Tag: blogs

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How to structure your blog post to get more readers

Planning your blog post structure.

You might think that the way you structure your blog post isn’t that important. You couldn’t be more wrong. What you write is really important but the way you set it out is, possibly, even more crucial. If your blog post is one big block of text, guess what? Your readers will switch off and go somewhere else.

It’s also worth remembering that people don’t always read everything you write. (I know, it upsets me too.) They might have found your post looking for one quick piece of information. If you structure your posts to make things easy to find, your readers will love you (and possibly bookmark your post for future reference). Here are just a few of the basics.

A good headline

I’ve started with this because it goes at the top, but it’s a good idea to review your headline once you’ve written the post. Clickbait is annoying so make sure your headline reflects what you’ve actually written. This is especially true of titles that start with things like ‘5 tips’ or ’10 things’ (these are great as they also give you a built in structure).

Using power words and emotional language in your headline helps your readers to engage. Words like ‘you’ or ‘your’ helps them to feel that you’re talking to them. You can test the emotional value of your headline using the Advance Marketing Institute’s Headline Analyzer and get some ideas for power words in [this handy list from CoSchedule.

Introduction

A good introduction will get your reader hooked and wanting to read more. Opening with a question often works well because it either gets people nodding or shaking their head straight away. It has the added benefit of weeding out anyone who doesn’t need your help because they just stop reading. You could also start with something surprising or controversial that leads into your topic. The most important thing is to give readers a preview of what you’re going to talk about. It helps to build trust because it shows your readers you know what you’re talking about.

Subheadings

Subheadings are important for two reasons. Firstly, Google likes them. It shows structure which suggests that you know your stuff. It also helps readers who might only be looking for the answer to one question. If you’ve planned a post with a specific number of tips or recommendations, your subheadings can just be a list. If you’re describing a process that needs to be done in a particular order, you can list out the steps and use those as subheadings. Otherwise, plan out what the post needs to cover so you can focus all of the relevant information within that section.

Conclusion

What do you want people to take away from this blog post? Briefly summarise what you talked about so the overall point is clear. You could also list key points or actions readers can take next. Also consider including a call to action. This could be a prompt to sign up to your email list, a question for readers to answer in the comments or anything else you’d like. The idea is to encourage readers to engage further with your business so that you can keep building the relationship and encouraging them to become customers. Practicing what I preach, I’d like you to come away from this understanding that building a clear structure into your blog posts helps to make them user friendly and easy to read.

If you’ve written a blog post that you’re not happy with, or would just like to hand the whole thing over, please get in touch. I can write your blog for you or help you to edit one you’ve already written.

Or you can complete the form below to sign up to my mailing list for monthly blogging and marketing tips straight to your inbox. You’ll also receive a free copy of my guide to getting your business seen online as a thank you.

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Why I’m thrilled we’re going back to school

A thrilled mum whose kids have gone back to school.

Lockdown has brought challenges for all of us. It’s made us more aware of what we actually need in our lives. Everyone’s experience is different. You might have struggled with isolation, or you could have the opposite problem. One of the strangest things for me, as someone who’s used to working at home on my own, was the sudden invasion of the rest of my family. In fact, I’m still sharing the office with my husband. The biggest challenge of all was home schooling. I’m not sure I can actually call it that if I’m being totally honest. I don’t know if my kids learned anything from me. It’s been a tough time and I’m absolutely thrilled that my two have gone back to school. This is why.

Mental health

The thought of schools closing sent me into a blind panic. My work relies on peace and quiet, especially when I’m getting into a new project. I made a plan of things I could do at the kitchen table while the kids got on with some work, thinking I could organise my way out of it.

I couldn’t.

The one thing I didn’t take into account was how much time I would spend supporting my anxious children. Sometimes they’d cry. Other times they’d just hide in their bedrooms or spend an hour and a half procrastinating over a five minute task. The truth is, they were sinking. Home and school don’t normally overlap this much. Home is a safe place where they get to play. It isn’t me handing out handwriting practice. My youngest went back to school for three weeks at the end of term and he was like a different child. Even though school was different, he thrived on regaining some sense of normality.

