Every day I get dozens of  messages from LinkedIn Influencers and other marketers who offer to help me make $20-30K per month by bringing in new clients; to guide me through the book writing process to help me “be seen as an expert”; and to help me set up courses, webinars, YouTube channels, and other video-rich formats to further my brand. Oh, and that reminds me, I also get e-mails and LinkedIn messages from marketers telling me they can help me create my brand. 
Some of these messages make me laugh. Others make me cringe. And occasionally, a message will cause me to say, “Did you even look at my profile before you spammed me?” 
The mass market marketing and influencer approach used by so many so-called marketing experts consists of 1) State the problems, 2) Give the solution(s), and 3) Try to provide a unique solution (though let’s be honest, many of these solutions are the same or are mishmashes of other people’s solutions). In this three-step process lies inherent problems. First are the assumptions: I’m not making enough money on my own; I need more clients; I want to, need to, or haven’t yet written a book; I am not an expert; I have no courses, webinars, etc.; I have no brand or brands. All of these assumptions are based on a lack mindset or are trying to create feelings of lack within the recipient of the message. Second, the underlying message in marketing blasts is two-fold: what you are doing on your own isn’t enough (lack again) nor what you are doing isn’t correct (negativity). All of it screams, “I am the expert” even though these kinds of experts seem as abundant as mosquitos near a swamp. (And some of them are just as pesky, messaging their lists daily trying to increase the feelings of lack and negativity with the hopes you’ll think they and only they can provide solutions.)  
Another problem with modern marketing that messages masses of people, hoping for just a small percentage return on that spamming, is that it is a generic, nonpersonal approach that is easy to ignore. It wastes a few seconds of my day to delete the messages or to see and disregard the message without reading it, but it is still easy to do so. And this makes the marketing ineffective. 
Effective marketing, just like effective business partnerships and effective coaching programs, cannot be a one-size fits all system. It seems to me that marketing could stand a disruption, and that a higher yield would result if marketing focused more on positives and abundance, and getting to know what a specific person or company wanted and them helping them reach that goal. 
Back when I was in higher education, I expressed dismay to my institution’s president after we attended an annual conference run by our accreditors. The keynote speaker spent his allotted 40-minute speech extolling the problems of higher ed. I suggested the problems the speaker highlighted might go away if professors and administrators focused instead of what people were doing great and replicating that greatness across departments, schools, and institutions. Years later, this became the approach and was known as the “Best Practices” model. 
 Danielle Brooks, Founder and CEO of Gooddecisions.com and FinallyFreeWorkshops.com, and founder of Lake Washington Wellness Center (though no longer its owner) explains how she ignored the “mass marketing” approach and encouraged her massage therapists and nutritional therapists to practice relationship marketing instead, since in her experience, this was a better practice. “It takes longer to build strong relationships and the results are slower than the fast-push, mass marketing approach, but the results are much longer lasting,” she said. For Brooks, that meant establishing relationships with her clients’ doctors and keeping them updated on what she was doing with their patients. Then when the clients and their doctors saw results, that’s when the referrals started pouring in. 
 I do the same with my coaching clients and my writing clients. The action I do most often is listen and ask clarifying questions. My goal is to really understand the client, the needs and desires, and to establish a relationship. This takes time. It takes much more energy than creating a campaign and pushing a button. But it is so much more rewarding because my clients are happy. They feel heard. They feel respected. And at some point, during our journeys together, they feel like the rock stars that they are (but in many cases needed someone to show them the mirror or provide them the right language). 
These clients then pay the gratitude forward by writing stellar reviews, telling their friends and colleagues, and returning to work with me again and again. And that, keeps the coffers full, makes mass marketing unnecessary, creates fabulous partnerships, and allows for soul-fulfilling work.  #relationalmarketing #marketing #happyclients #customerservice #networking #referrals #growyourbusiness

On February 7, 2020, the long-awaited sequel to the best-selling  A Salary Cinderella Story (Or How to Make More Money Without a Fairy Godmother)  was published by In Your Face Ink. A Singles Cinderella Story (Or How to Find Love Without Losing Yourself), written by Laura C. Browne and Creating the Freelance Career's founder Jill L. Ferguson, is written in the same parable format as the first book and follows El, Leticia and Teresa and their friends through dating adventures and misadventures, as well as Teresa's engagement and wedding. El, on a quest to understand relationships and love better, embarks on a personalized Master's Degree in Relationships, where she studies the work of Byron Katie,  Jen Sincero, Deborah Tannen, and others. 

