business info & tools

Refer to older posts…

What is your passion story?

Published 2 November, 2012 | By TashWord

Last week, I heard Valerie Khoo speak about her new book, Power Stories, within a ‘booked for lunch’ webinar.

She summarised the eight stories she covers in her book, being stories that are important to know and tell to make a successful business (or organisation or project).

I tweeted tips throughout the webinar, as I do, but thought I’d expand on one aspect of her talk here as well.

The first story is your passion story.

As I shared a few weeks ago, I started my business to share my writing skill. It was designed around two passions – flexibility to be with my children and the drive to have clear communications all around us.

I like helping people not only write well but to communicate effectively. The difference between ‘you can buy widgets from us’ and ‘you will get back two hours a week once we install a widget for you’.

Sharing my writing skills isn’t my passion story. Helping others communicate clearly and effectively is my passion – writing copy for others is just one way I put my passion into practice.

Valerie made it very clear that it is a valuable use of time to sit and articulate your passion story.

Do you know your passion story? Are you telling it enough?

My copy of Valerie’s book arrived today – a sneak peek had me hooked, too, so I am really looking forward to sitting down and reading this book.

I intend adding a review of the book once I’ve finished, but I may well end up sharing various tips from it as I go, too.

Posted in book review, business info & tools, writing | Tagged passion, power stories, story | 7 Comments

Business value from work experience

Published 30 October, 2012 | By TashWord

Work experience for teenage school students is a long established practice, and my daughter is getting excited about the prospect of working for a week next year.

Work experience should be more than just filing and sorting pages

As a parent and (previously!) student, I can see a lot of value in the program.

Kids get to try out potential careers to make more informed decisions and they get to see what ‘the real world’ is like. It also teaches them some responsibility and independence and gives them new experiences and contacts.

My daughter is already starting to see the meaning of ‘it’s not what you know but who you know’.

Mostly its value is that they are learning by doing, not just listening to someone else’s knowledge.

Work experience good for business?

The other side of the story is how work experience impacts on the businesses hosting the students.

Overall, it must be good or the program probably would have died out many years ago. Or at least it can’t be too bad or costly!

How about in small and micro businesses, though?

A couple of years ago, my daughter’s school asked for business contacts in the writing and printing industries so I offered to take a work experience student. It fell through but it did get me thinking about the concept.

Some of the issues I considered were:

at $5 a day, it isn’t an expensive activity! You won’t hire anyone else that cheaply…
the student has to be supervised – legally, they are children so you are responsible for them and can’t leave them alone for extended periods of time (I won’t go into my work experience though as my boss broke this rule!)
whoever is directly supervising the student must have appropriate checks (a working with children card in Victoria but equivalent checks apply in each state). This isn’t onerous to obtain but it has to be done in advance and requires the person’s agreement – not so hard if it’s yourself! As I already have one as a cub leader, this isn’t an issue for me but could be for others.
what can they do all day? We all laugh that work experience students do the filing and photocopying but I feel they should do more than that – and I don’t think they could fill a week with my filing anyway! Seriously, you may have an overload of things to do, but how many can you expect an inexperienced teenager to help you with?
do you have time to teach them? Any new person in your team will need to be told what you want done, but a student will need more explanation and instruction than most other employees
where will you physically put the student? Do you have an extra desk and computer for them to use?
are you prepared to fill in reports on the student (I don’t think there’s a lot of paperwork, but there will be some!) and have staff visits during the week?
can you cope with a difficult student? Some students on work experience will be a breeze to manage and earn trust so can be an asset for the week; other students will require more help and some will test your patience. You need to allow for the worst when planning, while hoping for the best of course!

I think there is a community benefit to work experience that should be factored into the decision, but the whole process is a big undertaking which is probably beyond many small and micro businesses to manage.

For students, being in a small business may offer fewer people to learn from but it could teach them a lot about running a business.

So if you own a small or micro business, have you ever taken on a work experience student? How did it go?

Have I missed any issues worth considering?

* Image courtesy of 123rf

Posted in business info & tools | Tagged business, student, work experience | 4 Comments

Hear what I said about Problogger event…

Published 27 October, 2012 | By TashWord

You may have already read some of my impressions and lessons from the problogger event in Melbourne earlier this month.

And I intend writing more about various aspects of the weekend and things I learned and am implementing.

Now, thanks to John of the Young Digital Group, you can even hear what I thought of the event, and a little background of my writing services, too.