Mum guilt

Guilt is a familiar concept to pretty much any working mum. Everyone’s coped (or not) in their own way. I’ve spoken to plenty of business owners who have basically ignored their kids. School work generally depends on the child accessing what school have sent without much supervision. I felt as if I was doing a half-arsed job on everything.

Some of my friends talked about what a privilege it was having their children at home so they can teach them. That made me feel even worse. There have been some silver linings, but mainly I just wanted my happy, clever kids back. I couldn’t deal with my own thoughts and stresses about the situation. How do you support the people you love the most if you can’t even function yourself?

A functioning business

I’ve been lucky. We’re a self-employed household but my husband’s work has continued from home. We’ve had to make decisions based on finances but we’ve never been at risk of homelessness. There’s also the fact that lots of my clients went quiet just when I needed them to. The projects that they might have called me about were put on hold. It might have been a struggle financially, but at least it’s given me the time to focus on the things that really needed my attention.

Now the country’s opening up, I’ve started to get busier. There have been a few mornings where I’ve abandoned the kids to the TV. It’s been the only way to keep things going. Cue more mum guilt. Going back to school means that they’re spending the day with people who are there to take care of them. I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling massively relieved about that.

I’m telling you this story because I know I’m not alone in having these struggles. My clients have them too. Talking about the things you share with your customers helps you to build trust. If I can help you find the right story, please get in touch. I speak your customers’ language.  

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Case study – Graeme and Charlotte’s blog

Blog case study - holiday park

If you’ve ever wondered what writing a blog can do for your business, here’s a great example.

The Challenge

Graeme and Charlotte run a holiday park in a gorgeous location (I wish I could tell you where, but I’m not allowed). This wasn’t somewhere you could just book for a week like you can with some of the bigger chains. This was a family business where everyone who visited owned their own caravan and came for weekends as well as for longer holidays. The owners might lend their vans out to friends and family but it was mostly just for them. The business was ticking over but there was no growth, so they got some help with their marketing to try and change things.

Their blog had got a bit samey. There was lots of news about what was happening on the site but they really wanted to talk about the area, to show people what was special about their location and encourage them to visit. I came up with some new ideas and started writing their blog for them.

The results

Over the next 9 months they increased their enquiries by 150% and got more revenue from their existing customers.

Why did it work so well? Because we love a good story. When they read the blog, new customers could picture themselves in their own bolthole, looking out over some incredible views. Current owners felt looked after because we included things that would help them to enjoy their time there. Some paid to upgrade their accommodation. They even started spending more time in the bar or at the shop because they felt like part of a community.

Could writing a business blog do that for you? Get in touch and let’s find out. I write the words that speak your customers’ language.

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Do you need great ideas for your blog?

Ideas for your blog
Photo by Cottonbro from Pexels

One of the most common questions I hear when I suggest business owners start a blog is “but what will I write about?” Coming up with ideas for your blog (or any of your social media posts for that matter) can feel like a massive task at first. It’s also entirely possible that you think you’ve covered everything you can write about already. The truth is, there are ideas all around you – you just have to know where to find them. Here are 5 simple ways that you can find new ideas for your blog.

Keep it simple

I talk to a lot of business owners who don’t write about really obvious things in their blog. They think that because they think something’s boring and routine their customers will too. Truth is, your customers need you because they don’t know what you know. If your strength is making beautiful jewellery your weakness could be keeping your accounts in order. If you’re the accountant who can give them a simple way to keep everything organised, talk about it! It isn’t too obvious, it’s really helpful. A list of your FAQs = an instant list of blog topics.

How do you help?

You’re in business because you offer something people need, so if you want customers you need to tell them how you help them. What are the benefits of working with you? I talk about things like coming up with ideas, writing in a way your customers will understand and turning lacklustre words into something better. You can also think about all of the different things that people might be Googling that you can help with. Say you offer massage – there are loads of different ways that someone might benefit and you can write about them all.

Talk to people

Taking a genuine interest in your customers’ lives is just basic human decency. It also helps you to come up with ideas. I get a lot of ideas from conversations I have with other business owners. You discover what they’re struggling with and about the misconceptions they have about your industry. That doesn’t just come from business networking. Your customers could be the people you chat to on in the local shop (albeit through your mask just now). The key is to listen to what people need – then you can write about ways you can help.

