.com   Subscribe to the show through Apple Podcasts and give us a rating and review. Make sure you put your real name and website in the text of the review itself. We will mention you on this show. Get The Transcript Right-Click and “Save As” to Get the PDF Transcript.  

Dans ce podcast, je vous parle du livre "On Writing Well" de William Zinsser, qui pourra être une source d'inspiration pour tous les e-commerçants qui doivent rédiger la déscription de leurs porduits. Dans son livre, l'écrivain explique qu'il faut être clair, simple, concis et humain, pour bien écrire n'importe quel type de texte. Retrouvez l'article à l'origine de ce podcast ici:https://www.reussir-mon-ecommerce.fr/william-zinsser-on-writing-well/

This week on "A Way with Words": People in ancient times could be just as bawdy and colorful as we are today. To prove it, we found some graffiti written on the walls in the city of Pompeii, and found plenty of sex, arrogance and good old fashioned bathroom talk etched in stone. Plus, British rhyming slang makes its way to our televisions through police shows on PBS. And a dictionary for rock climbers gives us a fantastic word that anyone can use to describe a rough day. Also, spitting game, hornswoggling, two kinds of sloppy joes, peppy sad songs, and endearing names for grandma. FULL DETAILS When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D., parts of the ancient city of Pompeii remained intact, including the graffiti written on its walls. Much of what was written, not unlike today's bathroom etchings, is naughty and boastful, with people like Celadus the Thracian claiming to be the one who "makes the girls moan." A Tallahassee, Florida, mother who texted her daughter in a hurry accidentally asked about the "baby woes," meaning "baby wipes," and came to the conclusion that we need a new phrase: read between the autocorrect. If you watch British police procedurals, you'll likely come across the term to grass someone, meaning "to inform on someone" or "to rat someone out." It's a bit of British rhyming slang that originated with the 19th-century phrase to shop on someone. That gave us the noun shopper, which became grasshopper, and then got shortened to grass. A Japanese version of the idiom the grass is always greener translates to "the neighbor's flowers are red." The word hornswoggle, meaning "to embarrass" or "to swindle," is of unclear origin, but definitely seems of a piece with U.S. frontier slang from the 1830s and 1840s. Our Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a game called Dictum wherein he gives us a word, like contrary or emasculate, and we have to guess the closest bold-faced word that comes after it in the dictionary. Tougher than you might think! A listener whose first language is Farsi wonders if the name of the grandma in the classic film An Affair to Remember, gave us the endearment nanu, for grandmother. In Mediterranean countries, words like nanu, nana, nene and nona are all common terms for "granny." Here's a truism that often appeared scribbled in ancient wall graffiti: I wonder, oh wall, that you have not yet collapsed. So many writers' cliches do you bear. The term spitting game, meaning "to flirt," comes from African-American slang going back to at least the 1960's, when game referred to someone's hustle. It's well covered in Randy Kearse's Street Talk: Da Official Guide to Hip-Hop and Urban Slanguage. Martha recalls that as an English major, she nearly memorized William Zinsser's On Writing Well. He died this month at age 92, and she'll remember this quote, among others: "Ultimately, the product any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about, but who he or she is...I often find myself reading with interest about a topic I never thought would interest me — some scientific quest, perhaps. What holds me is the enthusiasm of the writer for his field." A listener from northern New Jersey says that in his part of the state, a sloppy joe was not the mashed-up ground beef sandwich many of us also know as a loose meat sandwich, spoonburger, or tavern. For him, a sloppy joe was a deli meat sandwich that consisted of things like pastrami, turkey, coleslaw, Russian dressing and rye bread. Here's a lovely bit of ancient graffiti found on the wall of an inn: "We have wet the bed. I admit, we were wrong, my host. If you ask why, there was no chamberpot." Pro wrestling, a fake sport with a very real following, has a trove of lingo all its own that can be found in the newsletter and website PW Torch. One saying, red means green, refers to the fact that a wrestler who winds up bloody will get a prettier payout for his or her performance. And kayfabe is a wrestler's character persona, which he or she often keeps up for any public appearance, even outside the ring. A fan of Bruce Springsteen's song "Dancing in the Dark" called to say that she's noticed the lyrics are awfully sad for such a peppy tune, and wonders if there's a word for this phenomenon. Lyrical dissonance would do the job, but there's also the term agathokakological, a Greek-influenced word meaning "both good and evil." One listener followed up our discussion of classic literary passages turned into limerick form by writing one of his own, a baseball-themed poem that begins, "There once was a batter named Casey." Vermont is one place—but not the only one—where non-natives are referred to as flatlanders, and people who've been around generations proudly call themselves woodchucks. It's written about on Shawn Kerivan's blog, Innkeeping Insights in Stowe. The Climbing Dictionary by Matt Samet includes a fantastic term that can be used by non-climbers as well: high gravity day, a day when all routes, even easy ones, seem impossible due to a seeming increase in gravity. The expression to a T comes from a shortening of tittle, a word meaning a little of something. The word tittle even shows up in the bible. There's also an idiom to the teeth, as in dressed to the teeth, or fully armored-up. This episode is hosted by Grant Barrett and Martha Barnette. -- A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donate Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: words@waywordradio.org Phone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673 London +44 20 7193 2113 Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate Site: http://waywordradio.org/ Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/ Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/ Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/ Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2016, Wayword LLC.

