Today is officially “I Love to Write Day”. As a writer, then I feel lucky that that is most of my days, not just today. Not only do I love to write, but as I specialise in food and beauty, then I get to write about brands and things I love. I imagine if I was writing about weedkiller (trust me, I once interviewed for a marketing role in weedkiller) then I may have fewer days that I love.
Writing plays a key, but not exclusive, role in telling your story. Your thing might be images or video, but at some point, you might need words.
But unless you love it, do you have to do it all yourself?
After all, I think in the mists of time I have some form of accounting qualification and an O’level in maths. It doesn’t mean that I’m doing my own book-keeping though.
Of course, I am sure I could do it. There are lots of tools and software that would make it suitably straightforward, apparently.
But I’m still not doing it.
Where is your time best spent?
You might be brilliant at book-keeping, and therefore you do do your own books. You might be really efficient at it and have great systems. It might be a really good use of your time.
But if producing blog posts or captions for your Instagram posts or your newsletter feels like a trial, something that you try to put off, or that takes hours out of your week, then maybe it’s time to cut yourself some slack. While those of us running small businesses wear many hats, we don’t always have to wear all of them.
If you don’t feel guilty about not doing your own books, or driving every delivery to every customer, then why make writing any different?
What are the arguments for persisting in doing your own writing?
I wrote a piece back in early 2017 about why David Hieatt thought you shouldn’t hire me, or any other freelance writer, to tell your story. And he had three great points:
- No one writes like you
- No one else has your voice
- You can write
Point 3 is not in doubt, but whether you love to write does have a role to play in my view. And with the right brief to the right person, then your voice can come to life from the keyboard of someone else. Just not from everyone else, or just anyone else.
But if you quite like writing, then it’s worth continuing to give writing your story a go. He’s right, it’s your story and your voice, and in owner based businesses, you will know every aspect of how your idea came to life, and how the story has developed. If you’re getting quicker, and have moved from don’t like to quite like, then it’s worth keeping trying.
There’s lots of advice out there out on how to plan, structure and promote your content. So give it your best shot.
Be stubborn about your dreams and flexible in your methods
I think I saw this on a notebook, but I have to say I agree. There is nothing wrong in wanting to have compelling content for your business that your customers really value and engage with. There’s just nothing that says you have to do it. Doesn’t mean you have to give up on the content dream.
Be proud to declare you don’t love writing if you don’t
And no one should judge you for it. In the same way, I hope you don’t judge me for not doing my own books.
What do you think? Do you love writing or not love it?
