Writing About Yourself vs. Writing For Others

You'd think it would be easy, writing about yourself. After all, who knows you better than you! Not so. To be honest, the hardest biography I ever wrote in my entire life was (and still is) my own. Now mind you, I've literally written THOUSANDS of biographies for everyone from brokers to business icons over the years, but when it comes those painstaking paragraphs about me, I am in a constant state of flux. So imagine the task of redoing not just my bio, but my entire website that reflects who I am, and what I do!

One of the first rules of marketing one's business or self is to identify your image - guess you could call that "branding." Even people need to be "branded," which I realized when I took on my own monumental mission of marketing. When it came to creating my new-and-improved website, I decided I needed to not only be true to my expertise, but true to myself. I wanted it to reflect a bit of who I am, which is in some way traditional yet progressive, detailed yet out-of-the-box creative, professional yet personal with my client relationships.

The image of the antique typewriter has always intrigued me, as it represents the nuts and bolts of my craft, and the first days of written prose at its best. Not to mention that I'm a collector and love the old things!

So after hours upon hours going into weeks upon weeks and months upon months, I found the template - and the design/designer - that I felt could best portray "me." Yes, we are always changing and evolving, especially those of us in a creative field. But I do feel as close to satisfied as I can be with my brand new website, and hope that it presents me in a desirable light - to those seeking my services, and those who want to know more about me. I invite you to visit Valerie's Website, and welcome your comments!!!

Marketing: It's Not Magic, It's No Mystery, It's a Must!

I’ve been a marketing communications writer for over 20 years. Does that make me an expert? Yes and no. Unlike a math problem, there is no one definitive solution when it comes creativity. One simply can’t put a period at the end of the writing process , which is ongoing, open-ended and ever-improving. As stated smartly by Jay Conrad Levinson, marketing guru and author of the best-selling marketing series in history, Guerilla Marketing (http://www.gmarketing.com/), the same logic applies to marketing - a vital element in any person's or business' success. “Marketing is not an event, but a process…It has a beginning, a middle, but never an end. You improve it, perfect it, change it, even pause it. But you never stop it completely.” Words of wisdom for sure.

Whether I'm reinventing my own marketing efforts for my writing business or helping clients succeed in theirs, marketing is important...and should be continuous. Time, did you say, no time? Well, join the club. But as they say, no one made a greater mistake than he who did nothing, because he could do only a little.