You can call me old-fashioned.
I like writing postcards. Licking a stamp. Walking to the nearest postbox.
In this time of instant gratification, the postcard’s slow journey adds a sense of value. Unlike clicking the send button to dash off an email.
I’m also an old-fashioned cook.
On Sunday, I made 42 spicy meatballs. For each small meatball, I measured the minced meat in the palm of my hand. I rolled the little ball between my hands until its shape was imperfectly perfect.
42 minutes of meatball meditation.
I’m old-fashioned in numerous ways. I enjoy a romantic dinner—a slow savoring of food and wine, and company. I hate tweeting and whatsapping in between sipping my wine and feasting on my steak.
And I’m building my internet business using these old-fashioned slow-movement principles, too.
1. Generosity
I might be naïve.
But I’ve never worried about sharing my knowledge with you.
If my business was a garden, then my blog posts would be a colorful display of flowers. Lavender, bougainvillea, fuchsias. Mostly in my favorite color (purple of course!). You can walk around this garden and enjoy my flowers. It’s free.
A generous supply of valuable information builds a solid foundation for an online business. Valuable information builds trust and authority, and readers can get to know you and like you.
2. Connection
The internet world talks about people in numbers.
As if we’re faceless pixels.
Marketers and online entrepreneurs scrutinize conversion figures so email lists and sales can be boosted. But they sometimes forget it’s real people getting irritated by popups.
The internet offers a wonderful opportunity to connect with people across the world; but this human connection only happens when we treat people like human beings, not like pixels.
This doesn’t mean we ignore conversion rates and A/B tests, but we must balance numbers with human insight. With a willingness to be good. To be ourselves. To connect.
If my business was a garden, then I’d have benches for you and me to sit on and chat. You’d bring your thermos with coffee, and I’d be slurping my green tea.
3. Personality
The web is overflowing with content.
And we all feel overwhelmed.
As a one-man band or one-woman business, you may feel there’s no place for you. How can you compete with companies and editorial teams producing outstanding content on a conveyor belt? Copyblogger offers a free library of ebooks about content marketing. And have you seen how many free ebooks HubSpot offers on their blog?
But there’s one way you can be different and compete with the biggest companies: Stand out by being more personal. Because everyone is looking for trusted voices to make sense of the frightening avalanche of daily information.
So infuse your content with You. Write with your unique voice. Tell stories about your life. Take time to answer comments and emails.
These days, we “talk” with call center menus. We get canned email responses. We can automate almost everything.
But we crave a human touch.
In my little garden, you know I’ve watered the seedlings, mowed the grass, and it was me, not a robot, chatting with you and laughing at your jokes.
4. Products
I’ve taken the old-school approach to making money from my blog.
And let’s be honest … that’s partly because I didn’t have a clue.
So I started with building an audience, with finding my tribe and learning how I could help.
My tribe—that’s you—told me what services and products to offer. I developed my most recent guide, for instance, after a blog update about writing About pages received my highest ever click through rate. Clearly, this was something you wanted help with.
And here’s one other bit of advice:
In the beginning, your garden may only get a trickle of visitors. At that time, it’s hard to make money from selling apples, strawberries, and peaches. So when your audience is small, hire yourself out as a gardener or garden designer, or develop premium gardening courses.
To make a living from apples, you need to sell a lot of apples. But you’d only need to sell a few premium gardening courses.
Focus on serving your tribe
At business school I was taught to focus on the projects that bring in most money. In my marketing classes I was told how to manipulate prices to determine maximum profit.
But as a solo-gardener, I’ve learned more important lessons.
Design your garden around your personality to attract the right visitors. Spend some time drinking tea and chatting.
Don’t forget to water your seedlings. It can be hard work, but it’s also utterly rewarding.
As enjoyable as 42 minutes of meatball meditation.
