I never, ever thought I would be doing so much writing, designing, and formatting of publications whether it is for a blog, newsletter or customer correspondence.
I was the kid who, in grade school, would cry many tears of frustration as my mother would help me practice my spelling words for my Friday spelling tests. All that hard work on Thursday nights and I’d still come home with mediocre spelling grades. I began to dislike anything that had to do with my English classes.
Fast forward. I began my career in the corporate world. I wrote up countless customer letters, employee memos, office policies, and instruction manuals. It was something that had to be done. The messages weren’t creative by any means, at least I didn’t think so.
Then, after 20 years in corporate cubical land, I dove head first into the world of entrepreneurship. What a scary place to be. After 20 years of having a paycheck direct deposited right into my bank account, I chose to walk away and build a company out of thin air. Was I CRAZY?! There were times I certainly thought so.
Before I took the big leap, I did research to see what I should do to build my business. One thing that was mentioned over and over was to write. Write blogs. Write books. Write to stay in contact with your customers. Write!
I scoffed and said, “I’m no writer. I don’t need to do that.” So, I discounted the advice and struggled to find my first clients. What I know now is that I simply didn’t get it. I didn’t get how important writing is.
What I know now is writing is the way to build and maintain relationships. I go to networking meetings. I’m involved. I love meeting new people and learning what they do. It takes time to develop a relationship. It takes time to build trust. You can’t expect to have someone do business with you at your first meeting.
To work on building relationships, I recognize that you need to get to know me better. Writing is a means where I can show you my genuine self. I share my experiences, expertise, and even my challenges. You may want to do business with me. You may not. The best part is you get to know me better, have a better understanding of who I am and what I represent, and our relationship will be stronger. Relationships are what build businesses and how opportunities present themselves.
I’ve specialized my virtual assistant business to helping my clients build and develop their relationships with their customers through writing and creating. My team and I work on content creation in various channels like direct mail, email, or social media. We love getting to know our clients and help them find their words.
I never thought this little girl who struggled so much with spelling would even want to attempt to write as much as I do.
I’d love to hear from you. I invite you to comment below. What practices do you have in place to build and develop your relationships? What would you like to do? What’s holding you back?