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Erica HolthausenParticipant
I sure do! (Especially since I’ll be paying off my law school loans until I’m 60!) Younger me bit her nose off to spite her face A LOT. These days, I’m much more likely to flip ’em the bird!
Erica HolthausenParticipantDitto! I think that’s why it took me ages to actually be able to call myself a writer.
Erica HolthausenParticipantI love this, Yashi. It’s so clear and honest and real and heartfelt and full of hard-won wisdom. Writing, teaching, and coaching is a beautiful combination. And filtering *everything* through your own inner-wisdom filter (and taking time now and again to de-gunk that filter) is so powerful.
Erica HolthausenParticipantYashi,
I just saw your post from yesterday! It took me AGES to call myself a writer! Even when I was paid for my writing, I still couldn’t call myself a writer. It felt like a super-secret club and I didn’t know how to become a member.
I think perhaps there is a club, but it’s not a secret club. We’re just not very organized. We’re one of those leaderless clubs with no real membership list. But when we meet one of our own, we embrace them. (And I am embracing you right now!)
Writers write.
That’s how you get into the club.
Just write.
E
Erica HolthausenParticipantRicardo,
The Big 4 consulting firms are almost single-handedly responsible for the sometimes piss-poor reputation of the consulting profession. Why? Because they do hire recent grads who may have a fancy degree but no life or industry experience to work on big-ticket consulting gigs with complex and sticky problems. These young people are incredibly bright, but they are put into a churn-and-burn industry where they are supposed to squish their clients into ready-made one-size-fits-none solutions developed by the firm.
It’s a disservice to these young people.
It’s a disservice to their clients.
It’s a disservice to the profession.
(And, yeah, it pisses me off.)
I went to a fancy school for law school. The hardest thing about it was getting in. I learned a whole lot more and was challenged a whole lot more at my mid-tier college.
Your kindreds (your true kindreds) won’t give a hoot that you didn’t work at McKinsey or Gartner. You get results for your clients. That’s the bit that matters.
Now to answer the question you *actually* asked!
My most direct competitor is Dorie Clark.
She is *literally* a genius.
I am not a genius.
She has written a bucket of business books.
I haven’t written any business books and don’t plan to (though I am working on a novel).
She’s been published in Harvard Business Review.
A lot.
I haven’t been published in Harvard Business Review, and I don’t really care to be.
But we approach our work *very* differently.
She focuses on turning people into “recognized experts,” so it’s about writing articles and books and doing social media and speaking and getting a TEDx talk. Her program is a DIY program with a community on Facebook.
My program is focused on writing articles for publications (picking the right publication, figuring out what you’re going to write about, writing the thing, pitching the thing, and then using the thing to help you achieve your goals). My core program is a six-month, small cohort program where we meet as a group every week for the first three months, and in the second three months we have a one-to-one meeting, writing workshop, and editing workshop every month. Dorie Clark’s program teaches people how to do things and gives them a *huge* community on Facebook. My program dives deep into this one thing and builds implementation right in while giving folks access to a small, intimate community.
Some of my clients were Dorie Clark’s clients first. Because these two approaches are very different. Just like some of your clients worked with the Big 4 first.
I don’t care where you went to school or where you worked when you were in your 20s. I do care what you’ve done lately and how you’ve helped your clients.
- This reply was modified 9 months, 3 weeks ago by Erica Holthausen.
Erica HolthausenParticipantI missed this yesterday, so I’m going to keep this one short (because my response to today’s post was LOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG)!
I have always processed the world through writing.
And I have always loved deep conversations that dive into the nuance of a situation and don’t just skate along the surface.
And I love celebrating the fuck out of other people.
I get to do all of that now. And I love every minute!
Erica HolthausenParticipantI love you data lovers! My brain does not work that way at all, and so I always learn something from those of you hardwired for data!
Erica HolthausenParticipantA thing I wished I had known when I first started writing articles as a freelance writer:
Writers write.
That’s it.
That’s the only criterion.
Writers write.
We have no control over whether the powers that be think it’s good enough. We have no control over how others will interpret our words. We have no control if anyone will give a shit about what we have to say.
But we can control whether we write.
Which means we can control whether we are writers.
Writers write.
Write on!
Erica HolthausenParticipantI am dyslexic. In high school, I was told to lower my expectations for college and informed that I would never be able to become an attorney (a dream I had starting in middle school).
Apparently my diagnosis outweighed my grades.
(I’ve always been a good student, but a painfully slow reader.)
I raised a big middle finger to all of that, went to college, graduated early, finished law school, passed the bar exam, and practiced at a firm in Boston.
Until I realized that I fucking hated being an attorney!
(Sometimes doing something to spite others doesn’t quite work out how we want it to!)
I spent some time as a consultant and then worked in the nonprofit sector and for marketing and advertising agencies. None of it was the right fit, but it was “good enough.”