Recommended reading on building your biz:
Crazy workload? This one simple question eased my stress
How to write a manifesto for your solo-biz
How to get unstuck (and build a business you’ll love)
Ammmmazing piece Henneke ! Have been reading a lot of your blogs these days and getting to know things.
I’m glad you’re enjoying my blog so much you’re reading through the blog archives. Thank you for stopping by, Fahad.
Hello Henneke,
Out of all the points the mentioned, Personality is my favourite. This is one of the most neglected things by startup bloggers. It is very necessary to use a conversational tone in your posts and make your readers feel that this content is from a human being that is addressing them.
Very nice read there Henneke.
Regards,
Nabeel
When starting out, it’s hard to write with personality. Personality evolves and gets stronger over time.
Thank you for stopping by!
Hi Henneke,
These tips are what can build an empire out of your blog. Everything is so essential and I must say very powerful.
Humanification is what we crave for these days and you are right a personality can boost your business by making you stand out of the crowd. This is the advice I was given a couple of weeks ago by you. But can you pleaasee share some tips on how to do it.
I would request you to write a post on it (personality injection to blog). Thanks a ton 🙂
I’ve written about several aspects of writing with personality (it’s a big topic!). Check out these posts:
On creating your own voice: https://www.enchantingmarketing.com/dynamic-voice-in-writing/ and http://www.bigbrandsystem.com/brand-voice/
On using metaphors (a great technique for adding more personality): https://www.enchantingmarketing.com/how-to-use-metaphors/
On using mini-stories (another useful technique for becoming more personal): https://www.enchantingmarketing.com/how-to-tell-stories/
Hello Henneke–
Thank you for this post. I’m a long time fan and your post captured many of my thoughts and anxieties. I especially identify with this piece of advice:
“Be more personal–everyone is looking for trusted voices to make sense of the frightening avalanche of daily information.”
Thank you for your continued inspiration.
Matthew
Hello Matthew – thank you for stopping by! Yes, it’s easy to feel defeated when we see how much good content others produce, but when we’re personal, we’re competing in a market of one, and we can do what we’re doing best – being ourselves. 🙂
Hi Henneke,
Thank you for sharing this post. It reassured me that we are dealing with humans and giving our customers that special personal attention means the world to them….you are 100% right! Sometimes we can get so carried away with all the tools that are offered for the online world. It can become so overwhelming and doing things the old fashioned way makes us feel human!
I always look forward to reading your posts because they are so real.
PS. I love your drawings and especially your garden, it brought a smile to my face 🙂
-Jeannette
When I started learning how to draw, my secret wish was to draw pictures that would make people smile.
So your comment put a big smile on my face today, Jeannette. Thank you 😀
Henneke, your analogy about your business as a garden is fantastic. I am a very visual person, so this is a very nice perspective on it.
Also, i agree about personality. This is how we can compete with the “big ones”. Personally, i do not read HubSpot often for this reason. I think they’re doing great things, but it’s just not for me. The whole site also seems very conversion focused. But they are definitely practicing what they preach, so i get it.
I’d rather read blogs like yours, Demian Farnworth, Adrienne Smith, Neil Patel or Neville Medhora. People with a very human touch, that you can feel connected to. Having your own voice is vital. I always say to myself, it’s better to speak directly to just one person than to nobody!
Everything becomes simple if a voice speaks to us. You no longer have to choose “which” article to read, between the thousands on the subject – if you’ve found the one site that speaks to you like none other does. They might say the same thing, but it won’t feel the same, it won’t read the same, and it won’t stick the same.
Thanks so much for your lovely post and have a great weekend in advance 🙂
– Jasper
I’m also a visual person, but you might have guessed that 😉
I also get quite bored with more corporate blog posts. I like to get the feeling I “hear” the person who’s written the post. Plus the big blogs just produce too much content for me to keep up with.
Glad you enjoyed this one, Jasper. Hope you have a great weekend, too!
Hey Henneke,
Really great post here.
