Three Pin-Worthy Words

 I have been doing a lot of reading. Reading, listening and researching. (As you may tell by the intervals between each blog I posted, since I decided to embrace the writing path.)

I’ve been trying to understand the ins and outs of the trade.   

Whilst building my portfolio, on the side, I am constantly changing, improving, implementing. It’s been a daily testing to give me a better idea of what is virtually correct and what’s not.

In this learning path, three key words have stuck to the back of my mind like chewing gum. I came across them in copywriting-related podcasts, and in business and coaching articles.

As I do with everything, I always go to the origin of things first, so looked for their common meaning as well.

Mindshifting

Mind shifting is really important to help you achieve your objectives. The way you perceive yourself and the way others really see you can be miles apart.

We can understand things in a technical perspective but making sense of them when you apply them to your own experience is another.

How do you start in a trade without experience? 

How do you start in a trade without a qualification?

What if you don’t have either?

They all sound like dead ends, don’t they? They go hand in hand. 

You can have a certification but not the experience, in which case, you only know the theory. There’s the risk that your work is too technical because you are following a taught rigid structure. And there’s not one recipe that fits all.

If you have the experience, you risk being too liberal in your work, you will have accommodated bad habits, you will probably have worked in a niche of a sort. 

You look around and all you see is amazing people doing the job. And you can’t stop thinking “what have I got to offer that compares in any way to them”? (Yup, that Impostor Syndrome bug). In reality they’ve been there since always.

But have you ever noticed that only until you get that one car, that one piece of clothing or that one gadget, you realise how many of those are actually in use around you, and that you haven’t noticed before? Why do you think that is?

This is where mindshifting is so useful.

To expand your range of skills, you have to take risks. You may have to make a complete fool of yourself (but at least you were brave enough to come forward) or even work for free. But it will be worth it! And then you can show it off on your portfolio.

Either way, the important thing is that you are honest about what you have to offer and brave enough to face the world. 

Frictionless

Once again, the notion of less being more is lingering on.

The concept intends to pass the idea that keeping obstacles to a minimum will enable you to get where we want more easily.

It can come down to little things as keeping a TV remote in a high drawer to incentivize us to move more. Putting your children’s technology on a higher shelf (maybe they won’t bother to reach for them).

Reducing the friction of little tasks that you can avoid to progress with a bigger task.

Thinking about it, this really isn’t an old concept. It’s just reframed to adapt to our current lifestyle. Really it is common sense.

The questions you need to ask are: 

What would you like to achieve?

What can you do to make achieving it easier and quicker?

What tasks/processes can you cut down?

Reducing the friction is all about a mindframe shift and a remap of your objective. This exercise can help you become more productive and hopefully see more results in a short term.

The best steps to reduce or keep friction to a minimum:

Visualize your Goal

• Trace all possible routes to get there
• Analyse which routes can you cut tasks/steps from (that can save you time and stress)
• Replace all negative thinking thought process
• Cut the routes that don’t suit your purpose
• Take time in actually drawing the route down (all steps)

This is equally the case with people visiting your page. How many times do they need to click to get to you (or you offer)? How well does it flow? How slow does it load? How quick can you pass the message? All friction needs to drop.

To Resonate

This relates to identification, sympathising, meaningfulness.

We can look at it from both our perspective and the potential client. Guess what it’s related to?

It relates to your common interests, between you and your client. That’s pretty much your niche. That will be what is more likely to work for both, which will then have an obviously higher chance of success.

So basically, go with what you like, what you’re comfortable with. But never stop absorbing everything there is to know about your niche. This IS qualification. The clients will eventually come and everything will fall into place.