John has set himself the challenge of interviewing 30 bloggers who have been influenced by the event. He was a pleasure to talk to and the process was simple (although I apologise for sitting in front of a window and thus having my face shadowed a bit too much).

I have to admit to being nervous about watching and listening to myself on a video – but I pushed myself to talk to people at PBEvent and now I have raised the bar higher for myself.

Side notes: John is interviewing both attendees and virtual attendees to the event so let him know if you want to share your experiences, too. If you haven’t yet grabbed one, you can still get a virtual ticket, listen to some sessions and then talk to John!

Goals from problogger event

One question I knew John would ask was ‘what key goals have you set as a result of attending problogger?’ so I spent some time that morning thinking about specific goals – and goals that were big picture enough to be interesting and challenging.

The answer I gave John is nothing like what I had thought of saying!

One goal I do have is to find ‘sparks of energy’ as Darren called them.

He was referring to the things that I enjoy posting about and am energised by plus the things that my readers are energised and interested by.

So my goal is to sit and reflect on what topics and posts I find the most interesting to work on so I can keep my momentum going and not burn out.

The other side of my goal is to also determine which posts and topics give the most value to my readers (that is, you!) so I can help you as much as possible with your communications and writing projects.

So what does energise and interest you? Are you more interested in reading about blogging or how to manage communications projects? On learning little grammar details or how to develop consistency?

What topics do you want me to write about that will spark ideas and better communications for your business?

Hearing about energy sparks

I started this post to share John’s video.

I ended it asking about your preferences. That wasn’t planned!

Yet announcing that goal is important so I’m glad I did John’s interview to concrete that idea for myself.

You’ll have to watch the video to hear another goal of mine 🙂 And that will force me to get moving on it, too.

Posted in business info & tools | Tagged goals, interview, PB event, sparks | 8 Comments

Do you tweet for business or pleasure?

Published 22 October, 2012 | By TashWord

I like Twitter and have made it part of my business.

Having to be concise means that the information presented via Twitter is quick to read (although it can take a fair bit of time to read all the associated links!). I only follow people who are providing business information so I don’t get a lot of personal things coming through which is the complaint I most often hear from people who don’t like twitter.

Study of Twitter users

Recently, results of ‘an exhaustive study of Twitter users around the world’ were released.

And apparently my use and perception of Twitter is not shown by the results.

Here are some of the statistics…

36 million twitter profiles exist – 25% of which have never actually tweeted anything
I’m in the 75% as I’ve tweeted many times!

70% of tweeters don’t have anything in their profile
That is an incredible number to me – although if the 25% who never tweet is included it makes more sense. Certainly for any business using Twitter for marketing, you have to add a bio to get the maximum benefits.

53% of users are female
Yes, I am in that 53% and without actually counting them, I would think the people I follow and am followed by do fall into roughly 50% male/female.

74% of users are between 15 and 25
This time I am in the minority apparently. Interesting though as everyone I have met via Twitter is certainly out of their teens, and most would be over 30 – and my teen daughter and her friends don’t Tweet (they use other social media platforms obsessively but don’t like Twitter. My daughter has sent one tweet – actually a retweet of something I wrote as I was testing something!)

4.09% of users are in Australia – 50.99% the USA and 17.09% in the UK
I contribute to Australia being the third most prolific country for twitter use – I wonder how we’d rank if the statistics were done per capita rather than just number of users…

81.1% of users have less than 50 followers
I actually fit into the 9.2% with 101 – 500 followers but I found this statistic interesting.With so many people appearing to be keen on having many followers, I am surprised so many have less than 50 although if the 25% of non active users were included in the results it completely skews the meaning. If over 80% of active users have so few followers I am pleased – social media should be about relationships, not numbers, even in a business setting (50 followers who engage with me, retweet me and potentially buy from or help me is much better than 500 who don’t read my tweets at all).

22% of female twitter users have a purple background
I don’t have a purple background (I want blue to match my logo and brand) and generally find this sort of statistic somewhat superficial but I find it interesting because there has been an increase lately in purple as ‘the girl’s colour’ including the introduction of ‘women’s pens’ which are purple (although I appreciate this for the hilarious reviews made of this pen!)

Females are generally younger
By age group, females to number males while under 25, while the genders are pretty even for 26 – 35 year olds and males outnumber females after age 35. Men outnumber women by approximately a third in the management category and by about 50% in the entrepreneur category.

22.7% of tweets are sent by third party apps, not directly from Twitter
I also fit into this category as I use tweetdeck most of the time – it gives me access to multiple accounts and platforms at the same time (although not as well as it used to unfortunately since Twitter took it over).

