My personality has been called into account during my video recordings over the last few days. I have pondered all the advice I’ve received on recording my videos, writing my blog posts, and getting my personality across. The momentous decision that I’ve made is that I’m going to ignore most of it. I have taken some on board, and I will put some into action. But overall, I need to be true to myself. Because if I am not true to myself when people work with me, they could not work with the true me. When people work with me, I want them to understand that I have a passion for what I do. Not everybody likes you, not everybody will want to work with you, that’s fine. I want to enjoy the work I do and the people I work with.
My clients and My Personality
I spend many hours making sure that my clients’ books of their memoirs are perfect for them. I’ll probably spend more time than I should. However, I want the product of the book to be the best it can be. I want them to enjoy looking at their book. I want them to pick up that book and remember what happened in the past.
As a result, I have to be true to myself in the videos and my writing narrative. I don’t have 100 people working for me; I don’t have a massive studio or sound equipment. All I have is a camera, a computer and my passion.
I know my videos will be raw. There will be some incorrect words, they’ll be some good points as well, but you know what, it’s me. I don’t understand why it has taken me 14 days to realise this. When I started, I just wanted everything to be perfect. You look at YouTube, and there are some fantastic videos up there. They look professional; they feel professional, and the people spend hours making sure these videos have a look and feel. My job isn’t about making videos. My job is about recording memoirs and helping people remember the past. Assisting people to remember what they have overcome and how far they have come. My job is about creating books. It’s about making some beautiful art and helping my clients create memories. If I can get my message from being authentic and being me, I have done my job.
Finding My Personality
Working with me
If you want to work with me and get your memoirs published, drop me a line, call me or email me. I will always reply, but what you see in the videos is the person I am. It’s the person I like, and it’s the person I want to be.
What I learnt about writing my memoirs
I need to be true to myself to be believable
You don’t need fancy equipment to get your passion across
It’s the message that is important, and those people who work with me know that
Writing My Memoirs – 31 Day Challenge – Video and Blog Posts
Destination Website – The Decision and now for the changes
After my last post (see here), I revisited www.publishmystoires.com and view it as a visitor. I want this website to be a destination website, and I feel that it’s more about me. About my skills at writing my memoirs, about what I do and the skills I have. It may not be about my potential clients and could be more of a lecture. The website is a sales tool that yells, look at me. As opposed to, so, you want to write your memoirs, well this is what you need to do. My blog www.forgetmenot.publishmystories.com is the place to tell people about me.
There is a theory that you should give away all your content for free as a good business. If people want to use your services, they will judge you on your knowledge. If you are giving your information away for free, you demonstrate you know your services. You are showing your clients that you are open and honest. My website is transparent, my prices are visible, and I tell my clients what I do.
However, I don’t think I give away much information to my clients for free. When speaking with me, clients tell me I can overload them with ideas and suggestions. My passion for their memoirs needs to slow down and get one or two tasks completed before moving on.
My clients tell me that my passion is infectious.
Publishing and helping people write their memoirs is a passion for me. It is so important that we don’t lose the life lessons. We should pass these lessons on to the next generation. The government also agrees with me. How often have you heard a politician say that ‘lessons have been learnt!’ this is all I am doing, helping people pass on lessons.
I know that sometimes my communication style is very middle class. Very 1950s, prim and proper. Please understand, I am not ashamed of being middle class because I am middle class and proud of it. Being middle class is not a dirty word. It is not an embarrassment. It just is. I want my communications to reflect my personality. I want my business to reflect my passion.
Family Feedback
My brother, looking cool on Bournemouth Pier
I asked my brother to watch one video I created (day two). I thought I came off well and was open, friendly, and relaxed. My brother disagreed and thought I was stiff, reserved, and nervous. It’s so interesting that what you think you have said is not what other people hear or see. Paul (my brother) wants my personality to come across in the videos. He knows me well. He understands my passion and is very supportive of my www.publishmystories.com. I now need to revisit my video recordings style.
It’s not that straightforward
YouTube and matching my blog posts is all a learning curve for me. I know that at the beginning of my video monologues, I will make mistakes. There will be improvements, changes, and experiments. Having a destination website and YouTube channel is one of my marketing strategies. I need to get it right. I also know that what I write in the blog has to be similar to YouTube. These subtle changes are hard to balance, and I think I may overthink the situation.
Maybe I need to look at the camera as one of my clients, stay focused and discuss the post with suggestions. Added to this, I need to add keywords and phrases in the narrative so Google will find the post. The posts then must pass Yoast’s SEO rules and a few other tools that I use. Finally, the post URL is to be to several social media outlets.
What I learnt about writing my memoirs
My videos are not showing my personality and passion for my clients
Marketing is about the client and not my skills within the business. My expertise is a given. That is why I am in business
Giving away free material is a valid marketing strategy. If a client works with you, they know and understand your expectations
Writing My Memoirs – 31 Day Challenge – Video and Blog Posts
Writing in your voice is so crucial to your writing style. I know this as I had lost mine; if I am honest, this is not the original blog post I was going to post today. I had spent the last three hours writing a post and researching wearing a dressing gown outside the home. The reason for this was that I opened my curtains today and noticed a woman walking her dog. She was wearing a pink terry-towelling dressing gown and flip-flops. My entire article was about social norms and values, our individual freedoms and being judgemental. It was more like an essay or lecture. So my three hours have resulted in no blog post and me starting afresh.
Deciding if you should walk away from a task can be daunting. You need to evaluate several factors. How much time is this costing you? Should you spend your time on more cost-effective tasks? Is there someone cheaper and more experienced that can do the job instead of you? After careful consideration of the above philosophy. I am going to walk away from the previous three hours of research. The post will be marked down as an experience to stay focused in the future. It turned out to be a vanity blog post to say, look at me, don’t I know many long words.
