I have "WhatToPost" Syndrome

I suffer from "What to post" syndrome. I sit down to post and my mind suddenly is a blank. I forget what I do for a living...I forget what I like, what ignites my passion, what clever and witty things I talked about with my clients, friends and family that day. I finally walk away from the computer and immediately become the witty, inspired person I know that I am. I Rush back to the computer and...yep, you guessed it. My symptoms return...
I sought help on Chris Brogan's blog.  As I knew he would, he came through for me. Just what the doctor ordered! I'll share his tips here for my fellow syndrome sufferers:

How to Blog Almost Every Day

October 10, 2009 · Chris Brogan

I put up a blog post (almost) every day, and sometimes, I put up more than one a day. On top of this, I write for clients, write for other projects, work on books, and other things. Some of you don’t have all these other writing commitments, but still want some ideas on getting more writing out the door. Here are some thoughts into my process that I hope will give you a framework for writing a blog post (almost) every day.

How to Blog Almost Every Day

1. Read something new every day. Need a starting point? Try Alltop. (Hint: read something outside your particular circle to get new thoughts).
2. Talk with people every day. I get many of my topic ideas from questions people pose to me, or through conversations.
3. Write down titles and topic ideas in a notepad file. ( I’ve given you 100 blog topics and another 20 blog topics just to get started.)
4. Maintain a healthy bookmarking and revisiting habit. I use Delicious.com
5. Find 20-40 minutes in every day to sit still and type.
6. Follow an easy framework. Here are 27 blogging secrets to start you on what I mean.
7. Get the post up fast, not perfect. You can edit if you have to, later. Perfectionism kills good habits.
8. Dissect other people’s posts to understand what makes them tick. The more you understand of HOW they write, the more you can take the best parts of it into how you write. (hint, my 27 blogging secrets post gives you my patterns.)
9. Find useful and interesting pictures. I use Flickr photos licensed under Creative commons for most of my photos. This helps me sometimes get a great photo for a post I already have in mind, but it also gives me post material sometimes.
10. Think about what your customers and prospects need. I write from the perspective of the communities I serve. Every post is aimed at something I believe will be helpful to my community in some form or another. This focus takes some weight off my worries about what I should write about or not. I write about what my community needs.
11. Mix things up by sometimes blogging on paper first.
12. Mix things up by writing guest posts for sites that aren’t like yours. This gives your mind new formats to think about. I did this recently as part of a project and I loved it.
13. Mix things up by changing the lengths of your posts: some long, some brief. Learn what makes an impact how.
14. Never worry about throwing up the occasional “best of” post, once you get enough material. Example: here’s My best advice about blogging.

It's not going to be easy to kick this thing. I didn't get her overnight and I won't be cured overnight. However, I am grateful to Chris (and others) who truly help us frustrated, well intentioned bloggers. I aspire to get well and get posting!
Wish me luck
P.S. If you have more tips please (!) comment!!!

Blog or Website or Both?

I think I'm over the whole Dr. Seuss thing - visit my website and you'll see what I mean. Time to grow up - put on my "Big Girl" pants and really tackle this business of being in business. Don't get me wrong...I've been tackling, wrestling, jumping, cursing, joyful, sweaty and exuberant about my business for 4 years now. But I have been struggling with exactly who I am. Big no-no in the world of branding. I am listening to my clients, prospects and mostly (gulp) my former clients - most who have left because I efficiently worked myself out of a job, by the way - and now I realize what they need most is a coach. Face it, marketing is the fun part of owning a business. No Excel, Quickbooks or calculators needed! Just creativity, tenacity and guts! I enjoy teaching and our small business community seems to really enjoy learning.
So now that I am sure I have the right formula to take my business to the next level I need to decide what to do with my website. I think I'll chuck it.
I love the idea of a blog instead because it's conversational. It's what I do for a living - I have conversations with my clients about their business - I help them strategize and plan. I like this.
I found this great article by Darren Rowse (www.problogger.net) about the benefits of a blog and i have to agree:

1. Blogs give Individuals, Companies and Brands ‘Voice’ - 5 years ago I was a guy with a ‘voice’ that reached a few hundred people on any given week - today what I write and say is sneezed out to hundreds of thousands of people on any given week. My blogs are the vehicle for this.

2. Blogs are Conversational - both in the style of writing, the way they interact with one another and the way that they are designed with comments at their heart blogs are all about the conversation.

3. Blogs build Trust - as a result of being a relational/conversational medium a blogger can build trust with their audience (something that most businesses would kill for).

4. Blogs build Profile - looking to become an ‘expert’ (or at least be perceived as an expert) in your field. Blogs have the ability to showcase your expertise and help you become the ‘go to’ person in your field. Just today my blog brought me the opportunity to appear in Australia’s national newspaper - the result has been numerous other opportunities.

5. Blogs are Immediate - blogs are a great way to communicate with people because they are so quick to use. Have a thought, write it down, hit publish and within minutes it can be being read and commented upon by your readers.

6. Blogs are a doorway to Search Engines and Social Media - one of the great things about blogs is that they are indexed so well by search engines which love sites that are focused upon a topic, updated regularly etc. Social media sites (particularly bookmarking ones) also love blogs.