SGS Writes!

An online ezine about inspiration and writing, courtesy of freelance
writer Steve Sears

June 2006
Volume 2 Number 1

In today's issue:
-    From My Desk
-    Reaching out

**********************************************************************
**From My Desk:

Welcome to the SGS Writes!, my inspirational ezine about business and
writing. It's the first issue of 2006, and I hope the "new" year is
treating you well.

Okay, I know the question: Where have I been?

Good question. My apologies. This newsletter was due out in February,
but we had to restructure - in a way - the writing business here.

Eventually, we will be dropping the name "SGSWrite" from our website,
business cards, mailing…anything where the name was formally listed.
I, more comfortably, decided to go with the name "Steve Sears"
because that's who I am.

This tiny change may take a wee bit of time, but we are implementing
them now.

Reaching out. I think this is a good topic. Read below and see if it
doesn't inspire you in some way. Pass it along if you think it will
help others.

Thanks as always for the wonderful comments, and please continue to
encourage new members to join. Also, have them visit the
www.SGSWrite.com for more information.

Steve

Reaching Out

It baffles me when I speak with people who get called for a job
interview, learn something new, or have something special happen in
their lives. There's no secret to their "success" here. They "reached
out," to someone or something.

My writing plan (goal) is simple. I always strive to have a minimum
of two assignments/projects per week. How do I get them? By querying
magazines, sending emails to businesses and groups, cold calling and
networking.

Is it easy? Yes and no. It's often a bit nerve wracking but, done
time and time again, it gets easier. Not only that, if I don't reach
out, I'm "stuck" at my boring day job with no happiness and hope.
This last sentence may sound brusque, but those of you who work
daytime and currently have no way out, you know what I mean, correct?

When you accomplish anything - losing weight and fitting into a jean
size you never could before following months of daily workouts,
cracking (writers and photographers) that big market after writing
for smaller, lesser known publications or finally have your query or
idea accepted, etc. - it's no "miracle."

You reached out.

Zilch happens unless you do.

**********************************************************************
**
*Check out the September issue of the CoolStuff4Writers Newsletter.
Yours truly was interviewed by Sandy Young, a fine writer in her own
right.  You can read the interview here:
http://www.coolstuff4writers.com/Interviews/Steve_Sears.html.

**My good friend Sharon Good of Good Life Coaching interviewed me for
her Living the Creative Life newsletter. Sharon is an excellent
personal coach, and her newsletter is informative and inspirational.
The website is www.GoodLifeCoaching.com. You can read the interview
here: Living the Creative Life 85: A Working Writer: An Interview
with Steve Sears | Good Life Coaching | Sharon Good |
**********************************************************************
**
SGS Writes!

An online ezine about inspiration and writing courtesy of freelance
writer Steve Sears. Visit his website at www.SGSWrite.com.

Good morning:

Sorry for the delay with the next issue of SGS Writes! This has been a
period of busy work and extreme deadlines.

The issue will be available shortly.

All my best,

Steve Sears
SGSWrite - Dependable writing for your business
www.SGSWrite.com
SGS@...
(973) 893-9011 (office)
(862) 703-8770 (cell)
220 Darling Avenue
Bloomfield, New Jersey 07003

Good morning:

Effective immediately, the only messages to be posted at this site are
ones from myself and, of course, the SGSWrites! ezine - the main
intention of the site to begin with.

The description of the site is as follows: "An online ezine about
inspiration and writing courtesy of SGSWrite and Steve Sears, freelance
copywriter."

Please adhere to this and send no personal messages.

Thank you,

Steve Sears

SGS Writes!

An online ezine about inspiration and writing courtesy of SGSWrite
and Steve Sears, freelance copywriter

December 2005
Volume 1 Number 6

In today's issue:
- From My Desk
- An interview with Jill Binder
**********************************************************************
From My Desk:

Welcome to the sixth issue of SGS Writes!, my inspirational ezine
about business and writing.

