How to Exponentially Increase Your Impact
If you want to increase your impact, expand your community, narrow your focus, and equip others with the tools they need to do the work you are uniquely suited to do in a way that is uniquely suited to them.
Many consultants work on specific projects within specific industries. They may work on one project for months or even years. If that’s true for you, it may be hard to see the extent of the impact of your work. While you can see the difference your work makes to that client, you might not see much impact outside of that sphere.
Some consultants are content to work with a handful of clients for their entire careers. They get to know those clients well and see projects through from beginning to end. They are part of a team, and for many folks, being part of a team is immensely satisfying. It can also feel safe and familiar.
But if you limit yourself to working with a handful of clients, and don’t take the opportunity to share your wisdom and insights with a larger audience, you are limiting the scope of your impact.
Create a vision for the future.
You got into this business to make a difference in your corner of the world. But you cannot create what you cannot see.
If you cannot see a vision for the future or how your work helps bring that vision to fruition, it’s almost impossible to create that future and incredibly easy to get mired in the day-to-day work of consulting.
Yes, you have bills to pay, invoices to send, networking groups to attend, and clients to serve. But you also have important work to do — work that makes a difference. And if you are focused on the minutia, it’s hard to see what you are working towards or why it really matters.
Take some time to envision the transformation you seek to make in the world, especially as it relates to the work you do with your clients. What would you like your clients to know? What would you like them to do differently? What skills and resources do they need to operate that way? What gets in the way and keeps them from making the necessary changes? What have they tried before? Why hasn’t that worked?
By answering these questions, you will more clearly define your BIG idea — the bold, insightful, and galvanizing idea that serves as the foundation of your business and your reputation. Your BIG idea is a guiding principle for your business; it will define the services you offer, the topics you talk about, and the subjects you write about. The more intentionally you focus your work around that one overarching idea, the easier it will be for you to build your reputation around and to become known for that idea.
Build a community with a shared vision.
If your professional inner circle is currently smaller than you would like it to be, that’s okay. Even a small inner circle can provide you with a strong foundation. As you share your vision for the future with the people in your inner circle, including your clients, colleagues, and partners, start to build a community around that vision.
A strong inner circle is a great place to stress test and refine your vision for the future. The members of your inner circle who are most engaged with your vision can add to it, point out areas of weakness, and help you refine and strengthen it. The stronger your vision for the future, the easier it will be to share it with a larger audience.
As you start to expand your community, think about who else might share your vision and who you will need to collaborate with to make your vision a reality. Is your vision focused on a specific industry or people who serve in a specific role? What do those who share your vision have in common?
Remember that you don’t need to share your vision with everyone. Think of your community as a series of concentric circles centered on a shared vision. As you share your vision with your inner circle, your reach expands along with the size of your community.
One of the best ways to share your vision with people you don’t yet know, but who would be interested, is to write for high-visibility publications. When you write for the right publication, you are able to share your vision with a well-established, targeted audience.
But that’s not all. Writing for high-visibility publications also allows you to enjoy the imprimatur of the publication — their editorial team vetted you, and by publishing your work, they are signaling to their audience that you are an authority in your field. You are effectively borrowing the publication’s reputation and relationship with its audience and using that social proof to build your own reputation and relationships.
As you build a community around this shared vision, others will add their perspectives and experiences to it — they will start taking ownership of the vision and actively work toward implementing it. That may sound frightening, but it’s the only way your vision will ever be realized.
While it may have started with you, a shared vision isn’t actually yours — nor was it ever meant to be. But you still have a crucial role to play in realizing that vision.
Define how your work contributes to the shared vision.
How does your work contribute to this shared vision? Which part of that shared vision are you uniquely suited to address? Which part energizes and inspires you?
Everything we do has ripple effects. But it’s hard to see the effect those ripples have on others, and easy to believe that the impact we have is smaller than it is. When we can’t see the impact we’re making, it can be tempting to expand your focus. But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
Expanding your focus and taking on even more work — especially work that isn’t particularly interesting — is a sure-fire way to spread yourself too thin and burn out.
Not all of the work that needs to be done to realize a shared vision is yours to do.
So, what work is yours to do? What is your greatest gift to give? What work belongs to someone else (even if you aren’t sure who that someone else is)?
Knowing what work is yours, and what work belongs to someone else, will help you focus on where you can make the biggest impact. It is possible to scale your impact even as you narrow your focus. Writing for high-visibility publications and speaking to other people’s audiences will help you accomplish this goal. More sophisticated tactics include developing a signature method so you can serve more people at once and licensing your expertise to enable others to do the work you do.
Creating change is hard, and you cannot do it alone. You need others working alongside you doing the same work and spreading the same message. And you need them to be able to bring their full selves to that work. Not everyone who needs your help will want that help from you. It is impossible for you to serve everyone who needs your help, and the truth is, you won’t want to serve everyone who needs your help.
If you really want to make a difference, you must share your perspective with others. You must build your community around a shared vision for the future, and you must allow, and even celebrate, others doing the same work you do.
Once you are clear about the change you want to see and the work that is yours to do, use it as a guide for everything you do. Your focused efforts will have a profound ripple effect.
How (and Why) to Edit Other People's Work
We aren’t taught how to edit other people’s work, so we tend to focus on grammar and commas and spelling. Or we end up rewriting someone else’s work in our own voice because it just didn’t quite sound right to our ears. But editing is a skill anyone can learn, and becoming a better editor makes you a better writer and better communicator.
