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The Business of Writing – Making All the Pieces Fit

By Deb Gallardo

Or – Benefits of Networking

Have you ever tried putting together a jigsaw puzzle that you were convinced had missing pieces? If you’re like me, you start with the outside border, then find the four corner pieces and all the flat-sided ones. When I can’t find all the flat-sided pieces, I start thinking, if it’s this hard in the beginning, how much harder will it be near the end? Do I even want to bother?

But then I realize I’m being hasty. I’ve made SOME progress: I’ve found all four corners; I’ve put together several multi-piece flat-sided sections. So I persevere. Little by little the border takes shape, until finally all the outside pieces are connected. Now I have a framework for assembling the rest of the puzzle.

I get a sense of satisfaction from that accomplishment, but my ADD brain then looks at the other 900+- pieces jumbled in the box and I groan. Now the long, drawn-out, boring part begins.

First comes the color sorting process, requiring repeated reference to the box lid. This includes the challenge of deciding where to store the various colors. In addition, I turn each piece face up so I can see it.

Without the puzzle’s photograph on the box lid, this process would be an exercise in futility. Each piece would have the potential to fit with every other piece of similar color. Or not. A piece might be a bridge between one section and another.

For longer than I care to admit, even to myself, my quest to master online marketing (OM) has been, and continues to be, not unlike assembling a large and intricate jigsaw puzzle. I must learn how, (not necessarily in this order) to:

And no matter how much I learn, no matter how many concepts and skills I master, the path continues to be a (seemingly) never-ending series of inexorably steep learning curves.

AAARGH!

It’s enough to make my hair turn gray! Oh, wait. It’s already done that.

Every once in awhile I get an “Aha!” moment when I’m tempted to shout, “Eureka!” But then I realize I have yet another skill to be mastered, and after that something more. (This only happens to people who can’t afford to PAY others to do all the “grunt” work.)

To return to the jigsaw puzzle analogy, as far as my online business is concerned, I have the puzzle design as a reference (business blueprint), my framework is in place (a rough outline of my business plan) and some of the colors are sorted (all the little pieces). And it’s those little pieces, some visible, others twisted around, still more upside down, that are the building blocks of any online business and where the bulk of the work occurs.

These are my grouped pieces:

At this point in an actual puzzle project, I would have several small-to-medium “floating” sections completed, but no idea how any of them connected to the others. Trying to do it all alone is certainly doable, and at the end, one can say, “I did it all by myself.” But what if putting it together was not the final goal? What if assembling all the pieces and making sense of them were part of a greater scheme of things?

There is a fiercely independent streak in most Americans. It reminds me sometimes of a three-year-old who has discovered the concept of “mine” and “me do.” A toddler needs to master this stage for future skills to have a solid foundation. But some people never move beyond the need to go it alone and take all the credit. None of us is skilled in everything. Okay, maybe your brother-in-law thinks he is, but the rest of us have strengths we should capitalize on and shortcomings no amount of training will turn into strengths.

Rather than beating ourselves up for what we can’t do, why not try something smarter, faster, and more effective than trying to be a superman-marketer and hating the result? Networking solves a multitude of problems and builds great relationships at the same time. The goal is to find other, like-minded people whose strengths fill in the gaps of our skill sets and our skills do the same for them.

Some informal Skype conversations with fellow participants after a weekly webinar hosted by marketer supreme Lynn Terry of clicknewz.com and an excellent forum with loads of information and lots of helpful people, including Lynn herself at http://www.selfstartersweeklytips.com/forum have lead to some joint ventures and greatly reduced my frustration level. People here are genuinely eager to help where they can. My goal is to find people who “play” at what I struggle with. And I can return the favor.

From my networking, I’ve had more “Eureka!” moments in the past month than in the past year. That’s why synergy is so important. The whole is greater than the mere sum of its parts.

So get out there and network, make connections. You’ll need them, if not now, in the near future. Build bridges, make friends, develop partnerships. You and they will be stronger for it.

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3 Comments »

3 Responses to “The Business of Writing – Making All the Pieces Fit”

  1. Warren Whitlock Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 9:00 am   

    Wonderful post.

    Our authors have been getting quick results with online networking. We train and blog networking for authors and will recommend this article at http://BestSellerAuthors.com

  2. WHat Kinds of Things Can An Author Do By Networking Online? | BestSellerAuthors Book Marketing Blog Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 9:15 am   

    [...] bet you will relate with some of the issues Deb talks of in an article on The Business of Writing – Making All the Pieces Fit: For longer than I care to admit, even to myself, my quest to master online marketing (OM) has [...]

  3. Deb Gallardo Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 9:57 am   

    Warren,

    Thanks for commenting. The more I do this, the more I value the interaction and relationships I’m developing. I would be poorer as a human being without everyone I’ve met.

    Deb

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