Apparently Seth Godin is going to help me out this week with my Starbucks analogy:

Starbucks didn’t become Starbucks by getting discovered by Oprah Winfrey or being blessed by Warren Buffet when they only had a few stores. No, they plugged along. They raised bits of money here and there, flirted with disaster, added one store and then another, tweaked and measured and improved and repeated. Day by day, they dripped their way to success. No magic lottery. [Read the entire post here.]

So this week’s question for you is: What do people already thank you for? Not what value do you think you provide. Not what would you like to be at the center of your writing career.

Later in his post Godin says:

Here’s another way to think about it: delight the audience you already have, amaze the customers you can already reach, dazzle the small investors who already trust you enough to listen to you. Take the permission you have and work your way up. Leaps look good in the movies, but in fact, success is mostly about finding a path and walking it one step at a time.

So what have you specifically been thanked FOR?

There is crucial information in a thank you. I’d even say that there is crucial information in every thank you, from your very first to your very last, meaning your first day in business and your last day in business and every day in between.

Because if you are doing your job well, then you should be being thanked pretty consistently. And when you are thanked, this is a great opportunity to ask for more detailed feedback or a testimonial.

And then, over time, you start to notice patterns in the feedback you receive. And the consistency either tells you what you are doing right or where you need to improve.

So you tell us right here and right now: what are you doing right? Tell us what others tell you.

~ Photo by J. Star

Last week, I asked you what was at the center of your writing career.

Some people were confused. They responded with their passion, mission, or purpose.

That’s not what I was asking for. What I was asking for is what is at the center of what you OFFER?

In other words the answer is not about you or how you feel about what you offer. The answer is about what OTHERS perceive you offering.

If you are not in business yet, or you are not successful in business yet, it’s going to be difficult to answer this question. Because the question pertains not to what you want to do or hope to do, but what you deliver.

For example, you walk into Starbucks and you perceive them offering espresso because there is a big ol’ espresso machine right there in the middle of the espresso bar. Right?

You hand them money. The barista hands you something with espresso in it. (We’re just going to stick with espresso for now, but we’ll come back to the Chai, Strawberries and Cream, etc. later.)

So whatever you are offering makes a big impression on others too, or at least you hope it does.

For example, I said creating and teaching were at the center of what I offer. I create pieces of writing. I offer them as articles, curriculum, books, blog posts, e-zines, etc. So my espresso, or what’s at the center of all of this, is the creating of pieces of writing, each with a unique purpose and intention. That’s before I even do anything with them. This is what happens first, constantly, and is the key to my humble success.

This is kind of like the way Starbucks creates espresso drinks. Will you look at what they can do?

They can give it to you hot or cold. They can give it to you with milk (or variations of milk). They can give it to you with chocolate or carmel. They can give it to you big or small. They can give it to you straight, with hot milk, steamed milk, or just foam. They can give it to you iced, iced with milk, or whipped with ice and milk-y stuff into a frappé.

Clearly, you can see, when it come to what they do with their espresso, Starbucks is not messing around.

They are going to give it to you exactly the way you want it and this concept is built into their business model. It’s the sheer variety of what Starbucks can do with a shot of espresso that makes them so brilliant as an enterprise.

So.

We come back to you.

Back to question number one: What is at the center of what you offer? (What is your espresso?)

And on to question number two: How many ways are you offering what you offer?

And while we are on the topic, which ways are the most successful for you?

~ Photo by CoffeeGeek

Simple question, right? But perhaps not so easy to answer.

For example, creativity is at the center of my writing career.

That means the part of my work that I love the most is the creating part (often this is writing but not always).

Right after creating, I value the teaching part of what I do.

If I were Starbucks, creating would be my perfect shot of espresso.

Following closely by teaching (the perfect espresso shot plus hot milk).

After teaching, I have to pause and rub my chin for a minute. But if I’m being totally honest, platform building (aka marketing–go ahead and think I’m shallow) is another favorite job of mine.

Platform building is like my…cappucino, if we continue with the Starbucks analogy.

And by the Starbucks analogy, I mean I have one key thing at the center of what I do. Just like Starbucks has that killer shot of espresso at the center of what they do.

I don’t care if they started with drip coffee. (I’m not sure what they started with, actually.) It’s all about the espresso now.

And since my creativity is only limited by my imagination, I feel like I have infinite options of how to proceed in my writing career.

I mean how many different drinks can you make with an espresso shot?

Plenty.

Therefore, the onus is on me to make good choices.

Good choices with my topics, my audiences, my time, and my publishing partners. The same applies to making good choices as a teacher and as a platform builder.