The key is to start with what is often referred to as a developmental edit, which focuses on the structure and organization of a piece, before moving to a copy edit, which looks at the grammar, language, and structure of each sentence. Because the developmental edit is often overlooked, we’ll focus on that piece of the editing process. Here are three steps to follow when editing someone else’s work:
First, embrace these five principles.
Good editing requires good communication and a heavy dose of compassion. Offering editorial criticism in a way that is both useful and kind requires a great deal of intention and thought. Embracing these principles is a good place to start:
- Offer critiques from the reader’s point of view, not your own. When editing someone else’s work, keep the reader top of mind. Your goal is to help the writer communicate their ideas clearly to the intended reader. Center your comments on the reader. For example, “There’s a lot of jargon in this article that could be confusing. Will your readers understand it?”
- Point out the particularly good elements, not just the parts that need work. It is always helpful for writers to see what really works about a piece. Let them know when you find something particularly insightful or well-crafted. For example, “I really like the way you took this very technical neuroscience research and made it actionable. Not only does that help me understand how such a big concept applies to business, but it positions you as an expert who really knows her stuff.”
- Give the writer a reason why you think something should be changed. Whenever you suggest a change or highlight a possible problem, let the writer know why you think a change needs to be made. For example, “I had to read this sentence a few times before I really understood it. While it appears to be technically accurate, I’m afraid readers might not take the time to understand it, and it’s an important point. Is there a way to say this more simply?”
- Propose a solution whenever possible. The writer has invested a lot of time in this piece, and may not be able to see problems that are obvious to you. When you identify a problem, offer a solution to help the writer understand the problem you identified. For example, “Perhaps it would help to break this sentence up into two or three sentences and really walk the reader through your thought process.”
- Respect the writer’s voice. Just because you would make the point differently, doesn’t mean that the way the writer expressed themselves is inaccurate or inappropriate. When you encounter a question of voice or style, note it once and explain your concerns. Then move on. For example, “I know you swear in conversation, but it lands a bit differently to me when it’s in writing. Will your readers be okay with cursing in an otherwise formal piece?”
As an editor, your goal is to help the writer articulate their thoughts in a way that the reader will understand. But remember that you are merely making suggestions. The writer gets to decide whether to adopt, adapt, or ignore those suggestions. After all, the writer’s name is the one that will go on the piece.
Second, evaluate the editorial quality of the article.
To evaluate the editorial quality of an article, make sure you understand who the intended audience is and what the writer intended the reader to take away from the piece. Then, read the entire article for context and evaluate it based on the questions presented by the CORD Framework:
- Cogent. Does the piece present a compelling case in support of a specific position or point of view? Is it useful to the intended audience? Does it provide enough context for the audience to understand its importance?
- Original. Does it have a strong voice and clear point of view? Is it insightful? Does it add to the conversation? Does it build upon the writer’s experience?
- Researched. Are the insights presented based on evidence? Are assertions grounded in facts and experience? Is the data accurate? Is research presented with sufficient context? Are cited sources trustworthy?
- Deep. Is the piece well written? Does it leave a lasting impression? Does it dive below the surface and offer insights not found elsewhere? Is it relevant? Does the writer discern fact from opinion?
A high-quality article meets each of these criteria and positions the writer as an expert in their field. Look for places where the writer satisfied these criteria, and where the writer fell short. Point out any places where they could build their authority by improving one or more of these areas.
Third, look for and address common challenges.
While every writer has different strengths and a distinctive voice, there are certain challenges we all struggle with from time to time. By looking for these challenges in other people’s work, you’ll find it easier to identify them in your own writing. Here are some of the most common challenges and how to address them:
- No clear point. What is the main point of the piece? Is it clear and obvious? Can you state it in one sentence? Does the writing ever stray from that point? Is every piece of information in the piece relevant to that point? Or can some parts be cut? If you can’t state the point clearly and succinctly, it means the writer has a bit more work to do. Let them know that the main point isn’t clear and identify those places that seem to go off topic or add confusion.
- Burying the lede. Does the writer get to the point quickly? Is it clear from the beginning of the piece? Or does is the writing setting the stage for the first few paragraphs? Burying the lede is very common, and it is deadly in business writing. If the reader isn’t sure what the point of a piece is from the very beginning, they aren’t going to stick around long enough to find it. If you discover the lede a few paragraphs below the start of the piece, identify it as such, and remind the writer that their audience wants to know exactly what they’re getting themselves into before investing their time into reading anything.
- Unclear audience. Who, exactly, is the audience for this piece? Does that stay consistent throughout? Or does it shift? A shift between “we” and “you” can work; but a shift from “you” to “them” rarely does. In business writing, the most powerful pronoun is “you” because it is clear and it speaks directly to the reader. If the piece you are editing seems to be speaking to several different audiences, identify where it shifts and bring that shift to the writer’s attention.
- Muddled thinking. Do you get lost in the piece and find you have to read a sentence or paragraph a few times to understand it? The two most common reasons writing fails is because the writer hasn’t thought through it enough or the writer is trying to cover every possible scenario. Long sentences and rambling paragraphs offer cues that the writer is still clarifying and simplify their thoughts. Point out any problem areas and let the writer know where you had a hard time following their thinking. Shorter, simpler sentences are often the first step towards a solution.
- Questionable logic. Does the writer make any leaps of logic not supported by the words on the page? Do they offer their opinion and make it sound like a fact? Does the writer refer to studies in support of their argument but fail to cite the actual study? If you were tasked with discrediting the writer, where would you poke holes in the argument? It is incredibly difficult to fact-check your own work. As an editor, you can do a real service to the writer by pointing out where their argument doesn’t hold water or where they fail to take alternative viewpoints into account.
