2016)

November 3, 2016May 22, 2021 klwalker2 My Writing Journey, The Walker Estate alone, battle, better, blog, blog post, dieting, encourage, encouraged, exercising, experience, goal, idea, ideation, join, journey, momentum, planning, special, succeed, successful, Toastmasters, tried, website, Writing

Have you ever tried to do something alone? It could be dieting, exercising, or anything else. It’s an uphill battle, and if you’re going at it by yourself, your odds are not very good.

Don’t go alone. If you’re dieting, join a friend who is also dieting. If you’re exercising, join a friend who is doing the same. This will establish some accountability, and you’ll be able to work on your goal.

Are you working on a blog post for a website? Find other people who are doing the same, and they can encourage you. Don’t do it alone. Your momentum will be a lot better if you have your friends to encourage you.

For me, I attend ideation once a week. Everyone there is encouraged to continue on their idea. Those who keep going will keep getting encouraged. For me, it’s like an idea gym. The ideas that work out the most turn into successful businesses. I don’t go alone and neither should you.

So the next time you’re doing something alone, try to see if there’s someone else that you can share the experience with. For us, we’re all sharing this journey together so we don’t have to be alone. It’s better this way and you have a much better chance to succeed.

What will there be next week? Since I’m busy with conference planning for Toastmasters, I won’t be attending ideation so I’ll try to think of something special.

See you next week!

Your friend in writing,

Kyle

My Writing Journey – The Tools You Need to Succeed (10/20/2016)

October 20, 2016May 22, 2021 klwalker2 My Writing Journey, The Walker Estate blog, drawing, editing, folder, idea, job, notebook, pens, projects, toolbox, tools, videos, websites

Do you have a toolbox? What I like about toolboxes is that they contain all the tools that you need to get the job done.

But I’m not just talking about your standard toolbox. There are toolboxes for drawing, toolboxes for designing websites, toolboxes for editing videos, and virtually every other one that you can think of. There’s one for each job. Not just carpentry, construction, or do it yourself projects at home.

If you don’t have a toolbox, get one, and put in all the tools that you need to get the job done.

Don’t have one yet? That’s okay if you don’t. After getting some ideas from my toolbox, you’ll be able to create your own toolbox!

First of all, to make a toolbox, you need to know the kind of job that you’re doing. After that, you need to gather the “tools” that you need to get that job done. Working on a blog post? You’ll need all of the useful “tools” that you need to get the job done. For this toolbox, you will need some good ideas. Always look for new ideas because they’re out there. Keep a notebook. My notebook is the primary thing that I keep in my toolbox. Keep a folder to file your ideas. Since I attend Ideation every week, you could say that I have a toolbox of sorts. I carry a bag around with a notebook, a folder, and a couple of pens. In having this with me, I can write down a blog idea and compose it later.

Try it yourself. What job do you have to finish? What tools do you need to finish that job? Round up those tools and put together your own toolbox. The sooner you do, the more successful you’ll be.

What am I doing next week? You’ll just have to wait. I’ll still be here.

See you next week!

Your friend in writing,

Kyle

My Writing Journey – Set Yourself Apart From Your Competition (9/29/2016)

September 29, 2016May 22, 2021 klwalker2 My Writing Journey, The Walker Estate blog, brand, competition, exercises, idea, ideas, read, sites, unique, uniqueness, write, Writing

In the world of writing, there is no such thing as a monopoly. Competition is everywhere. There are writers that are doing exactly what you’re doing only they’re a lot better at doing it. The layout of their site is more attractive. They have a lot more visitors. Their explanations are a lot better than yours.

And do you know what? That is perfectly fine. Competition is a good thing, and if you understand your competition good enough, you can learn to set yourself apart from them.

There are many writers, but only one you. Nobody else can write the way that you write so learn that uniqueness and execute it. When you start to do this, you begin to build a personal brand that sets yourself apart from everyone else. The more unique it is, the more it stands out, the better.

How do I learn that uniqueness? This is not something that you learn overnight. Rather, this is something that is developed over time. write everyday and read everyday. Have your words reflect the personality that you portray. Are you direct? Overly opinionated? Reflect that in your writing. Are you soft-spoken or quiet? Make that confession in your writing. As you begin to build your website, you will begin to learn the different facets of your own uniqueness.

Now for the other important matter. If you want to be successful with your writing and with your website, you need to find out what your competition is doing. Go to their site and read what they’re writing. Don’t copy their posts word-for-word but go to their site to learn what they are doing. Are there any topics that they covered that you forgot to cover? This is where you want to take good notes. They may have written a post about this or that, but here’s the good part where you have the advantage. You can write that post a lot better than they can. They have already published that post, but you haven’t published yours yet. Maybe you have a different perspective on what they covered. A new idea to add to what they covered or a totally different opinion. Maybe their punctuation was off (It shouldn’t be, if they have a good blog). So go and do that. Read and learn about your competition. Their ideas will help you to better your own. And if you’re starving for ideas, go to their blog. What you have is an all you can eat buffet of ideas. Feast on them and add your own unique ingredients to make them better.

What I covered in Ideation was mapping and springboards. I looked at my competition to see what writing exercises they already had. While I have already done some of them, most of the ideas were pretty new. Help yourself to your competition’s smorgasbord and spice it up. Change the recipe and now it’s your own.

Next week, I will go into more depth about your competition and exactly what you need to look for when you are making your visits to their sites. Getting the right information is important, as is the execution if you want to have a good blog. Stay tuned. It’s starting to get good.

See you next week!

Your friend in writing,

Kyle