Why Talent Beats Template — But They’re Both Nothing Without Structure
Event planning, relationship marketing, and teaching to help you become a better writer.
Today I ran two back to back events in our local park, meeting new people, and walking into two situations I had absolutely no control over.
I’m straight-up tired and almost zero of what I envisioned went to plan.
14 out of 20 expected showed up to our morning event which is phenomenal considering I teach toddlers on Sundays. They are wacky and wild, I love them dearly and learn so much from those magnificent beings.
While the class has a structure, we do not have a template. Five parts, five opportunities for child-led play to unfold.
But the environment is a beast of its own, especially when in a public space, especially when none of the parties surrounding our pavilion left the park, for 10 hours.
Flanked by birthday parties, family grilling, and soccer games…when I left the park at noon to reset, have lunch, and set up again I definitely didn’t expect the families to still be there when I returned at 4:30 p.m.
This may not have been the best weekend to plan our evening event, a night time lantern walk around the lake, for 20 people…especially when 36 showed up.
I’ve been going to the same location, every Sunday for 9 weeks to teach a 75-minute class. There is always a curriculum, a template of what I should be saying, but the kids I teach have never once asked me to see it.
They have never praised me for my use of templated materials since the basics of what I need to do are working in the background with the structure I work so hard to build in. Then flexibility, creative thinking, and thought leadership can take root giving an amazing one of a kind experience that plays to the strengths and weaknesses of situations.
Slouched over my keyboard, warm in my comfy clothes and fluffy socks after a nice hot shower, longing for my night time tea (which I will get after writing this article), I do wish I looked up an article template before settling in to write. But am also glad I didn’t.
Because, life is not templeted.
Life is messy and weird, wonderful at times, and always worth the effort.
In my mind, our events had “holes” in my presentations, odd wording in places…
…missed opportunities for deeper connection and brilliant customer service…
I didn’t say or do what I actually wanted to or had practiced in my mind but the overwhelming response was positive. We all had a lovely evening in the park, parents sent me pictures afterward.
One little girl was even crying since she didn’t want to leave to go home.
So what went right if everything in my mind went wrong?
Structure Frees Up Time For Connection and Creativity
It’s not that I don’t give myself time restrictions or deadlines, I do. Right now Ryo Fukui — Scenery 1976 is expertly guiding me to the end of this article when the 41-minute album is done, so am I.
Some days I start each article at 11 p.m. with a midnight deadline.
For events, I give myself a half-hour of set up, one hour of prep at home, and no excuses for not knowing every single person’s name I meet on any given day.
When it comes to structure and patterns for copywriting, formulas are very different from templates.
I like to break form or change the pace of writing within various styles, every year I try to learn a new writing style, sometimes monthly or per piece. Long-form to short-form, what works in the United States versus Japan, how much story to inject or statistics to pepper in, flash fiction or hardcore direct marketing.
It’s all up in the air and I love it. I absolutely love to break things, including my writing.
Some writers cling to “voice”. As a ghostwriter and copywriter, I have the benefit of honing my own voice or speaking for others.
For ads, I have to write in a structured way. But ghostwriting is where your life experience will kick in and help you obtain some of your highest paychecks.
When you can help people say what’s in their soul, grow their business, or simply write that difficult email you can command a high income while feeling great about helping others. And all template free.
In ghostwriting, I take on the tone of the person (usually a business owner or a company as an entity) to speak through advertising or email to other businesses and customers.
When I speak to people in person I don’t typically say, “Sick reference, bro.” But when I write like a man who talks that way, I do.
Perhaps an older gentleman and business owner, who went to Harvard and definitely lets you know about it, has far too many tasks to accomplish through his day. Instead of having to train an already overburdened assistant, he has me work his inbox, responding to any and all marketing or PR emails coming in — in a fully branded and professional tone from the owner.
This service comes at a hefty price tag and many mid-level companies are willing to pay. Big time.
Let’s say you only land two clients on retainer for a branded inbox manager position, that can still bring in about $8,000 per month for business hours only, Monday — Friday. Each and every month.
I write for men quite often. But we’re getting off track and my tea is calling me.
What Does All Of This Have To Do With Event Planning?
Public speaking and speech writing is actually how I got started in writing. My words aren’t flowery in articles because you need to know what’s up. If I write fiction, my words are different.
But in presentations, I found out something crucial to marketing. I discovered how people truly speak and listen to each other. It’s part of the reason I will never stop giving presentations, teaching, or public speaking.
It makes me a better writer.
People don’t talk in grammatically correct ways. They use emotion over logic oftentimes. And if you’re lucky, you’ll meet someone hilarious and quick-witted, generous and loving, eager to look you in the eyes and connect. Because they have a problem that only you can solve.
I haven’t found a template for that yet, and I hope I never will.
Today’s Stats:
Days Writing: 10/60
Today’s Word Count Goal: 500
Actual Word Count:1,065
Post Time: 11:55 p.m. est