Fantastico!

Cindy,

You've rec'd some terrific feedback. I'd just like to offer up some general ideas for your overall business.

You've "come a long way" lady in your attitudes, and the next step will be a little one by comparison, but it will help you tremendously.

You must become Socratic in your initial contacts, and you then develop your own "system", or template of how you conduct YOUR business.

Get on the mailing list. You want to receive all the work you do for anyone in the same manner as the prospect you are writing for. Make this one of your UNtouchable rules you give to a prospective client up front. You have to see what is actually being sent out, what is being used and what may have been changed. It is mandatory you see every thing you write as the prospect sees it.

When I say you become Socratic, you should have a checklist of questions to ask your client, and in arranging these a certain way, you can take better control of the relationship. If someone were to ask me to write something in a "Dan Kennedy" way, I'd stop, say hold on I'm going to grab my rolodex and get you Dan's office number where he can be reached.

See, this client has something in mind...but what he should be thinking is how his product or service is going to help his target market. A "Dan Kennedy" approach could be totally wrong for the market.

I think you're doing great, and as I went over your site, you have the writing skills and are getting better and better...work on the "biz" aspects, make as much as you can automatic, that is, have a question and answer sheet that you've standardized to suit your needs.

Anyhow, you've gotten some excellent feedback. I too, found it more boring than scary. IN today's economy there are a lot of dragons to throw at the small business owner...not the least of which is losing her business as a result of not understanding the ramifications of a crappy IT dept (or personnel). If you are going to SCARE them, don't put on a Casper the Friendly Ghost mask, put on the Freddy Kruger/Hannibal Lecter mask and scare the bejeebers out of them.

But my emphasis is more on YOU taking the next step in your career, and a little "how I operate" guide (take it or leave it type thing) will help you to elevate to better clients who are less likely to tell you what to do, as they are to LISTEN to your suggestions.

Good luck to you.

gjabiz