The relationship between an editor and writer requires a great deal of trust. It is collaborative and constructive, which means it sometimes requires difficult conversations and honest disagreement. Editors must be cognizant of how they deliver their criticism. Writers must endeavor not to take that criticism personally. Both must approach the work from a position where respect and care for the reader is paramount.
When you edit someone else’s work, not only do you help the writer improve their skills, but you improve your writing skills as well. To put this into practice, consider joining the Writing Practice community. Or recruit a colleague. If each of you commits to writing one article each month by a specific date, you can then come together and edit one another’s work. Not only will you both improve the quality of your writing, but it will be a lot easier for you both to complete your writing projects.
What to Write When: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building Your Authority
Should you write a book? Or focus on your blog? What about your email newsletter? Should you focus on that next? Do you need a lead magnet? Or should you write for high-visibility publications? What about social media? How does that fit into the mix?
If you’ve ever asked yourself these questions, then you already know writing helps you build your reputation, increase your visibility, and reach the right audience. It is an exceptional authority-building technique that showcases your perspective, insights, and approaches to solving problems. It allows readers to get to know, like, and trust you.
It also differentiates you from your peers.
Over the course of your consulting career, you will use various forms of writing, such as social media posts, email newsletters, blog posts, articles for third-party publications, and books, to share your perspective and demonstrate your expertise. Each form of writing serves a distinct purpose. Understanding how they work together is essential to knowing which to use at each stage of your consulting career. Here, I offer a step-by-step approach to help you focus your writing efforts.
First, write to develop your perspective.
You must develop your perspective before you can share your perspective. If you are an early-stage consultant or you have recently shifted your focus to serve a new industry or offer a new service, start by posting on LinkedIn and writing for your blog and email newsletter.
Use this time to learn about your audience’s biggest challenges, how they’ve tried to address those challenges, why those attempts failed, and where they turn for guidance. Understand the counsel your audience is receiving and where other experts in your field are oversimplifying or overcomplicating the solutions they offer. Note where you can add some nuance, fill a gap, or offer a different perspective.
According to data on the lifespan of online content compiled by Scott Graffius, a post on LinkedIn receives half of its total engagement within 24.3 hours while a blog post receives half of its total engagement within 1.95 years. GetResponse reports that the lifespan of email newsletters is even shorter than that of social media posts, with half of all opens occurring within the first 8 hours.
Writing helps you interrogate your own thinking, and when you share your writing, you invite others to offer their perspective so you can refine your thinking. These vehicles are perfectly suited to experimentation and the development of your perspective:
- LinkedIn. LinkedIn posts have a short lifespan. However, they also have a high likelihood of engagement and great potential for building your network. This makes LinkedIn an excellent place to offer up ideas even when they aren’t fully formed and to invite and actively engage in discussion. Those types of posts have the potential to help you see your idea from a new perspective, thus refining your thinking, and are great ways to build relationships with others in your field.
- Newsletter. Email newsletters have a much shorter lifespan than LinkedIn posts, but go directly to people who have opted-in to receive your newsletter and are interested in what you have to say. You may choose to share ideas in which you have a great deal of confidence, or you may invite the recipients to test developing ideas with you. Because your newsletter community is easy to reach, you have plenty of opportunities to share your thinking as it evolves.
- Blog. As is the case with email newsletters, your blog is a platform you own and control, so it is more secure than sharing your ideas on social media. Blog posts have the longest lifespan and greatest flexibility because they can be revised, updated, or deleted at any time. You can also expand the lifespan of a blog post by repurposing it and intentionally sharing it over and over again. Because your blog can be accessed by anyone, you want to have confidence in the ideas you present at the time you present them. Think of each blog post as a snapshot of your thinking at a particular point in time.
Your blog and email newsletter serve as the foundation of your authority-building efforts and are enhanced by your presence on LinkedIn. Regardless of what other forms of writing you employ, make sure your foundation is solid and reinforced throughout your consulting career. A solid foundation will position you for future growth.
Second, write to build your network and authority.
As a mid-stage consultant, you have a strong point of view and experience-based expertise to share. You have an excellent reputation, a strong network, and a steady(ish) stream of projects. However, you may find that your reputation is confined to a small circle of clients and colleagues and your network lacks focus. You may also find that you are doing too much of the wrong kind of work.
This is when you want to consider writing for high-visibility publications.
A high-visibility publication is any publication that allows you to share your ideas with an already-established audience populated by the people you most want to reach. Writing for these publications helps you share your message with more of the right people and expand your audience. It also provides social proof — the publication vetted you and decided you have something important to share with their readers. They recognized you as an expert in your field.
In most cases, your articles will be published online. These articles are similar to a blog post, with a long lifespan that can be expanded by promoting and repurposing the article again and again. It is rarely possible to update these articles, so you want to have confidence in the ideas you present. That being said, these articles are dated, and you can always stop sharing them when they no longer accurately reflect your thinking and they will fade into obscurity.
Articles written for third-party publications are remarkably flexible marketing assets that offer readers a detailed examination of a very specific topic in a format that is easy to digest. In most cases, you can syndicate these articles, publishing the same piece on your blog with a link back to the original, thus reinforcing the foundation of your reputation-building effort. Unlike your blog and email newsletter, however, writing articles for high-visibility publications gives you access to an already-established audience, making it easier to build your network.
