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He needed to raise money to go into
wine-making business. To do this he had to have a comprehensive business plan showing potential investors how he planned to make their money back, along with a reasonable profit and in a reasonable period of time. Not much formal education himself he knew he needed someone to write this business plan who knew more than he did. So he did his due dilligence and investigated all possible sources of writing expertise he could come up with.
He found a young lady with a PhD – magic words to uneducated – who was a professional writer, and he hired her to create his business plan. PhD in English Writing means A skilled writer, no? Actually, it does mean No!
She wrote his business plan and he went out to raise money he needed – and couldn’t raise a farthing! Her business plan was so ineptly done that he could not entice any offer of financial support, not even for $10,000, let along $1 million he was seeking. He came to me for help and I re-wrote business plan from ground up. After damage done by first business plan it took him quite a while to find an investor willing to take a chance.
The third secret of a successful business – When you need help outside your area of expertise, be very, very careful. A “degree” in a field does not mean a person is expert in that field. Particularly true of writing.
Another example: You have personal experience in this or your know someone who has. For every job advertised there are literally hundreds of applicants. The first step of process is to submit a resume. One job, 250 resumes. How do you get your resume even to be selected as a “finalist” let alone be one of 250 who gets job!
Well, this is your business. You have gone into a home based business as a Desk Top Publisher, which means, among other things, writing. Not just writing, but writing effectively, writing so that person who’s business plan you wrote will get money he or she needs. Writing so that person who’s resume you wrote is at least a finalist for position, preferably finalist!
How do you become an effective writer? It’s a learning process. Some of us learn more quickly than others, but none of us are born with this ability; we all had to learn our writing craft hard way, through failures and successes.
The point here is: if you understand that formal education and degrees do not necessarily equate to skill at task, you are well on way to becoming a successful and effective writer. This brings us to….
The fourth secret of a successful business – You must know that you are at least equal to best alternative out there….then make sure that your clients do benefit from your expertise.
Good luck.