Read other blogs

I’m not suggesting you steal other people’s work. Plagiarism is bad. However, reading other blogs and marketing content within your industry helps you to keep up to date. This can also sometimes apply to reading the news too. Writing a blog post about something that’s changing will be really useful to your customers. The obvious example at the moment is Covid-19. There is so much change going on my head’s spinning. If you can help your customers understand what’s happening in businesses like yours it helps us all deal with the stress that little bit better.

Use some tech

There are lots of techy ways that you can come up with ideas for your blog. I like Answer the Public, where you can type in a keyword and it gives you loads of different questions that people have asked around that word. There are also some great keyword research tools. My favourite is Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest. Buzzsumo is also a great tool if you want to find out what kind of content does well in your industry.

I hope that’s given you food for thought – if you want a whole heap of topic ideas for your blog that are ready to go, my new eBook is out now. It’s called ’50 blog post ideas for your business’ and does just what it says on the tin.

50 blog post ideas for your business

Further resources

For even more ways to come up with new ideas, this great post from Orbit Media is well worth a read.

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Are your future customers scared of you?

Are your customers scared of your business?

Does it ever feel as if some people might be a bit scared of your business? You might think of yourself as a perfectly pleasant person, not an ogre or a troll. Yet you haven’t had a steady stream of new customers beating a path to your door. Or maybe you’ve introduced an exciting new product or service and its fallen completely flat.

It’s not because you’re terrifying. (Probably – if you are actually really scary I can’t help you.) The truth is, people like to know what they’re getting into. Trying something new takes a bit of a leap of faith. If you want your customers to have confidence there are a few things you can do to help them.

Tell them about your business

If you have a business that might be considered ‘unusual’, this is for you. There are a whole load of businesses in the world that do exactly what they say on the tin. If you’re a hairdresser on the local high street, people will get it. But what if people wrinkle their noses and say ‘what’s that?’ when you tell them what you do? Your future customers might be doing the same. You could be the solution to a problem that’s really holding them back, but they’ll never find you if you don’t teach them how you can help.

It’s also possible that they’ve got completely the wrong idea about what you offer. They’ve read something somewhere that was completely inaccurate. It might have been sensationalised or just phrased in a way that made them think it wasn’t for them. Never be afraid to bust a few myths if you need to.

Do your customers know about your services?

Of course, there’s another possibility. Maybe you offer a range of services and most of them are perfectly ordinary. Like a beauty therapist offering facials and massage. Then you bring in something new, like Hopi ear candling. No-one books. You’ve told people you’re offering it, it’s there on the menu but no-one’s buying. That’s probably a sign that they don’t know what it is or why they need it.

Explaining the benefits of a product or service is a great idea no matter what you offer. Even if you think something is mainstream, there are bound to be people who’ve never heard of it. Or maybe they have heard of it but they’re not exactly sure why they’d want it. Saying things like ‘this is a great treatment for hayfever sufferers’ or ‘this will save you time doing x job’ demystifies your services and encourages people to try them out.

Cover the basics

Sometimes people worry about simple things. Signing up for a class or an appointment with a professional is a big commitment. You can’t just run out if you don’t like the look of it. (Well, you could, but you’d probably feel pretty silly.) People protect themselves by not making the booking in the first place.

The concerns your potential customers have will depend on what you offer. If they’re in a group setting they might wonder what the other people will be like. They might worry about what you’re like or whether they’ll be safe visiting you. Going to see a solicitor or financial adviser runs the risk that they’ll be blinded with science. Telling people what to expect gives them certainty and reassurance. It tells them that you’re friendly and will look after them. That could mean the difference between a new customer and one that never gets in touch.

If you need help speaking your customers’ language and demystifying your business, just get in touch. Or sign up to my mailing list for regular marketing and writing tips.

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Case study – We Are Bostin’s lockdown adaptation

We Are Bostin lockdown case study

We’ve all heard about businesses pivoting during the pandemic. Here’s one that did it in style. Lake Contracts provide high quality shop fitting services so when lockdown came their business went quiet. After all, who’s going to pay for shop fitting when all the pubs and most of the shops are shut?