Third, write to share your hard-earned wisdom
As an established consultant, you have a strong point of view, extensive experience, and a reputation as an authoritative expert and leading thinker in your field. Your sphere of influence is vast, and your network includes other recognized experts, clients, and emerging leaders. As you start to transition from a mid-stage consultant to an established consultant, consider writing a book to share your hard-earned wisdom.
While you may choose to write a book earlier in this process, keep in mind that writing and promoting a book requires a significant investment of time, money, and effort. You want to undertake that effort when you can afford to focus your attention on your book — when your pipeline is full and you don’t need to worry about where your next project will come. Writing a book can be a fun distraction, when what you really need to do is the hard work of business development.
You don’t need to write a book to build a successful consultancy.
If you do write a book, the return on your investment will probably not come in the form of book sales. Your book is much more valuable as a marketing asset than as a stream of income.
As a published author, you will be seen as an authoritative expert simply by virtue of the fact that you have published a book. If that book stands on its own merits, your reputation as an authoritative expert will be confirmed. If the book lacks insight or is poorly written, it could damage your reputation — at least with those who read it.
A book is a stable marketing asset, and it must stay relevant and resonant over time to be valuable. You have a better chance of writing a book that holds up over time and opens the door to more opportunities if you have an established audience and a solid reputation. Use articles — published on your blog or in high-visibility publications — to test and refine your ideas and make sure they stand the test of time.
To learn more about how articles and books work together, download my infographic on The Relationship Between Articles and Books.
Articles and books work very well together. Don’t be afraid to start with articles and use the articles you’ve written as a foundation for your book. Not only is it easier to write a 750 to 1,250 word article than it is to write a 35,000 to 65,000 word book, but those articles can help you build your audience for the book you intend to write.
Once your book is published, you can repurpose your research and writing into published articles that continue to build your audience and generate further excitement for your book. Breaking each chapter of your book into articles is a great way to repurpose your book and reinforce the foundation of your reputation-building effort.
The first step is simple.
No matter where you are in your consulting career, writing will help you build your authority, increase your visibility, and reach the right audience. Whether you focus on your blog, write for high-visibility publications, or start work on a book depends in large part on your current priorities and whether you have a solid foundation in place.
Writing never goes to waste. Even when your writing is not published, writing helps you think deeply and improves your ability to communicate highly complex ideas. Sharing those ideas allows you to refine them even further.
Are you ready to take the first step?
Just write.
And if you’d like some extra support, consider joining the Writing Practice community.
Are You Losing Control of Your Intellectual Property by Writing Articles for Publication?
Your expertise is the foundation of your business. When you fix that expertise in a tangible form of expression, such as a book, article, or podcast, it becomes a valuable asset and a type of intellectual property. As Erin Austin of Think Beyond IP says, “Owning and controlling intellectual property is the prerequisite to scaling your B2B expertise-based business.”
As a consultant, it is essential to protect your intellectual property.
But how do you protect your intellectual property when you’re writing and publishing articles? Doesn’t that put your intellectual property at risk? And what should you do if the publication you write for wants to own the articles you write? Doesn’t that mean you are giving up control of your intellectual property?
A primer on copyright law.
To be eligible for copyright protection, a work must be creative, original, and authored by a human (which means articles generated by AI are not eligible). It also must be in a form that allows the work to be consumed and reproduced. Written, audio, visual, and video works are all eligible for copyright protection.
Copyright protection attaches to a work as soon as it takes tangible form. So, as soon as you write an article, that article is copyrighted and you are the copyright owner. You don’t need to register the work with the U.S. Copyright Office. Registering the work provides you with additional protections and makes enforcement easier, but it is not required.
For information about the legal remedies available when someone infringes upon your copyrights, review Copyright Infringement Damages by Erin Austin.
As the copyright owner, you have the exclusive right to display the article, reproduce it, distribute copies, and create derivative versions. You may also transfer these rights to others, either permanently or for a defined period or purpose.
Copyright protection attaches to the work — in this case to the article. It does not protect the ideas presented in the article. Copyright protects the expression of your ideas, not the ideas themselves.
You cannot protect your ideas. You can, however, become known for your ideas.
Transferring ownership of your intellectual property.
Copyright law permits you to transfer some or all of your rights to display, reproduce, distribute copies, and create derivative versions of your article. Some publications ask you to sign a copyright transfer agreement, which transfers some or all of your copyrights to the publication.
Important Note: In the absence of a written agreement, submitting your article grants a publication a non-exclusive license to publish your work. An exclusive license is a transfer of your copyrights, which requires a written agreement.
Publications seek the copyrights to your article so they can control when, where, and to whom they distribute the article. Many association publications request the copyrights to limit distribution of the article to their members. Your article is a benefit of membership. That benefit isn’t terribly valuable if the article can easily be accessed elsewhere.
Often you will be asked to sign a copyright transfer agreement shortly before the article is published. If you’re not expecting it, this practice may feel manipulative; you may feel you have no choice but to sign the agreement.
Most reputable publications operate in good faith. The practice of requesting a transfer of copyright at the last minute is fairly standard. It is a holdover from the publication’s work with freelance writers. Freelance writers are paid upon publication, and publication is not guaranteed. There is no reason or incentive for a freelance writer to transfer their copyrights to the publication until they know the piece will be published and they will be compensated.
A copyright transfer agreement is a contract. But few people (authors and publishers alike) take the time to read and understand the terms of these contracts. Publications often see these contracts are mere formalities — something that is done because it’s always been done.