The connection is really the important part and I love the attention you gave to it. But, I love the way you deciphered what product to create by looking at your click-through rate. That’s smart, because it shows that it’s something that people would want to know more information on.
I’m going to have to use that one time. Awesome stuff … love the drawings.
Have a great day.
– Andrew
Yes, that worked really well. To be fair, it wasn’t just the high clickthrough rates, it was also the type of comments and the questions the post generated (some by email rather than on the blog).
Happy gardening!
I see.
If that’s the case, then you definitely have a winner. I look forward to monitoring my results in the future to see how it works for me.
Hello Henneke,
Good points indeed. Slow and steady always wins the race and no matter what, anyone that really desire to succeed will always start from the basics.
I’m also old fashioned sometimes, it all depends on what we’re working on at any point in time.
Thanks for sharing.
Yep, sometimes quick (and dirty) can win the race, but it’s definitely not the only way to build an online business. We have to rely on the methods that feel true to us.
Thanks Henneke.
I was having gardening fatigue a while back. The plants are dying despite the best that I’m giving them. I decided to hack it and really I’m bluffing myself. Buying other people plants and presenting as mine. Putting up wayfinders everywhere to my garden when I just need 10 interested visitors and not 1000 random ones.
Along the way I lost myself and why I’m doing this.
Your analogy helped me to think back to why I started.
It’s okay if the garden remain small but it’s something i know is mine and if there is just one person passing by to give compliments, that will be worth the while.
Hi Adrian – It sounds familiar. It’s really easy to get lost, to get distracted by quick wins or by what others are doing and then thinking your garden isn’t pretty enough or not popular enough.
Happy gardening!
Green Tea, Hand made Meatballs and a little army of seedlings make a perfect combination. You don’t need 1000 acres of land to grow a really special Garden…you can actually start with a sunny windowsill and plenty of TLC! Thank you for your delightful and motivational posts Henneke. Did you sow any new seeds today? Just asking 🙂
Yep, I prefer smaller gardens to large empires. It’s more cozy 🙂
I keep sowing, and weeding, and watering every day. You, too? Sometimes I get surprised about what withers and what flourishes. All part of an enjoyable gardening adventure 🙂
You’re always on point. I was feeling low and overwhelmed. But, you’ve got me going again. You really get me. I appreciate you and your blog so much.
Thank you so much, Sandy. Glad you’re feeling better again.
Happy gardening! 🙂
Dear Henneke, interesting parallel especially because I have been a gardener for many years and created many happy and healthy gardens. I realized over the years that a garden that is well tended will flourish and look good.
It is the same with our relationship with people. If we tend to them they, and our relationship will also flourish. In today’s day of internet marketing we all want to have the viral stuff happen to our posts and our products. We want to be the next person who had a million views in a matter of two days but on the side of reality if we can tend and build our connections with people than we will do well on the long run. In the mean time I hope we can all hire out as gardeners and before we starve to death.
Thank you for your wonderful post. I agree with many of your reader’s comments. You do write very well.
I truly enjoy your posts.
Yep, that’s so true. Flourishing relationships. I like that! 🙂
Thank you for stopping by in my little garden to add your wisdom, Teri.
Brilliant, Henneke! I love the way you paint the picture – literally and figuratively!
Can’t wait to pin your adorable drawing.
Thank you for your lovely comment and for “pinning”, Louise 🙂
Dear Henneke,
Thank you so much for this post. It is so timely for me, as a friend was commenting on my most recent email newsletter and identified the biggest flaw to be that we were giving away too much information and not promoting ourselves enough throughout the newsletter. It stopped me in my tracks for a moment, and made me question if I were making a big mistake, until I remembered that our intention is to always offer something of value to our customers and sometimes that value is more than just our products but also our expertise and personality.
Thank you for validating this belief. We have learned over the years that our customers value just visiting with us and appreciate the stories and experiences we can share with them when they are purchasing our artworks.This is so important to use and makes standing in a gallery all day so worthwhile! It’s the connections that are most important, both to us and our business!