Check out Ruby Remote Conf!   01:47 - Josh Earl Introduction Twitter GitHub Blog Simple Programmer The Entreprogrammers Podcast 02:23 - Creating Email Courses 03:57 - Marketing vs Email Courses How to Market Yourself as a Software Developer 15:26 - Length 5 Learning Mistakes Developers Make 18:49 - Opt-in Forms 21:48 - Single vs Double Opt-in 26:28 - Keeping People Engaged 29:26 - Offering Discount Codes 33:35 - Content 41:32 - Tips for Telling Better Stories 44:45 - Agitation 47:22 - Competition and What Comes Next? 51:02 - Asking People to Share SmartBribe 54:39 - Selling Services   Picks The New York Times Mobile App (Reuven) Slate Plus (Reuven) Double Your Freelancing Conference Europe (Reuven) Discount Code: FREELANCER On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser (Jonathan) Jonathan's Webinars (Jonathan) Fitbit One (Chuck) The Entreprogrammers Podcast (Chuck) Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence by Lisa Cron (Josh) Scrivener (Josh) Strides (Josh)

Check out Ruby Remote Conf!   01:47 - Josh Earl Introduction Twitter GitHub Blog Simple Programmer The Entreprogrammers Podcast 02:23 - Creating Email Courses 03:57 - Marketing vs Email Courses How to Market Yourself as a Software Developer 15:26 - Length 5 Learning Mistakes Developers Make 18:49 - Opt-in Forms 21:48 - Single vs Double Opt-in 26:28 - Keeping People Engaged 29:26 - Offering Discount Codes 33:35 - Content 41:32 - Tips for Telling Better Stories 44:45 - Agitation 47:22 - Competition and What Comes Next? 51:02 - Asking People to Share SmartBribe 54:39 - Selling Services   Picks The New York Times Mobile App (Reuven) Slate Plus (Reuven) Double Your Freelancing Conference Europe (Reuven) Discount Code: FREELANCER On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser (Jonathan) Jonathan's Webinars (Jonathan) Fitbit One (Chuck) The Entreprogrammers Podcast (Chuck) Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence by Lisa Cron (Josh) Scrivener (Josh) Strides (Josh)

Want to be a better podcaster? Something I've seen over and over again is that the best podcasters spend a lot of time writing. Want to learn how to be a better writer? My guest this week – Glenn Leibowitz – wants to help you get there. Glenn has been writing and editing for the past 17 years, mostly for his company, but two years ago he started his own blog and also started to blog weekly on LinkedIn. He writes about professional development, technology, social media, and writing. In April 2015, he launched his weekly podcast – Write With Impact – where he interviews authors of nonfiction and fiction and tries to pick apart their secrets and have them share what they've learned over the years as writers. In December 2015, LinkedIn named him one of 90 “top voices” on LinkedIn (out of the 1 million people who blog there). He ranked #2 in the marketing and social media category. I asked Glenn to join me for a three-part podcast series to share what he's learning about writing and growing an audience, the benefits of storytelling, how to turn a podcast interview into a story, how to get started with publishing on LinkedIn, and more. In this episode, Glenn shares his top tips for becoming a better writer, we discuss why outlines are critical for success, why you should edit after you're done writing, how to write great titles, and so much more. Key Takeaways: Writing an outline is like creating a map for yourself. It will help you get to where you want to go. Sharing a story brings the topic down to earth for your reader and allows them to relate to whatever you're writing. Don't try to make all your writing perfect right away. Allow yourself to separate the writing process and the editing process. If you're not perfectly consistent with your output, that's okay, just keep trying and never give up. Publish something every single week, regardless of how you feel. You'll improve through doing. Your title needs to summarize your podcast or blog post well, and in a way that gets your audience's attention. Glenn: There's so much to learn when it comes to writing, but all the writers I've ever talked with gave this advice: if you want to get better, you just gotta write more. With that in mind, here are my top tips for becoming a better writer. Tip #1. Write to an Audience of One Glenn: Know who you're talking to. Visualize your reader if you can, and if you can't, that's fine, but try to write as if you're writing to just one person. Pretend you're writing an email to a friend or relative. That's a good way to break through any inhibitions you might be feeling when you try to put words down on the page for the first time. Aaron: This is great advice for podcasters as well. When you're podcasting, talk like you're talking to a single person; this makes your listener feel a more personal connection with you. Tip #2. Write Like You Talk Glenn: When writing, pretend like you're talking. Treat your writing as a form of transcription of your thoughts and of that voice running through your head. Just write whatever comes to mind. I wrote a blog post on LinkedIn about this recently — How to Find Your Writing Voice: Listen to the Voice on the Page. That one resonated with a lot of people because they could relate to that. It's how I write, and apparently it's how a lot of people write. As one of my guests on my podcast said, “If you can speak, you can write.” Don't get caught up with the style, the vocabulary, just focus on getting what's on your mind down on the page. Aaron: I agree, but I have a question. Sometimes when I'm writing, I'll think something funny and put it down, but then I look at it and wonder if other people will get it or think it's funny. Do you ever struggle with that? Glenn: That happens to me all the time. I write a lot of stuff that never sees the light of day, but you should edit after you've finished writing. Don't worry about editing while you write. I try not to delete anything during the initial writing. I like collecting words even if they don't end up going in the final version that I publish. Tip #3. Pick a Very Focused Topic Glenn: Whatever you're writing – show notes for a podcast, a blog post, the chapter of your first ebook on Amazon – you need to have a focused topic. Your entire blog post should support or relate to that topic in some way. Think about the main point of your podcast or blog post, and let everything flow from there. Tip #4. Jot Down a Quick Outline Glenn: Jot down a few sentences or a very skeletal outline of what you want to write about. Put the bones down on the page before you start adding the meat. The first sentence or two should be what the entire blog post or chapter is about. Then list out the 4, 5, or 8 supporting points before you start working on the individual paragraphs. These points will be