In addition to the great journey that entrepreneurs embark upon, most also write and share their experiences on blogs, whatsapp groups, FB pages, their own websites, fora, and so on. The story of your journey so far and the road ahead is bound to excite and charge up your readers.
Don’t feel inhibited if writing (or English) isn’t the best of your skills. Readers always value great content and will forgive any minor slips. So if your content and story is great, well, that’s mostly it. A little fine-tuning here and a little editing there and you’re good to go.
However, what impact your writing leaves on the readers depends on a lot of small things too.
So the next time you sit down to write your own story and share your wonderful experiences, you may want to keep the following in mind…
1. No number is too small
If it excites you, it can excite us all.
A handful (not all) of startup owners often feel that if they don’t have big numbers to talk about, they’d better not talk. Not so. If a number - any number - is important to you, share it with your readers. It doesn’t always have to be a 6- or 7-figure sale or some million-dollar round of funding.
Don’t tie yourself up in a belief that readers are interested only in huge figures. Sure, we all are. But at the same time, readers are equally (and often more) interested in where you got your first break and how you struggled with (and ultimately stayed on top of) the first conversion.
An eChai CoRiser Neel Shah of Hobbycook recently posted about a single order of Rs.5000 in a single day. Even hugely successful and established entrepreneurs applauded that, because they could see the underlying promise that order carried. More than that, people saw how excited Neel was and that excitement was contagious.
We all appreciate how the initial numbers, no matter how small, are important to you. Tell your readers about your first deal, your first sale, your first sign-up, your first client, your first cash-register… go ahead.
2. Photos, photos, photos
We’d all love to see the pics of how Mark Z or Steve J started out from their garages.
People are always wondering what it is like working at a start-up: the fun, the zeal, the stress, the sweat, the floor-cleaning, the hard negotiation with the landlord for every 100 bucks, the empty pizza boxes in your offices, the cuckoo that laid eggs in the loft… And what better than photos to help readers live your life?
If you want more re-assurance, here’s an interesting fact: the human mind processes visuals 60,000 times faster than it processes text.
So make sure you share photos when you write a blog or something similar. Show us, with pictures, how things happen at your place.
Those pics should also show the action at your end. For instance, if you are into the happiness delivery business (delivering flowers, cakes and stuff), everyone would love a pic of the founder on her/his bike (don’t forget the helmet!) at a traffic circle, or the chef adding the final frosting on that yummy chocolate cake. Show us what you do. And how.
(I have a confession to make. If I were to count the mistakes in my journey of being an entrepreneur, I’d say not keeping photos was the worst. I have missed out clicking photos of some really great events. Those pics would have not only given me more marketing mileage, but, more importantly, would have fired me with new zeal every time I was in low spirits.)
3. Try writing when you are in your rush hour, because the readers will love the detailing.
Yes, the readers want to see all the excitement and be a part of it.
Entrepreneurs are almost always insanely energetic people, but not all of them are great at detailing (often a partner takes care of that). So when you write when you are not stressed, you may forget the small details (like what did you do when there were three sandwiches and only two paper plates, for instance).
While this is not always true, I feel this is generally true. When we are extremely tied up and in a rush, all the ‘n’ numbers of tasks are on the top of our mind. So when you steal time out to write during your rush hour, you can immediately list out all the finer details. And that’s the entrepreneurial touch.
People reading your write-ups want to know not just the big stuff but also the small stuff. So this is a good time to show everyone the small stuff.
Basically, every details matters to the reader if it mattered to you. It’s engaging, interesting and shows you care about detailing.
4. What’s the human angle to your story?
Tell us how your work will touch the techie geek and the common man and what’s the happiness quotient of your project
All great startups - at least all those great startups that survive - are out to solve some problem or make some process a great deal easier, right?
While all the huge rounds of funding you get and the plush office you are going to move into are fine, the readers are subconsciously looking for one more thing - does this entrepreneur have a heart? Not all of you may have products that directly touch the common man, but at least show the readers your best part.
Show us how your product will help the working mother spend more time with her toddler or how the old-man-next-door will find it easier to call his grandson in the US or how the young man will be able better say ‘I love you’ to his lady love…. You know what I mean. Show them the human angle of your great story - and they’ll love you for it.
It could also absolutely include what you’re doing for workplace safety of your female colleagues, whether you’re an equal-opportunity employer, whether you’ve given a differently-abled individual a break (mind you, don’t make it sound like you’re doing a favor - that’s cheap), or whether you’re assisting the underdog for his/her cause.
So never miss out the part which tells the reader, in plain English, not geek-ese, what you are trying to achieve.
5. How about a good laugh?
Use humour. Give readers a break from their daily stress.
We could all do with a bit of humour, especially if you have the guts to laugh at yourself too in the process. It takes great courage to laugh at yourself. And readers will love it when you use self-deprecating humour.
Look around. Even big stars are doing it. SRK, while certainly not the greatest gift to Bollywood acting, certainly tops on this count. He is as comfortable pulling his own leg as when taking a dig at someone else.
I’m not complaining (though my wife thinks I do, and that too very often, since I’m on the wrong side of my 40’s and my weighing scales :) ), but I strongly feel there’s still a lot of room for humour in our work-life balance. Humour, when it’s not at the expense of someone else, usually fits everywhere, unless, of course, you are at a funeral.
So sprinkle your experiences with a dash of humour. Put a smile on the reader’s face. Big brands do it all the time. There’s this great example of how smart car turned a harsh tweet from a common user into a great infographic that went viral - it was loaded with fun without making anyone the scapegoat.
6. Don’t underestimate the power of - er - a common article and the preposition
Try to keep your writing as error-free as possible.
This is, by no means, the top-of-the-chart item, but yes, grammar matters. For instance, I have few friends in Agra has a very, very different meaning from I have a few friends in Agra (the first means you have practically no friends in Agra).
I’m not saying you turn into a grammarian (who, in most cases, is, yawn, so boring). But yes, keep in mind that everything you write has the potential to be read across the globe. So, yes, your writing cannot have errors of grammar that even a high-school student can spot.
Here are some tips (the list is not exhaustive, but it at least gives you some idea):
- Stay away from long sentences - longer the sentence, greater the chance a grammatical error will sneak in (I just read the Dwarka solo trip by Jignesh Gohel on TheIndia.co.in with interest. He’s kept it simple and straight-from-the-heart. I liked that.)
- Ask for professional help, online, over phone or through email (including me, I’ll do the basic editing free for Co-risers!)
- Read up a few things and look for the details of language, just like the way you’d study the processes and products of great companies
- Borrow and quote from contemporary media - news, novels, movies (but always acknowledge!)
Your entrepreneurial journey is a bumpy ride, and your readers are often the cheerleaders. So sharpen that post lying idle on your laptop and let us have your great story!
Happy great writing to you!
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I enjoyed writing this, but did you really find it valuable? Don’t let me get away with trash. Feel free to comment. Thank you for your time!
Mayank Batavia, the founder of Empower Career Academy, is an edupreneur, with over 18 years of experience in coaching for competitive exams. Enjoys writing and helping create great content. Thinks Enid Blyton, Joseph Heller and R K Narayan are the greatest ever.
By the way, he’s not made any great headway in coding in Java or playing the flute.
He can be reached at [email protected]
