Have you ever received a free report or purchased an e-book that was riddled with typos and grammatical errors? How did that shape your impression of the author? Regardless of the topic or the author’s profession, you probably began to question their professionalism, right? Maybe you wondered if the products and services they were trying to ultimately sell you would be full of errors as well. You might have felt like you couldn’t trust them to provide quality products or services.

The overall impression was that the author of the free report or e-book provides sub-par work, based on your readings. Even if they’re not a professional writer or editor, you still expected a certain level of professionalism and quality. Which leads us to the quote in the subject line: “How you do anything is how you do everything.”

I stumbled across this prolific quote yesterday, while I was listening to a very informative tele-seminar that was hosted by Linda Clair Puig of Claire Communications and Linda Dessau of You Talk-I write. It was all about the concept of using ‘pink spoons’ (a.k.a. free reports or other special offers that you give away in exchange for your potential clients’ contact info) to make your website more effective. (As I said, the call was very informative, and while it’s over now, you can still check out their ‘pink spoon tele-camp’ that will be hosted this fall.)

At one point, Linda D. was talking about 6 mistakes that people typically make with their pink spoons, and the final mistake talked about sending ‘pink spoons’ that are full of errors. She made it painfully clear the true impact that the simplest of errors can have on your business. These errors can be in your website copy, your free report, your e-mail newsletters…anything that you send to current and potential clients.

Trust me, they will see errors as a reflection of your professionalism, and your ability to perform the work they need done (even if it has nothing to do with writing or editing). If you do anything that requires any level of attention to detail (which is just about anything when it comes to client work!), you need to be very aware of how you’re presenting yourself.

Because “how you do anything is how you do everything.”

And this doesn’t just apply to your writing, either. Readers are also scrutinizing the format of your products (formatting that seems ‘off’ can be distracting and reek of unprofessionalism) and even the ease of delivery. If you make it too hard to sign up for your newsletter or download your special report, you’re going to lose a lot of people who don’t have time to bother with difficult processes. I speak from experience here. I had some major troubles with the newsletter sign-up form on my website for a few months, and by the time I figured it out, I’m sure I’d already lost out on numerous potential clients – and possible sources of income for my business. It definitely helped me learn a valuable lesson about testing out the sign-up process!

If you find yourself trembling in fear at this point, don’t worry: I had some major troubles with the newsletter sign-up form on my website for a few months, and by the time I figured it out, I’m sure I’d already lost out on multiple potential clients. It definitely helped me learn a valuable lesson about testing out the sign-up process!

If you find yourself trembling in fear at this point, don’t worry:

There are a few steps you can take to ensure that your potential clients have a memorable (in a good way!) experience with your special reports and products.

1. After you finish writing, let the report/e-book/whatever sit for at least a day. Put it aside and focus on something else. Then come back to it with fresh eyes and read it cover to cover, with a red pen in hand (or Microsoft Word’s Tracked Changes feature turned on).
2. Save any changes, and set up the sign-up process on a non-live page of your website. Sync it with your autoresponder and everything…the whole nine yards. Then enlist a trusted friend or two to visit that page and walk through the entire sign-up process, noting any difficulties along the way.
3. Have your partner(s) in crime also review the report or e-book, noting their own questions or suggestions as they go. It’s amazing how easy it is for others to catch simple typos that our eyes miss because we knew what we meant to say. Ask them about their first impression of the report/e-book and what they took away from the content. Did it raise additional questions that you should consider addressing? Ask them to be brutally honest with their feedback (or, better yet, choose people who are known for their straightforwardness).
4. Consider their suggestions and implement the ones you like or that make sense for your product. Then go through and read it again.
5. Think about hiring a specialized marketing writer to review your work from a marketing standpoint. He or she will see if it includes such things as a compelling title (without which, no one will download or buy it), a soft sell throughout the content (to help establish your expertise without seeming pushy), and a call-to-action at the end (to give readers a reason to buy another product or contact you about your services). Such editing services can start as low as $3 per page, so don’t let the fear of huge fees stop you from checking them out. (In fact, you can head to my site, www.writeassociate.com, now for more information on editing services or to contact me.)