They adapted with style, setting up a new business using their existing skills. We Are Bostin was created to provide new windows, doors and shop fronts to both residential and commercial customers. I don’t know about you, but our time at home has left me with a long list of home improvements. A new front door and some brand new windows are definitely on there somewhere!

The Challenge

Their web designer set to work and recommended that they add a blog to show their expertise. I’d got to know Andreea Lake, one of the management team, thanks to my networking habit and she got in touch. There was one big challenge – we only had three days to act before the web developer went on holiday for a month. Thankfully Andreea had loads of great ideas for the kind of posts they needed and their branding and customer knowledge was strong.

All of this meant that I was able to get to work quickly, turning the finished post around in just over 24 hours. (That’s officially a record for me – I’m pretty quick but it usually takes a smidgen longer than that.)

The result? One happy client with a gorgeous new blog. All that remains is to find out how many hits they get now the site is live. If you’d like to read the first two blogs and find out more about We Are Bostin’s services, here’s the link.

If you need high quality content on a schedule that works for you, or that helps you adapt now lockdown is starting to ease, get in touch. I write the words that speak your customers’ language.

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Why I’m not buying into hustle culture

Hustle culture causes stress
Photo from energepic.com via Pexels

I used to follow lots of business gurus who talked about ‘hustle’. They’d mention their families but the main thrust of their advice was that you needed to work, work then work some more until you’d ‘made it’. I never really saw much about what life would look like when you’d made it, or indeed whether there was an actual definition. The overall idea seemed to be that you shouldn’t take a holiday or even a day off until you’d got to the top. Hustle culture was everywhere. Even the people who had kids talked about the importance of balance but seemed to spend their evenings and weekends working. Of course, I don’t know what was happening behind the scenes. Everything I saw about these people was based on what they put on social media. All the same, it played on my mind. Did I really need to subscribe to hustle culture to have a successful business?

What’s my problem?

When I say I’m not buying into the hustle, that doesn’t mean I believe in slacking. Working hard is part of building a successful business. I think my issue is that hustle seems to go beyond that. It’s not just hard work. I’ve seen people talk about not sleeping or never taking a day off. As someone with two small children I know that not getting enough sleep is a form of slow torture. There’s no way I’m doing it voluntarily. There might be times that you need to work silly hours to get something done, but it’s not sustainable long term.

I knew that I needed to create my own definition of success and mark my own boundaries if I was going to get anywhere.

Defining success

I see a lot of people online talking about earning 6 or 7 figures. That might be meaningful to some, but not me. Not that I’m longing to live in a cave or anything. I’d just rather make enough to have a nice life, quality time with the family and a few decent holidays. If that means I don’t get to be a millionaire that’s OK.

When it comes to role models I take social media posts with a pinch of salt and talk to people I actually know. The main thing I discovered is that everyone has different boundaries. The important thing is to look at how you want to spend your time and how that translates to reaching your goals.

Accountability

I sometimes wonder whether ‘hustle’ is some people’s method of keeping themselves accountable. If you haven’t worked an 18 hour day you haven’t done enough. The truth is, you don’t have to hustle to set goals and get results. If I don’t take time off I get exhausted and make bad decisions. My holidays don’t just give me family time, they provide brain space too. Looking at the world from a different angle gives me new ideas for normal life.

I also have an amazing coaching group where we commit to take action and report back. That action can even include identifying times when we need to rest so we live to fight another day. That’s the kind of accountability that gets you where you need to go.

Why am I telling you this? Because I know that a lot of you struggle with it. My business isn’t just about writing. It’s about sharing the stories that mean something to you. If you need help speaking your customers’ language and finding the stories that are important to them, just get in touch.

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Why you need to outsource your blog

Is this your idea of fun? Why you need to outsource your blog.
Is this your idea of fun?
Image from Pixabay

It’s one of the most common misconceptions about blogging. “Shouldn’t I be writing that myself?” Well, if you’re writing as an individual about your personal life, yes. Otherwise, for most people, no. There are a couple of reasons why writing your own business blog is a good idea (I’ll come to those) but a few others which mean it’s a better idea to outsource. Here goes…

When writing it yourself is a great idea

If you’re writing a personal blog, it should be, well, personal. That probably also applies to influencer type bloggers too. However, if you’re writing a blog for your business it’s not necessarily about you. You’ll be talking about your business but focusing on what your customer needs or wants. However, when you first start out you’ll spend some time finding your way. There’ll be trial and error while you work out what people like and how you want to sound. You might even be working out where blogging fits in your marketing. If this describes you, keep writing. (If you’re struggling to get going because you need ideas, this book is for you.) If you eventually hand your blog over to a writer it’s much better for everyone if you have a clear style that your writer can adopt.