I don’t want to write my memoirs using words that are not from my mouth. Words need to resonate with me, as they are so important. My style of writing is straightforward, to the point, and I think easy to read. Using a voice that is not mine is not part of me writing my memoirs or www.forgetmenot.publishmystoires.com.
Writing in your voice
Writing in your voice is so important; it will convey more to the reader about you than you will realise. You tell your reader your truth in your words, and it is you being genuine when writing your memoirs. It is very much the tone you use, the words, the way you describe something. When writing your memoirs, you have the control.
So, I stopped writing my last post. It was a good essay if I was at university, but I don’t want to write in that style. Writing my memoirs in this business blog is about me. I do not wish to lecture or get on my high horse and tell you how to think. I would prefer you get to know me and my style, know Publish My Stories, and writing memoirs is fun.
What I learnt about writing my memoirs
I need to stay focused on my primary goal and not go off on a tangent
Have the courage to walk away from a business deal or activity if it isn’t working
I have found my voice in my blog and my business.
Writing My Memoirs – 31 Day Challenge – Video and Blog Posts
Opportunity Knocks – Writing my Memoirs or previous skills?
Opportunities to promote yourself and your business can arise at any moment. If anyone tells me they are about to start “writing my memoirs” is a blatant chance. In that case, I know there is an opportunity for us to work together. If you can see that opportunity, grab it with both hands and don’t let go.
It may sound strange, but you could miss an opportunity if you don’t recognise it right away. Alternatively, if you don’t know about the possibility of the chance, then you will miss it. For example, I was at a networking meeting a few weeks ago when one delegate asked if anybody would like to become a trustee of a charity he ran. In the past, I have been a town councillor and deputy mayor and volunteered in my local community. I’m a firm believer that everybody should give something back to the community. I raised my hand and expressed an interest in more information.
As it transpires, I knew the person who set the charity up. I’d worked with him at a previous company. The charity helps people learn to swim, prevents drowning, and raises money for awareness. The first meeting was on 4 August, for all potential trustees to understand more about the charity. I stated that I’m still interested and am looking forward to finding out more about the organisation.
Back to my old job – Writing Minutes, not Writing my Memoirs
Five Five minutes into the meeting, the chair asked if I would mind taking the meeting minutes. I hadn’t been elected as a trustee yet, but I said yes as I knew the chair, and he knew my previous skills. I then introduce myself to the other trustees from all over the world. During my introduction, I explained what I did by helping people write memoirs and getting their stories into print. I expressed my passion for writing memoirs and listening to family history. In the meeting, there was someone from the British Space Agency and Canadian Charity Worker. If I hadn’t said yes to being interested in being a trustee, there is no way that I would have had the opportunity to meet these people.
I’m now looking forward to spending more time getting to know my fellow trustees. Finding out more about them and their business and hoping that they will promote me and my passion for publishing memoirs. Opportunity seems to knock in the strangest of places and at the strangest of times! We just need to make sure that our eyes are open, and our ears are listening. Then we can grab those opportunities with both hands. You never know what may happen or who you will meet.
The Charity – SwimTayka
SwimTayka, is a charity that promote water safety, swimming skills and clean water stewardship to children in developing nations.
What I learnt from this
Opportunities are out there. You need to recognise them when they arise and when they do grab it with both hands.
Any skills you had from a previous job will always come in useful.
Past contacts and work colleagues are a great referral and opportunity generator.
Writing My Memoirs – 31 Day Challenge – Video and Blog Posts
We all think we can listen; we believe we understand what the speaker in front of us, or on the telephone is asking us to do, but this is not always the case. How many times in your work have you heard the statement “Oh, sorry, I didn’t understand what you wanted me to do” or “you told me to do X”. It is more common than you would think. This is because we are not listening or understanding what the speaker is telling us. This could be because they are not describing it in a way that resonates with you. Maybe the terminology they are using is unfamiliar or that they are describing it in a way that is not congruent with your listening/learning modalities (Kinaesthetic, audio, or visual).
One of my clients called and asked if I would do a task for them. I told them I would in about 10 minutes, as I had to finish something else. They appeared happy with that outcome. 6 minutes later, they called back to see if I had done the task. I repeated back to them I had a task to finish and that their task would be next on my list. Again, they were happy with that outcome. On the third call I changed my tactic and told them it would be done by ‘close of play that day’. On this occasion they replied they were happy with that and apologised for calling me so many times. They were in the middle of cooking and their mind was elsewhere.
There are in fact three main types of listening skills we all use daily.
Passive Listening – half listening to a conversation and not understating what is being said and in what context
Reflective Listening – listening to the speaker and repeating back what you have heard in your own words to demonstrate you understand the speaker. (Fantastic for entrepreneurs when dealing with clients to ensure you get the right information to provide a quote and continued services)
Active Listening – When you are paying attention to the speaker and giving them your undivided attention.
Think about your role at work. How much of your day are you communicating (listening, speaking, reading, or writing)? Each job is different, and the time we spend communicating can also vary from day to day.
The ability to listen is an important skill. Listening allows you to understand what the speaker is asking of you. It shows that you’re interested in what the speaker has to say.
We all experience common listening problems.
Our attention wanders
We miss the point
Our emotions interfere
We interrupt before the speaker has stopped speaking
The content (the words spoken) is one thing, but how people feel gives full value to the message. Responding to the speaker’s feelings adds an extra dimension of listening. Are they disgusted and angry or in love and excited? Perhaps they are ambivalent! These are all feelings that you can reply to in your part of the conversation.
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