Thank you again–you made my day!
I like to give readers the feeling that whenever they open one of my emails, they’re rewarded because there’s something useful for them.
Sonia Simone calls it cookie content and tells us to treat our readers like dogs: http://www.copyblogger.com/create-better-content/
Thank you for stopping by!
Henneke,
Best solution I’ve heard yet for avoiding the dreaded ‘Content Shock’ that’s been talked about so much.
Best, Jon
Ha, yes, the dreaded content shock. Sometimes the talk scares me!
Hi Henneke,
Good one. I do follow Hubspot and Copyblogger. Yes, they crank out a ton of content. But, I feel more “connected” when I read your articles. I don’t know… Maybe you are writing without any gobbledygook and speak straight from your heart 🙂
Keep doing the good work.
Thanks.
Thank you, Nanda.
I sometimes feel frightened when I see how much outstanding content companies like HubSpot and Copyblogger produce. But then I remind myself that there’s no need for me to compete. I can do this in my own way.
Thank you for your support!
Thanks Henneke,
Funny, I’ve always thought of my blog as a garden. My posts are flowers and sometimes I weed those I think detract from the total look. I find if I travel and leave my blog garden too long, it gets overgrown and neglected. In the end, our blogs should be places we’re proud of and comfortable in. And sometimes, like with gardens, that takes time.
Yep, we should be proud to show people around in our garden 🙂
Keep watering those flowers!
Hey coach-in-a-post you’ve done it again!
I love that you started with 1. Generosity. (Artisans pass on their knowledge to apprentices)
Yes! YEs! YES! There is something richer and deeper in an old school artisan approach to your craft – whatever it may be. It is possible to feel every emotion that went into creating the product or service (the love, the frustration, the worry, the passion); and I believe that people will connect with that. Taking pride and time in honing your craft, respecting your customer by creating bespoke not off-the-shelf for their needs and desires is a journey filled with rewards to be savoured.
So mass produced meatballs from a tin vs. hand crafted freshly made meatballs…Mmm, I know which ones I choose – with a glass of wine and good company.
Thanks for sharing and keep your delicious recipes coming…
I love your take on this, Nicole. The artisan way is a great way to describe it, and that’s how writing, and blogging, and drawing feel to me.
A wonky drawing is more personal than slick stock photography. Right?
I’ll take wonky any day. Far more interesting and fun
Hi, Henneke.
Coming from a Cajun background, I’m all about savoring food. Just like half the fun of Christmas is looking forward to the coming holiday, so half the fun of eating is cooking. Only, our meatballs as big as baseballs. 🙂
What a fabulously fun post! I think personality is one of the most charming and powerful assets we own as bloggers. It’s not something we need to research or develop. All we need to to is access it. And I can always count on your posts to show me how.
Thanks so much for focusing me today. I know lots of other writers who want in on this secret. I’m off to share!
-Anne
Meatballs as big as baseballs? They’re much quicker to roll! 😉
Thank you for sharing, Anne (and for stopping by of course!)
Hm. You are teaching me a lesson here. Different approach to same subject 😉
I’m not saying my approach is the only valid approach. We should all design our own garden 😉
I meant approach in writing. Not in thinking about the rest 😉
I love meatballs too, Henneke. In fact we had the Indian version (kofta) and rice yesterday for lunch and it had all the love my Mom has for feeding her children and family pets. 🙂
Building a tribe takes time and there are lots of hit and misses but we ultimately attract the right people whom we can serve, even if it never goes beyond downloading goodies in a newsletter. Yet, when we spend time nurturing our people and list, the dividends are reaped later on when what we do really does make a difference to our garden.
Yep, exactly. It takes time to grow an apple tree 😉
Hi, Henneke,
Your newsletter in one of the few that alway open and read. I would love to be a better writer and you are helping me be one with every one of your posts.
I especially like today’s post because you reminded me to add more of me to my business.