Help with talking to your customers

There will always be trial and error when it comes to blogging, but what if you’ve been trying for ages and getting mostly error? You know exactly what you want to say but it just doesn’t come out right. When you outsource and a writer can take random ideas from your head and turn them into sentences that sound like you (this is where ghost writing gets a bit spooky). The other benefit is that a writer or marketing expert isn’t part of your business. You might see something as boring and routine when it’s exactly what your customer needs to hear about. Sometimes it’s as simple as asking you to explain what’s in it for your customer or helping you to spot the things they don’t understand.

What’s your time worth?

Blogs are slippery little beasts because you never know who is watching. I’ve had new customers tell me that they love my blog but they’ve never visibly engaged with it. I’m telling you this because I know how disheartening it is to slave over a blog and get tumbleweed. It’s even worse if you’ve spent time on it that you could have spent having fun or doing something more productive. The truth is, if your analytics tell you that people are reading, it’s probably working. It builds your profile and it’s hard to put a figure on that. I pay a cleaner because I don’t want to spend my day off cleaning. If you resent the time you’re spending writing get it off your plate and go and play with your kids instead.

How much do you love writing?

If the days, hours or minutes you spend writing content for your business are an absolute joy, keep going. The more you do it, the better you get. If the time came when writing was competing with other things that are important to you, you might have to decide to let it go. If, on the other hand, you sit down to write with a sigh because you hate it, then stop. I know you might have to get some income into your business before you can do that, but you could make it something to aim for. Goals don’t just have to be about income. It could be ‘I want to earn enough to outsource my blog/pay someone to do my filing/ [insert your least favourite task here]’.

Are you ready to outsource your blog? Drop me an email and let’s have a chat (and if you just want to ask me how much it would cost so you can put a figure on your goal, that’s fine too).

50 blog post ideas for your business (if you're not ready to outsource)
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Are we really pivoting?

Are we pivoting? White arrow on purple background.
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

I know, I know, I’m sorry – I’m sorry if you’ve heard the word ‘pivot’ far too many times in the last couple of months. I’m definitely tired of it (along with ‘unprecedented’) but if I’m going to face the thing I have to use the word. So. Are you pivoting? I keep getting it mixed up with pirouetting. That may actually be a better choice. If you feel as if you haven’t stopped spinning you’re not alone.

Pivoting has become a key term because a lot of us have had to consider it. Whole industries have come to a standstill overnight. Some are eligible for Government support but others aren’t. We’ve all got bills to pay and mouths to feed. I started pondering the actions I’ve taken since lockdown and what I’ve seen other businesses do. What’s been happening for you?

Are we pivoting or just readjusting?

To a word geek like me, pivoting means turning in a completely new direction. This has clearly been necessary for a lot of people. I’ve seen friends whose work has disappeared overnight apply for all kinds of jobs. Delivery drivers and grocery shop workers are in higher demand than ever before.

For the rest of us, it’s possible that we’ve just changed the way we do things. Your business might be able to continue online rather than in person. I’ve done online networking and a friend’s yoga class is now taking place over Zoom. My eight year old’s guitar lesson and football sessions have gone virtual as well. Virtual football coaching with a kid hurtling around the garden is quite an experience! The great thing is, we’re able to continue even if some bits have changed.

Getting creative

For some of us, adapting has meant getting creative. Pubs have started offering takeaways – I’ve even had a socially distanced gin delivery! My personal favourite was the lady who is painting rainbows on people’s windows. She’d normally be creating beautiful hand painted signs and chalkboards for shops and events, now she’s cheering people up at home.

My business has always been online, so it’s mostly business as usual. (Apart from the fact that I’m currently home schooling two under 10s.) The trouble is, some of the businesses I work with are struggling. It’s made me look at creating new products that will help without breaking the bank. What’s more, they’ll still be there when we go back to whatever the new normal turns out to be.

