Category Archives: Freelance Writing

First Book: Self-Coaching For Career Change And Personal Growth

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In 2008 I had an information product idea called, “Self Coaching For Career And Life Change“.
Alas, this went nowhere because of two career-related changes I made, and one that Nature imposed quite suddenly:

  1. I started a freelance writing business.
  2. I stopped coaching clients directly and decided to let my words here be my ‘coaching voice’.
  3. The earthquake and tsunami disaster in North-Eastern Japan on 3/11, last year

Almost four years on from that post and I’ve been thinking about writing a book – a real one, not an eBook. Despite the rise of tablet computers and eBook readers, there is still a very large market for physical books.

The Effortless Authorship System – What?

What convinced me to start writing a book was an email from my good friend James Brown, a successful Internet Marketing consultant, and also based in Japan. He had been working on his own book (due out in 2012) with an experienced business ghostwriter, Michael Levin. Of course, being the consummate marketer that he is, not only did he create a book with Mr. Levin’s assistance, but he also partnered with him to promote Michael’s effortless authorship system for ‘writing’ and self-publishing books.

The Effortless Authorship System is designed to get rookie authors past the roadblocks (both physical and psychological) that often frustrate writers and destroy their publishing dreams. I purchased the course during an ‘early-bird’ marketing launch and also signed up for the monthly mentoring option to see what I can learn about writing and self-publishing books ‘behind the scenes.’

Which Book should I write?

I’ve been thinking about the theme of my first book for a few weeks now and it’s clear that there are two possibilities.

Book choice #1 is centered on the topic of (mid) career change and personal growth; something this blog has focused on for over four years.
Having been through two career changes so far (in my mid-20s and again in mid-life), I have learned a lot and would like to pass on that knowledge to others.

By ‘others’, I mean people who want to make changes in their life or career (the two are often inter-linked, in my experience) but hesitate to put plans into action, or falter on following through.

Of course, I could compile a top 20 list of posts from this blog and use them to publish an e-book. These posts might even be sufficient to publish a 100+ page book. However, I’ve been selective in what I’ve shared here, while the blog itself has changed direction as my plans have changed e.g. from offering coaching products and services, through to describing my transition from coaching to freelance writing and teaching.

While I hope ‘markmccluretoday‘ is still interesting to readers, I don’t think it’s the only ‘communications vehicle’ to get this message into the world. I believe that a book, well-planned and researched, is also able to reach a wide audience.

Book choice #2 is focused on how to get the best from content marketing assets in the Asia-Pacific region; a topic that fits well into my freelance technology writer’s blog.
The ideal reader is a marketing manager for an Information Technology vendor or reseller; someone who is based in the Asia-Pacific region, and charged with providing marketing content (e.g. white papers, case studies, blogs and  social media conversations) that prospects and customers can identify with.

And The Winner Is…

From the post’s title you might have guessed that book choice #1 is going to be my first (self-) published book. The core ‘self-coaching’ message strongly appeals because I aim at living it every day. And I’ve had many conversations with friends (online and offline) and coaches who say they’d like to know more about self-coaching as a strategy for dealing with career and life change.

So, ‘Self-coaching for career change and personal growth‘ it shall be. That’s a working title and good enough for now.

What I will probably do is blog here about topics connected with the book’s theme, and post on justfiverules.com about the project of creating and publishing the physical book.

Book #2 Waiting for CSMA/CD Clearance

While my focus is on writing the self-coaching book, not much is going to happen publicly with the “content marketing in Asia-Pacific” book. I’m already planning at least one lead generation report for samuraiwriter.com. And there’s also a monthly newsletter launch to attend to.

Your Questions and feedback on book #1 are very welcome.

Mark ‘self-coaching book’ McClure

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Your Online Resume is Everywhere

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Back in the day (we’re talking 1990s) I used to spend a couple of hours every year keeping my paper resume up-to-date.

‘The Internet’ was still a phrase used mainly by geeks and required connecting a modem to a phone line, and then dialing into your email. Lord knows if anyone ever got hired online lol!

Anyway, step forward nearly 20 years, and while paper resumes are still handled and looked at, for many hiring managers the first touch will be a digital one.

Oh, I know what you’re thinking:

I’ll just update my paper resume to an online format.

That approach can still work, especially if you have contacts within the corporate world.

But it won’t be too long before the resume as a standalone document will be only one of several online scores that determine whether you even get to first base i.e. an ‘interview’.

And I’m not referring to the daily digital footprint you leave online.  That’s a mainly passive and reactive view of the persona you appear to be. I say, ‘appear’, because at the moment, “on the Internet no one knows you’re a dog”.

(Check out that famous cartoon from the New Yorker magazine a while back.)

No, if you want to become top of mind for many of those looking for talent via the web, you’ll have to start creating an active and responsive trail leading to the real you.

And how is that done?

Well, here’s someone who’s done all of that and more. And who now looks for the same, or better, in the talent he hires.