As 2005 draws to a close, we here at SGSWrite are looking back at
where we were a year ago and where we are now.  It's amazing what
we've accomplished: been published in magazines we weren't "touching"
a year ago, handling many different projects for many different
clients, being interviewed for two online newsletters, and earning
more in both emotional and monetary satisfaction that we've ever
dreamed of.

How did we do it, and how will we continue to persevere?  Folks, it's
all a matter of stepping outside of your comfort zone and embracing
challenges, fears and obstacles, and working hard towards your
goals.  No one is going to do it for you.  The responsibility is
yours.  There is no other way.  Do it!

This month's issue features an inspirational interview with my good
friend, Jill Binder.  Many may know Jill as the "Stop Smoking Coach,"
a true niche in the Life Coaching field if ever I've seen one.
However, while she has in fact shown folks a way to quit the habit,
what she does is so much more beneficial.  She encourages people out
of their comfort zones by leading them by example, and she has
certainly taught me a few things regarding newsletter content and
publication.  For that I thank her.  Enjoy this one; it's good!

The above being said, I wish to say now a special "Thank you" to you
all for your support of SGSWrite and the newsletter.  Your
subscribing and enjoying (aka "getting something out of it") SGS
Writes! mean the world to me.

By the way, the ezine will now published bi-monthly.  Also, from here
forward, the ezine will be sent via email from and will be available
at the new SGS Writes Yahoo website group page:
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/SGSWrites/.

Thanks as always for the wonderful comments, and please continue to
encourage new members to join.  And from all of us here at SGSWrite,
the best for a joyous holiday season!  See you in 2006…..

Steve

An Interview with Jill Binder

SGS: Tell us about Jill Binder.  Where did your entrepreneurial
spirit come from? Why did you decide to start your own business?

JB: I'm the woman who had a Bachelors of Computer Science, 6 years of
I.T. experience, a safe and secure job at, of all places, I.B.M., and
a very, very bright future ahead of me.

On the outside, I smiled.  On the inside, I was completely falling to
pieces. I was depressed. I was exhausted. I was disillusioned. I was
lost. I dreaded going into work every day.

One day I was ready to just quit on impulse. I'd had enough that I
was ready to walk out the door. Thankfully, some good people stopped
me from doing that, and I spent the next few months really taking a
look at myself. I knew I was a smart woman and could excel at
something if I was motivated, but computers were all I knew how to do!

I didn't seek out entrepreneurship -- it found me. When I took a look
at what I do naturally from which I could profit, the answer was
listening, helping people solve their problems, and not only that,
helping people to find themselves, to fill in the holes that they
were trying to fill with things like cigarettes and the wrong
careers. Unfortunately, when you look up job postings, there is no
position for "professional life problems solver." And so,
entrepreneurship happened, out of necessity.


SGS: Many folks may recognize you best as the "Stop Smoking Coach," a
true niche in the Life Coaching realm.  What encouraged you to select
this arena?  How do you gauge your success - by the number of clients
you get or the number of folks kicking the habit?

JB: I picked this because I've had a passion for helping people quit
ever since I was 7 years old.

Imagine if you will, a wee little, scrawny, quiet girl in Grade 2. We
were learning in class that cigarettes were Poison. On the list of
things that were "good" and "bad," they were "bad." My father smoked,
and you can imagine my horrors at finding out the evils of what he
was doing to himself and to our family. So I, the loving and caring
daughter that I was, that very night, carefully and lovingly made up
tiny little signs that said things like, "Cigarettes are
poison!", "Smoking kills!" and my pièce de résistance, my rendering
of the skull and cross bones, and put them carefully in every single
one of his ashtrays.

I was excited for him to come home that night so he could see how
much his daughter loved him. Did he cry tears of joy and throw out
his cigarettes? No. He was upset and threw out the signs. In my 7
year old mind, I thought it meant he loved cigarettes more than he
loved me. How could they have so much hold over a person and be more
important than his daughter?

So when it came time to look at what specific problem could I solve
for people that I could easily market, this one really stood out.
It's something I'd already been doing for most of my life, it was a
clear problem that people pay good money to solve, and my passion for
it just shone through.


SGS: In your opinion, what is the best way to quit smoking: cold
turkey or replacing it with something else?  How does a smoker
accomplish either method?