the blueprint, the directions that will help you get to where you want to go. Aaron: I love using mind maps to write outlines. It's been a game changer for me. Writing an outline is like creating a map for yourself. It will help you get to where you want to go. Tip #5. Tell a Story Glenn: Storytelling seems to be all the rage these days and for very good reason; we all love stories. So many of the writers I've spoken to on my podcast have told me how they believe story is wired into our DNA, and I think that's true. We all want to see how a hero overcomes a tough challenge and what happens next, how they grow from that and learn from that. That all sounds like the elements of fiction, and that's how novelists write. But I believe, and my podcast guests agree, that the same elements of storytelling apply to writing nonfiction like blog posts, nonfiction books, essays, and I would argue, even show notes for a podcast. I start most of my blog posts off with a personal story of when I was a kid or teen or twenty-something or even something that happened recently. I relate the topic to something that happened to me personally, a challenge I faced, and then I describe how I dealt with it, and what I learned. My latest post on LinkedIn was about self-driving cars, and I started that one off with a story of how my mom put my brother and me in a defensive driving course even before we could drive, just so she could scare the heck out of us and make us better drivers. I then followed that story up with the news of Google's self-driving car, which got the green light from the National Transportation Safety Administration. Sharing a story brings the topic down to earth for your reader and allows them to relate to whatever you're writing. Aaron: I love hearing those personal stories. I find it hard to connect with people who don't ever share any personal stories. Tip #6. Edit, Edit, Edit Glenn: This is where your logical, analytical brain kicks in. You need to take a microscopic look at each sentence and word on the page, review your punctuation, and read through your writing over and over again in your mind (or out loud) to see if it all fits together logically. You want to make sure you are delivering your message clearly, which is critically important, and also that it's grammatically correct. If you're not good with grammar or punctuation or word usage, or if you're not a native writer of English, ask a friend or family member to take a look at it, or hire a freelance editor on one of those freelancing websites. But edit edit edit until it's something you feel comfortable publishing (and ideally, something you feel proud of). Aaron: Something I've started doing lately is allowing myself to write a first draft without trying to make it perfect. I used to try to make everything perfect the first time, which really slowed me down. Now, I write an outline, then write a first draft as fast as I can, then go back to do the editing afterwards. I'm much happier now that I've stopped trying to edit while I write. I have to thank the guys who wrote Write. Publish. Repeat. for sharing that tip about writing your first draft as fast as you can. Don't try to make all your writing perfect right away. Allow yourself to separate the writing process and the editing process. Tip #7. Be Consistent Glenn: One thing I see a lot of bloggers do is write a post here, write one there, maybe 5-10 posts, or maybe they go for 6-12 months and then give up. If you're not perfectly consistent with your output, that's okay, just keep trying and never give up. Take Sean McCabe's advice; you have to show up and create content every day for at least two years before you'll see substantial results. If you do see results before that two year point, consider it a bonus. But you've got to look at writing as a long-term play, and not something you just do whenever you feel like it. Don't quit just because you feel bored or if you aren't seeing results yet. Publish something every single week, regardless of how you feel. Aaron: “Show up every day” applies to podcasting too. I've seen amazing results in the past 10 months because I showed up every day and released an episode every week. I've become a better writer and a better podcaster, all because I keep trying. I keep showing up and I give it the best I can every single time, and I get a little better every week and my audience keeps growing. Recap: Aaron: Those were some great tips, so I want to do a quick recap: Write to an audience of one Write like you talk Pick a focused topic Write outlines Tell a story Edit, edit, edit Be consistent Connect with Glenn Leibowitz Aaron: Glenn, you'll be back next week, but in the meantime, where can people go to find you online? Glenn: You can head over to WriteWithImpact.com and sign up for my weekly newsletter so you can get my latest podcast episodes and blog posts, as well as recommendations for books and resources for writers. I'm also on LinkedIn and encourage you to connect directly with me there. You can find me on Twitter at @glennleibowitz. Q&A Levi Allen asked: What are the top books/blogs you'd recommend for growing as a writer? Glenn: I have two books that I recommend to everyone; On Writing Well by William Zinsser, and On Writing by Stephen King. For websites/blogs, I'd recommend checking out Joanna Penn, Jeff Goins, Monica Leonelle, and Chris Fox. You can also check out my website and podcast to find even more great resources. Aaron: I'm currently reading a fantastic book called Write. Publish. Repeat. and I think anyone interested in writing should pick that up. I'm also a fan on both On Writing and On Writing Well, although I'm only about 60% of the way through On Writing Well. Scotty Russell asked: How do you balance injecting value and sharing your own life experiences? Making your audience the hero yet establishing credibility. Glenn: I keep that in mind every time I sit down to write a blog post. I don't want to write what I call “navel-gazers”, that is, posts where I just talk about myself. I try to avoid that, but I do try to include myself or my experiences in the story if it's relevant. I try to always orient the message of the post towards the reader. I'm always trying to think about what would be valuable for the reader. Aaron: Always start with wanting to give your audience something valuable. But I'm wondering; do you ever struggle with qualifying what you're saying with, “This is just my experience, it might not work for you”? I find myself doing that a lot. Glenn: Yeah, of course. That's something I struggle with all the time. It's why I have so many unfinished blog posts in my drafts folder. But I try to push through and publish anyways. Even if the blog post doesn't help everyone, as long as it helps a few people than I'm doing good