The book covers modern-dating realities as well as ancient wisdom (such as Socrates admonition to "Know Thyself", for without understanding who we are and what we value and want, we will not be able to truly love ourselves or others.) 

A Singles Cinderella Story (Or How to Find Love Without Losing Yourself) is available from Amazon.com and other booksellers.  

Fairygodboss hosted a one-hour webinar lead by Creating the Freelance Career founder and best-selling author and business coach Jill L. Ferguson and Danielle Brooks, founder of Good Decisions and Finally Free Workshops. Approximately 250 people registered for the event, and we had such a good time.

If you missed the January 8, 2020 live webinar, you can still revisit the presentation and the Q&As at the end by accessing the on-demand recording by clicking this link.  

article by Ritch Long and reprinted with permission
 
Warning: You only have 5 seconds!
When someone views your LinkedIn Profile, they only spend about 5 seconds reading your Profile Headline and deciding if they want to know more.
We are all busy. Our time is precious. And we are sure not going to waste it.
Fact, your Headline is the most important text item in your entire profile!
If your Headline doesn’t reach out and grab the reader’s attention, they will usually not read the rest of your Profile, and you have a lost opportunity.
120 Characters
That’s all the real estate you have in your LinkedIn Profile Headline (just below your name) to grab someone’s attention and get them to read about you and your offering. No matter if that offering is your product or your service or even if it’s YOU, when you’re searching for a new opportunity.
Your 120 character LinkedIn Profile Headline can make you or break you!
Want to increase your sales with just one tiny secret change to your Headline? Want to get twice as many viewers of your LinkedIn profile and have more people reaching out to you?
The Secret to an Attention Getting LinkedIn Profile Headline
LinkedIn only gives us 120 characters to create a mini-advertisement they call a Headline. This is actually an incredible opportunity for us, so it MUST BE GREAT! No Exceptions! 
Perfection is required! You MUST spend time on your Headline to win big!
Editing Your Headline - access your headline using the Edit Pencil at the top right of your Profile. Roughly divide your 120 character headline into thirds. 
No rules here – each “third” of your headline can vary in length.
The “Secret of Thirds”... 3 Tips and Tricks 

• Tip #1 - The “1st Third”

The 1st third must be the most attention getting short phrase you can muster. You have about 40 characters, give or take. Use one of these techniques:

• Briefly state a serious problem you are solving
• Ask a brief question
• Make a brief attention getting statement about what you do

Tip #2 - The “2nd Third”
Answer the statement you made in the “1st Third”. Use one of these techniques:

• Tell how you solve the serious problem you stated
• Answer the question you asked
• Explain why you are the expert that can help them

Tip #3 - The “3rd Third”
Create a Call-To-Action statement with urgency (use “Today or Now” etc). Use one of these techniques:

• Send them to your website or landing page
• Offer a demo, pdf, podcast or webinar etc
• Invite them to call you – and it’s ok to enter your phone number right in your headline 
• Say something like “Message Me To Chat Today”

Tip: For ideas, search for other eye catching LinkedIn Headlines for people in your field. Give yourself an hour to write and re-write your Killer Headline. 
You will love the results. It works!
And because it’s so important, I am going to repeat myself:
Your 120 character LinkedIn Profile Headline can make you or break you! 
As an example, here is my Headline from my LinkedIn Profile:
► Laser Targeted LinkedIn Lead Generation ► Trusted LinkedIn Marketing Expert ► Live Demo ► Message Me To Chat Today! 
And here is another example Headline from my client Art Kinkade in Orlando FL:
Have You Tried 3PL's and FAILED? I Help Businesses Control Their Logistics Costs. Message Me To Chat Today 
Art wrote to me after he had updated his Profile Header and said: "Thanks to you Ritch, my profile views are now over 350 a week, instead of a month."
Tip: Capitalize the First Letter of every word in your Headline, for maximum impact. And feel free to use a special symbol (sparingly), just keep it professional.
About Me
Having spent over four decades in high tech sales and marketing to customers such as Boeing, Southwest Airlines and NASA, I have a passion for helping people.
Over ten years on LinkedIn has also enabled me to meet, help and network with an incredible group of business owners and professionals.
Please share this information - and let me know if it helps you. 
-Ritch

Back in 2015, when I met Swatee Surve, she was an enthusiastic engineer who was determined to create an app video game and thriving company called Litesprite to help people combat health issues like stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD, and the like. She was passionate about how tech products could influence wellness, and she was driven by this mission. She worked long hours, networked like crazy, and side hustled walking dogs and pet sitting to support her vision. 

