If you’ve worked with me, you know I love collaboration. I love it especially when it arises spontaneously, from an unexpected quarter. In a Facebook group for entrepreneurs, I shared my Beta offer for a live online About Page workshop, titled “Write, Love & Publish Your About Page—In 1 Day!” The benefit I promise for taking part: “Join my online writing workshop and publish THE SAME DAY.”
Monicka Clio Sakki read the workshop description and started asking me questions—and sometimes, that’s all you need for a collaboration to start. Between Monicka’s questions and my answers, I was able to make some deeper discoveries about my approach to coaching people through the writing process.
Here’s a transcript of our exchange, edited for reading ease (and to make us both look even better):
Monicka:
I felt like thinking out loud. I hope you don’t mind.
Pearl:
Thanks so much for giving me a chance to clarify my thinking. (Thinking out loud is one step away from writing, my most favoritist pursuit!)
Monicka:
What is the amount of clarity one needs to attend and have a successful turnaround from your workshop?
Pearl:
In order to get a functional, honest About Page in place, one needn’t have a great deal of clarity at the outset. I offer tools (suggestions, really) for focusing, clarifying, and producing a statement you can live with. The About Page (like any website page) is a living document, and will need to change as your mission shifts, sharpens, expands. Since each of us has an internal history (what we’re “about”), that’s all we require to draw upon. Clarity is a result of the writing process, not a starting point.
Monicka:
Is it for people to start it from scratch, following your instructions? or it is possible to dive in with something half done? Would that be beneficial?
Pearl:
You can start at any point and still benefit from my workshop. Most people with a website will at least have thought about how to talk about themselves, while some will have a completed page that doesn’t quite reflect how they want to present themselves. (Self-presentation, or online persona, is something I talk about quite a lot; it tends to get folded into the search for a niche or an audience but is a key piece we need to think about: How do I want to show up online?)
Monicka:
Do you follow one specific template archetype, or give a few to consider?
Pearl:
I have a strong philosophy, which I wouldn’t necessarily call a template, that guides my input. I intend to offer a variety of roads in. I always come back to a couple central points: One is that the About Page is the one place on your site you can use “I” more than “you,” and the other is that you’re telling the story of how the experience of the “I” leads to being able to help the “you.”
Monicka:
What happens if after the workshop one is still not done?
Pearl:
In terms of my time commitment, I work with you until you’re satisfied (as in all the work I do, instead of charging by the hour). I have complete faith in my ability to get an individual to the point of publication efficiently. If someone attends the workshop and wants to do more work before publishing, I’m going to push on that, since I sense Resistance entering in the form of Perfectionism. I want to create space and inspire bravery for moving forward even in imperfection. I find that publishing can be very bracing, and when we’re looking closely at ourselves, we don’t always see clearly how ready the writing is to be shared. “Not done” often means “not ready to commit,” and I want you to commit!
Monicka:
How about doing something that starts at a certain point, with you offering guidelines via video for example, and the “live part” is done the next day, so people can do the work when they can, and just come to show what they did and get your feedback at another time. (I know that there is NO way I can do my writing in the afternoon or evening when your workshops are offered.)
Pearl:
I can see myself adopting your plan. I just need to get the videos practiced, realized, and scheduled. I’ll add that to my project planning…
And so Monicka collaborated with me, helping me focus my thinking and explain my concepts. And I collaborated with Monicka, finding ways to incorporate and consider her input, though she is not technically on “my team.” Clearly, she is on my side, and asking questions is a great way to make sure you’re being heard.
As I responded to Monicka, I recalled a recently discovered aspect of my approach: Some people want to hire a copywriter. Some people want to do the work themselves and take classes and download templates. There’s a 3rd group, the people in my niche, who may have tried both of these and still found themselves at a dead end. They deeply want to do their own writing and get their own voice clear, but for whatever reason (often perfectionism), they aren’t doing it.
In my collaborations on creating others’ messages, I’m an activator, an instigator, a guiding hand. You want dragons slain? Well, I won’t slay your dragons, but we’ll spend time together developing your dragon-slaying skills until you feel ready to slay on your own.
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