Thanks for the reminder
Thank you so much, Carol. 🙂
Happy writing!
Hey Henneke,
I stumbled over your website a few days ago. But, as you can see right now, I’m back. And WILL be back again. There’s so much good advice to be found!
Even though I’m from Germany and speak German (who would have thought it …), your writing tips are more than inspirational. It’s literally a pleasure reading your posts.
So, um, thanks for all that good stuff and see ya 🙂
Welcome, Chris. Nice to meet you.
I hope you don’t get lost in my garden. Once you start browsing around, it’s bigger than it looks at first instance 😉
hey Henneke,
Thanks. Are those your own drawings ? Great.
Solving problems of your clients, your own way is like walking on new territory. Nobody around to tell you how to do that. You get general answers. But nobody has the same clients as you.
You have to follow your gut feeling. Do what you think is right. I like being solo business owner. You can do your own thing and nobody tells you you cant do it. But it is the hardest thing to do. Being your own boss. Playing with guys like Fear, Hope, Courage and Action every day.
Cause Fear tells you you can’t do it. Do like everyone else. Action is sometimes late at work. So you keep in your bed. Courage tells you to get up and do it. And Hope, if he goes PN holliday you are stuck.
So being a solopreneur is about finding out what your passions are and what you want to do with your life and for people.
Yep, they’re my drawings. Hand-drawn with colored pencils 🙂
I love the freedom of running my own business. I won’t claim it’s easy. It’s often hard work and there’s lots of issues to grapple with like fear and self-doubt. But I’d never go back go being employed and working for a boss.
And I’m lucky with a supportive community here!
Hi there Henneke,
Haha, back from a very good holiday, isn’t it? Thats what it read like. Thanks for your good words, and keep up the good work. You realy know how to use words to express the right feeling. Thanks, you made my day.
Yes, it does feel a bit like being back.
But it was more like pouring my heart into writing this post after wrestling with technical issues for most of last week. Writing this post was like finally enjoying that holiday 🙂
Meatball meditation! Brilliant (and not just because I happen to love both) 🙂
It’s true. Anything you do with your fullest attention and with enjoyment of the moment is a form of meditation.
This entire post of yours is absolutely delicious by the way. I can’t speak for everyone here of course, but I do believe this is why we (your readers) love you: you are real, and generous.
A lot of marketeers and content gurus say you have to be real to earn customers. But in way too many cases it feels fake, contrived. Your realness however feels genuine.
Love that drawing of your imaginary garden.
Thank you, for all of it.
Drawing my garden was also a form of meditation, giving my full attention to drawing each blade of grass. That took quite a while! 🙂
Thank you for your wonderful comment, Bart. Always good to see you!
Henneke, thanks for sharing this inspiration! It’s perfect!
You’re welcome. Happy gardening!
You truly have a gift. I ALWAYS take the time to read what you write, because it makes me happy AND it’s so valuable. God bless you and your business. And may He bless me to be able to write just as half as good as you 🙂
Thank you for your comment and putting a smile on my face, Claire 🙂
Hi Henneke,
Thanks for letting me visit your garden. I value your content and enjoy reading your posts. I signed up for your free writing course a year or so and never got to take it, but have picked up the gist of your ideas through your posts.
Keep up the great stuff.
My pleasure, Mark. Thank you for stopping by!
PS
If you like, you can always re-subscribe to the free writing course 😉
Hey Henneke,
That’s an awesome piece of advice as always! Old school for sure. But I can totally relate.
And I so agree with the way you have positioned the audience and yourself. The connection is so crucial and it is usually one of the main reasons to be able to make a sale.
I too wonder as to why we are so used to assigning numbers to real people. Of course that’s how we will be able to quantify and measure our efforts. But that doesn’t mean we should forget about the living humans 🙂
Thanks for sharing this. I love meatballs 🙂
Have a great week!
Cheers,
Jane.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could eat our meatballs together?
Thank you for stopping by, Jane!