Weirding Word

Promote Yourself When You Speak

A guest blog by Sally Strackbein

When you speak, train or are on a panel, do you use that opportunity to promote yourself? You will stand above your competition when you give an information-packed handout.

I attend a lot of meetings that feature speakers. It amazes me how few give handouts to support their presentations. The speaker at one meeting did have a handout. It had her PowerPoint slides printed in a grainy resolution on cheap quality paper and it had no contact information. Most speakers don't have a handout at all. Some pass out their brochures. These brochures are often beautiful and expensive to produce. I look at them and throw them away as soon as I get home. (Actually, I put them in my recycle bin.) I don't save them.

On the other hand, give me a good handout and it goes in my reference file. A good handout gives me the major points the speaker made with some supporting detail. It gives me an action step to take and it gives me a way to follow up with the speaker.

Do you provide a good handout that your audience will save? People have called me years after a presentation because they were looking through their reference file and found my handout. (Yes, these calls lead to business.)

Here are some handout tips:

• Use your professional photo.


• Use color - at least on the title or cover page.


• Make your layout attractive.


• List your phone number, website and e-mail address on every page.


• Print it on 28lb paper instead of the more common 20lb paper. People can feel the difference.


• Most important, give valuable information.

Use every engagement as an opportunity to promote yourself with your handout. Handouts trump brochures every time!

Sally Strackbein inspires people to discover, clarify and express their value through speaking and storytelling. Her presentations, workshops, and coaching help her clients create and deliver messages that motivate, educate, or sell. She is also the host of the international online speakers directory, www.SpeakerZone.com. You can reach her at www.DefiningStory.com. Or, learn how you can discover your best stories and tell them like a pro at Sally's Storytelling Speakshop, September 12-13, in Reston, VA.

Gaea Honeycutt
blog@weirdingword.com

Weirding Word®, a division of G.L. Honeycutt Consulting, LLC, is a virtual publication department that provides editing, freelance writing, and publication and web design services. Copyright 2008 Gaea L. Honeycutt. All rights reserved.

Massive List of Killer Freelancing Tips

The Freelance Folder recently ran a contest to celebrate its one-year anniversary. Whether a writer, editor, designer or other consultant, you'll find this list of freelancer-to-freelancer recommendations submitted by contestants helpful. And, if you have your own tip to share, post a comment at the end of the blog.

Gaea Honeycutt
blog@weirdingword.com

Weirding Word®, a division of G.L. Honeycutt Consulting, LLC, is a virtual publication department that provides editing, freelance writing, and publication and web design services.

Copyright 2008 Gaea L. Honeycutt. All rights reserved.

Know Your Skills, Know Your Market

Many small business owners share the same story of starts, stops, and restarts. All the information one needs about starting a business is out there, and yet, it's not always easy to uncover, understand, and leverage. You find yourself trying to learn in SBA, Women's Business Center, and other seminars while being forced to seek clarification and advice on how things really work from a network of fellow business owners. It's a high-adrenaline, exciting, frightening adventure. In three years, three lessons have shaped my approach to consulting.

Start with, or quickly build, a network.
When I struck out on my own in 2005, I had recently returned to my home state of Virginia. Having spent a dozen years building a broad skill set in project management, research, communications, and development, I knew I could help other organizations achieve their goals. But, I soon discovered that around Washington it's about whom you know and not what you know—and not whom you know in other regions. And I didn't understand networking.

I decided to take a short-term position while working on growing the business. When I returned to the full-time world of entrepreneurship, I became a networking diva, tripling my business and developing an increasingly effective network. Word of mouth is the best advertising. Referrals inherently carry the message of quality and results.

Focus, focus, focus.
I had directed an association and worked in the nonprofit sector. Then I discovered other small businesses
were hungry for our services, especially writing and design, and I began cultivating them. Connecting with the supportive community of local small businesses is energizing. However, I lost focus and found that small-business clients require more personalized services for the same or less revenue.

In addition, the combination of services we provide isn't intuitively understood by the for-profit sector. While the connection between intellectual and creative services is taken for granted in nonprofits and associations, few in business understand how many functions employees in small associations and nonprofits take on regularly. Still, I split the business between intellectual services under the parent company and creative services under a new division. Months later, it was clear that entrepreneurs could not sustain or help grow the firm effectively, and I had significantly changed my business to appeal to that market. I refocused on my target markets and began building a network just as I had among small businesses.

Partner and outsource.
No one can do it all. As one of my clients said, "We are all experts in our own respective industries. Sometimes we attempt to cut costs by becoming an expert in an industry outside of our own … [and] often fall short of the mark … . [My] efforts and time were best spent doing what I do best." Balancing the work of your business and the management of your business is difficult, especially if you don't know what you're doing. I'm not an accountant, and I finally hired one to help me manage my finances. Hire experts to do these things efficiently.

Likewise, I don't provide services outside of my defined business. For example, I actively avoid media relations. There are people who passionately love this field, and I recruit them as partners. Neither is my expertise in the financial industry; I am not too proud to refer potential clients to a marketer who can run with it. Everyone is happier getting what they want and need. Life is too short to create a job for yourself that you don't even like. This way, I cultivate my networks of associates and clients at the same time.

My most satisfied colleagues follow these same principles: They do what they love, they remain focused on their goals and mission, and they build excellent networks. It's the path to entrepreneurial happiness and freedom.

Written by Gaea L. Honeycutt for Associations Now. Reprinted with permission, copyright August 2008, ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership, Washington, DC.

Gaea Honeycutt
blog@weirdingword.com

Weirding Word®, a division of G.L. Honeycutt Consulting, LLC, is a virtual publication department that provides editing, freelance writing, and publication and web design services.

Copyright 2008 Gaea L. Honeycutt. All rights reserved.