How You Can Improve Your Business Writing as a Non-Native English-Speaking 1-Man Consultant
There are simple techniques to help express your thoughts better. Steal my methods.
The origin of this article is a tweet. Here it is.
I resonate. I am a non-native English speaker and writer too.
Context is everything. Let me explain.
I am a Singaporean. Everyone born in this little red dot along the Equator Line abides by this policy in the first 20 years of our academic life.
- Accepting the English Language as the Lingua Franca of the world and is our 1st Language
- Accepting that our mother tongue cannot be canceled by our Ministry of Education and is our 2nd Language
I know it sounds weird. And it makes life difficult for little Aldric and everyone in my English class.
The Daily Struggles of a Bilingual Average Being
I struggled since my school days.
And I continue to struggle today.
English grammar does not come naturally to my fingers when I write. I pause, think, and purposefully structure my sentences. You know, I don’t enjoy redoing schoolwork.
And I often get confused with how Chinese (my 2nd Language) is expressed.
So, I understand your pain as a non-native English-speaking 1-Man consultant.
Time for the good news.
There are ways to express ourselves adequately given a bankrupt vocabulary bank and limited grammar prowess. Let me show you how.
Tip Number 1 — Accept It
Do the following before we start.
- Take a deep breath
- Hold it there for 5 seconds
- Let it out
- Repeat 5 times
Chilled a little? Great. This is my advice.
We must learn to accept what things are.
Now, this has nothing to do with fighting for climate change or higher pay, by the way. For those, we fight on.
But there are circumstances we need not waste time pushing back. Take, for instance, the Laws of Physics.
Imagine Elon designing a spaceship that goes against the Laws of Gravity. Not smart. And I will not board that ship.
I think fighting against English as the Language of Business is not that smart either.
Accept it. Find ways to get better at it.
And fortunately, there are techniques for us to get better at expressing our ideas and thoughts without attending phonics class in kindergarten or swallowing all webpages of Wikipedia.
Tip Number 2 — Be Straightforward
As 1-Man consultants, we write a lot.
There are proposals, business cases, emails, contracts, whitepapers, pitch decks, case studies, web copies, articles, and many other documents we must write.
This is not easy if your client speaks English only. Don’t fret.
Focus on the message. Be direct. Emails are a good example.
“Hi, Mr. Client. Have you seen my proposal? Awaiting reply.”
“Hi, Ms. Prospect. Would you like to meet for coffee at Café Black this evening?”
“Hi, Mrs. Lead. My name is Aldric. Nice to meet you. May I pop by your office this Friday?”
Notice the trend?
First, we introduce ourselves. And then, we ask questions. That is the most direct form of written communication.
Notice how questions are call-to-actions? Yup, that is right. Do not complicate things. Simplify.
The danger is in elaboration. It is in explaining ourselves that longer, often circular, sentences start appearing.
You don’t need to write many words to get your point across. Get your point across.
Read the above paragraph 5 times. See the difference between the 2 sentences?
That is enough to get our consulting work done.
Tip Number 3 — Avoid Writing First. Answer Questions Instead.
It applies to both consulting presentations and written communication.
I will use proposal presentations as an example. It is easy to talk ourselves out of context because we want to elaborate further.
And we talk more because our insecure minds scream the following.
More details are required!
Our consulting clients do not look convinced!
They want to understand the mechanics of our work!
No, no, no. In fact, if you are a non-native English-speaking 1-Man consultant… you want to use this situation to your advantage.
Avoid explaining more. Stop when you are done with your presentation. Jump straight into the Questions & Answers.
Why so?
Because excessive explanation puts our consulting clients to sleep. Plus, we may go off track.
Answering questions, however, is a different ball game.
You are responding directly to your clients. Relevance is maintained.
How do we take the presentation example and port it over to our business writing?
I use the 5 Whys method.
Five Whys (or 5 Whys)… The primary goal of the technique is to determine the root cause of a defect or problem by repeating the question “Why?” five times. The answer to the fifth why should reveal the root cause of the problem.
Imagine you are selling your consulting services or digital products to yourself. Okay, that is tough. But you get the idea.
Ask the following question (By the way, you can ask your spouse if that helps).
Why do I need this product?
Write 3 points on paper. Got it? Great. Time for the next exercise.
Go to the first bullet point. Ask yourself this question.
How does what I write here (1st bullet point) benefit me?
Scribble 3 reasons. Repeat this exercise until you hit the 5th time.
The answer to the 5th question is the best and most real answer you can give to your client. Use it.
Okay, yes. Going through a string of 5 whys can be difficult for non-native English speakers. I recommend 3 Whys.
And keep your written responses as direct as possible.
It sharpens the message you want to pass on to your consulting clients.
Parting Keynotes
Simplicity is elegance. Be direct. Many consulting clients have little to no time.
They will love you when you get straight to the point.
And it is essential to note that direct writing IS your advantage as a non-native English speaker. You do not have a rich vocabulary bank. Therefore, what you write will be short, sharp, and simple.
To push your advantage further, work to answer your consulting client’s questions appropriately and with relevance.
You will excel as a 1-Man consultant. I know you will.
You just need some writing practice daily.
One final piece of advice.
It is okay to be boring in business writing. But boring brings revenue. That matters to our 1-Man consulting practice, is that not?
All the best, my friends.
This article is also written with Maria Rattray in mind. Thank you for helping me write better online articles. 3 cheers to you. I think you know that.
As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure. Because our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.
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