Just Telling Our Story

Thank you.

I'll admit it. I'm pretty lucky. This freelancing thing is really working out for me, and I am just thankful for all of my fantastic clients and my wonderful husband who are supporting me through this crazy first year. Thank you all for the business. And thank you, Chad, for believing in me as I launched this risky endeavor.

Crisis. Panic. Miscommunication.

I love the small town in which I live. I have lived here most of my life, and although I swore when I graduated I would get out of town as fast as I could and never come back, it was only a few short years before I was back in Danville full-time.

There are many benefits to this little town of ours. It's close to Indy and Avon, where there are plenty of shopping and restaurants, but it still maintains the small-town attitude that is homey and comforting.

My husband and I are raising our family here, and we count on the safety of the community. There is hardly ever any serious crime to speak of. Growing up, we never locked the doors to our cars, and frequently left the front door unlocked and the windows open when we left the house. We didn't think twice about it. I know people who still leave their houses unlocked during the day, even when they're working. It's a safe place to be.

But in the last couple of weeks, Danville has made the news one too many times, in my opinion. Just last week, the police captured two men (and believe there are at least eight more suspects) who robbed more than 100 homes and cars in two housing editions right here in homey little Danville. As you can imagine, that shook up this little town.

But what rocked us even more was - in the same week - the announcement on the news about an attempted abduction of an 8-year-old girl from our little town park during a very busy Saturday morning football game.

That's not supposed to happen here.

Enter panic.

Within 24 hours, we had received a notice from my son's soccer league about the abduction and were warned to keep an eye on our kids. We get a little too comfortable in our surroundings sometimes, and this was a key example of when that simple act can potentially cause catastrophe. (Thank God, two adults startled the would-be abductor, and he dropped the little girl before he got very far with her.)

Elsewhere in the county, our newspaper reports that the story of the attempted abduction grew into something much more, and e-mails were sent to other youth sports leagues in other towns about similar instances that had occurred right on their home turf.

But the story had grown, and the details were false. That left the Danville Police Department struggling to wipe out bad information before the rest of the county panicked.

The Danville Police Department had been on every television news channel for at least two days after the incident, and yet the rumor mill (very strong in our little town) took over. It's a classic example of how a crisis can lead to a public relations problem. There was no need to panic over the thought of multiple abduction attempts, when in fact, there was only the one isolated incident in Danville.

While the DPD did what it could from one standpoint, perhaps it should have gone farther. Could it have predicted the power of the rumor mill? Maybe. But it's often impossible to know how a story can unfold in the public opinion. That's why it's always important to share as much information as you possibly can when your company (or in this case, your town) is faced with a crisis. The more truthful information that is shared, the more likely you will be able to control the bad information out there. Had the police shared in its initial media coverage that they believed the abduction attempt was an isolated incident and was the only incident on record in the county, they could have possibly prevented the rumor mill taking off as it did.

Then again, give a small town a little bit of drama, and you truly never could predict the possibilities. Give us something to talk about, and we're all over it. Gotta love small towns.

Tell Your Story

I love to tell stories.

I couldn't sit down and make up a fictional story to tell my children off the top of my head if my life depended on it, probably, but give me a real person or a real company, and there's a story to tell.

Getting down to the meat of the story is half the fun. I am writing an article for St. Francis Hospital's employee/volunteer/physician magazine right now about their employees who have served in the military. I have interviewed two people by phone who have served themselves in the military, and one person by e-mail whose son is currently serving in Iraq.

I could talk to these people all day. Interviewing is one of my favorite parts about this job of mine. Get someone talking about something he or she is passionate about, and you instantly have a great story. These military professionals...wow. There's something about the military that ingrains in people a passion and respect for their country and themselves that is absolutely incredible. You'll have to stay tuned to my Web site; once I'm finished with the article (this week) and the magazine is through production (November), plan to check my portfolio section. Hopefully you'll be as impressed by these people as I am.

So, what's your story?

Everyone has one, so don't discount yourself as not having anything important to say. You do. I guarantee it. Some people's stories were born out of their careers, but many people's most interesting stories are buried within their personal lives. Are you a mother? A father? A dog lover? A cancer survivor? A Republican? A Democrat? An awesome aunt or unmatched uncle? Have you survived a natural or unnatural disaster? Did you adopt a child? Do you volunteer somewhere? Do you have a passion for art? For music? For video games? Are you obsessed with something? Are you really good at something? Are you really bad at something? What's your story?

If you have your own company, what's its story? What makes your company different from all the rest? How did it get started? How does it treat its employees? How does it make a difference in the community? Why do you do what you do? Of what in your company are you the most proud? What's your company's story?

Whether you're an individual or you have a company, take time to tell your story. There are lots of ways to do it; just get in there and do it. Make a point to let people know what you're doing and how you're doing it. You have a story to tell. Tell it!

