Hello Reader,
I edged my way over to a market stall that was overflowing with books and plants. The plants were all cuttings that had been artfully arranged in water-filled glass containers, their roots floating freely.
There were two ladies chatting at the stall next door and before I could blink, one of them scooted over and said with a laugh,
"Can I put the hard sell on you?"
Her laughter was contagious.
I grinned back and said yes.
She blinked in astonishment.
"Now I don't know what to say," she said.
To be honest, she really didn't need to say anything.
There was no need for a hard sell. I love plants. And I especially love cuttings in glass containers that are just getting a start in life.
So after a brief discussion and a bunch of questions about the care of these particular plants and their uses, I picked out my favourite.
The cuttings it contained were a mix of something she called "Five Spices", sweet potato vine and some groundcover that's supposed to be super hardy.
And because I'm sure I'll be visiting that particular market stall again I decided to introduce myself.
Then belatedly scanned the books in front of me, thinking (correctly) that she must have been the author and I could have picked up her name from there.
She laughed.
"I'm Kim 'Bloody' Scot" she said.
I blinked. And looked again at the name on the book. It said "Kim Vanessa Scot".
She laughed again.
"That's how I always introduce myself to people."
So the next day I looked her up online.
And it turns out she's published 3 books, none of which are available on Amazon, frustratingly.
And that's the bit that stayed with me.
I bought a plant from a woman while standing in front of books she'd written, and I only found that out because I asked for her name.
Most of us are known for one thing
I'm not having a go at Kim. Most of us do this.
You get busy with the work in front of you and you don't mention the rest of it. The editing. The case studies. The ghostwriting. The newsletter you'd happily write for someone every fortnight if they thought to ask.
So the client files you under one label, and that's the only work they ever send you. Not because they don't rate you. They just don't know.
The same thing happens with editors. You pitch features, so you get asked for features, and the service work that would even out your income never comes up.
Here's a small thing to try this week. Open a blank document and list every kind of writing work you'd say yes to right now. Then beside each one, paste the link you'd send a client who asked about it.
The ones with no link aren't hidden. They just don't exist anywhere outside your head yet.
Fixing one is usually smaller than it sounds. A paragraph on your About page and an email address will do the job.
See yourself the way a client does
Here's a quick way to find out what you're currently advertising, whether you meant to or not.
Copy the text from your website, your LinkedIn About section, or wherever people land when they look you up. Paste it into ChatGPT or Claude (or your AI tool of choice) with this:
"You have never heard of me. Based only on this text, list every kind of writing work I do and how someone would hire me. Then list anything you suspect I offer but cannot confirm from what's here."
That second list is the useful one. It's the work you can do and nobody knows about.
And one extra thought while you're in there. Kim introduces herself as Kim "Bloody" Scot and I am never going to forget it. If your own introduction is a bit flat, try this:
"Here's what I do and who I write for: [paste]. Give me 10 one-sentence introductions I could say out loud to a stranger without cringing. Plain and warm, no jargon."
Pick the one that makes you smile. That's usually the one that works.
Worth a watch
Speaking of work nobody can find.
Ange Dove ran a copywriting agency in Singapore for more than twenty years serving multinational clients, with no website that had her name or her face on it. A coach told her to Google herself. Nothing came up.
She reckons it cost her about three times the work she actually got.
Then ChatGPT arrived, the enquiries dried up almost overnight, and she had to work out what else she could sell with the skills she already had. Which is a conversation quite a few writers are having right now.
Why Being Invisible Online Is Costing You More Than You Think
Or have a listen instead if you'd rather have it in your ears while you work.
And that's it for this week. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Trudy (and Treasa)
P.S. If the service nobody knows about is you, guest podcasting is one of the least awkward ways to fix that. It's a conversation rather than a performance, and the host does the promoting. Nearly all my podcast guests come to me through PodMatch (affiliate link), and it works the other way round too, connecting you with hosts looking for people to interview.