work. Joseph asked: How do you come up with good titles without making them sounding like click-bait? Glenn: You definitely don't want to use click-bait. Click-bait means that your title promises something that your article doesn't deliver, and you never want to do that. Just be honest and clear with the headline. I often write out a list of possible headlines, and sometimes I'll ask my kids which one they think is best. That usually works out well. Your title needs to summarize your podcast or blog post well, and in a way that gets your audience's attention. Aaron: I think a lot of people – especially if they're new to publishing online – worry about writing titles that sound click-baity, or about doing list articles with titles like 7 Things Every Podcaster Should Know. Glenn: I can tell you this; the LinkedIn editors don't like list articles anymore. List articles are fun, but they're all over the place; too many people are doing them. What I say is it's better to be clear than clever. Sometimes I try to write a clever headline, but before I hit publish I ask myself, “What am I trying to say with this post? Does my headline reflect that?” I try to be truthful and give my reader a clear idea of what they're going to get. Don't lie, don't mislead or promise something you can't deliver. Cool Stuff to Check Out: Recommended Gear: https://kit.com/thepodcastdude Podcast: https://thepodcastdude.simplecast.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/thepodcastdude Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thepodcastdude Successful Podcasting: http://successfulpodcasting.com Simplecast Blog: http://blog.simplecast.com/ Glenn's website: http://www.writewithimpact.com/

Want to be a better podcaster? Something I’ve seen over and over again is that the best podcasters spend a lot of time writing. Want to learn how to be a better writer? My guest this week – Glenn Leibowitz – wants to help you get there. Glenn has been writing and editing for the past 17 years, mostly for his company, but two years ago he started his own blog and also started to blog weekly on LinkedIn. He writes about professional development, technology, social media, and writing. In April 2015, he launched his weekly podcast – Write With Impact – where he interviews authors of nonfiction and fiction and tries to pick apart their secrets and have them share what they’ve learned over the years as writers. In December 2015, LinkedIn named him one of 90 “top voices” on LinkedIn (out of the 1 million people who blog there). He ranked #2 in the marketing and social media category. I asked Glenn to join me for a three-part podcast series to share what he’s learning about writing and growing an audience, the benefits of storytelling, how to turn a podcast interview into a story, how to get started with publishing on LinkedIn, and more. In this episode, Glenn shares his top tips for becoming a better writer, we discuss why outlines are critical for success, why you should edit after you’re done writing, how to write great titles, and so much more. Key Takeaways: Writing an outline is like creating a map for yourself. It will help you get to where you want to go. Sharing a story brings the topic down to earth for your reader and allows them to relate to whatever you’re writing. Don’t try to make all your writing perfect right away. Allow yourself to separate the writing process and the editing process. If you’re not perfectly consistent with your output, that’s okay, just keep trying and never give up. Publish something every single week, regardless of how you feel. You'll improve through doing. Your title needs to summarize your podcast or blog post well, and in a way that gets your audience’s attention. Glenn: There’s so much to learn when it comes to writing, but all the writers I’ve ever talked with gave this advice: if you want to get better, you just gotta write more. With that in mind, here are my top tips for becoming a better writer. Tip #1. Write to an Audience of One Glenn: Know who you’re talking to. Visualize your reader if you can, and if you can’t, that’s fine, but try to write as if you’re writing to just one person. Pretend you’re writing an email to a friend or relative. That’s a good way to break through any inhibitions you might be feeling when you try to put words down on the page for the first time. Aaron: This is great advice for podcasters as well. When you’re podcasting, talk like you’re talking to a single person; this makes your listener feel a more personal connection with you. Tip #2. Write Like You Talk Glenn: When writing, pretend like you’re talking. Treat your writing as a form of transcription of your thoughts and of that voice running through your head. Just write whatever comes to mind. I wrote a blog post on LinkedIn about this recently — How to Find Your Writing Voice: Listen to the Voice on the Page. That one resonated with a lot of people because they could relate to that. It’s how I write, and apparently it’s how a lot of people write. As one of my guests on my podcast said, “If you can speak, you can write.” Don’t get caught up with the style, the vocabulary, just focus on getting what’s on your mind down on the page. Aaron: I agree, but I have a question. Sometimes when I’m writing, I’ll think something funny and put it down, but then I look at it and wonder if other people will get it or think it’s funny. Do you ever struggle with that? Glenn: That happens to me all the time. I write a lot of stuff that never sees the light of day, but you should edit after you’ve finished writing. Don’t worry about editing while you write. I try not to delete anything during the initial writing. I like collecting words even if they don’t end up going in the final version that I publish. Tip #3. Pick a Very Focused Topic Glenn: Whatever you’re writing – show notes for a podcast, a blog post, the chapter of your first ebook on Amazon – you need to have a focused topic. Your entire blog post should support or relate to that topic in some way. Think about the main point of your podcast or blog post, and let everything flow from there. Tip #4. Jot Down a Quick Outline Glenn: Jot down a few sentences or a very skeletal outline of what you want to write about. Put the bones down on the page before you start adding the meat. The first sentence or two should be what the entire blog post or chapter is about. Then list out the 4, 5, or 8 supporting points before you start working on the individual paragraphs. These points will be the blueprint, the directions that will help you get to where you want to go. Aaron: I love using mind maps to write outlines. It’s been a game changer for me. Writing an outline is like creating a map for yourself. It will help you get to where you want to go. Tip #5. Tell a Story Glenn: Storytelling seems to be all the rage these days and for very good reason; we all love stories. So many of the writers I’ve spoken to on my podcast have told me how they believe story is wired into our DNA, and I think that’s true. We all want to see how a hero overcomes a tough challenge and what happens next, how they grow from that and learn from that. That all sounds like the elements of fiction, and that’s how novelists write. But I believe, and my podcast guests agree, that the same elements of storytelling apply to writing nonfiction like blog posts, nonfiction books, essays, and I would argue, even show notes for a podcast. I start most of my blog posts off with a personal story of when I was a kid or teen or twenty-something or even something that happened recently. I relate the topic to something that happened to me personally, a challenge I faced, and then I describe how I dealt with it, and what I learned. My latest post on LinkedIn was about self-driving cars, and I started that one off with a story of how my mom put my brother and me in a defensive driving course even before we could drive, just so she could scare the heck out of us and make us better drivers. I then followed that story up with the news of Google’s self-driving car, which got the green light from the National Transportation Safety Administration. Sharing a story brings the topic down to earth for your reader and allows them to relate to whatever you’re writing. Aaron: I love hearing those personal stories. I find it hard to connect with people who don’t ever share any personal stories. Tip #6. Edit, Edit, Edit Glenn: This is where your logical, analytical brain kicks in. You need to take a microscopic look at each sentence and word on the page, review your punctuation, and read through your writing over and over again in your mind (or out loud) to see if it all fits together logically. You want to make sure you are delivering your message clearly, which is critically important, and also that it’s grammatically correct. If you’re not good with grammar or punctuation or word usage, or if you’re not a native writer of English, ask a friend or family member to take a look at it, or hire a freelance editor on one of those freelancing websites. But edit edit edit until it’s something you feel comfortable publishing (and ideally, something you feel proud of). Aaron: Something I’ve started doing lately is allowing myself to write a first draft without trying to make it perfect. I used to try to make everything perfect the first time, which really slowed me down. Now, I write an outline, then write a first draft as fast as I can, then go back to do the editing afterwards. I’m much happier now that I’ve stopped trying to edit while I write. I have to thank the guys who wrote Write. Publish. Repeat. for sharing that tip about writing your first draft as fast as you can. Don’t try to make all your writing perfect right away. Allow yourself to separate the writing process and the editing process. Tip #7. Be Consistent Glenn: One thing I see a lot of bloggers do is write a post here, write one there, maybe 5-10 posts, or maybe they go for 6-12 months and then give up. If you’re not perfectly consistent with your output, that’s okay, just keep trying and never give up. Take Sean McCabe’s advice; you have to show up and create content every day for at least two years before you’ll see substantial results. If you do see results before that two year point, consider it a bonus. But you’ve got to look at writing as a long-term play, and not something you just do whenever you feel like it. Don’t quit just because you feel bored or if you aren’t seeing results yet. Publish something every single week, regardless of how you feel. Aaron: “Show up every day” applies to podcasting too. I’ve seen amazing results in the past 10 months because I showed up every day and released an episode every week. I’ve become a better writer and a better podcaster, all because I keep trying. I keep showing up and I give it the best I can every single time, and I get a little better every week and my audience keeps growing. Recap: Aaron: Those were some great tips, so I want to do a quick recap: Write to an audience of one Write like you talk Pick a focused topic Write outlines Tell a story Edit, edit, edit Be consistent Connect with Glenn Leibowitz Aaron: Glenn, you’ll be back next week, but in the meantime, where can people go to find you online? Glenn: You can head over to WriteWithImpact.com and sign up for my weekly newsletter so you can get my latest podcast episodes and blog posts, as well as recommendations for books and resources for writers. I’m also on LinkedIn and encourage you to connect directly with me there. You can find me on Twitter at @glennleibowitz. Q&A Levi Allen asked: What are the top books/blogs you’d recommend for growing as a writer? Glenn: I have two books that I recommend to everyone; On Writing Well by William Zinsser, and On Writing by Stephen King. For websites/blogs, I’d recommend checking out Joanna Penn, Jeff Goins, Monica Leonelle, and Chris Fox. You can also check out my website and podcast to find even more great resources. Aaron: I’m currently reading a fantastic book called Write. Publish. Repeat. and I think anyone interested in writing should pick that up. I’m also a fan on both On Writing and On Writing Well, although I’m only about 60% of the way through On Writing Well. Scotty Russell asked: How do you balance injecting value and sharing your own life experiences? Making your audience the hero yet establishing credibility. Glenn: I keep that in mind every time I sit down to write a blog post. I don’t want to write what I call “navel-gazers”, that is, posts where I just talk about myself. I try to avoid that, but I do try to include myself or my experiences in the story if it’s relevant. I try to always orient the message of the post towards the reader. I’m always trying to think about what would be valuable for the reader. Aaron: Always start with wanting to give your audience something valuable. But I’m wondering; do you ever struggle with qualifying what you’re saying with, “This is just my experience, it might not work for you”? I find myself doing that a lot. Glenn: Yeah, of course. That’s something I struggle with all the time. It’s why I have so many unfinished blog posts in my drafts folder. But I try to push through and publish anyways. Even if the blog post doesn’t help everyone, as long as it helps a few people than I’m doing good work. Joseph asked: How do you come up with good titles without making them sounding like click-bait? Glenn: You definitely don’t want to use click-bait. Click-bait means that your title promises something that your article doesn’t deliver, and you never want to do that. Just be honest and