What would happen if I stop writing?
Many of you struggle to write as much as you’d like. The large number of inactive financial blogs speaks to the difficulty of writing and posting weekly (or at any frequency). That’s especially true when you face demanding responsibilities as an investment, wealth management, or financial planning professional.
This struggle is why I suggest that you ask yourself “What would happen if I stop writing?”
When it’s okay to stop writing
Your answer might be, “Nothing bad.”
A “nothing bad” answer is more likely if you have colleagues who can pick up the slack to satisfy your firm’s writing needs.
Or, maybe you’re working on a 25-page white paper on an obscure topic. If few people would read—or be spurred to action by—your output, it’s okay to stop writing. You could benefit from using your time for higher-benefit activities. This is the kind of situation I wrote about in “Marketing lesson from clashing clocks.”
If your answer is “nothing bad,” then stop beating yourself up. Use the time and emotional energy that you save for goals that energize and help you.
When you shouldn’t stop writing
What if you’d lose something by not writing?
Financial professionals who write regularly have told me about the benefits they experience. Understanding the benefits may inspire you to make time to write.
Sometimes the benefits go to the bottom line. For example, a student enrolled in my financial blogging class because he wanted to return to blogging regularly. He said that his blog yielded many leads when he posted regularly, but the leads dried up when he stopped posting.
Often the benefits are less direct. For example, you can rarely attribute a sale directly to a great white paper about an emerging asset class. But you know that it enhances your firm’s credibility and makes it easier for salespeople to spur discussions with prospects.
Another benefit of writing is that it helps you to clarify your thoughts about other people’s ideas, as you explain your take on their ideas to your audience. Also, writing more helps you to improve your writing. These issues came up directly or indirectly in my survey about why advisors blog. Here is how people responded to my asking “What are the goals of your blog?”
- 23% Educate people
- 19% Attract clients
- 15% Improve my writing
- 15% Spread my ideas
- 12% Learn from others
- 8% Keep the clients I have
- 8% Sell information products
- 0% Other
If you resist my suggestion to stop writing…
Feel appalled by my suggestion that you stop writing? In your gut reaction, there’s a kernel of something that may spur you to write more. Look for it!
If you think a structured process could help you to write more, check out my book, Financial Blogging: How to Write Powerful Posts That Attract Clients, and my financial blogging class.