On average, the more followers you have, the more often you tweet.

So obviously a lot more people do use Twitter for ‘social chats’ than I thought. However, the fact I don’t see that stuff shows you can select your Twitter experience by choosing who you follow – Twitter is definitely a business tool for me but I also make connections and have friendly conversations with people – it’s not all business.

So how does Twitter feature in your business and life?

Do the above statistics put you in the average or doing your own thing?

Posted in business info & tools | Tagged business, statistics, twitter | 3 Comments

Little PB Event tips to create big things for you

Published 19 October, 2012 | By TashWord

My first word of advice – if going to what is likely to be a great event with lots to process afterwards, book out the following days so you can process it!

Attending the PB event last week (yes, this time last week I was sitting in a room to hear Shayne Tilley in the second sessions of the day) was great and I came away with lots of ideas, inspiration and information, plus some great new friendships and relationships.

However, it was back to work as usual on Monday morning. Well, I say as usual but I’ve had some urgent client projects come up this week so it has, in fact, been more hectic than usual.

So I haven’t had the time to sit and read through all my notes or listen to the recordings of the sessions I didn’t attend. Or relisten to the great ones I want to get more out of.

Nor share a lot of those tips and insights with others.

From little actions big things happen

Right from the start, Darren set the theme of the weekend to be from little things big things come.

Even the biggest trees started as small seedlings

{I have to say that I was often distracted by the song ‘from little things big things grow’ used in an ad promoting a group of industry super funds! Distracting similarity but the message is accurate and valuable in both instances.}

It then followed that all the speakers gave practical information so we could pick up little details and see how to apply them to our own blogs. With everyone repeating that taking things step by step and doing lots of little things you can build a success (however you define success).

Major take home message: make 15 minutes a day to work on something important.

Think about it – 15 minutes a day isn’t that hard to find but adds up to 75 minutes a working week or 60 hours (which is 7.5 working days) a year – with 4 weeks annual leave allowed for 🙂

How many new designs could you create or words could you put to paper or sales calls you could make in 60 hours? That may just be the ‘extra day in the week’ many people wish for.

If you want me to write a post on ways to use that 15 minutes, let me know as a comment or email me – or send me a tweet for that matter!

Provide quality and value for your readers

The event was aimed at bloggers so the message was to give readers quality – but the concept is just as valid for any aspect of your business.

Some points on this:

Make posts and information products useful and informative
Find your voice (or brand) and stay with it
Monitor what your readers like and give them more of that
If accepting money for a sponsored post or ad, ask ‘what’s in it for my readers?’ You get paid, obviously, but make the post valuable to your readers above all
add opinions as well as information or share a learning experience so people feel they get an answer (paraphrased quote from Chris Guillebeau)

Make a connection

Various speakers over the conference touched on the importance of engaging and connecting with your audience and with other bloggers.

Here are some of their quotes (written as they spoke so these are close to word-perfect but may be slightly different to their exact words):

Look after and engage your readers – engaged readers will do more for making money than having lots of readers ~ Darren Rowse

Involvement begets commitment ~ James Tuckerman

A focus on building relationships and providing value to people will lead to success ~ Chris Guillebeau

[within your blog have a ] hidden message of ‘you’re not alone’ coming through as everyone needs to feel connection and belonging ~ Chris Guillebeau

Final words

I think Darren had some important words to say in his opening and closing talks.

The theme was little things add to big things, but also to realise everyone starts small so don’t feel inferior to others. Again, based on my notes, he said:

Comparing yourself to other bloggers makes you feel small and is not constructive – focus on good things happening on your own blog. Look at other blogs for inspiration not comparison.

If you have questions or simply want to learn more from the great speakers at PB Event, you could…

leave a comment below and I’ll do my best to answer you
grab a virtual ticket to PB Event and hear all the speakers (and see their slides). {Yes, this is an affiliate link so I would get a commission for referring you.}
use the #pbevent tag in Twitter – there are still a lot of tips being shared
read blog posts from people who were there – try posts from Belinda, Rita, Helena, Alison and Chantelle to get you started

And with that said, I am off to read more pb event posts myself and do 15 minutes for my subscribers – you can subscribe to get updates of new posts by ticking the box as you leave a comment or fill in the form in the sidebar.

How do you feel as a blogger or small business owner – do you feel small compared to others with more readers or a bigger income? Do you compare yourself to others rather than acknowledging your own progress and successes?