It was while I was working for a nonprofit organization that I met my first editor. She taught me everything I know about being a freelance writer, from pitching to writing articles for publication to making sure you get paid for your work. She also got me my first editing job.
I loved it.
But it wasn’t a *real* job, right? It was just a thing I did on the side.
Fast forward to January 2020. I quit my advertising job right before the world shut down. (I hated that job.) I planned to start a content marketing business. I was working with a business coach and groaned about how much I hated marketing.
Um. Yeah. That’s a problem.
He asked me to tell him about a project I enjoyed working on, and I told him about my work as a freelance writer and editor and a client I had the last time I tried this whole self-employed thing who ended up writing for a trade journal and how much I loved working with him and helping him choose the right publication, figure out what to write about, how to write and structure the article, how to pitch the publication and build a relationship with his editor, and how to use the article to help him get meetings with the people he wanted to get meetings with.
My coach looked at me and said, “Okay. So why don’t you do that?”
I had no idea what he was talking about.
Finally, light dawned on marble head and I realized that many folks don’t know how to start writing for business magazines, trade journals, or association publications. There’s this big shroud of mystery around it, and very little advice for business owners who want to write to connect with an established audience. I spoke to a few editor friends and a bunch of consulting colleagues.
Yep. This could be a thing.
So, what excites me? Spending my time with brilliant people who know a whole lot about a field I know very little about. Watching brilliant people develop their writing voice as they fall in love with writing. Allowing people to go deep with their insights so they can be of service and not simply “drive profitable consumer action,” as the folks at the Content Marketing Institute would say. Reading. Learning. Writing. Teaching. Celebrating others when they get published, and letting them know that the hoards of humans will not actually knock down your door just because you got a piece in some fancy-ass publication. Showing them how they can use the article in that fancy-ass publication to build their authority and reputation and credibility. Building my alumn community so they write and edit an article every single month (because as much as I love learning, the doing is what actually gets results).
That’s the shit that excites me.
- This reply was modified 9 months, 3 weeks ago by Erica Holthausen.
Erica HolthausenParticipantFrankly, I want my business to afford a simple life filled with good food, books, and time to think, write, and just be. I’d love to be debt-free. (I’m looking at you, student loans!) And I’d like to travel internationally once a year. (I can’t wait to get back to Mexico City!)
I’ve given up my solopreneur life in the past, so if I have to do it again, I know I can make it work. The hardest thing for me would be giving up the ability to bring my whole self to my work and to be learning and growing and stretching my capabilities constantly. I get bored easily, and so many jobs these days are just cogs in the machine.
This year, I didn’t make any paycheck-mentality-fueled decisions. I’ve made *a lot* of those in the past. And there was always a red flag present. Sometimes, that red flag was so big I could hardly see anything else. And yet, I ignored it.
Erica HolthausenParticipantGah! The booty bump is 100% our secret handshake!
Erica HolthausenParticipantHear, hear on putting metrics in their place! I tend to ignore metrics and algorithms. But when someone replies to one of my newsletters or offers a thoughtful comment on a LinkedIn post, I light up and have all the confirmation I need to know that I’m having an impact.
Erica HolthausenParticipantThe forest has become a powerful metaphor for so much in my life! It’s spurred me to read about forests, mother trees, and the mycorrhizal network. I even took a foraging class this fall, and that introduced me to a ton of different types of mushrooms as we tromped through a state forest.
The forest metaphor just seems to pop up everywhere!
Erica HolthausenParticipantAbsolutely! In a family of extroverts, my introverted self was regularly scolded for being anti-social. Professionally, I was often told that I was “too big for my britches” because I would ask questions and challenge those in authority.
Being an introvert is one of my strengths, especially when I embrace it and manage it well by making sure I have plenty of time for myself. As for those britches? Well, starting my own business meant I have ever-expanding britches that always fit just fine!
Erica HolthausenParticipantIn my first business, I was never in this place. As in nevah evah! I was always afraid that I was both too much and not enough. After seven years, I was burned out and broke.
I started this business in 2020. The first year was, well, a bit of a shitshow. I was making some of the same mistakes I made in my first business and saying “yes” to all the wrong projects. Some of that was out of necessity, but I could have easily ended up with a business where I was wicked busy doing work I didn’t want to do.
And so, I read myself the riot act. I made my first wise business investment decision at the end of 2021 and hired a coach to help me get clear on the work I do and the work I don’t do. I referred a couple of wrong-fit clients to someone else (which was terrifying) and started to say “no” more than I said “yes” (which was also terrifying).
Now, I’m getting more precise about my audience and specifying who I work with and how I work with them. And I’m refining my message so it speaks directly to the right audience and showcases my voice and personality. (I can get a little heady and stuffy and lawyer-y if I’m not careful!)
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