JB: Neither. :)

I work with people on the 3 types of smoking cravings:

1. Physical - the level of nicotine goes down in your bloodstream and
you need to replace it
2. Habitual - associate smoking with certain times of the day or
certain activities
3. Stress - using smoking to avoid the stress, or to give yourself a
boost or reward

I come up with action plans to tackle each of the craving types,
depending on how the individual person works, and which one is
strongest for them. Normally I find that slowly cutting down by
trying out different action steps to reduce the cravings works the
best. For few individual cases, they really need to go cold turkey.
It's a challenging way to do it, but for them it's best in the end.


SGS: Tell us about your other businesses.  Who has encouraged you?

JB: Oh my, I have a new passion!

I discovered quickly when I was helping people quit smoking that, for
people who really want to quit but have a hard time of it, cigarettes
are not the problem. The problem is the rest of what's going on in a
person's life. I often found that it was career-related. More
spiritually, I found that people are so disassociated from who they
are and what they are meant to be doing in this lifetime, that they
fill the void with cigarettes and other bad habits. (See my article,
Why People Do Bad Things Even When They Know They Shouldn't:
http://stopsmokingcoach.ca/badthings.php)

I've been doing this particular work with people all along, and now I
am "coming out" to tell people that this is what I really do.  You
know how people wake up one day realizing that they don't want to be
in their job anymore? I help people find their passion and purpose,
and how to make profit doing it.

It's a pretty bold statement, but I have found that I have a real
gift for this. You can tell by the amazing testimonials on my site:
http://www.passionpurposeprofit.com.

As for who has encouraged me, the list is long. You can't get this
far without the support of great people. The most important people I
would like to acknowledge are the business coaches I have worked with
over the last 2 1/2 years of running my business: Lisa Kirshner who
helped me to transition out of corporate, Rosemary Davies-Janes who
helped me figure out what I have to offer, Chris Barrow--my personal
hero! If you are a coach, you *need* this man (I've learned most of
my business skills from him, and it's his material that I teach to my
clients), and Josie Casale who is currently helping my business
really boom.


SGS: Explain the pros and cons about owning a business, and please
give us a few personal experiences so readers can relate.

JB: There are so many pros it would be hard to go into it, really.
Mostly, when I do part-time jobs at offices, the thing that I
appreciate the most when the contract is over, is setting my own
hours. I am not a standard 9-5 kind of person, and I tire easily when
I'm forced to fit into that box (cubicle & hours!).

Really, there is nothing like the feeling of creating your own thing
and watching it flourish. Out of all the pros that there are, what
more do you need?

The biggest con, and this is what I hear from absolutely everybody
who owns a business: Marketing. Everyone is being sold to all of the
time. It's really hard to "convince" people to buy from you.

The trick is, as I've learned with my flourishing new business, that
it's not about convincing at all.  There is a way to market yourself
where you attract people, as opposed to going running after them.
(But that is privileged information for clients and newsletter
subscribers!)


SGS: Any advice for those who want to start their own business?

JB: The rules for having your own business are:

1. Have a financial reservoir. (If you don't have one, go get it. Or
build while you're at your current job.)
2. Have a deep network of people. (If you don't have friends, go make
some.)
3. Know sales and marketing. (If you don't know it, learn.)
4. Have a high self-esteem. (If you don't, work with a coach.)

Thank you Jill.  Folks, visit Jill's websites below, and please
encourage others to do the same!

http://www.stopsmokingcoach.ca
http://www.passionpurposeprofit.com

**********************************************************************
*Check out the September issue of the CoolStuff4Writers Newsletter.
Yours truly was interviewed by Sandy Young, a fine writer in her own
right.  You can read the interview here:
http://www.coolstuff4writers.com/Interviews/Steve_Sears.html.

**********************************************************************
SGS Writes!

An online ezine about inspiration and writing courtesy of SGSWrite
and Steve Sears, freelance copywriter and business consultant.
For "Dependable writing for your business," and to help your business
or group better express themselves through their marketing materials,
contact Steve Sears today.  For more information, visit his website
at www.SGSWrite.com.