Posted in Business Communications, business info & tools | Tagged blog, community, little things, PB event, value | 2 Comments

Bloggers together have power

Published 15 October, 2012 | By TashWord

Today is Blog Action Day 2012 (BAD12). That means over the next 24 or so hours many bloggers will be publishing a post about the power of we, showing that diverse people can come together to make a difference.

For me, the timing makes this post easy – I just spent most of the weekend with 3oo fantastic people at the problogger event so have a better sense of the power of we within blogging.

The power of we at a conference?

At one level, we were just a group of people sitting in the same room listening the same speakers.

But it was way more than that.

People were talking, mingling and supporting each other – not just for those 48 hours but building relationships that can move us forward in the days and months to come. The organisers and speakers not only encouraged us to mingle (one speaker, I think it was James Tuckerman of Anthill, told anyone sitting next to a person they came to pbevent with to sit somewhere else in the next session) but had made it easy to do so with generous breaks between sessions and a cocktail party on Friday night.

Amongst many other topics, we discussed payment for our work, such as being paid by a brand to promote them within our blogs. While there was an understanding that someone with more traffic and influence can probably charge more than a new blogger, there was a consensus that bloggers should bot accept free or very cheap ‘work’.

The point was that we all deserve to have our time recognised and paid for. And by accepting lower rates we can cheapen the work and efforts of other bloggers as well.

It’s also one reason I hate those content mills where people can buy webcopy, blog posts, articles, etc for a fraction of the price professionals like me charge – it makes it harder for us to earn decent pay rates for our time and expertise if clients think they can get it done much cheaper (especially those clients who don’t understand how to judge quality writing).

Working together and setting some industry standards helps all bloggers and writers.

Discussing those standards at PB Event gave us not only a framework but the confidence to stick to it for a reason beyond ourselves.

The power of we at work.

What we can achieve

Leading up the PB Event, problogger (Darren Rowse) himself set a challenge.

Problogger does it in a dress PB Event 2012

Problogger in a dress, PB Event 2012

If we could fundraise $240, he would attend the final session on Friday in a school dress. A few more targets were added when the $240 was reached in one donation, with the final level being $2,400.

It was fun, but the point was to raise money to help girls in Sierra Leone go to school – $240 sends one girl to school for a year.

I was sick to the stomach to find out a girl is more likely to be sexually assaulted than go to school in Sierra Leone.

Think about what that means. It’s awful.

I’m pleased to be part of PB event where we raised enough to send 10 girls to school.

It isn’t enough, but it is a start and shows we care. Sending 10 girls to school will make a difference to them, their families and presumably their communities.

Darren challenged us to all do the same, to see how much money 300 bloggers’ communities could raise, how many more girls go to school.

Given it is blog action day, I wonder what would happen if all bloggers around the world tried raising some money by doing it in a dress – could we get every girl in Sierra Leone to school?

Could we make it so school is more likely than assault for a nation of girls?

The power of we is strong. Let’s use it for good.

Posted in bit off track, business info & tools, Uncategorized, writing | Tagged BAD, conference, dress, power of we | 8 Comments

An amazing conference is well worth the effort

Published 12 October, 2012 | By TashWord

Day one is just about over for Problogger 2012 – the formal sessions have finished and we just have a networking even to go before we head for bed (and we’re all going to need a sleep I think!)

For the attendees

Based on conversations I have had, tweets I have read and my own assessment, the event has been fantastic and provided a lot of information and inspiration for a lot of people.

And given the amount of tweets flying around, I think it is inspiring and informing people who aren’t even here!

And it isn’t just about the learning. The speakers have been great, don’t get me wrong, but there is more to a great conference.

You meet people and learn from their stories and experiences.

You feel part of something – and in this case feeling part of a blogging community that can make a difference is empowering.

Listening to other people and other people’s questions can give you a new perspective, too.

Personally, I have a lot of ideas for myself and to share with others from today. I’m excited about implementing them from Monday onwards.

For the organisers

Aside from any financial gain they get, what does a great event do for the organisers?

There must be a lot of satisfaction from helping so many people and having the day flow so nicely.

Obviously, they build their reputation as an authority with credibility.

For the problogger team, I think they also can finish today knowing they have made a difference and are leading us to make a difference, too – and I think that’s something they would be proud of.

So what have we learned today?

The focus has been on monetisation and building communities.

Over the coming weeks I will share ideas and lessons I have learned, and aim to do a summary post early in the week.

