Can you believe how quickly 2012 flew by? Of all the things I’ve learned this year, learning the importance of focus is by far the most important.
This is something you should be looking into for 2013.
While it can be that you have a number of different areas you’re involved in, you need to pick and choose to be ‘master’ of one or two. It’s this focus that will enable you to attract customers or clients. It’s this focus that will motivate you to take the necessary steps to reach your goals.
So, how do you focus in on who and what you want to be known for?
This is interesting, because it can change as the years come and go. For example, I started out as a children’s writer, and while I still love this aspect of my writing, I have evolved into a freelance/ghostwriter (specializing in business incentive and health writing) and an online marketer (specializing in creating and building an author online presence).
Finding my focus, I’ve been taking action steps for the past couple of weeks to revamp my websites to reflect what I want to be known for. I’m still working on my ‘signature’ tag.
What about you?
Maybe you're a writer for children. Maybe you're a technical writer or business writer. Maybe you're a freelance writer. Maybe you're a ghostwriter. Maybe you're all these things.
To help determine your area/s of focus you need to write down the questions below and answer each one (write your answers out):
• What writing arenas are you involved in?
• Do you find yourself leaning toward one or two more so than the others, if so what are they?
• Can you effectively market yourself in these areas?
• Are you writing and marketing as a hobby or to earn an income or a supplemental income? If your goal is to make money, write down how much?
• Did you have a writing/marketing goal for last year? Did you reach it? If not, why?
• What does success mean to you – what does it look like?
• Do you really want success? If so, is there anything blocking your path to it (often we sabotage our own success)?
• What do you want to be known for?
• What can your new ‘signature’ tag be for 2013?
You’ll need to think about these questions. It might be helpful to actually have someone ask you each question and quickly give answers. Sometimes this helps you get a glimpse of what’s going on subconsciously.
Once you have your goals in sight, write them down, be sure to include to increase your online presence and mailing list. After they're in place, you’ll need to keep those goals front and center and read them every day. The reason for this is our ‘intention’ can quickly be sidetracked if we don’t continually keep it insight and in mind. Also, reading your goals every day reaffirms your commitment to achieving them.
With your goals for 2013 in hand, write down action steps to get there. It’s advisable to have a yearly calendar with goals to reach each month. Then prepare a weekly writing/marketing plan to achieve those monthly goals. Again, you need to keep those goals and action steps visible. Remember: ‘out of sight often really does mean out of mind.’
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Karen Cioffi
Author Online Presence and Book Marketing Ecourse:
http://karencioffi.com
Karen Cioffi Professional Writing Services
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/karen-cioffi-writing-services/