clear with the headline. I often write out a list of possible headlines, and sometimes I’ll ask my kids which one they think is best. That usually works out well. Your title needs to summarize your podcast or blog post well, and in a way that gets your audience’s attention. Aaron: I think a lot of people – especially if they’re new to publishing online – worry about writing titles that sound click-baity, or about doing list articles with titles like 7 Things Every Podcaster Should Know. Glenn: I can tell you this; the LinkedIn editors don’t like list articles anymore. List articles are fun, but they’re all over the place; too many people are doing them. What I say is it’s better to be clear than clever. Sometimes I try to write a clever headline, but before I hit publish I ask myself, “What am I trying to say with this post? Does my headline reflect that?” I try to be truthful and give my reader a clear idea of what they’re going to get. Don’t lie, don’t mislead or promise something you can’t deliver. Cool Stuff to Check Out: Recommended Gear: https://kit.com/thepodcastdude Podcast: https://thepodcastdude.simplecast.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/thepodcastdude Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thepodcastdude Successful Podcasting: http://successfulpodcasting.com Simplecast Blog: http://blog.simplecast.com/ Glenn's website: http://www.writewithimpact.com/

This week on "A Way with Words": People in ancient times could be just as bawdy and colorful as we are today. To prove it, we found some graffiti written on the walls in the city of Pompeii, and found plenty of sex, arrogance and good old fashioned bathroom talk etched in stone. Plus, British rhyming slang makes its way to our televisions through police shows on PBS. And a dictionary for rock climbers gives us a fantastic word that anyone can use to describe a rough day. Also, spitting game, hornswoggling, two kinds of sloppy joes, peppy sad songs, and endearing names for grandma.FULL DETAILSWhen Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D., parts of the ancient city of Pompeii remained intact, including the graffiti written on its walls. Much of what was written, not unlike today's bathroom etchings, is naughty and boastful, with people like Celadus the Thracian claiming to be the one who "makes the girls moan."A Tallahassee, Florida, mother who texted her daughter in a hurry accidentally asked about the "baby woes," meaning "baby wipes," and came to the conclusion that we need a new phrase: read between the autocorrect.If you watch British police procedurals, you'll likely come across the term to grass someone, meaning "to inform on someone" or "to rat someone out." It's a bit of British rhyming slang that originated with the 19th-century phrase to shop on someone. That gave us the noun shopper, which became grasshopper, and then got shortened to grass. A Japanese version of the idiom the grass is always greener translates to "the neighbor's flowers are red."The word hornswoggle, meaning "to embarrass" or "to swindle," is of unclear origin, but definitely seems of a piece with U.S. frontier slang from the 1830s and 1840s. Our Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a game called Dictum wherein he gives us a word, like contrary or emasculate, and we have to guess the closest bold-faced word that comes after it in the dictionary. Tougher than you might think!A listener whose first language is Farsi wonders if the name of the grandma in the classic film An Affair to Remember, gave us the endearment nanu, for grandmother. In Mediterranean countries, words like nanu, nana, nene and nona are all common terms for "granny." Here's a truism that often appeared scribbled in ancient wall graffiti: I wonder, oh wall, that you have not yet collapsed. So many writers' cliches do you bear.The term spitting game, meaning "to flirt," comes from African-American slang going back to at least the 1960's, when game referred to someone's hustle. It's well covered in Randy Kearse's Street Talk: Da Official Guide to Hip-Hop and Urban Slanguage. Martha recalls that as an English major, she nearly memorized William Zinsser's On Writing Well. He died this month at age 92, and she'll remember this quote, among others: "Ultimately, the product any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about, but who he or she is...I often find myself reading with interest about a topic I never thought would interest me — some scientific quest, perhaps. What holds me is the enthusiasm of the writer for his field."A listener from northern New Jersey says that in his part of the state, a sloppy joe was not the mashed-up ground beef sandwich many of us also know as a loose meat sandwich, spoonburger, or tavern. For him, a sloppy joe was a deli meat sandwich that consisted of things like pastrami, turkey, coleslaw, Russian dressing and rye bread.Here's a lovely bit of ancient graffiti found on the wall of an inn: "We have wet the bed. I admit, we were wrong, my host. If you ask why, there was no chamberpot."Pro wrestling, a fake sport with a very real following, has a trove of lingo all its own that can be found in the newsletter and website PW Torch. One saying, red means green, refers to the fact that a wrestler who winds up bloody will get a prettier payout for his or her performance. And kayfabe is a wrestler's character persona, which he or she often keeps up for any public appearance, even outside the ring.A fan of Bruce Springsteen's song "Dancing in the Dark" called to say that she's noticed the lyrics are awfully sad for such a peppy tune, and wonders if there's a word for this phenomenon. Lyrical dissonance would do the job, but there's also the term agathokakological, a Greek-influenced word meaning "both good and evil."One listener followed up our discussion of classic literary passages turned into limerick form by writing one of his own, a baseball-themed poem that begins, "There once was a batter named Casey."Vermont is one place—but not the only one—where non-natives are referred to as flatlanders, and people who've been around generations proudly call themselves woodchucks. It's written about on Shawn Kerivan's blog, Innkeeping Insights in Stowe.The Climbing Dictionary by Matt Samet includes a fantastic term that can be used by non-climbers as well: high gravity day, a day when all routes, even easy ones, seem impossible due to a seeming increase in gravity.The expression to a T comes from a shortening of tittle, a word meaning a little of something. The word tittle even shows up in the bible. There's also an idiom to the teeth, as in dressed to the teeth, or fully armored-up.This episode is hosted by Grant Barrett and Martha Barnette.--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2015, Wayword LLC.

