March 2005

You, too, have an opposable thumb... but there's no voice like yours... "If you want more customeres, speak up!"

Speech, and the opposable thumb. Amazing, isn’t it, that just two gifts are responsible for the vast chasm separating humans from other creatures? How are you using your gifts?

I’m not talking about the thumb—at least not today. And though few disagree that dolphins, whales and other mammals communicate with sound, their methods clearly bear little comparison to human speech. Especially you English speakers out there…overlords and manipulators of the richest, most expressive language in the world.

Are you using your gift to make your business grow? If you haven’t yet found your true voice, you’re probably not using your gift to its full advantage. What is your true voice anyway, you may well ask?

Your true voice is the one you cry with. It’s the call-up-your-mom-to-tell-her-you-won-the-game voice. It’s the one you tell your friends about your brand new baby boy with.

It doesn’t matter that this is business. You use the same approach no matter what the venue. Your true voice in business is the one you use to tell your best friend about your exciting new customer. It’s the one you use to tell your colleague at the country club about your new product line that’s making record sales. It’s the one you use to explain to your wife how you’ve set up a new rewards system for your employees.

Your true voice is the way you talk when you’re most being you.

To use it effectively, first you have to find it. Start by asking yourself what about your business keeps you up at night—worrying, or fantasizing, or praying? Here you’re working on appropriate content for your true voice.

Then comes the issue of how to express your content effectively. Although there’s no single answer, here’s a tip that can take you a long way: Use exactly the right words—the words and phrases only you might use to say what you mean.

Easier said than done, you say? You’re right in the sense that we English speakers get to visit a vast treasure house with our language and there discover a dizzying array of words—all with subtle shades and multiple layers of meanings. But you’re the only person who knows exactly what you mean—and you’ve been creating your unique speech patterns ever since your newborn brain first heard mom’s voice. So you don’t need to get fancy and use different words all the time--unless that’s really the way you speak.

Practice being yourself in your writing. Your writing will get better immediately--because after all, there is no one like you..

Barbara

Some of what’s going on at ReallyGoodFreelanceWriter.com:

• Presented "Writing for the Web" at the Western Reserve Writers Conference at Lakeland Community College earlier this month.


• Presenting “29 Things You Need to Know about Press Releases” to The National Association of Women Business Owners. Sheraton 4-Points Akron, April 1.


• Facilitating a half-day private session on "Blogging for Professionals--Why would you want to?" on behalf of Cleveland State University.