For the mean time, the best ways to gain from our experiences today are to search #PBEvent and #PBEvent2 on twitter – hard not to as they were trending terms today apparently!

And grab a virtual ticket to hear the recordings and see the slide shows – you won’t regret the purchase.

And now I am off for a walk to clear my head before the networking.

Posted in Business Communications, business info & tools | Tagged conference, difference, learn, PBEVENT | 7 Comments

Attending blogging events, live or recorded

Published 11 October, 2012 | By TashWord

This Friday and Saturday, about 300 bloggers will descend upon Melbourne to learn more about blogging at PBEvent with Problogger Darren Rowse.

And I’m pleased to say I will be one of them.

Why go to a blogging event?

Learning the basics of blogging – and more

I can’t speak for everyone, but I know I am going because

it’s great to learn new things and conferences and seminars are a good learning experience (well, good ones are anyway!)
it’s good to get away from my desk occasionally
blogging is an important part of my business, and part that I really enjoy, so learning more about it is a good investment for me
I like the idea of meeting other bloggers

Really, it’s just like going to any conference – the topic just happens to be blogging.

And PBEvent happens to be hosted by one of the best known bloggers in Australia. And is offering some great speakers and topics (you can see the schedule here if you’re interested).

How I learn from events

When I go to any business event, one of my aims is to learn.

I think being open to new ideas and expecting to learn is a good starting point. Sometimes the best value from an event is the ideas it sparks so you need to be open to listening and learning.

Taking notes is one way I cement the information I hear. Traditionally that has meant writing notes in a notepad but obviously people have more options these days – I’m still inclined to write notes by hand as it works better at getting information into my mind.

To be honest, I often don’t read those notes again, and certainly not often. However, just the act of writing notes helps me retain the information better.

I also find that tweeting snippets of information is a great learning tool. By deciding something is valuable enough to share and putting into few words (I try for less than the allowed 140 characters) makes that point stronger for me. And hopefully it is providing value to my followers as well.

Tweeting information during a webinar is easy. I haven’t yet tried it at a live event but may give it a go during PBEvent.

If nothing else, I can reread my tweets afterwards as a reminder of some key information.

Live or recorded?

There are distinct advantages to live and recorded information sessions, I think.

Going to a live event obviously has the advantages of a new environment and networking with other people. It also means you can potentially interact with the speaker(s), ask questions and participate in the atmosphere. Sometimes you get additional opportunities, too, such as handouts, ‘conference only’ discounts and yummy food!

Listening to a recording of an event gives you more flexibility – you can hear it at whatever time suits you – and saves travelling time and expense. For information packed sessions, a recording also means you can pause and rewind the recording to catch important bits and make sure you understand things. For a poor sessions, it is also very easy to turn it off and get on with other things!

Which do you prefer? Have you tried both options?

I attend more webinars because of the convenience, but I like to attend some live events every year as well to interact with people.

Problogger Event

With the Problogger event, I get both as all sessions are being recorded so I can listen to them after the weekend. Which means I can relisten to important bits I missed but more importantly, I can hear the sessions I don’t attend (part of the weekend has two sessions running at the same time). And slide presentations will be included with the recordings, too.

The recordings are also available for non-attendees via a virtual ticket (which are being sold at a 25% discount until mid afternoon today Melbourne time I believe). You can grab a virtual ticket and get access to over 21 hours of blogging information plus a live Q and A sessions with Problogger next week (it is an affiliate link but I honestly think it is good value – and much cheaper than what I’ve paid to attend!)

And if you are going to Problogger event, or a similar event, you may enjoy the following preparation posts, too:

Blogging conferences and training events
10 things to do to prepare for PB Event
Hot tips for Problogger ‘virgins’

Have you ever attended a blogging event? What did you get from it? And what tips have you got to share for those going to their first blogging conference?

Updated September 2013: The 2013 Problogger conference is on again this month and you can choose to attend in person in Queensland (if you got a ticket fast enough!) or virtually (2013 recordings will available a short time after each sessions is run so you can listen on the conference weekend.) plus watching interactions on Twitter during sessions.

Posted in blogging, business info & tools | Tagged Blogging, conference, learning, PBEVENT | 9 Comments

Determine the quality of your life – today!

Published 8 October, 2012 | By TashWord

The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives.
~ Tony Robbins

Do you agree with Tony Robins – do we determine our own lives by how we communicate?

Communications impact our lives

I included that quote in my June newsletter* (which was themed on quality) because I think we can control our lives to a certain extent by how we communicate.