At the first-ever Women's Wellness Weekend event in January of 2016, Surve was a participant and she extended an invitation to the other women to become beta-testers of her game. I helped her extend the invite to others by writing about Litesprite in the Huffington Post and in other publications .

Fast-forward a couple of years and Litesprite was the first video game to ever win a U.S. Surgeon General's Award for its contribution to public health. And now, this week, Bayer G4A announced a partnership with Litesprite. 

I am thrilled for Swatee Surve and Litesprite, and I think her story is a good example of why when we have a dream of self-employment or of creating a company and we have a vision and drive, we need to keep going. We all have unique talents and skills and things that only we can bring to the world to help make it a better place. Follow your passions. Pursue your dreams wholeheartedly and never give up. 

​Swatee, you are an inspiration to us all. Thank you. 

The episode of the U.K.-based podcast My Perfect Failure that aired this past weekend featured CreatingtheFreelanceCareer.com's founder Jill L. Ferguson. Titled "How to Scale Mountains with Serial Entrepreneur Jill L. Ferguson" the episode covers how to combine multiple work projects as an entrepreneur, how to deal with challenging situations, how freelancers and entrepreneurs can overcome failure, and the work that we do here, at Creating The Freelance Career to help our clients scale mountains and achieve their career goals. 

My Perfect Failure, the Podcast, hosted by Paul Padmore, taps into the world of Failure.We explore What is Failure, why does it happen and how do we move beyond our Failures. With the help of a range of amazing guests from all walks of life we discuss and debate to get their take on this subject. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and most places where podcasts are found. #podcasts #entrepreneurs #freelance #guest #failure #success

This past week Fairygodboss.com asked Creating the Freelance Career founder and author Jill L. Ferguson to moderate a new group they were starting. The group, also titled Creating the Freelance Career, is targeted towards women entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, freelancers, side hustlers or anyone who is self-employed or does contract employment. The online space is devoted to education, support, news, inspiration, and fun.

Ferguson sees the space as a perfect place to strike up new collaborations with like-minded people and a space where creativity and camaraderie can thrive..She also sees the group as a variation of the Facebook group of the same name that she runs, and the work that is done by Creating the Freelance Career consulting group. "I'm honored to be asked to work with the fine women at Fairygodboss," Ferguson said. "And I can't wait for this group to expand and become the robust and helpful entity it was designed to be." 

The Fairygodboss group is open to anyone, so if you'd like to participate, click here.   

During the past three weeks, I've been on more than a dozen calls with people who are looking for a ghostwriter. While they've come to the right place (yes, that is something I do), many of them don't actually need a ghostwriter; what they need is a book coach and an editor. But if one doesn't consider oneself a writer but has ideas for a book or a blog, sometimes the difference is unclear. 

For example, in the early 2000s, I was hired by Women Unlimited's founder Jean Otte to ghostwrite what became Women Are Changing the Corporate Landscape, Originally, I was hired to conduct all of the interviews, do all of the research and to write the book, plus hire the editor and work with the printing company who would provide the paperback copies. Then, Jean and WU's president decided to write intros to the book, and my name was added to the front cover. This is similar to what happened to Tony Schwartz when he wrote ​The Art of the Deal for Donald Trump and his publisher (though Trump didn't write any of his own book). 

But those examples are a bit unusual because the ghostwriter is usually unseen or heard from, they are literally the invisible specter that makes the project happen or brings the blog or book to life. And because the ghostwriter does the research and conducts the interviews and does all of the writing and editing, she or he is paid a fee for the project. (In the case of books, this fee is in the thousands of dollars; for a blog, the fee will be in the hundreds, if you are hiring an experienced U.S.-based writer.)

