My younger child, now 20, is getting ready to start college. As such, last week we attended a two-day orientation.
During the parent session on resilience, the speaker talked about discomfort and its importance to growth. At one point he said, “Traction requires friction.”
And that struck a chord.
In today’s world of optimization and frictionless this and contactless that, it seems we’re doing everything we can to eliminate friction.
And that’s okay when, as writers, we’re creating a customer experience. In that case, we want to anticipate questions and doubts and provide assurances and make things easy… all fancy ways to say we want to remove friction from the experience.
But when it comes to building your business, you need friction. If you don’t have it, you’re likely not moving forward… and you’re almost certainly not experiencing the kind of growth you could be.
It’s natural to think you want the smoothest path forward. But think about walking up a hill. A hill covered with ice is smooth, but it’s a lot harder to get up. There’s no friction, so you can’t get any traction.
In short, you need traction for your business to grow. And getting traction means dealing with discomfort, or friction.
Learn Challenging New Skills
What’s a skill that could help you level up your business and the value you deliver?
Maybe you’re a content writer. You’re good at writing blog posts, articles, email newsletters, special reports… if the aim is to educate and raise awareness, you’ve got it nailed down.
Now, do you sign up for classes to teach you more about writing these kinds of things? Maybe.
There’s nothing wrong with honing your skills. But when you take classes that are about something you already know well, they’re fairly friction-free. You already know the basics… probably more than the basics. You’re confident. And so it’s easy to mine any new gems you learn and apply them to what you already do.
All good.
But what are you doing to expand?
Maybe you could take an SEO class to learn more about how to write your content in a way that brings in more traffic from search engines.
Maybe you could take an email marketing class, since many of your clients use the content you write as part of their email strategy.
Maybe you could take a social media class to learn about how to pull things from your content that will get noticed on different social platforms.
Each of these classes is likely to be a little more uncomfortable — a little more of a stretch — than any class you take on content writing. But each of these classes is also likely to expand the value you can deliver, which could help you take your income to a new level.
But for that growth (traction) to happen, you have lean into the challenge and experience the friction.
Gaining Traction in Your Business
The business-building side of things is where traction really becomes a factor.
If you’re always playing it safe — planning and perfecting and relying on what is tried-and-true — chances are you’re always going to be operating below your potential.
To gain traction in your business, you have to take some risks.
I’m not talking about big financial risks.
I’m talking about trying new ways of connecting with clients, even if they make you nervous and put your stomach in knots.
I’m talking about trying new ways of building your audience — maybe even public speaking — even if the thought makes you want to go hide in the closet.
I’m talking about sending more pitches and proposals, even though you’ll almost definitely hear no more often than you’ll hear yes.
You have to put yourself out there to be seen and heard and considered. And yes, sometimes you won’t get the response you want. But here’s the thing… sometimes you will!
So what do you think? What are some ways you can add a little friction to your writing life that will result in more traction and growth? Tell us in the comments.
In Case You Missed It
Maybe you know the feeling… your deadline’s looming, and you need inspiration… but there’s none to be found. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools can help. You shouldn’t let them do the writing for you. Not by a long shot. But these tools can summarize information, create outlines, and offer different perspectives on a topic… all helpful when you’re feeling stuck. Check out Jen Phillips April’s latest Trends & Technology column to learn more about how AI can be a helpful part of your workflow.
As you head into the summer, it’s a good time to reevaluate your goals, review your progress, and make adjustments. In her newest Reality Blog, Jennifer Ayling goes through this process, sharing the successes and setbacks she’s experienced so far this year… and emphasizing the importance of changing course when you need to. Check it out right here.
And if you weren’t able to attend my interview with Rebekah Mays yesterday, you’ll want to give that a watch. The recording is available, and during the interview, Rebekah shares a gem of a marketing strategy you won’t want to miss. You can find that here.
3 Things I Think You’ll Enjoy…
Are you looking to build an Instagram following, or maybe help your client increase their followers? HubSpot shares 31 tips to ensure your success.
As the Managing Editor here at Digital Copywriter, I know what a wonderful opportunity managing a publication can be for a freelancer. If you’re interested in positioning yourself as a freelance managing editor, this article from Contently can help you see the skills you’ll need to develop and what you can expect.
If you write emails for your client, consider expanding into creating their Editorial Calendars. (This can be a nice additional bit of quarterly income.) You can become a never-ending stream of ideas with a little inspiration from this piece on Blogging Wizard.
That’s all for now. Have a great weekend!
