There’s a difference between working as a writer and running a writing business. As Avenue Z Writing Solutions grows, I’m discovering I need to dedicate more and more time to simply keeping the business going.

I now spend a couple of hours a day (at least) just … umm… doing business things: answering emails, setting appointments, maintaining my blog, etc. And that doesn’t include the time I should be spending on marketing and organization.

This may sound crazy, but I’m hiring an assistant, or at least I’m taking the steps to hire one. I placed an ad on craigslist this morning, and I just received my first reply.

I’m asking for help for 4 hours a week. This will give me a dedicated person to help with my blog and website, follow through with marketing, assist with research and bug me about doing my billing and accounting.

One of the main benefits will be the peace of mind I’ll get by being able to get some of my tasks out of my head. When I’m relaxing in the tub or running in the evening or heading off to bed, I’m ALWAYS feeling guilty about things left undone. I have great marketing ideas I want to put in motion. I need to really clean up this blog. I have to update the samples and testimonials on my website. These little things drive me crazy and make it almost impossible for me to truly relax.

Side note — Productivity Guru David Allen’s philosophy is that these little nagging thoughts are what stop you from being productive. His book rocks!

Thus, I’m hiring someone. I’m justifying it because I’m no longer hitting the coffee shop every day, and, believe it or not, I was spending almost as much per month at the coffee shop as I will be paying an assistant. Yeah. I had a problem.

Cross your fingers!

I just asked my group of consultant friends for their elevator speeches, and I realized I needed to write one of my own. What do you think of this?

Beth Ziesenis of Avenue Z Writing Solutions provides clear thinking, great writing and engaging brainstorming for corporations and associations. With more than 20 years of professional writing experience, Beth produces new ideas and innovative copy for your marketing and outreach.

PS – Ask about Avenue Z’s specialty: Education as Marketing©!

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Oh, and this is funny. Go to elevatorrules.com

On Friday I had a call with a Senior Editor for a firm that creates websites for lawyers. On the phone, he sounded young and unhappy, impatient and tight lipped. I understand why he’s not happy to speak with me. I was hired to rewrite the content that his team wrote for my client, who is very unhappy with the content they produced. Having an outsider like me write the content was “very unusual to our standard process,” he said.

I’m not a lawyer, but I know how to write. Their original content was horrible. I tried to show Mr. Senior Editor a few examples of the inconsistencies, changes in tone, illogical sentences… and he said nothing. Perhaps he was nodding as he was texting on his iPhone. Maybe he was rolling his eyes. When he did talk, he mentioned over and over the ramifications and consequences of bringing me in and how it was going to mess up the SEO that was so important.

I had two sets of voices talking in my head about our conversation:

1. The confident voice said, “Buddy — I know enough about SEO to ensure it’s still there, and your writing is crap no matter what you’re trying to optimize.”
2. The smaller voice said, “Do I really know what I’m doing enough? Is he right?”

When we ended the call, it was my job to write a summary of our next steps to my client with a CC to Mr. Senior Editor.  I dashed off the plan and hit send.

As it was leaving my computer, I noticed my signature:

Avenue Z Writing Solutions

…copywriting solutions for organizations with something to say

bziesenis@avenuez.net

619 231 9225

The serious side: www.avenuez.net

What’s behind the curtain: www.lifeonavenuez.com

I thought of tight-lipped Mr. Senior Editor getting my email and clicking through to my blog through “What’s behind the curtain.” And then I thought of him clicking around my blog, learning about the things I do wrong, the insecurities I share, the “oh gosh” amazement I have that I’m able to live this life. I thought of his lip perhaps moving into a sneer as he had the opportunity to judge. Perhaps he caught a typo or he really hated my writing style. Perhaps he just enjoyed how ridiculous I look when I put myself out there.

Hell. I don’t even know if he clicked on the link. He may have actually enjoyed his visit here. He may think I’m a cool chick, or he may not care in the slightest. But when I clicked the link in my own signature and tried to see this blog through his eyes, I saw a very exposed, very real human being. And I again felt small.