The article’s titled “Seven Ways to Position Yourself for Unlimited Work, by Joe Pulizzi.

True, the article’s thrust is toward creative types in the media e.g. journalists, freelance writers and marketers.

However, in a vast digital world where talent for almost any career path’s now located far and wide, you will need to be very clear in your online message and presence. Of course, the ‘offline’ you is still very important but there’s a merging of digital with physical coming, courtesy of awesome networked computing power and bandwidth.

Be prepared!

- Mark McClure

PS – This is the final post on this blog for 2010.

I’ll have a short break for Japanese New Year celebrations and then it’s full steam ahead in the “Year of the rabbit”. Happy New Year!

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Drinking The Quit Your Job Kool-Aid

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“Sell the sizzle, not the steak” – some readers may know of this famous phrase from the world of sales and marketing; and attributed to the master American salesman of the 1930s, Elmer Wheeler.

It precisely summarizes how advertisers appeal to human nature – they sell through the senses (“hmm, steak smells good!”) and to our emotional triggers.

Of course ‘they’ are not just faceless ad executives.

With varying degrees of ability and success, ‘we’ do this whenever influence and persuasion are required in our daily lives. Think “performance review time” or even “finding a mate” ;-)

Another example is the “quit your job and work at home” lifestyle – often aimed at people fed up with “working for the (wo)man”.

On the face of it the idea seems wonderful – kick back, fire your tyrant boss and work from home in your pajamas. Take vacations when you want. Goof off till noon etc.

Yes sir, that’s one mouthwatering sizzle folks imagine they’ll be chewing on.

The reality is usually very different – a very, very few will “aim for the moon, overshoot and hit the stars” almost their first time at bat. These are the ones you’ll hear and read about.

But for the majority it’s likely to be a sobering case of:

“When opportunity knocks, it comes dressed in overalls and looks like hard work”.

Be Prepared!

Four years ago the debt-fueled housing/economic boom in US, UK and other countries drove a “rising tide lifts all boats” belief in the seemingly endless ability of stock, property and “good times” to keep on rolling.

Even career change was seen as something folks could drop into – and out of again. Plenty of jobs out there…

Spring 2009 paints a different picture of increasing job losses, wage deflation and of firms hunkering down for even tougher times.

So, with my career coaching hat on, think very carefully before leaving a well-paying (mortgage, food-on-the-table, daily living) job for the uncertainties of “working from home.”

But do consider starting a part-time business on the side – especially if you think you might be getting a pink slip before long.

Obviously, I can’t advise you on the risk/reward of your particular situation – but I do believe it’s worth learning from people who are successfully doing what I want to do.

One such person is the freelance writer, Nick Usborne. As well as sharing great articles on his site(s) he’s also released a free, 21 page guide on the popular document sharing site, scribd.com titled:

Are You Really Ready To Quit Your Job And Work From Home?

nick-usborne-quit-job

Nick’s been doing exactly that for over 25 years – check him out.

- Mark McClure

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The Samurai Writer Takes Up His Elance

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If coaching has taught me anything, it’s that accountability is a formidable tool for personal change when wielded constructively. People often hire coaches to hold their proverbial feet to the fire – and that can be well worth the cost.

Another approach is to follow the ‘success crumbs’ of someone who’s already doing what interests you. That’s how I’m going about adding freelance writing to a mid-career change repertoire.

I signed up for Angela Booth’s “Sell Your Writing Online Now“, and for $37 per month I get a weekly lesson on a particular writing topic – along with some exercises. And usually a bonus file. (BTW – Studying Angela’s online marketing approach for this course is a great way to learn about outsourced passive income streams, ably run by her virtual assistant. But that’s a story for another blog!)

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We never knew that it was impossible!

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As regular readers may know, my current mid-career change strategy follows a multi-pronged approach – and includes roles from my professional past, such as school teaching.

It’s still very much a work-in-progress and I’m making things up as I go along – while trusting in the serendipity goddess to make an appearance from time to time ;-)

This week I did some substitute teaching which included showing video #1 from the PBS series, “Triumph of the Nerds“. Although made in 1996, it’s still an amusingly watchable and fascinating story of the PC / microprocessor revolution.

Of course, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs feature prominently but other players such as Paul Allen and Steve Wozniak get honorable mentions.

Another gentleman’s story, Ed Roberts, kept me guessing as to the connection between the 1970s “solution-in-search-of-a-problem” personal computers he helped bring into being, and the “BASIC interpreter” software that Gates and Allen were busy sculpting. (Wikipedia does a good job of filling in those details.)

What struck me about Ed Roberts was that even though many other professionals at the time thought what they were doing wouldn’t work, he and his colleagues persevered. I think he said on video words to the effect of:

“We kept going because we never knew that it was impossible.”

There were surely business reasons behind Ed’s desire to succeed but also a very personal ‘wish’ to simply have a computer of his own (however impractical – see the wiki article!) to play with.

And that’s as good a working definition of “do what you love” (and the money might follow) as I’ve seen!

- Mark McClure

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