Yes, it may seem like a time-consuming process. That’s because it is. But if you spend one or two days per year reviewing and publishing great reports or e-books, the results will speak for themselves. More credibility, more clients, more fulfillment…what more could you ask for?

So, my husband and I were flipping through On Demand last night looking for something interesting to watch, and we finally decided on Yes Man with Jim Carrey. We’re both fans of good ‘ole Jim and figured it would be a light, funny flick. Little did I know that I’d actually take a valuable business lesson away from the viewing.

If you haven’t seen the movie, it’s about a man named Carl (Jim Carrey’s character) who is constantly turning down opportunities in his personal and professional life. As a result, he watches his wife walk out the door, begins to lose his few remaining friends and misses out on a promotion, keeping him stuck in a dead-end job for another who knows how many years. He finds himself dejected, bitter and hopeless.

Then he runs into an old friend who introduces him to a program that touts “Yes” as the new “No.” On a whim, Carl goes to a seminar and, eyes rolling the whole time, laughs his way through the presenter’s speech. Until the presenter hones in on him as a new guest and pinpoints exactly how pathetic his life has become. In a nutshell, Carl walks away with a new lease on life and begins to turn his “no’s” into “yes’s.” He takes it a bit to the extreme, saying “yes” to every single opportunity that comes across his path, from the slightly uncomfortable to the wildly outrageous (and I’ll just leave it at that…). He finds new friends, rekindles old friendships, gets promoted at work (twice!) and meets a new love interest. He also finds himself in some sticky situations.

In the end, he learns that you have to find a balance between the two, learning to embrace opportunities that are right for you and pass on those that aren’t. But the key is that opening your mind allows you to be open to the possibilities that exist around you so you can make those educated decisions, instead of leading a life that is boxed into the corner, with no hope of going anywhere.

The same is true of business. If you have a rigid set of ideals and never even consider taking risks that fall outside of your comfort zone, you’ll go nowhere fast. At best, your business will remain static, leaving you with enough money to pay the bills but not much else. At worst, you’ll become dissatisfied with your business and your life, leading to career burnout and possibly business failure.

The lesson that I took away is that you have to give yourself permission to take chances and say “yes” to those opportunities that could lead your business to unknown lands. You never know…one of those chance encounters could skyrocket your business to amazing proportions!

The Universe must be trying to tell me something today. Not only did I feel compelled to start reading a book by David Tyreman called World Famous: How to Give Your Business a Kick-Ass Brand Identity, but I also happened to read the feature article of an e-newsletter that I regularly receive but hardly ever take the time to read (for no other  reason than that there just aren’t enough hours in the day…). The subject of both the book and the e-newsletter? Letting your brand differentiate yourself in the mind of your target market.

The e-newsletter feature article can be found on the author’s site under the blog title, Does your brand differentiate your organization? In this intriguing piece, author Marcia Hoeck talks about a neurological study that tested the impact of brands on the human brain. Apparently, strong brands evoke positive emotions and have a bigger impact on consumers than lesser-known alternatives. Makes sense, but how in the world do you create a strong brand?

I’m still on the learning curve myself, but according to David Tyreman, the first step is all about daring to stand out from the crowd, daring to discover (and then communicate) what makes your business unique, and overall daring to be yourself. Such a simple concept, yet it goes against everything we were ever taught…which is typically how to go with the flow of society and do the “normal” stuff that everyone else is doing. I personally think it’s time to give the status quo a nice shove out of the way…and make room for bigger, better things in my business. (World fame, perhaps?)

Stay tuned…the full book review of World Famous will be posted on the Virtual Assistant Forums within the coming weeks. I can’t wait to learn more about how I can make my business world famous…how about you?

Update: I don’t know if it’s just because I’m more aware of it or what, but now I’m seeing branding advice all over the place! Check out another related article: How Successful Brands Live Their Difference. And here’s the link to a FREE tele-seminar called, “The Top 7 Secrets Behind Today’s Top-Earning Brands:” http://www.brandu.com/rd.cfm?id=811&af=239. I’ll be there, pen in hand and ready to learn!

I’m pumped to start creating a stronger brand that will make clients sit up and take notice! If you have more resources, advice, or questions on the subject, please share in the comment section below. I want to hear from you!