Frankly, it’s a lot to juggle. Fortunately, last year, I pared way back to just the things that bring me the most satisfaction.

Like Simon Cowell, it got to the point in several of my endeavors where I was phoning it in. And that didn’t feel good. I felt stuck. Burdened. Over-committed.

So I made better choices and now here I am feeling as optimistic as a shot of espresso in the Pacific Northwest.

What’s at the center of your writing career? (Feel free to borrow my Starbucks analogy. I’m going to keep using it too.)

Photo by CoffeeGeek

At the beginning of the month, I thanked the folks I’ve worked with on my three e-zines in 2009.

Today, I’d like to thank some of the people who are helping me point my career to a more expansive future.

These folks gave me an education in 2009. Their examples have opened my eyes and I’ve learned a ton from them. And for this education, which is still ongoing, I am grateful.

Jane Friedman: Next to my students and readers, Jane has probably been the most influential person in my writing career. She is the one who believed in me and my first book, Writer Mama, back in 2005, and continues to be a fountain of excellent, up-to-date insights about the publishing industry in our interactions and in her blog, There Are No Rules. I have had the privilege of witnessing her ascent at Writer’s Digest, where she has worked for over a decade, from acquisitions editor to Publisher & Editorial Director of the Writing Community. Without a doubt, add her blog to your reader.

Chris Brogan The first time I heard Chris Brogan speak during a tutorial at the 2009 Tools of Change Conference in NYC, I wasn’t sure what to think. His presentation contained a few gems but it was free-floating and seemed a bit off the cuff for my tastes. The next time I saw him speak in May at Book Expo America, however, his presentation was focused and clear with informative slides that allowed him a lot more room for being spontaneous and interacting with the audience. I have become a fan of Chris’ blog, where I feel like he provides insightful posts on topics I can relate to. And I like his newsletter even more, where he shares a more intimate take on his work life. Suffice it to say I think Chris Brogan is someone to watch and learn from in 2010. I know that I learned a lot from him in 2009.

Cory Doctorow In the spring of 2009, I interviewed Cory for Writer’s Digest Magazine. I also met him at Tools of Change, and I found practically every remark he made fascinating. He struck me as someone on a mission, who is completely comfortable being an advocate for what he believes in. I felt like a got to know Cory better as a writer in our interview and during my preparation for the interview. He is the one, more than anyone in 2009, who helped me shift my focus for 2010. For me, he exemplifies the writer who is living on the cusp of the traditional publishing industry and the dawning of the new popular publishing movement. If you are a published author looking for a role model of how to balance what has been and what will come, I suggest that you subscribe to Cory’s blog because he’s living it, writers. He’s living it.

Michael Hyatt Although my name is Christina, I am not a practicing Catholic. So it’s not the religious component that attracted me to Michael Hyatt’s blog. What attracted me were his blogging abilities. I love the way this guy blogs! Also he’s found a way to fuse his professional life, personal life, and leadership skills into a blog that, for me, provides the perfect example of work-life blend that many of us are already living. I find his transparency about his work/life balance extremely comforting. Check out his recent blog redesign. It’s pretty darn cool.

J.A. Konrath I identify so much with the advice that J.A. Konrath doles out in his blog that I feel like we may have been separated at birth (except maybe he is the horror/suspense writing twin and I am the nonfiction how-to twin). Actually, we look nothing a like and are not twins, though we did attend the same graduate school writing program at different times. As I appreciate Cory Doctorow, I appreciate J.A. Konrath. I think writers need writer-to-writer advice as much, if not more, than we need agent-to-writer or publisher-to-writer advice and a steady stream of it. If you want that kind of tell-it-like-it-is advice, I highly recommend J.A. Konrath’s blog, The Newbie’s Guide to Publishing.

Ali Edwards It’s tough to find an example of a woman blogger who is as true to her authentic self as Ali Edwards is to hers. I can’t think of another female blogger, who is as devoted to her blogging practice and readership, as Ali is. Or as natural and transparent about it as she is. I’ve been a long-time fan of Ali’s blog. And whenever I need a touchstone for how real women blog, I turn to her. I hope you will too, whether you like scrapbooking or not.

Seth Godin I’ll be a Seth Godin fan for life. Even though I don’t love every single one of his books. Why? Because when I decided it was time to build my first real website, all I needed to do was check every single one of his books out of the library and speed read them all. And in a matter of a couple of weeks (he’s written quite a few books), I had myself an education from a master. And you can too. Seth’s blog is simply called Seth’s blog.