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4 Simple Ways to Affirm People with Your Writing · The Daily Writer

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: As the world continues to grapple with the virus pandemic, maybe you've wondered what you can do to help.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the truth is that you can do a lot.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: And on this episode, you'll learn four important ways you can encourage and affirm people with your writing during this difficult time.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well, hello, my friend.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is Kent Sanders from Inkwell Ghostwriting.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to this episode of the Smart Business Writing Podcast.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: This is the show that helps you grow your business, amplify your authority, and increase your impact through the power of writing.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you taking time and joining me for this episode today.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Well, as you know, the coronavirus pandemic is a completely unprecedented situation.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: We're finding our way through and things continue to change almost on a daily basis.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Most people are wondering what they can do to help others.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're not a doctor or a business owner who can hire people who are out of work, it may feel like you can't do a whole lot.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: But to the contrary, there's actually a lot of things you can do just by using your words.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, people have a lot of needs.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: People need food, they need shelter, protection, and many other basic things.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: But everybody's number one emotional need is to feel affirmed.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: They want to know that somebody cares about them.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that's especially important in a time of uncertainty and upheaval, just like we're experiencing right now.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: So here are four simple ways that I'm using my words to show people I care right now in this crazy situation.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing unusual or special about these tips.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need any special powers or crazy skills.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: You just have to put these into practice.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that when you do, you'll be shocked how much of a difference they can make in other people's lives.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: So let's dive in.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Number one is check in on people.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: So this COVID-19 pandemic is a great reason to check in and see how other people are doing.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: I've sent a lot of emails and messages the last few weeks, and they say something like this Hi Bill, I'm just checking in on a few friends.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's been a stressful time for everybody, and I wanted to see if you and your family are doing okay.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: And that's it.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this might seem really commonplace and almost kind of pointless because it's so simple, but it's honestly shocking how few people actually go to the trouble to check in on friends, colleagues, or clients.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: People are very open to communicating right now.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: And because everybody has been in quarantine for a little while, people are longing for relationships, they're longing for communication.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: And a very simple text message or an email message like this can make a massive difference.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Or if you you can use Facebook Messenger or LinkedIn Messenger or whatever way you like to get in touch with people, it doesn't really make any difference.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: The point is that when all the smoke of this pandemic clears, they're going to remember that you are one of the people who checked in with them.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's pretty important.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: So number one is check in on people.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Number two is like, share, and comment on social media posts.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is another very simple thing you can do, but it shows that you care and that you're paying attention.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: My friend Tricia Brooke is a speaking coach and she's also one of my clients.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Trisha lives in New York City and she had been planning a live event for quite a while, but she had to quickly change plans when a shelter-in-place order was given in New York City.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: So she pivoted to a virtual event, and this past week I shared one of her posts on my Facebook page.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: It only took a couple minutes for me to share Trisha's post and to also make a comment about it.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, I was telling people, hey, Trisha had this live event plan that was really cool, but she pivoted to a virtual event that you can buy a ticket for, and it was it was pretty inexpensive, very reasonably priced, and I was encouraging people to check it out and to sign up for it.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: And because I took the time and effort to share it, my Facebook friends knew about the event, and Trisha also knew that I was supporting what she did.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And by the way, I also bought a ticket because I wanted to show my support.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not doing anything special or unique here.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's not like it takes an act of a superhero to do this kind of stuff.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: You can do this also.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's not difficult.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever you see something that's worth sharing or liking or passing along to somebody else, just take a few seconds to support the other person.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like the comment, share it, uh, comment on the post.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Do whatever you can to help other people to know about it.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, make connections between people.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: My friend Vincent Puglisi is a master connector, and I've learned a lot from him over the past year about building relationships.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: He has helped me to see why it's important to connect people who would otherwise not know each other.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: For example, a friend of mine just found out that he was laid off this past week.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: So we talked on Zoom for about an hour and a half, and I was able to find out what kind of work he was looking for.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: And earlier this evening, I took about 30 minutes and I sent emails to a few friends of mine who have some knowledge and connections in his industry.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't know if any of my friends will be able to get him a new job, but at the very least, he'll have several new connections because I made an email introduction with those several friends.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now think about the people that you know.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Who's looking for work?
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Who needs a connection?
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Who's hurting?
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Who needs something?
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: And if you can think of five people that you know who have a need, I would be willing to bet that you have friends in your network who might be able to help those people.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: So why not make an introduction?
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's very, very simple.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: You just shoot an email to both of those people and say, hey, I love connecting, cool people.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: You tell a little bit about each person and then leave it to them to connect further and take it from there.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, that one email that you sent could be the very thing that your hurting friend needs.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Again, maybe they need a job, maybe they need uh a connection in some field, maybe they need something else.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: But that one email from you connecting those people could literally change somebody's life.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: And let's just get real for a second.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: There's going to be a time when you're the one who's hurting.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: You're the one who needs that client, you're the one who has some kind of uh need in your personal life.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: There's there's some kind of thing that you're really searching for that that you really need.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: And when that time comes, not if that time comes, but when that time comes, you'll be really grateful that you built up a lot of goodwill with other people so that they will be more than happy to help you whenever you need it.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we all have times when we're hurting and when things go south and when life seems like it's gonna be a train wreck.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully those times don't come very often, but you know, tragedy and crazy things happen to everybody.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: So it's best to, you know, put in the time and put in the emotional energy on the front end by connecting people and building those relationships and showing people that you care, because we're all gonna need that at some point.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, the fourth tip that I want to share here is simply write content that helps other people.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: So in the midst of all these connections and social media things and uh checking in on people, don't forget to write good content that helps people.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: This could be blog posts, podcast episodes, uh emails, like we've already talked about, social media posts, chapters in a book, or lots and lots of other things.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: So here's the thing everybody's at home right now.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: People are starving for good content.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: And you're a writer, and that's what you do.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: You create content.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: We're like magicians, we writers.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: We can literally create value out of thin air.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's the coolest thing in the world.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: It really, truly is.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: We can sit down with a pen and paper, we can sit down at a computer or on our phones or devices, and we can literally craft value just by our imaginations and just by writing.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's a pretty darn cool thing when you stop and think about it.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: And right now, in the midst of this crazy global pandemic, you have a really cool opportunity to get your writing in front of a captive audience.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: So don't waste this opportunity to build your audience and impact people with your message.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now, keep in mind with all this, I'm not tooting my own horn with any of this stuff.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: I am a completely average guy.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: But one thing that I think I do fairly well is I'm really intentional about reaching out to people and using my time and my words to hopefully make a difference.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: You can absolutely do the same thing.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing special about me at all.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: You have the exact same powers as I do.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: It just takes a little bit of time and being intentional about it.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: So pick one or two of these things that I've talked about this week.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Let me re uh let me review these real quick.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, check in on people.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, like, share, and comment on people's social media posts.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, make connections between people.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: And number four, write content that helps others.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Just pick one or two of those in the coming week and take action on it and then see how it goes.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Better yet, share these tips with other people.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care if you give me credit or not, these are none of these are really original with me.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Take my name off of it, put your name on it, and share.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: I don't really care who gets the credit.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: I just want this stuff out there.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: I want more writers to use their words to help other people during this critical time.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: I may not have uh a cure for COVID.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: I may not be a doctor, I may not have some business where I can hire a bunch of people and help their families, but one thing I can do is use my words to serve other people and to affirm them and to encourage them.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: And you can do the exact same thing.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Well, hey, friends, that's all I've got for this episode.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for listening.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: And as always, remember that you can find lots more resources for writers at KentSanders.net.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, remember that your writing has the power to change people's lives.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see you in the next episode.