This is the long way to get to the point of this post: Though I frequently feel very vulnerable for not putting up a brave front, I prefer being a real human being. I’m glad I don’t sit in an office and leave my smiles and winces at home. I’m not afraid to show my soft underbelly.

The other day I discovered another real human being, and I want to share him. He’s Matt Harding, and he traveled around the world dancing in dozens of cities with hundreds of strangers. Here’s his blog, where he talks about how tired he gets of people thinking he did the dancing on a green screen or how tough it was to read that someone called him “doughy.” That’s real. Here’s a post on a marketing website about Stride Gum’s sponsorship of Matt’s dancing trips and how their low-profile advertising technique kept the project even more real.

And, more importantly, here’s the video, which makes me tear up each time I watch it. I admire Matt for being real, and I strive to be as real as he is.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

LogMeIn lets you set up a network of computers so you can work anywhere. I have used remote access systems before, and the delay drove me nuts. I always felt like I was drunk driving with my mouse.

If you need to work from the coffee shop, you have to try LogMeIn! I put the desktop on first then registered my new laptop. When my desktop is on, I can use my laptop (or any other computer I am using) to access my home desktop. In real time. With no delay.

I have been sitting on my front porch every afternoon this week, using LogMeIn to reach the desk in my office. It’s so good I forget that I’m remotely accessing things.

Oh, and did I mention that it’s free?

Here’s a list of my other favorite free tools.

Every time I look to my right in my office, I bite my lip. In the corner, on top of a filing cabinet I’ve yet to use for filing, is an unused laptop computer, purchased this weekend during a quest for a new phone.

When my BlackBerry went swimming last week, I decided to find a temporary phone until I could determine if the phone could be repaired by storing it in a coffee mug filled with rice for several days. I visited Fry’s Electronic Store to get the phone and a cable to hook up my duel monitors.

I was just going to walk through the laptop aisles, I promise.

“You gonna take that home today?” asked a salesman named Mr. Ngo as I stood in front of a Fujitsu LifeBook in the scratch-and-dent clearance rack. Apparently I was.

Now I have horrible buyer’s remorse. The computer was $629, and then I bought the printer that came with it for another $70 (free after rebate). My old laptop, a Sony Vaio, started getting more and more cranky about two months ago, and my original thought was to get a desktop and then take the laptop in for repair.

But I’m not sure it can be repaired, and it certainly will never have the power that the new Fujitsu has. So I went into a justification frenzy, saying it would be at least a couple hundred if not more to repair the old one, vs. $629 for a new one. And since I had saved $300 on the desktop, the new computer was practically free, right?

Umm. Wrong. The new computer was $629.

I’m still searching computer ads to see if I can find a great laptop for less. I’m still considering bringing the damn thing back, especially since I haven’t even opened it since I set up the wireless when I brought it home. Did I buy the best computer out there? Is it the best deal? It’s heavy… why did I buy something so heavy? Why didn’t I just buy a more powerful laptop to replace the old one and not buy a desktop? Why do I need two computers anyway?

When I make business decisions for my freelance writing company, I sometimes think it’d be better if someone else made the financial decisions. I don’t really know if I’m doing the right thing. Because right now, with my two giant flat-panel computer monitors (so I can write on one screen and read what I’m writing about on the other) and my FOUR computers (one really old desktop, one ailing laptop, a new desktop and now a new LifeBook), I think I could run NASA from my home office.

Stats and Updates:

• Overstock took the more expensive computer back and refunded my $799. (I didn’t want to give any updates until I knew the refund was in the bank. If you recall, I bought one for $799, and then they decreased the price to $499 and wouldn’t give me back the $300. So I bought the $499 and returned the $799. They’re back on sale at Overstock for $799.).
• I spent $499 on a great HP Pavilion Slimline desktop and $629 on a sturdy, drop-resistant Fujitsu LifeBook. Thus I spent $1128 to buy two nice computers that fit my needs.
• My BlackBerry is working fine after the bath, and I can return the $27 phone I used as a replacement over the weekend. Now I think I’ll hold out for an HTC Touch.
• As long as he doesn’t read this post, my father will receive the free printer I got with the laptop as a Christmas gift or something. That saves me money on a present.

Have I justified the expenses enough?