Yesterday, I awoke to the sad news that William Zinsser, the writer, teacher, and author of "On Writing Well" and many other books about writing, had passed away. I wrote about Zinsser in a blog post earlier this year, but in the past 24 hours, I’ve had time to reflect again on what I’ve learned from him. I thought I’d share a few of these thoughts here as my brief tribute to the man who has had a profound impact on my writing. Read the full text of this episode here: www.writewithimpact.com/william-zinsser

Bonni and I respond to your questions on leadership resources and other topics that are top of mind for the Coaching for Leaders community. Bonni Stachowiak, Ed.D. Teaching in Higher Ed Question from Michelle: I've recently taken on a Training post...it's a new post and so I'm making things up as I go along. In episode 30 you recommend that Managers attend the same training as their team. I'm organizing a whole range of training courses in 2015 and at first I agreed with you that the Manager should attend with their team. The feedback I've had though is that if the Manager attends then people won't ask all the questions they should ask to seek clarification. This maybe a cultural point rather than a general training point. Are there some types of training that need the Manager to be present and others where it’s better than they are not present? For example : if it's about changing behavior then it's right that they should attend and if it’s about learning something that's new (new skills to do the job they already do) then the Manager shouldn't be present. 30: Six Mistakes Leaders Make Sending People to Training Question from Amy: I enjoy listening every morning on my way to work and have applied MANY of your tips to my job. I've been through so many podcasts, I'm curious if you could help me with one of your recommendations. You talked about a planner you use that can be specialized -- what recommended company/website was this? I'm looking to start the New Year off right! Thanks for your advice! Remember the Milk OmniFocus (Mac)* (iPhone)* (iPad)* LearnOmniFocus.com from our friend Tim Stringer Question from Brenda: I am a retreat coordinator at a camp where I work with many different churches and Christian organizations. Most people I work with come 1-2 times a year and come and share their camp space with 2-5 different churches and organizations. I am looking for a way to not only personally connect with the people I work with, but also give them the opportunity to get to know each other as other camp rental leaders and be able bounce ideas off each other and give this group unity by coming to camp together. I also want to build this same unity and community with other retreat coordinators across the US within a online group. But keep the two groups separate from each other. I have seen this done with Stay-at-homes moms on Facebook, but really do not want to use Facebook for this. Would LinkedIn be a good website to use to for this purpose? Is there another social media or website that I should explore that you know of that would work better? What have you found to be the best way to grow your community with Coaching for Leaders? IP.Board Audio Question from Hujefa  Question from Lisa: Quick question - have you ever done a podcast about how to handle a mistake at work? I have made a mistake that has many upset. I scheduled a meeting for next week to discuss and although I've already apologized internally, I'm looking for suggestions on how to handle the meeting. I don't think I want to focus at all on what I "shoulda" done but rather what to do to help alleviate the situation. 54: How Authentic Leaders Apologize Question from Noushin: I was wondering if you can suggest a program for executives who would like to improve their writing skills for communicating with the investors, CEOs, etc. On Writing Well* by William Zissner Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing* by Mignon Fogarty 108: How To Improve Your Writing With Grammar Girl and Grammar Pop Feedback Join the conversation: http://coachingforleaders.com/174 Comments, questions, or feedback for future Q&A shows: http://coachingforleaders.com/feedback Next Q&A show is episode #178 and the topic is accountability For more information on the 5 Days to Your Best Year Ever course from Michael Hyatt, please visit: http://coachingforleaders.com/best2015*

Bonni and I respond to your questions on leadership resources and other topics that are top of mind for the Coaching for Leaders community. Bonni Stachowiak, Ed.D. Teaching in Higher Ed Question from Michelle: I've recently taken on a Training post...it's a new post and so I'm making things up as I go along. In episode 30 you recommend that Managers attend the same training as their team. I'm organizing a whole range of training courses in 2015 and at first I agreed with you that the Manager should attend with their team. The feedback I've had though is that if the Manager attends then people won't ask all the questions they should ask to seek clarification. This maybe a cultural point rather than a general training point. Are there some types of training that need the Manager to be present and others where it’s better than they are not present? For example : if it's about changing behavior then it's right that they should attend and if it’s about learning something that's new (new skills to do the job they already do) then the Manager shouldn't be present. 