Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan here.  Who do I coach?  Writers.  I help clients polish their manuscripts and map out their publishing journeys.

Teaching at San Francisco Writers Conference every year gives me the joy of seeing colleagues and meeting other fascinating writers, one of whom being Greg Marcus.  He hooked my attention with his mission statement: “I am a modern-day Abraham who smashes corporate idols and help the chronically overworked find a more fulfilling life.”

I checked out Greg’s http://idolbuster.com  and his May 25, 2012 post “Why Work More Than 50 Hours Per week?” got me thinking about . . .

I was delighted when Greg asked me to guest-blog.

Read more  . . .  about:

Unraveling the Mystery Of Platform

First Step – Understand Your Values and Who You Are

Sincerely,

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan

Editor, Story Consultant, Platform-Building Coach

http://writingcoachteresa.com

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan has helped over 1,000 writers.

“Reach out, not stress out, to materialize your dearest dreams.”

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Greg Marcus says:

Thank you Coach Teresa for a great post. I’ve found that advice for writers is often applicable in business and life. Your post is no exception. Writers are a one-person business, and can’t separate the product from the platform.

Greg,

Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to guest-blog.  You are so right — the business of being a writer does require the balancing act of writing (producing) and platform-building (hooking attention).  Why get stressed out?  Instead, reach out.

Bethany Lee comments:

Thank you Greg for bringing Teresa to guest post here. This was a very informative post, and as a writer/blogger, I found myself soaking this up because I’m starting to think more about services I can sell via my blog. This idea about having a platform–making your name stand for something–is something I’ve been thinking about lately, and I’m trying to focus in on that. I think I’m close, but I also think there’s more to it than just discovering it yourself–that once you discover it, you have to promote the idea and get people to believe it too–right? Also, I was wondering about these two exercises. How do they help you to discover your platform? In other words, how do I take the stuff I come up with here and apply it to make it a tagline?

Hi, Bethany,

Greg is right-on — your honest responses to the 2 exercises from Day 1 of my 22-day workbook are eye-openers.

Your question:  ” . . . how do I take the stuff I come up with here and apply it to make it a tagline?
My questions to you:
What themes/subject matters compel you to write?
What themes/subject matters hook your attention when you’re the reader?

As my colleague Elisa Sasa Southard (the talking-tagline guru) would say: “Start with I CAN . . . ”
And I say: Speak your name; add the action-verb; complete the statement with how your work helps people.

From now on, introduce yourself with your full name. When someone asks you: “What do you do?”  . . . you answer with a sentence that includes an action verb.

Examples:

(as a novelist) Through my book Love Made of Heart, I can help mothers and daughters speak from the heart.
(as a narrative nonfiction writer)  Through my essays and speeches, I speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves.
(as a prescriptive nonfiction aka “how to” writer) Through my coaching and workbook, I show writers how to gain fans before and after publication.

Also, you may be asking: “Why 22 days?”
Because . . . when we stick to something for 21 consecutive days, we develop a new habit. Why not gain the wonderful habit of building our platform/name?  On the 22nd day, we celebrate. Everyday is a good day to build your name / fanbase / platform!

Sincerely,

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan
Editor, Story Consultant, Platform-Building Coach
http://writingcoachteresa.com

Bethany commented again:

Teresa and Greg, thank you for your responses here. This is excellent. Here’s my answer to the who are you question: I’m Bethany Jo Lee and I can encourage you to keep moving forward in your endeavors. That’s a start, maybe not perfect, but I like the lesson here. I need your 22 day book!

I just bought her book and tweeted it! I’m very excited to read it. Thanks Greg.

Bethany Jo Lee,
Your tagline: “I can encourage you to keep moving forward in your endeavors” is wonderful !
You’ll see how your tagline and the 5 secret keys in my workbook will lead you to bigger and bigger connections.
I’m cheering for you!
Sincerely,
Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan
“Reach out, not stress out, to materialize your dearest dreams.”
http://writingcoachteresa.com