If you are always sad and complaining, you’re unlikely to be inundated with invitations to parties and fun events – and you’re therefore likely to feel sadder.

If you are friendly and polite, showing respect for others no matter the circumstances, people will respect you and be more likely to help you. Never underestimate the power of a smile or a thank you…

If you complain and can’t see the silver lining anywhere, you may stop yourself from being creative and finding a solution or an innovation to change (your) world.

If you take no care in how your business communicates in writing, some potential clients will judge you poorly and go elsewhere for a professional service. Thus the effort (or lack thereof) determines how many clients you have and your business income and overall success.

If you always frame things in a positive way and take care what you communicate about (eg avoid gossip and criticisms), the odds are you will feel better and attract interested and interesting people. You will also have a positive mindset and spot more opportunities.

These are simplistic examples, but no less true for that.

It is a choice how we communicate. And how we communicate does influence our lives.

Should communications replace 42 as the answer?

Effective communications above 42 as the answer

Which way do you weight effective communications?

Well, it’s hard to implement 42 so communications is certainly a more actionable answer to life, the universe and everything!

We can choose to communicate better – by learning new words, more about expressing words (from grammar to using ‘you’ more than ‘me’), developing our listening skills and practising our writing skills as good starting points.

However, I don’t think communications alone makes a great life. There’s also hard work, learning and being a good person.

What do you think are the important factors in ensuring you have the best life you can?

Do you have any examples from your business on how communications directly affected the outcome or quality of an outcome?

* If you like reading inspirational and/or thought-provoking quotes, I include one every month when I write my newsletter, business writing ideas. To keep the quote company, I also write some tips on business communications and improve a real life example of bad writing. Subscribing is simple – just fill in the form on my site.

Posted in business info & tools | Tagged communicate, newsletter, quality, tony robins | Leave a comment

Why alienate your audience?

Published 26 September, 2012 | By TashWord

I have just finished reading a book my daughter has read a few times. I was actually keen for her to read books by this author as she is Australian, writes about the meeting of cultures and seems to give a positive outlook to teenagers.

Now, I’m not so keen.

I actually found parts of this book (and admittedly it was her first) unsettling – and I’m unlikely to read another. by this author.

Writing about Melbourne

Australia has it’s own culture and terminology

The book is clearly set in Melbourne – the characters live in Camberwell, eat Vegemite, visit Lygon St for pizza and gelati, Acland St for cakes and belong to the Debating Association of Victoria (DAV). All those details are named and a theme of the book is a girl finding her identity as a ‘hyphenated Australian’.

So why does she ‘catch a streetcar’ to a ‘mall’ with her ‘mom’ wearing ‘flipflops’ or discuss clothing choices for a 58 degree day or ‘keep to the right’ when skating at St Kilda beach?

I’ve never caught a streetcar or worn flip flops in my life, but have been in many Melbourne trams and often worn thongs. Australia is metric so her 58 degrees farenheit would be known as 14 degrees (ah, now her comments about the girl being under-dressed make sense!) and if you stick to the right on our roads and paths you’re likely to get arrested if not killed!

Consider your audience

I often read books that were written for other countries, including the USA. I mentally ‘translate’ them into my experiences. So someone is facing a difficult left hand turn in the book and I picture it as a right hand turn to understand the context. I read ‘mom’ as ‘mum’, ‘color’ as ‘colour’ and struggle over imperial references.

That’s okay when I’m reading an American book.

I resent it in an Australian book.

If you are sharing an Australian experience with readers, make it authentically Australian by using Australian terminology and spelling. To do otherwise alienates your Australian audience.

Maybe her purpose was to write for the American audience because it is larger. Then why make it so clearly about Australia? Why insult Americans to say they can’t read a book and ‘translate’ terms into their context?

In a book trying to show how cultures are different but can co-exist, I found it uncomfortable that she didn’t stay with the Australian culture. It felt hypocritical. And that she was demeaning Australian culture.

Back to business…

You may not be writing books about cultural clashes, or even in a business that has much cultural diversity to deal with, but the point is the same.

It’s important to know your voice and stick to it.

To know your audience and understand it – not just what they can understand but what could be insulting or offensive.

To really think about what you are communicating between the lines.

To realise that the USA is not the world and that it’s ok to do things in a locally appropriate way instead of copying the American way by default.

Posted in bad writing examples, Business Communications, business info & tools, writing | Tagged audience, australian, culture, terminology | 6 Comments

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