7 habits of great writers: 1. Start at the end

Stephen Covey coined the principle of starting with the end in mind - its a good principle, for if you don't know where you're going how will you know when you get there?

The principle is just as relevant to writing. One of the big mistakes we see daily in marketing, is a tendency to say, “Here is a solution, let’s see if I can find a problem to fit it”, or rather “Lets make your problem fit my solution”.

The counter-view is best described by the story of a man who went to a store to buy a drill, only to be asked, “What do you want to do?” He replied, “I need to make a hole in the wall”, to which the store manager replied, “Ah, well then what you need is a thing that makes holes in walls”. It seems obvious I know, yet many salesmen have spent frustrated careers pushing a product instead of solving needs.

A good marketer should start with a blank sheet and ask the customer, “What is your need and what can we do to solve it?” – that is the new marketing paradigm.

It is no less true that a book should satisfy a need. To that end, an effective author would sit down, prayerfully to determine what a book is intending to achieve. Are you writing to satisfy your ego or your needs, or is the need of your audience more important.

Airbus built the A380, the largest passenger aircraft in history. Boeing on the other hand asked what the customer needed - the answer to that was the smaller, Dreamliner. A remarkable plane, it flies non-stop from point to point, without having to hub via airports like Atlanta or Chicago. It is very fuel efficient and sized to optimize occupancy levels. It also has many comforts that make long-haul flight a delight. So where did Airbus go wrong? They seem to have set out to please themselves and satisfy their own egos and it blinded them to their customers.

This principle also relates to internet writing or blogging. If you are seeking to push your position, you may be frustrated, but if you engage, elicit commentary and connect with your audience, you will actually meet some very fundamental human needs and that will grow your base.

(c) Peter Eleazar @ www.4u2live.net
Image: www.crimethinc.com