Scrapbooking!
I love scrapbooking because it's a very visual, creative way to tell stories about oneself that can be passed down to generations to come. It combines everything I love - writing, photography, design - into one neat, little package. But even if you don't believe you have a creative bone in your body, you can scrapbook! I often hear people say they're not "creative enough" to scrapbook. Bologna! If you have a photo and a few words to describe it, you have a scrapbook page waiting to happen. Just pick up a scrapbooking magazine, steal someone's idea (respectfully termed "scraplifting") and make it work for you. If you're interested, I'd love to get you started!

Just for fun, here is a layout from my little sister's digital scrapbook I'm making of her wedding. Yes, she's been married for a year, but no, I'm not done with the book. She hasn't seen many of her pages, and I don't want to completely spoil the surprise, so I won't be posting more on my "Just for Fun" page of my Web site until she has the completed book in her hand. But here's one of my most recent pages. Enjoy.

More on the topic of scrapbooking, I'm sure, to come at a later date.

Free Communications Tip

I have had a few conversations with small business owners lately who are looking for inexpensive (preferably free) ways to communicate and develop positive relationships with customers and people in general. There are plenty of ways to do it. So, here is just one example. I'll plan to share more tips in the future.

Put your employees to work
If you're a small business owner, consider your employees your most valuable asset. They are your greatest assets when it comes to marketing your business -- as long as they're happy.

So first, work on making sure all of your employees are happy. That doesn't mean to give them everything they want, and there will always be someone who's not 100% happy. But really work on compensating them fairly and making sure they know they can express their feelings with you and their immediate bosses without feeling like they'll be reprimanded for doing so. It's important to have two-way communication: not just you communicating with them, but also them being able to communicate with you.

You really need for your employees to trust and respect you as a business owner or boss. If they don't, they're liable to hurt your business more than help it. (Picture your unhappy employee sitting around with his card-playing buddies complaining about how terrible you run your company. Not a good thing.)

Meeting your employees' needs and earning and keeping their respect should be your primary goal. Once you think you have a plan in place to make and keep them happy, consider ways to encourage them to promote your business in a positive way.

Some ideas:

• Give them incentives for referring business your way.
• Recognize them for their positive attitudes and a job well done.
• Treat them to lunch once in a while, just because.
• Equip them with the information they need to be able to refer someone to your business without feeling awkward. Train them to explain what your business does in three sentences or less. Train them to recognize a chance to talk about the company when it presents itself. (For example, tell them, "if you hear someone talking about how difficult their Web content provider is, ask them what they'd like to be different. Then offer your own company as a possible solution for their problem.")
• Ask them to share the feedback they hear from customers.
• Tell them how to deal with unhappy customers in a very positive way. If a customer complains about the owner, for example, rather than saying, "I hear ya! He's so difficult...you should try working for him!" help them respond with a comment like, "You know, I know Joe well, and I know he has a heart of gold. It's not like him to respond like that. How can we make the situation better for you?"
• Allow your employees time to be involved in professional and networking organizations. Remind them that they are representing your company at the time of those meetings, and that you expect them to be professional and respectful, but encourage them to be involved. Involvement only reflects positively on your company, and by them being at a meeting with a nametag bearing your company's name, you're promoting your company in a subtle and respectful way. It also shows that you value a person's professional development and recognize that their development benefits you the employer as much as it benefits your employees. Your employees -- and others -- will respect you for that.

Hope these ideas help. If you're a business owner, communicator or PR professional out there and want to share some more ideas, please do. More ideas to come at a later date.

I'm Impressed!

I had the pleasure of having breakfast with the publisher of Mooresville and Plainfield magazines today, Ryan Goodwin. What an impressive young man! He's not even 24 years old, and yet he has owned his own magazines for two years. What was I doing when I was 21 or 22?

The magazines themselves are a great possibility for telling your story if you live or work in Plainfield or Mooresville, Ind. If you do not live in these towns and so you do not receive the magazines in your home, check them out online at www.MooresvilleMagazine.com or www.PlainfieldMagazine.com. There are also a handful of locations around both towns where you can pick up a hard copy for yourself.

If you believe you have a story that might make a great addition to the magazine, please let me know. Keep in mind that they will only run stories that pertain to their particular audiences, so if you don't have a connection to Plainfield or Mooresville, your chances of being included are slim. But if you do have that connection, please call or e-mail me, and we'll see what we can do to pitch the story.

Attention Freelancers!
Ryan is obviously an avid reader, and he had some great recommendations out there for people interested in the freelancing life. Here are the books he recommended. Mind you, I haven't had a chance to read them yet, but since I know a few people who are in this wacky world of freelancing like me, I thought I'd pass them along. Check these out:

• The Secrets of a Freelance Writer, by Bob Bly
• The Copywriter's Handbook, by Bob Bly
• The Well-fed Writer, by Peter Bowerman
• www.ForCopywritersOnly.com

Have you read (or visited) any of these? If so, I'd love to get your two cents. I think I'll pay Amazon.com a visit.