I spoke with another writer, Sam, earlier this week. He’s pretty sure a colleague, John, is plagiarizing his blog posts. Not in writing, but in conversation. Yes, John is using Sam’s original words and phrases and passing those words off as John’s ideas. In videos, podcasts, all kinds of “thought leader” work. This happens. All […]
When we manage product development for organizations, we work for hire. The company hires you, pays you a wage, and in return, your intellectual property belongs to them. When you’re creating a product larger than one person can create, this is an excellent proposition. While “one person” may have had the original idea, we need
Consultants and writers share a common problem: we are business owners. That means we manage our businesses. Yes, I manage my own product development and my business. The great Joanna Penn interviewed me and the podcast is now live: Strategy And Business Plans For Authors With Johanna Rothman. If you write and self-publish, you should listen
I had a blast with Tammy and Tim on the podcast (#88). We spoke about many topics: Consulting and marketing Women and computer science Writing and my workshops and books We spoke about writing earlier in the show, but at about minute 50, we spoke a lot more about writing. We laughed a lot!
A colleague asked me for some tips about writing. With hundreds of articles, blog posts, and 10 books, I know what works for me. I suspect some of these ideas will work for you, too. Tip 1: Write every day. Write for 15 minutes every day. This practice exercises your writing muscles. For me, it’s
If you write as part of your job, I have a new online workshop starting in March. It’s Writing Workshop 1: Write Non-Fiction to Enhance Your Business and Reputation. Here’s the problem I see. You’re a consultant or other entrepreneur. You know you need to write to enhance or build your reputation. You see a blank
Are you a consultant or other entrepreneur? If so, you know that you can improve your visibility, marketing, and selling by writing. Writing articles and books can help people look for you, your ideas, products and services. You sell yourself through your writing. Does this describe your writing experience so far: You know what you
One of the familiar tensions in management is how you encourage or discourage people from bringing you problems. One of my clients had a favorite saying, “Don’t bring me problems. Bring me solutions.” I could see the problems that saying caused in the organization. He prevented people from bringing him problems until the problems were
Have you seen Esther Schindler’s great article yet? Creating High-Performance Virtual Teams of Freelancers and Contractors. Here’s the blurb: Plenty has been written about telecommuting for employees: how to encourage productivity, build a sense of “we’re all in this together,” and the logistics (such as tools and business processes) that streamline a telework lifestyle. But
I saw this TedX talk, Adam Leipzig: How to Know Your Life Purpose in 5 Minutes. He says you need to ask these five questions: Who are you? Answer with your first name. What do you do? What do you love to do? What is the one thing you feel supremely qualified to teach other