30: Six Mistakes Leaders Make Sending People to Training Question from Amy: I enjoy listening every morning on my way to work and have applied MANY of your tips to my job. I've been through so many podcasts, I'm curious if you could help me with one of your recommendations. You talked about a planner you use that can be specialized -- what recommended company/website was this? I'm looking to start the New Year off right! Thanks for your advice! Remember the Milk OmniFocus (Mac)* (iPhone)* (iPad)* LearnOmniFocus.com from our friend Tim Stringer Question from Brenda: I am a retreat coordinator at a camp where I work with many different churches and Christian organizations. Most people I work with come 1-2 times a year and come and share their camp space with 2-5 different churches and organizations. I am looking for a way to not only personally connect with the people I work with, but also give them the opportunity to get to know each other as other camp rental leaders and be able bounce ideas off each other and give this group unity by coming to camp together. I also want to build this same unity and community with other retreat coordinators across the US within a online group. But keep the two groups separate from each other. I have seen this done with Stay-at-homes moms on Facebook, but really do not want to use Facebook for this. Would LinkedIn be a good website to use to for this purpose? Is there another social media or website that I should explore that you know of that would work better? What have you found to be the best way to grow your community with Coaching for Leaders? IP.Board Audio Question from Hujefa  Question from Lisa: Quick question - have you ever done a podcast about how to handle a mistake at work? I have made a mistake that has many upset. I scheduled a meeting for next week to discuss and although I've already apologized internally, I'm looking for suggestions on how to handle the meeting. I don't think I want to focus at all on what I "shoulda" done but rather what to do to help alleviate the situation. 54: How Authentic Leaders Apologize Question from Noushin: I was wondering if you can suggest a program for executives who would like to improve their writing skills for communicating with the investors, CEOs, etc. On Writing Well* by William Zissner Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing* by Mignon Fogarty 108: How To Improve Your Writing With Grammar Girl and Grammar Pop Feedback Join the conversation: http://coachingforleaders.com/174 Comments, questions, or feedback for future Q&A shows: http://coachingforleaders.com/feedback Next Q&A show is episode #178 and the topic is accountability For more information on the 5 Days to Your Best Year Ever course from Michael Hyatt, please visit: http://coachingforleaders.com/best2015*

We discuss the role of design in the practice of law with renowned typographer-lawyer Matthew Butterick. The conversation ranges among very practical tips for making better documents, why so many legal documents are poorly designed, why lawyers should care about design, and what it even means to design a document. Matthew explains why IRS forms are some of the most well-designed legal documents around. Also, Joe manages to connect (positively) enjoying physical books with smelling gasoline. This show’s links: About Matthew Butterick, also here and @mbutterick on Twitter Nicholas Georgakopoulos, Knee Defender, Barro’s Error, and Surprise Norms Christopher Buccafusco and Chris Sprigman, Who Deserves Those 4 Inches of Airplane Seat Space? Keith O’Brien, America’s Chimp Problem The pronunciation of “chimpanzee” Cecilia Kang, Podcasts Are Back - And Making Money (sadly, not ours, but here’s Christian’s post on Podcasts and some of the reasons we started this show) Overcast, our preferred podcast app Episode 11: Big Red Diesel, in which we discussed typography, text editing, and the worst breaches of email etiquette Butterick’s Practical Typography (and how to pay for it if you choose!) From the book: Typography in Ten Minutes and Summary of Key Rules Matthew Butterick, Typography for Lawyers (and how to purchase physical and Kindle editions) Ben Carter, Typography for Lawyers: One Space, Double Spacing, and Other Good Ideas An example of a Supreme Court opinion, notable for its design Robin Williams, The Mac is Not a Typewriter Matthew Butterick, The Bomb in the Garden, text and images from a talk Matthew gave at TYPO San Francisco in 2013 Rob Walker, The Guts of a New Machine, reporting on the iPod’s first two years and including the quote from Steve Jobs that “design is how it works” (Note too the uncertainty in 2003 whether the iPod would go on to sell like the breakthrough Sony Walkman, which sold 186 million in twenty years. As of this article, the iPod had sold 1.4 million. It went on to sell 350 million in eleven years.) Dan Barry, A Writing Coach Becomes a Listener, a profile of William Zinsser, author of On Writing Well Mike Monteiro, Design Is a Job Lawrence Solum, Legal Theory Lexicon: Fit and Justification Patrick Kingsley, Higgs Boson and Comic Sans: The Perfect Fusion Matthew Butterick, Pollen, “a publishing system that helps authors create beautiful and functional web-based books” and that “includes tools for writing, designing, programming, testing, and publishing” Matthew’s Equity and Concourse typefaces Matthew Butterick, The Economics of a Web-Based Book: Year One Special Guest: Matthew Butterick.

How you communicate can make or break you in your personal and business life. The way you speak, write, your body language and good eye contact. Are you optimistic, patient, sincere, honest and a good listener? The way you dress, your posture and confidence. Are you approachable? The attributes of good communication are vast and can take time and practice to master. I want to focus on one today. Are you speaking to your customers in a language they understand? In your particular industry there may be words you use to describe certain components or products. Avoid using unfamiliar vocabulary or general terms that will leave people confused. One example would be financial planning and investments. There are many terms that can leave a novice confused and nervous. That is why best selling author and radio host Dave Ramsey insists that his endorsed financial service providers have ‘the heart of a teacher”. I follow this rule, “If I don't understand it, I don't do it.” William Zinsser stated in his book, On Writing Well, that many managers are prisoners of the notion that a simple style reflects a simple mind. In many cases, speaking and writing clearly can be more difficult, but is worth the effort. What is your goal? Are you more likely to gain commitment from a prospect if they are confused or when they have a clear understanding of what you are offering and how it will meet their needs? A word of warning. Do not appear condescending and insult your customer. Respect their intelligence and learn to ask great questions. They will tell you what they need if you pay attention. Have a great week! Pierce