It is essential that you read and understand the copyright transfer agreement before you sign it. If the agreement transfers all your rights to the publication, the publication owns your article and can rewrite it or publish it without crediting you as the author.
Determining your next steps.
Before you decide how to proceed, you must first review the contract carefully. These agreements are typically quite short, so take the time to determine which copyrights are reserved to the author and which are claimed by the publication. And remember that the terms of the copyright transfer agreement are negotiable.
One of the most important rights to retain is the right to be credited as the author. If your article includes a chart or infographic, you want to make sure it is identified as a separate copyright owned entirely by you. Finally, understand what rights you have to distribute the article. Many publications will provide you with a PDF of your article that clearly identifies the publisher.
Before negotiating the contract, keep in mind that copyright protects the expression of an idea, not the idea itself. Also, there are real benefits to transferring your copyrights to the publication. If someone steals your article and claims it as their own, they have infringed upon the publication’s copyright, not yours. So it is the publication that will have to take action to enforce those rights.
Once you have reviewed the contract and determined which rights you want to retain, it’s time to negotiate. If your editor sent you the transfer of copyright agreement, give them the benefit of the doubt that they are acting in good faith. Frankly, the chances are good that they haven’t read the contract in a long time — they send it out as a matter of course, paying it little attention until someone raises the issue.
Your editor is your advocate. They have invested time and energy into you and the article you’ve written, so they don’t want to see this fall apart any more than you do! If there’s anything you don’t understand about the contract, ask for clarification. Share your concerns and seek a solution that serves both you and the publication.
As the copyright holder, you must take the time to understand your rights and the rights you are giving up when you sign a copyright transfer agreement. You also need to know which rights you want to retain so you can negotiate the terms of the agreement.
This is your intellectual property.
Protect it.
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DISCLAIMER: This article offers general information about copyright protection, and I made every effort to ensure its accuracy. However, I am not an intellectual property attorney. Please consult with a lawyer who specializes in copyright law before making any decisions that will affect your rights. To learn more about what you can and cannot copyright and license to others, take Erin Austin’s free quiz.
My Dyslexia Made Me a Better Writer. It Can Help You Too.
I am dyslexic. I was diagnosed in grade school in the 198os, and no one knew quite what to do with me. I was a smart kid, but a painfully slow reader, and I’d often reverse my letters and numbers or make simple spelling mistakes.
Word searches were nearly impossible for me to complete.
I am still a slow reader, and when I’m tired, I reverse letters and numbers and make simple spelling mistakes. I often can’t spell “of” correctly — even though “o.v.” doesn’t look right. Acronyms don’t stick in my head, and it is difficult for me to process written information when it is poorly formatted.
The websites of the early 90s were a nightmare.
But dyslexia also comes with a few gifts, one of which is a remarkable ability to identify and recognize complex patterns, including language patterns and article structure.
The power of pattern recognition.
In high school, I wanted to be a journalist or a lawyer. Because of my diagnosis, my academic advisor told me neither option was realistic.
That was the last time I spoke with my advisor.
I’ve always enjoyed reading and writing, even though I was much slower than my peers. But slow reading helped me study the structure of everything I read. Over time, I understood what made a collection of words stick together. As I discovered writers whose work I admired, I studied their writing more closely. It felt like a game — like a giant jigsaw puzzle of words.
In law school, I picked apart legal briefs, Supreme Court decisions, and journal articles. The structure differed from the novels and National Geographic articles I was used to, but it was there. Because of my understanding of the structure of legal writing, I was awarded a Dillard Fellowship, a teaching assistant position in the legal research and writing program at the University of Virginia School of Law. The following year, I served on the editorial board of one of the law journals.
The first time I wrote for a magazine, I read every article the publication put out in the last year so I could find the patterns. They all followed a similar structure, with slight variations depending on who wrote the piece.
Once I understood the structure, I could mimic it.
As I developed my writing voice, I experimented with the structure, adding my own variations. Once I found a few structures that worked well for me, I rotated between them.
The structure of an article is largely hidden. When no one noticed I was using the same few structures repeatedly, I got nervous.
I felt like I had pulled a fast one over on my editor!
But structure is built into every kind of writing, and my editor was well aware of my preferred variations. But because they fit within the standard structure, my preferences were part of my voice and style, not a trick.
Your reader expects a certain structure, even if they can’t identify each of the elements. And structure helps you, as the writer, get your point across.
Using structure to become a better writer.
Every non-fiction article follows a variation of the same basic structure: there’s an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. The introduction works with the headline to tell the reader what you’re going to tell them while providing the necessary context. The body goes into the details, telling the reader what you want to tell them. The conclusion wraps it all up in a nice bow and tells the reader what you just told them.
Variations exist within that basic structure, but that structure is always there. It provides a solid container for your writing.
Because I am dyslexic, I struggle to write in a logical order. Having an outline helps, but when I’m writing a longer piece, or a piece with a lot of research, my process looks chaotic.
I capture quotes and notes and miscellaneous ideas in one big document. I don’t bother looking for a rhyme or reason. I throw everything into the mix. At this stage, the point is to capture my ideas and anything else that might make it into the piece.
Then, I print out the document and grab a pair of scissors. I cut each snippet of text from the page and group similar ideas together. I order the notes within each group, and write one section at a time. I rarely start at the beginning. I like to start with the section that sparks my interest and curiosity.
It’s a messy process, but it works for me. It allows me to honor the way my brain works.
