No technical article today you lucky dog! Instead, I’d like to share some reflections on how daily writing has helped me grow as a Solopreneur. Let me give you some context.
As someone who works and teaches one-to-one with clients, I decided to pivot my career to creating digital products and courses. Of course, this required me to become proficient in writing website copy templates, blog and email templates, planners, and stuff like that. At first, I struggled with the transition from hyper-specific long-form writing to this new type of content.
I’ve always been passionate about writing, but when it came to writing weekly blogs, I’d rather have a root canal. However, when a challenge came up (66 Write), I rarely back down from a challenge (unless I don’t have the bandwidth), so signed up and that’s when things started to change.
Normally, I’m a long-form writer for my technical articles on content marketing, email marketing, and website management. It would take me 4–6 six hours to write a single blog post every Friday morning. And that’s not including keyword research, on-page SEO, and sourcing images. However, daily writing has helped me to clarify my thoughts and ideas into a shorter format, which speeds up the entire process. Now, the entire process only takes me 3–4 hours every day.
Daily writing has also given me new perspectives and insights. I’m currently reading “Atomic Habits” by James Clear, and the chapter on the Two-Step Process to Changing Your Identity hit home. Specifically, the sentences, “When you write each day, you embody the identity of a creative person. The more you repeat a behavior, the more you reinforce the identity associated with that behavior.” Writing has helped me develop discipline and consistency, and I’ve found a process that works for me — doing complex technical writing in the morning and client work in the afternoon.
In addition to discipline and consistency, writing has given me a creative outlet to explore and experiment. I used to be worried about what people would think of my writing, my grammar and would feel like a total fraud for not having the most elegant writing style. But now, I just don’t care anymore. People who know me say that I’m generous with my knowledge and talk at a level they can understand, which means avoiding geek-talk as much as possible.
Before writing any type of content, including this article, I meditate at my desk. I turn off all three monitors and give my furry friend, Mia, a bone in the other room. That buys me 30 minutes of peace and quiet. Today, when I finished meditating, just before opening my eyes, a word flashed in my brain: “SIMPLIFY.”
I wrote it down in my journal, and I’ll explore it about an hour before bed, then will let my sub-conscious work it out.
My morning routine has also changed.
- Waking up an hour earlier, now at 4 and listening to Eddie Pinero’s podcast.
- About 90 minutes later, finishing up prepping the coffee, meds for the day and Mia’s food, I start dancing (cause I hate formal exercise) for 30 minutes to my playlist of 13 heavy beat songs. My best moves are to Pitbull and ACDC
- When I’m done, while my energy level is up, I meditate.
- Then read a chapter of non-fiction. Finished “Think and Grow Rich”, now reading Meditations from Marcus Aurelius and next will be On Writing by Stephen King.
- and then I write in my journal titled “Don’t judge me. I was born to be awesome, not perfect.”
If you had asked me six months ago if a daily writing practice would have helped me grow as a Solopreneur, I would have replied with a few creative words.
But now, I embrace the process and who I want to become. It’s not about the goal of writing every day, but about the journey. Things may change as I continue to read Atomic Habits, who knows.
So, my friends, I have no idea if this resonates with you, but if you’re looking to improve your writing skills, simply start writing every day. It may surprise you where it takes you.
Until next time, stay inspired.
Gisèle
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