Category Archives: Survival Skills

Marketing in Technology Companies: Watch out for Rigidity

One of the smartest marketing people I ever met told us the essence of marketing one day at a meeting: “You try something. If it works, you do it again; if it doesn’t, you try something else.” At the time … Continue reading

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Three Warning Signs That Your Company May Be in Trouble

Years ago, I worked with a young writer who told me a chilling story. She had been blithely working for a private company and became pregnant, only to learn that the company had stopped paying health insurance premiums because of … Continue reading

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Three Types of Hell Telecommuting Helps Writers Avoid

A few months ago, Yahoo put an end to all telecommuting (at least temporarily) and set off a firestorm in the press. The New York Times published an article about working life at Google, which made me laugh since Google … Continue reading

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Four Top Ways for Writers to Stay Employed in Business

I had a very hard time finding my first job, and I swore afterwards that I would never let myself get into the same situation again. I am not talking about ambition here, but rather how to stay employed happily … Continue reading

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Detail and the Writer

While working for a client the other day, I was struck by how manipulating detail is often critical to writing (and client relations) success. A related question is whether the ability to deal with detail is innate or learned, and … Continue reading

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Three Steps to Producing an External Company Newsletter Efficiently

Nothing focuses the mind like starvation, and that’s exactly what happened in a marcom department where I once worked. For a variety of reasons, the business was failing, and we were slowly starved of resources via layoffs. About halfway through … Continue reading

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Five Good Reasons Writers Stay in Dead-End Business Jobs

I have a talented, experienced writer-friend who looks like she is in a dead-end job, but she is having a difficult time moving on. Layoffs have been occurring every quarter, the company stock price is trending down, and no one … Continue reading

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Three Long-Term Employment Strategies for Business Writers

Today I will describe three things a writer should do to survive in business if they have a full-time job. The object is to contribute to the success of the company and become a valued employee while keeping your sanity … Continue reading

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Writers – Beware of Managers Who Never Sleep

Many writers who work in business full-time want to do a good job, but also want to have the energy left to do something else. Human Resource departments talk about “work-life” balance, but this well-meaning philosophy can easily be thwarted … Continue reading

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Procrastinating Writers: Three Articles of Advice (One Hilarious)

Like most writers (well, maybe most people), I like free stuff, and recently I have been getting newsletters from Script magazine, possibly because I use Writer’s Market online (see Script history here). Although I am interested in film, I have only … Continue reading

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