I don’t think linearly, which can be a bit of a challenge. But it can also help me make connections that other people miss. And those connections — those surprising insights — make for good reading (and fun writing)!
It is because of my dyslexia that I understand the patterns inherent in article-writing.
These patterns are things you can learn, and they can help you become a better writer, regardless of whether you have dyslexia.
On Crickets, Cheerleaders, and Curmudgeons: How to Know if Your Perspective Resonates
Sharing your perspective with your audience is essential to differentiate yourself from your peers. But how do you know if you are clearly conveying your perspective and if it is resonating with the intended audience?
Building your reputation is a long game, but staying attuned to other people’s reactions to your work can help you determine if you’re on the right path.
What if you share your perspective and no one responds?
Everyone who publishes articles, blog posts, social media posts, or an email newsletter is familiar with the experience of sharing something they believe is particularly important and insightful, eagerly awaiting the crowd’s response, and hearing nothing but silence.
And one lonely cricket in the distance.
What does that mean? Does it mean no one cares what you have to say? Or that your perspective isn’t resonating with your audience? Or does it mean the piece you spent a lot of time crafting wasn’t clear?
Most of the time, you won’t receive any material feedback. Silence is the standard response.
Participation inequality is a well-studied phenomenon. According to the Nielsen Norman Group, user participation in social media and online communities (including blogs) generally follows a 90-9-1 rule where the vast majority of users do not engage with the content — they may read and observe, but they do not like, comment, or post. Approximately 9% of users engage to some extent on occasion. But it’s the 1% who post, like, comment, and stay engaged. And even then, the response they provide may not be valuable.
How can you improve the quality (and quantity) of responses?
Sharing your work on a social media platform or through your email newsletter is unlikely to elicit many responses, and the responses you do get will probably not be terribly valuable. The key to increasing the number of responses is to ask for a response and make it easy for people to respond.
Most people won’t take the time to read your article closely, especially when you share it on social media. To increase engagement, write the post so the reader can comment intelligently even if they don’t read the article. Give them the context they need and ask a specific question that they can answer without further research.
Yes, your goal is to get people to read your work. But that only happens if the right people know about it. When it comes to social media, the only way to get more people to know about your work is to increase engagement on your post. The more comments you get, the more people you reach.
To receive high-quality feedback, you need to make a specific request of specific individuals — and I don’t mean tagging them in a social media post.
If you want someone to put time and energy into responding to what you’ve written, you must put time and energy into crafting your request.
Be clear about the type of feedback you want. Only you know what kind of feedback is valuable to you. A general request, such as “I’d love your thoughts on this piece,” is a big ask. It not only requires the recipient to read the article but forces them to either ignore your request or spend time trying to guess which kinds of “thoughts” you want them to share with you.
If you want good feedback, ask good questions.
In your request, give the recipient a bit of context about the article and why you are asking for their opinion. Then, ask a few specific questions. For example, “This article was inspired by the conversation we had at the conference last month. One of the points you made was that you don’t feel like you have a deep enough understanding of how artificial intelligence works, how it might be deployed in a manufacturing facility, or what red flags you should be aware of as you adopt this technology. I address each of these issues in this article. Did I provide you with the information you need? Does it raise any new questions for you? What do you wish I had addressed but didn’t? I’d be happy to receive your response by email or, if you’d prefer, we could hop on a call.”
Keep in mind that just because their feedback is important to you doesn’t mean it’s important to them. Give them the benefit of the doubt that they have good intentions. Giving meaningful feedback takes effort, so the recipient of your request may not respond immediately. Even with the best intentions, they may forget about your request as they focus on more urgent matters.
Don’t take it personally.
What if the only accolades are from your peers?
It is not uncommon for the article you publish to garner a lot of attention from your peers but absolutely no attention from your intended audience. Your peers know you and have a deep understanding of the topic you wrote about, so it isn’t surprising that they would respond to your writing.
That’s great news!
It means you are adding to the conversation and not to the noise. And it positions you as an expert among experts.
Remember the 90-9-1 rule? Just because your prospective clients aren’t engaging in the conversation doesn’t mean they aren’t listening to it.
Keep that in mind as you respond to your colleagues. Look for opportunities to add more depth to the article and showcase your understanding.
What if prospective clients disagree?
What if a prospective client vehemently (and publicly) disagrees with something you wrote?
Depending on how your client expresses themselves, your reaction can range from defensiveness to anger to curiosity. The most important thing is to remember that even though this one person is the one engaging with you, others are listening.
So, read negative comments carefully. Are you sure you are interpreting them correctly? Might you be misinterpreting something they said? If so, ask a clarifying question. Similarly, if they have a point, acknowledge it. Take this as an opportunity to dig in deeper together.
You can often turn a negative into a positive simply by the way you engage with criticism. Even if you don’t persuade the person you are in conversation with, remember that others are watching, and you may persuade them! Most people online do not engage — they lurk. Sometimes your primary audience isn’t the person engaging with you; it’s the lurkers.
If you’re engaging with someone criticizing your work and they become combative or disrespectful, remember that you don’t have to respond. You don’t owe them anything, and your ability to maintain your composure will be noted by others. An argument requires both people to fuel the fire. You have the right to disengage.
If you are engaging with someone criticizing your work and you decide that they are right — that what you wrote either wasn’t accurate or was missing a bit of nuance, that’s okay. Acknowledge it, and thank your interlocutor for engaging in the conversation with you and sharing their perspective. This will further your relationship with the person engaging with you and show others that you are open to other people’s perspectives and willing to change your mind when warranted.