Is this a pivot?

Even though I’m creating new things and have adjusted my working week to fit around the kids, I’m not actually pivoting. I’m doing the same thing I was doing before, writing words and trying to help other business owners. All the same, things have changed. It’s not that long ago that I swore blind I was never going to create any kind of digital product. It all seemed like far too much work. Creating something I could sell wasn’t too much of a stretch. I just had to get over my horror of generic content by creating something semi-generic.

The real challenge was the techy bit. How on earth was I going to set up an online shop that would actually take money without me being involved? Well, I’ve done it. Turns out that the people who make shop software want small businesses to be able to use it so they make it easy. I know, who would have thought it?

Are you pivoting or just adjusting? Whatever your experience I’d love to hear about it so please share in the comments.

Further reading

This is my third dispatch from the realms of self-isolation. Here’s the first. And the second.

Also, if you’re in the Nottinghamshire/Lincolnshire area and would like your windows painted with rainbows here’s the lady to talk to.

If you’re looking for a shot in the arm for your business marketing, sign up to my email list for blogging and content tips straight to your inbox. You’ll also receive a free copy of my guide ‘Stop hiding your business’ as a thank you.



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My isolation silver linings

Isolation silver linings and smiles.

I’m delighted to have been challenged by the fabulous Steve at https://thediaryofdad.com/ to write about the positives that have come out of isolation. I have to confess, when all of this started I was panicking. As a business owner, the possibility of not being able to work for an extended period was scary. At least I don’t have employees to worry about. I’d convinced myself that I couldn’t possibly get anything done with the kids at home. Thankfully, there have been plenty of positives. Here are just a few.

I have an amazing business community

I’m used to spending time on my own, working at home while my sons are at school. I’m also an introvert so I thought that the hardest thing about isolation would actually be having the entire family under one roof, all of the time. It actually turns out that I miss talking to other adults, whether it’s at networking events or the school gate.

Thankfully, I’m part of an awesome small business community that quickly mobilised to take events online. It’s not quite the same as hugging your friends in person, but it’s great to keep in touch. Whilst social media isn’t always good for my mental health just now, spending time in the right places has been a real bonus.

Flexibility is key

One of our biggest isolation challenges has been the change in routine. It’s also created one of the biggest positives. My kids love routine, so we’ve created our own. School have sent suggested activities home but it’s up to us how we structure them. We’ve also introduced stuff that they wouldn’t learn at school, like how to do their own laundry, as well as new takes on fun activities. Who knew you could get IT, music appreciation and cookery into organising a kitchen disco?

I’m also thankful that we’ve created a balance when it comes to working at home. My husband and I are both self-employed, but while his workload is steady, mine fluctuates. With good communication and flexibility we’ve been able to settle into a pattern that works for both of us.

Work is still happening in isolation

The fact that my business is already online so can mostly carry on going (kids permitting) was a real silver lining. However, I had no idea whether my clients had any money to spend. Thankfully, some of them do. Some are using the enforced down time to get on with projects that they hadn’t had time for before. Others just need some help communicating with their customers without sounding like they’re trying to profit from a crisis.

The thing is, we’re all just trying to get through this as best we can. It’s been really heartening to see how many people are supporting their community, including other small business, when times are tough.

My kids are mostly great

There are days when I can’t face another conversation about Pokémon. Or Minecraft. But mostly I’m really glad that we’ve got the time to listen. I feel as if I’ve got to know them better. It’s also been great to discover that they’re actually pretty resilient. My youngest turned six in isolation. The fact that this year’s party was a cake and the extended family on FaceTime didn’t faze him at all.

I always knew I was pretty patient, but it goes further than I ever imagined. It has to when your children’s insecurity about the situation comes out two hours after bedtime when you just want to flop in front of the TV. Being able to take the time to administer hugs when they’re needed has been the biggest silver lining of all.

Thanks to Steve for the nomination. I’m nominating Rona Myatt to pick up the baton and talk about her isolation silver linings.

If you’d like to learn more about what I do (when I have time to do some work) or ways to improve your business marketing, you can sign up to my mailing list by completing the form below.