3 Things You Need To Make It As A Writer....
....or Anything Else For That Matter
Reading an article this morning by writer and editorial colleague Stuart Englander I was struck by one or two things he mentioned, things which resonated with a great deal with me due to my experience in other fields as well as writing.
At one time I was in sales, cold calling commission only, and car sales with a low basic plus commission top up. I was super successful in both fields. And that was due to the fact that I recognised one or two very important points.
1.Be likeable
First off, nobody will buy so much as a sausage off you if they don't like you. Now this seems pretty self evident to most folk. But you wouldn't believe how many people there are who just don't get it.
I always used to say that although I sold two million pounds plus worth of cars, the customers never ever bought a single car from me. What they bought in fact was me! The sale of a car was a by product of that process. The same goes for writing. To buy into your article first people have to buy into you as a person.
2.Be generous
The other important thing Stuart mentioned was unconditional generosity. Again, this is so self evident you would think that it comes as second nature to anybody who wants to get on in life, let alone in writing.
I have met a great many who just want to get one over on people thinking its cool and a good way to go to get what you want. In fact, what happens is that this way to be stands out a mile and merely makes the other person walk away or teach you a lesson by having one over on you.
Many years ago a so called friend tried to sell me his business. The business was costing 10,000 euros a month to run. The annual income for the business was 120,000 euros. So it was breaking even at best.
When I asked this friend why he was selling the business his reply astounded me, "Well, if I am going to work that hard I at least want a profit from it." Hardly a recommendation for me to buy the business from him. To make matters worse, he wanted 90,000 euros from me to buy the business, simply because that was what he had been offered two years previously when the business was doing a whole lot better. Needless to say I walked.
Now this friend made the self same offer to two employees of his and they accepted. Personally I thought they were mad. I could not have been more wrong, they were being crafty.
What these two employees did was agree to pay the ninety thousand euros by quarterly instalments over the course of their first year. The deal was done and they took over the running of the business, promising to pay the first instalment at the end of the first quarter out of the takings.
What these two guys did was run the business for three months, earn 30,000 euros and then they did a runner with all the money and all the assets of the business. Their rational was that the seller was trying to have one over on them and that they would instead have one over on him. Had the owner been more reasonable in his demands from the get-go he might have had a better, less painful outcome.
3.Connect and collaborate
And the third thing you need is the ability to connect and collaborate with others. Now I know many of us see writing as solo pursuit. However, in many ways it is a team game. Yes you can sit down all on your own at your pc or with pen and paper, but to succeed you need to accept that you cannot make significant progress in a vacuum.
Only when you not only accept, but you also embrace, this concept can you begin to see the benefits. Reaching out to others will increase your readership, your followers, your views, reads, fans, and ultimately your income. Connecting with others will set you on the path to your ultimate goal of success. And the sooner you apply this thinking the sooner you will begin to see the benefits.