If the argument stops being productive, simply don’t engage in it. It’s okay to agree to disagree. Again, others will be watching and respect the way you handle it.
Finally, if you lose this prospective client because they disagree with you, they probably weren’t a very good prospect to begin with.
Keep sharing your perspective.
Sharing your perspective with your audience is essential to differentiate yourself from your peers. Your perspective is valuable as long as you add to the conversation and not the noise. Adding to the conversation sometimes means people will voice their agreement. And it sometimes means they will voice their disagreement.
A complete lack of response does not mean that your writing adds to the noise. Most people don’t engage with online content — they read it but don’t necessarily reach out to the author or comment on a social media post. The best way to get a sense of whether your article is valuable is to share it with a specific person and ask that person a specific and relevant question.
Building your reputation is a long game.
Keep going.
Your Perspective Is Your Differentiator. Share It.
Independent consulting is an increasingly competitive industry. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, from 2022 to 2032, the number of consultants is projected to grow significantly faster than other occupations. Demand for consulting services is also expected to increase, particularly for smaller consulting companies specializing in specific industries or business functions.
The opportunity is clear, but many consultants struggle to differentiate themselves from their peers, and prospective clients often view consultants within a particular practice area as interchangeable.
When prospective clients can’t see the difference between the consultants who can serve them, they make their hiring decision on the one difference they can quantify: price.
Blending in with your peers may be comfortable, but competing on price is not conducive to doing your best work. If you are willing to share your perspective and participate in the conversation around your expertise, you will stand out from the competition and give prospective clients a reason to work with you — regardless of your pricing structure.
The benefits of standing out.
Human beings are hard-wired to belong. As a result, most people (and, indeed, most companies) want to blend in with the crowd. Blending in is not only more comfortable for those whose insights could rock the boat, but it is also more comfortable for the rest of us. We all find comfort in the familiar.
As a consultant, however, you must be willing to rock the boat.
Your work focuses on helping your clients solve sticky business problems. Solving those sticky business problems requires your clients to embrace change.
Your clients can only create the change they seek by taking some risks.
The same is true for you.
The only way to differentiate yourself from your competition is to take a risk — to stand up and share your message, even if some people disagree with you.
Standing out is scary, which is why so few people try. But if you are willing to take the risk and share your insights with a larger audience, more people will hear your message. Some will disagree with you or simply ignore you. But those who see value in your ideas will adopt them, and your ideas will have a much greater impact.
Your business is built on your reputation, which is enhanced every time you provide real value to the people you serve. You deliver that value directly when you work with a client on a specific project or indirectly by sharing your ideas publicly through writing or speaking. When you consistently provide value, the people you serve will go to great lengths to have you on their team.
Developing your distinctive perspective.
Your experiences, insights, and education inform your perspective — the way you think about and approach your work. Your perspective is not carved in stone but will continue to evolve and change as you have new experiences, develop new insights, and gain new skills.
Your perspective, or point of view, must align with your BIG idea — the bold, insightful, and galvanizing idea that serves as the foundation of your business and your reputation.
If your perspective is not aligned with your BIG idea, you will diminish your reputation because your audience (including prospective clients and partners) will be confused about who you are, what you do, and how you can help them.
The first step in developing your perspective is to define your BIG idea.
What do you most want for your clients? If you’re not sure how to answer this question, consider a freewriting exercise. Write the question at the top of a page, set the timer for 10 minutes, and then answer without stopping or editing. When the timer goes off, review what you wrote and try to condense it into one sentence.
The answer you come up with might feel too simple. But if you know it to be true and can feel its truth in your body, you’re probably onto something.
Your BIG idea doesn’t have to be new or provocative. It may not even require a paradigm shift. When it comes to BIG ideas, small can be BIG.
Evaluate your BIG idea by asking yourself if it boldly states your position in favor of a particular outcome, is based on your insights, and will galvanize your clients to create the future they now know is possible.
Once you’ve defined your BIG idea, list the steps your clients will need to take to realize that envisioned future. Your list of steps and guidance about executing each step demonstrate your perspective.
Your perspective is more than just your opinion. Your perspective offers a viable alternative based on your experience, education, and insights.
Sharing your perspective with the right audience.
Your perspective is only a compelling differentiator if you share it with the right audience. When you do, you stand out from your peers because you deliver real value to your prospective clients and partners before you even meet them.
So, who is your audience? Who are the people you serve? How can you reach them? What associations do they belong to? What events do they attend? Who do they follow for inspiration? What publications do they read?
One of the best ways to build your audience is to get in front of well-established audiences of the exact people you want to reach. Writing for high-visibility publications and speaking at conferences are two of the most effective ways to do this so you can share your message with the right people.
These tactics also provide social proof. The publication or event organizer vetted you and decided you have something important to share with their audience. That borrowed credibility helps you break through the natural skepticism we all have when we meet someone new.
Writing and speaking work very well together. One benefit of writing for high-visibility publications is that you can share your published article with prospective clients and partners as long as it remains relevant. The reach of your message isn’t limited to the people in the room as it is with speaking, or to the publication’s readers.
Consulting is an increasingly competitive field, and it’s more important than ever to differentiate yourself from your peers and position yourself as the obvious choice. One of the best ways to do this is to write articles for a high-visibility publication with a well-established, targeted audience. When you share your perspective and participate in the conversations around your area of expertise, you stand out as someone with valuable insights to share. If you do this consistently, people start to remember you, see the value you deliver, and identify you as the consultant who can help them become a better version of themselves.