GHOSTWRITER VS. COACH AND EDITOR

Some of the potential clients and clients I've talked to this month have drafts started of their books or have drafts written of their blog posts. Or they may have an idea and an outline and have the desire to write the book themselves, but need guidance. Some of these people have thought they needed a ghostwriter, when what they really need is a book coach and an editor.

A Ghostwriter:

• Takes an idea and figures out how to tell the story.
  
• Conducts all of the interviews.
  
• Does original research. 
  
• Writes all of the drafts and edits the manuscript.
  
• Works closely with the person(s) whose name(s) will ultimately appear on the front cover. 

A Book Coach and Editor:

• Holds the writer or idea generator's hand as s/he creates a draft of the project. 
  
• Offers developmental feedback, and may do developmental editing and copyediting.
  
• Explains the publishing options and helps the writer bring the product to the marketplace (either through help finding and querying editors and publishers or guiding one through the best self-publishing process for the writer's goals).  
• Works closely with the person(s) whose name(s) will ultimately appear on the front cover. 
• Acts as a cheerleader throughout the whole process. 

For book coaching and editing, combined prices start around $1,000 and can run as high as $5000, depending on the coach. Ghostwriting prices are determined by a number of factors such as experience of the writer, length of the proposed book, amount of original research required, turnaround time expected from idea to finished product, and if any of the book has been written and is expected to be cleaned up and incorporated. Some American-based websites claim book ghostwriting prices start at $5,000, and Upwork has people frequently looking for overseas ghostwriters in the hundreds of dollars price range. But If you want to hire an experienced ghostwriter and an experienced author to research and write a book-length manuscript for you, expect to pay a lot more than that. 

Ghostwriters who handle celebrities' books often earn over $50,000. Schwartz himself admits to receiving a six-figure advance plus a part of the royalties (the royalty part is very unusual for a ghostwriter as ghostwriter's receive the money upfront not residuals for years after publication). And Schwartz admits that he devoted a year and a half to Trump's book; it's that time and work that someone hiring a ghostwriter is paying for. 

Hiring a ghostwriter can be very beneficial if you have an idea and want to write a book but don't think you have the time or the skills to do so. Expect to work with the person closely, and to provide guidance when asked. After all, the finished product will have your name on the cover.

A survey of more than 7000 people by FlexJobs found that 30 percent of workers have left jobs because they wanted more flexibility in their work and their lives. People want flexibility for a number of reasons: some hate their commutes, some have family obligations, some want a better life-work balance, and some want flexibility to save time. I know when my husband commuted more than 40 miles one way each day--which took between one and two and a half hours each way depending on the day's traffic--he cherished the rare days he could work from home.

Having flexibility is also one of the reasons people choose freelance careers and/or self employment. And flexible means a variety of things, such as being able to work from anywhere, setting your own hours, choosing your own collaborators, creating a multi-faceted career, and choosing the actual work you do (and what you delegate or outsource). Flexibility may also mean choosing when you go into the office or to a client's and when you work from home, from somewhere remotely, or do meetings via Zoom, Skype or WebEx. 

Having flexibility in our work also means that we may be more productive and more contentment. The Flexjobs' survey showed that many people wanted flexibility in their schedules because they are pet parents, have caregiving responsibilities, or live in an area with a poor job market.  

Some jobs, obviously, lend themselves to more flexibility than others. But a few traditional occupations now have more flexible options (think telemedicine for doctors, for example).  
In fact, the breakdown of who wanted Job flexibility looks like this:

• • Pet owner (28%)
  • Freelancer (25%)
  • Entrepreneur (20%)
  • Introvert (20%)
  • Live in a rural area (14%)
  • Stay-at-home mom (14%)
  • Traveler or digital nomad (12%)
  • Semi-retired or retiree (12%)
  • Chronic physical issue or illness (11%)
  • Caregiver (10%)
  • Student (9%)
  • Artist (9%)
  • Athlete or fitness enthusiast (9%)
  • Long or “super” commuter (7%)
  • Other or more details (7%)
  • Environmentalist (6%)
  • Mental illness (4%)
  • Stay-at-home dad (2%)
  • Military spouse (2%)

The next time you are discontent in your work, ask yourself why, and if some flexibility--in whatever way you define that--wouldn't help you feel more content and productive.