Content Mastery Guide

Editor and Ghostwriter

Vicki Pinkerton’s Quest Across Canada

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Vicki Pinkerton is a writer, creativity coach and visionary spirit. We did some of our coach training at CTI together back in the day (sometime between 2002 and 2004), and because we felt a connection, we’ve stayed connected.

Vicki’s Quest Across Canada has been a long-time dream, and in just another week, she is making it come true!

When I heard about the party to celebrate Vicki’s Quest, raise gas money and show our support, I couldn’t wait to RSVP. I also thought immediately of the song I wanted to present to Vicki.

I’ve written before about the song “If I were brave,” and how inspirational it is to me. Well, I think Vicki is incredibly brave to be doing what she’s doing, and so I made up my mind to sing the song for her.

Songwriter Jimmy Scott was kind enough to send me the chord chart (thanks, Jimmy!). Unfortunately, I’ve strained my elbow/wrist and didn’t feel up to playing the guitar last night. Thankfully, Rosanne Speckert stepped in to accompany me, quite artfully and quite possibly better than I would have played myself!

I am so glad I could be there to send Vicki off with my love, support and music. And I can’t wait to follow her journey through email updates from her blog.

Click here to find out how you can help, and to sign up for Vicki’s updates. Trust me – you will be enlightened, inspired and entertained.

Writing prompt: Coaching has been a big part of Vicki’s life, both being coached and coaching others. There’s no doubt those experiences played a role in her realizing this vision. What would you like to say to your clients/readers that might help them take their next step towards making their own dream come true? Here are some of my ideas for you:

  • Career coaches: 10 ways to discover your dream job
  • Life coaches: 10 baby steps to take towards your dream
  • Money coaches: 10 things you can do today to start funding your dream
  • Family/parenting coaches: 10 ways to keep your dream family vacation from becoming a nightmare
  • Business coaches: 10 ways to incorporate your dream into your business plan
  • Spiritual coaches: 10 questions to ask in meditation before you go after your dream

Please let me know if any of these titles sparked an idea for you!

Write from the headlines: Good news is the best news

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I just heard a promotion that tonight on CityTV's 6:00 o'clock news they are only telling good news. I definitely plan to tune in and I'm looking forward to the positive spin.

[Update: 6:04 p.m. – It turns out that the good news stories will be interspersed with the "regular" news of the day.]

On the radio, I've been enjoying a new feature on 680 News, which now has regular good news reports on the air. They also collect good news stories on their website. [Update December 22, 2012 – No longer available.]

In the coaching world we talk a lot about positive affirmations, the Law of Attraction and the power to choose where we will focus our thoughts. But in the "real world" it's sometimes difficult to shield ourselves from the darker events going on in our communities and in the world.

Most of the time it feels like the media is the enemy of positive thinking, and our first defense against "doom and gloom" thinking is usually to turn OFF the news.

That's why it's so exciting to see these media outlets turning that around – even for just a few minutes a day or for one special broadcast.

Here are the coaching article topics I thought of in relation to this story:

  • Executive coaches: 10 positive employee attributes you may be forgetting to praise
  • Marketing coaches: 10 good news stories about your business that you could pitch to the media 
  • Life coaches: 10 ways to put a positive spin on bad news
  • Dating coaches: 10 positive topics to talk about on a first date
  • Business coaches: 10 ways to use your influence to do some good

Writing prompt: Did these article topics spark any ideas for your own newsletter or blog? Are there any good news stories you could be sharing with your readers?

Write from the Headlines: A “Giant” leap for diabetes awareness in the Innu community of Labrador

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This is not a brand new story. It was actually Wednesday, March 18th that Michel "Giant" Andrew completed a 300-km, five-walk solitary walk through the wilderness to raise awareness of the high rate of diabetes in his Innu community.

I saw this story last weekend on CBC National. You can read more about Michel here.

I was fascinated to learn about Michel; not just his journey, but the bigger story this news report told of what's happening in his community (particularly their decision to ban alcohol in February 2008), and it led me to these possible coaching topics for your articles:

  • Career coaches: How to turn around your past and create a new future
  • Life coaches: How to keep going when the odds are stacked against you
  • Parenting coaches: 10 signs your child may be involved with drugs or alcohol
  • Business coaches: How to sell an unpopular idea
  • Marketing coaches: How to sell people on what they need, when it's not what they want
  • Spiritual coaches: How to express your inner spirit as a way of healing your outer world
  • Non-profit sector coaches: How to rally a community into action

Writing prompt: Can you expand any of these titles into an article for your target market? Please comment below – I would love to hear what you do with it!

Write from the headlines: L’Aquila earthquake miracle survivors

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It may seem in poor taste to choose such a tragic situation, but I believe that if our hearts are in the right place, this can be a big help to folks, too. When we're confronted with tragic headlines, fear and hopelessness are common reactions.

If you can take a tragic headline, and bring some sensitivity and some inspiration to it, your articles can bring healing to people, and can also attract attention because they are linked to such a visible event.

It was amazing to hear about the 98-year-old woman who survived 30 hours in the rubble, and another woman, 20 years old, who was rescued more than 42 hours after the L'Aquila earthquake (see photos and stories here).

I thought about the victims, the survivors, the heroic rescuers, and the coaching messages that might be hidden in these stories. Here is what I came up with:

  • Spiritual coaches: 10 ways to cultivate faith when all seems lost
  • Family coaches: 10 tools for dealing with grief and loss

Writing prompt: Do these topics resonate with you or your audience? Can you think of any others? Please comment below and share your own topic ideas!

Search tool for your blog provides great marketing stats for you

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I search my own blog a lot – I'll want to find previous posts to send to a client, link to in a new post, or just refresh my memory about something I've written.

Everything TypePad recently led me to the Lijit search tool (before that, I was using a clunky tool that really wasn't meeting my needs), and so far I am absolutely loving it. It will also search other sources like Twitter.

Plus, there are some really helpful statistics, such as the top search terms that brought visitors to your blog, and the terms people searched for on your blog AND DID NOT FIND (from the folks at Lijit: "Hint…it's a great way of figuring out what you should be writing about!").

Check the right-hand column of my blog to try the tool, or visit the Lijit website to sign up for your own account. [Update December 22, 2012 – I am no longer using this tool.]