The Power of Writing About Hard Truths
As a consultant, you often have to share hard truths with your clients — truths about the underlying cause of a problem they are struggling with or how they are exacerbating it. Sometimes, the client already knows the hard truth but doesn’t want to face it. But sometimes, you catch them off guard, and they must wrestle with your observations and recommendations. If you’ve been in business for a few years, you’ve probably gotten quite good at sharing hard truths with your clients.
Why is it, then, that so many consultants struggle to write about hard truths?
Articles that tackle hard truths directly and unflinchingly are extremely popular with readers and editors alike. Why? Because these types of articles, by their very nature, add to the conversation instead of the noise. They spark discussion and encourage people to think more deeply.
Many consultants want to avoid courting controversy by writing about a hard truth for fear of hurting the feelings of a current client or turning off a prospective client. Stating a hard truth in writing feels uncomfortable, so many equivocate and over-explain to soften the blow. But doing so simply dilutes the message.
When you share your observations boldly, you will provoke a negative response from those who benefit from the status quo. Sometimes, they will respond publicly and attack not only your argument but also your credibility.
But if you want to work with clients who value your perspective and are willing to work with you to tackle the challenges they face, writing about hard truths will enhance your reputation and directly benefit your business.
Hard truths are born of hard experience.
Your clients hire you to solve problems. Even before you start a new project, you ask questions about the problems your client is facing, what they have done to try to solve them, and where they think the source of the problem lies. This phase of a prospective project gives you a good deal of information — only some of which is accurate.
Once the project starts, you can observe your client in action. Your observations and further questioning help you understand how your client operates and what might be contributing to the problem they hired you to solve. You may also discover problems your client wasn’t even aware of that need to be solved. This process of inquiry and observation is crucial. Only after you understand the challenges at play can you diagnose and treat the problem.
This diagnosis and treatment often require hard conversations with your client.
Years ago, when I worked for a boutique nonprofit consulting firm, we were conducting a feasibility study for a capital campaign. As we spent more and more time with the board and staff, we realized that the executive director’s poor leadership was one of the organization’s biggest challenges. The staff did not trust him (with good reason). Neither did several influential community members. While these community members did intend to maintain their membership, they had no intentions of making a more significant gift so long as the current executive director ran the organization.
My colleague and I had to break the news to the board. Not only was a capital campaign to the tune of several million dollars not feasible, but the organization was at risk of losing several valued staff members and even more of its donor base if they didn’t take action. Quickly.
These difficult conversations took place in private meetings, but they brought to light several challenges faced by nonprofit organizations throughout the United States. And we wrote about those challenges publicly. Through our blog and articles written for the Association of Fundraising Professionals, we clarified the purpose of a feasibility study. We stated that if a study revealed a successful capital campaign was not feasible, we let our clients know. Even though it means we lost the opportunity to manage a capital campaign. Moreover, we gave them recommendations that, if followed, would strengthen their organization and put all the pieces in place so they could launch a successful capital campaign.
The benefits of writing about hard truths.
When you write about hard truths, your colleagues, prospective clients, and partners get a ringside seat to your thinking, approach, and willingness to say what needs to be said.
Writing about hard truths also differentiates you from your peers. You will attract attention if you write about challenges in your industry that few people address publicly. That is a crucial first step to building your business and positioning yourself as the obvious choice for specific types of projects.
By being bold enough to say what others want to ignore, prospective clients and partners who value your perspective will identify themselves. They will also feel validated and understood, which will help them see you as someone they can trust, someone who has similar values to their own.
Those with no interest in tackling complex issues honestly, who are unwilling to have a hard conversation or do the work required to address challenges within their organization, will distance themselves from you. And that’s great because you want to work with the people who value you, your approach, and your perspective. You don’t want to work with people who frustrate you.
How to write about hard truths.
As an established consultant, your experience-based expertise is invaluable. But your perspective can only enhance your reputation and help you build your business if you share it. But how? Here are five concepts to keep in mind to help you write about hard truths without damaging your reputation:
- Be you. You aren’t trying to provoke the reader. Instead, you are writing about a challenging situation you see regularly and offering your insights. You don’t need to use inflammatory language if that isn’t your style, nor do you need to cushion your message. Show up on the page as you show up at your client’s office.
- Bring the receipts. Back up your statements with research, facts, and illustrative examples whenever possible. When that is not possible (and there are plenty of times when that is the case), appeal to reason. Help the reader understand your perspective without making it personal.
- Show empathy. Demonstrate that you understand how people came to be dealing with the challenge they are facing. Consider incorporating your experiences, and don’t be afraid to dive into the nuances. Exploring the nuances is a great way to show that you understand their challenges are complicated. Let your readers know that they aren’t alone.
- Be bold. While it is essential to show empathy, you don’t want to shy away from the truth. Be clear, definitive, and respectful. If you try to soften the blow, your message may be lost (and that doesn’t help anyone).
- Offer actionable insights. Don’t simply point out the problem. Offer a solution or tools the reader can use to start addressing the problem. You might provide a diagnostic tool, a list of questions to ask, or a script. You want your reader to be able to take action toward a resolution, even if the action is small.
To serve your readers, you need to be clear and offer up the hard truths with a dose of empathy and some practical advice. While you might turn some readers off, you will also fire some readers up. Those who agree with your perspective will appreciate that you were bold enough to address the hard truths and go against prevailing wisdom (or the current fad). These readers will see themselves in you and want to engage with you further.