SGS Writes!

An online ezine about inspiration and writing courtesy of SGSWrite
and Steve Sears, freelance copywriter

October 2005
Volume 1 Number 5

In today's issue:
- From My Desk
- Getting work…and more work
**********************************************************************
From My Desk:

Welcome to the fifth issue of SGS Writes!, my inspirational ezine
about business and writing.

Fall, my favorite time of the year, is here.  Need I say I'm enthused?

There are some big things to report from our home offices, and most
of the news is focused on an abundance of magazine work.  First of
all, I recently had my first article published in Entrepreneur
magazine.  In my "young" (?) writing career, this is a huge thrill
for me.  600,000 subscribers, 2.5 million readers all reading
my "Lead Snapshot" piece about Susan Belfer and Michele Lanfrank of
lanfrank + belfer communications (lower case per the company) in Red
Bank, New Jersey.  I'm also a New Jersey writer for Michele's MAR, a
super glossy featuring everything.  Add to this current assignments
for Aspire (from the Active Survivors Network), New Jersey Life, New
Jersey Lifestyle, and a story awaiting publication in Blue Ridge
Country, and you can see I have a very busy and satisfying writing
life.  And I'm not even including circulating queries and corporate
assignments.

Writing, my friends, is work, and this issue of the ezine deals with
just that: getting work and keeping it.  I'll tell you what has
worked for me.

By the way, the ezine will now published bi-monthly.  Therefore, the
next issue will be out December 15th.  Also, from here forward, the
ezine will be sent via email from and will be available at the new
SGS Writes Yahoo website group page:
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/SGSWrites/.  How I signed up
for the "finance" area I'm not sure, but I'll do my best to iron out
any problems with the setup.

To my current subscribers: Thanks for hanging in.  Please encourage
new members to join.  For newbies: Welcome.

Have a fun Halloween,

Steve

Getting work…and more work

Writing is work.  There's an old saying, "Writing is rewriting."  Let
me add to this truism.  Writing is "work" before the writing even
begins.  Let me explain.

You see, there is only one way to get work, and that's getting your
name in front of people.  Whether by via query letter (print
publications) or referral, word of mouth, mail or email for
copywriting, the key is to be professional and persistent at all
times.  Knowing how to write helps, of course, but without your name
visible – without being proactive and reaching out – your writing
career is going to fall flat on its face or keester, one or the other.

How does persistence pay off?  Let me give you an example.

Here in New Jersey, there are many fine magazines that detail all the
great things the state has to offer.  I enjoy one so much that I
emailed the editor, told him how much I enjoyed particular sections
(*Note: editors love when you both study and read their magazine
before you query, so do it) and how much I'd like to write something
for them.  The editor never responded, so I sent a kind follow-up
email two weeks later.  He very apologetically offered two sections
to me, and encouraged me to query some ideas down his path.  I did
so, and all met rejection.  His promised me that, upon his return
from vacation, he'd try to find something for me to write.  When I
didn't hear from him again, I sent another kind email his way.

Now I have work, the right column just for me.

Now, not all scenarios meet this one.  For example, some assignments
I've nailed with the first query, some with a brief follow-up, and
some corporate assignments found a client who wasn't in my services
earlier now anxious to "get started" with projects – after I followed
up.

It's all about being proactive and not giving up, but instead staying
the course (and in someone's view) until you receive a definite "yes"
or "no" answer.

Be professional, and you'll be surprised how many "yes" responses you
get.

**********************************************************************
Check out the September issue of the CoolStuff4Writers Newsletter.
Yours truly was interviewed by Sandy Young, a fine writer in her own
right.  You can read the interview here:
http://www.coolstuff4writers.com/Interviews/Steve_Sears.html.
**********************************************************************

SGS Writes!

An online ezine about inspiration and writing courtesy of SGSWrite
and Steve Sears, freelance copywriter and business consultant.
For "Dependable writing for your business," and to help your business
or group better express themselves through their marketing materials,
contact Steve Sears today.  For more information, visit his website
at www.SGSWrite.com.