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What to Ask When Hiring a Ghostwriter

September 1, 2020 by Cathy Stucker

Hiring a ghostwriter for your business is the easiest way to gain more time in your busy schedule so you can focus on coaching your clients, attracting new clients, or creating that signature program you’ve been longing to complete for years. However, finding the right ghostwriter for your needs can be a time-consuming journey, one which requires you to ask a lot of questions and be clear on what tasks you need completed.

Here are 5 key questions you should ask when hiring a ghostwriter:

1. What experience do you have?

Anyone can put a website online and claim to be a ghostwriter so you need to play detective here and decipher if this candidate truly has the experience or if they’re a scam artist. Any professional writer should be willing to supply references and samples of their work. At the very least, check out their blog and read a few posts. Are the thoughts clear? Are the grammar and syntax correct? You can even go so far as to copy and paste part of the blog post into Google or Copyscape to check for plagiarism (which, obviously, is a big no no in the online and real life world).

2. Do you have a specialty genre?

In general, writers can write on a variety of topics, from traveling with toddlers to deep sea fishing, but ultimately you want a ghostwriter who truly knows your business inside and out and who can convey your professional voice through every word of copy. Do you really want to train a travel writer about the ins and outs of a coaching business? Do you want give a fashion writer the assignment of writing follow up emails to your clients? Chances are these specialty writers wouldn’t apply for this type of project anyway but it never hurts to ask. Otherwise, you may get charged for many hours of research when a writer who has small business or coaching experience could write off the tops of their heads.

3. Is English your native language?

This question is not meant to discriminate in the least; it’s simply meant to qualify candidates. After all, if this ghostwriter is meant to portray your voice throughout the website copy or in your signature program, it stands to reason the writer should have an expertise in your native tongue, right? You’re outsourcing the writing for a reason…to save you time. If you choose a writer who is fluent in another language, you run the risk of having to do a lot of editing so the copy sounds like you instead of someone who is still trying to master the nuances of the English language. There are certainly bilingual and multilingual writers who can write well in English but the question is worth asking so there are no surprises. That being said, I have worked with some really good writers who English was not their first language. So, ask, and then test them out.

4. What is your fee?

This question can be tricky simply because ghostwriting fees vary tremendously! To prepare for this question, it benefits you to know what tasks you’re looking to outsource right away. The fees to write individual blog posts will differ considerably compared with ghostwriting a specialty program. The same for ghostwriting an ebook versus rewriting your website copy. Do your own research ahead of time and determine a budget for each of the tasks so you can also approach this question from a project fee and see who’s willing to work for that fee. A word of warning, however: you get what you pay for. Don’t simply go for the cheapest ghostwriter you can find. You’ll likely get lots of mistakes or need to hold their hand while they run everything by you for approval.

5. What is your turnaround time?

Keep in mind that ghostwriters have multiple clients, much like you have multiple coaching clients, so it’s unfair and unreasonable to expect assignments to be completed in 24 hours. Another question to ask here is do they have a rush fee if you do need something turned around faster. This is another time when having a calendar of tasks will benefit you because you can then discuss your first deadline with the candidates and ask who is able to complete it by then.

Your Personal Ghostwriting Team

If you find a personal ghostwriter is out of your budget at the moment or it’s just too darned much hassle, take advantage of the personal ghostwriting team at CoachGlue.com and all of the done-for-you content they create. ALL of the content you purchase from CoachGlue can be edited, your name put on it, your website and contact info added, your personal case studies added…it’s all yours to do what you wish. They offer many packages to suit your needs and this is a great way to experiment with outsourcing your writing. They’re available to help you move ahead in your business! From done-for-you blog posts to entire workshops, they’ve got you covered.

Filed Under: Productivity and Time Management, Running Your Business, Writing and Publishing Tagged With: building a team, delegating, ghostwriter, ghostwriting

Be More Productive By “Going with The Flow”

July 7, 2017 by Cathy Stucker

Do you ever have one of those days when everything seems to go right? When you get more done in one day than you might get done in a typical week? (I love those days!) You can have more productive and energetic days when you tap into the Flow Zone.

We’re going to get into exactly what Flow is and how you can tap into it to do everything in business better. You’ll start to feel more in control of your business, happier with your work, more productive, and less stressed. There are so many incredible benefits that come along with tapping into a state of flow. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Productivity and Time Management Tagged With: flow, prodcutivity, zone

Get More Done Today

May 16, 2016 by Cathy Stucker

get-more-done
Working from home can be challenging. You’re trying to get some serious work done, but after a full day what have you accomplished? Sometimes not much at all. But don’t get discouraged – instead, take action to be more productive, starting today.

Tell your neighbors and family that when you are working, you are working. As in no knocking on the door, no phone calls, no anything but work. Does this seem harsh? Think of it this way – do you go to your neighbor’s job and ask to borrow a cup of sugar? Many people do not realize that during our working hours we are actually working. It is hard for people who do not work from home to understand that we need to be able to work undisturbed. You don’t have to be rude, but you have to be firm.

Can’t get started? Maybe it’s because you don’t know where to start. Here’s a tip: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Productivity and Time Management Tagged With: get things done, home based business, Productivity, time management

Stop Wasting Time!

January 26, 2016 by Cathy Stucker

wasted-timeDo you want to make more effective use of each day? One of the most important time management skills to learn is how to identify your daily time wasters and deal with them effectively. Take a look at the following list of common time-wasters and see if you recognize yourself in any of them.

Online Distractions

The great thing about the Internet is that you can find anything you want online. The bad thing about the Internet is that you can find anything you want online and all of it can keep you from what you should be doing. Email, Facebook, YouTube, and online forums are the worst. Have you ever popped into Facebook “for a few minutes” and not come up for air until two hours later? Yeah, we all have. But it is not something you can afford to do often.

So how do you cut out the distractions? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Productivity and Time Management Tagged With: Getting Things Done, time

Get Results Without Getting Frazzled

January 12, 2016 by Cathy Stucker

frazzledDo you ever feel like you have been working like crazy, but when you get to the end of the day, you realize you haven’t really accomplished anything?

I know I have days when I start working on something then get interrupted and may not make it back to the original task at all that day. It is frustrating and unproductive.

Here is how to change that.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Productivity and Time Management Tagged With: Getting Things Done

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