Nick Usborne 
I should never have written this post.
This weekend I could definitely have used a break. The last two weeks have been incredibly busy, and I was planning on a 100% work-free weekend.
Then on Friday afternoon my laptop finally died. So off I went to the store to buy a new one. As you know, changing computers involves a ton of work, moving files and reinstalling software. (I still have half a dozen or so programs to install.)
So much for my weekend of rest and relaxation.
It has been about four years now since I first wrote the Copywriting 2.0 program. I wrote it based on my work as a web writer and trainer for companies and organizations like Yahoo!, Intuit, The New York Times, The Getty Trust and many others.
So while I wrote the program for online copywriters at any stage of their careers, even beginners, the content of the program is based on my writing and training work for some of the most respected companies in the world.
In other words, this is a professional-grade program. There is nothing thin or skinny about it.
And since we first published the program, we have been updating and adding to it on an ongoing basis, including the addition of embedded videos.
Also, year by year, I have been creating more and more webinars, teleconferences and written materials to support the program.
As a result, when you buy the program now, you not only get the full, updated program, but also receive all of the following 8 bonuses.
I was talking with a coaching client earlier this week, and we were discussing an opportunity that was there in plain view, right in front of her. In fact, she had identified the opportunity herself.
When I asked her when and how she was going to grab hold of that opportunity, her immediate response was to start talking about why she couldn’t, wouldn’t or didn’t want to.
In other words, she began to talk herself out of taking action.
As her coach I asked her to stop for a moment. I wanted to explore her reaction. Why was she finding reasons not to jump forward and take action?
It’s odd that we should even think about having to find the courage to be imperfect. Because, of course, we are always imperfect, however hard we try.
According to Brené Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work, we strive for perfection because we feel that to be worthy, and to deserve the admiration and love of others, only our perfect selves will suffice.
Again this is clearly wrong. As she says in the video below, we attract the attention and admiration of others not by being perfect, but by being ourselves – authentic, accessible and vulnerable.
[Note: I first wrote and published this article about 5 years ago. But it still strikes me as relevant and useful.]
The best e-newsletters share many of the same qualities as a good blog. It may seem strange to be comparing an e-newsletter with a blog.
But when you think about it, it’s not so strange at all.
Just think back to the days before blogs existed.
It wasn’t so long ago.
Back then, where did you turn to find interesting, engaging, timely, and topical news and information?
The answer for many of us is that we signed up for some great newsletters. We didn’t go to Web sites for the latest information and opinions, because in those days most sites tended to be too static.
If we wanted to know what was new, important, and interesting, we turned to newsletters.
Here are four ways that good newsletters share the same qualities as blogs.
Look back twenty years and you’ll find that marketing materials had a slightly longer shelf life.
A company could have a brochure written and reasonable expect that brochure to be as relevant in a six months as it was the day it was printed.
Companies came to the web with similar expectations.
Oops.
The thing about the web, particularly today, is that companies are no longer the sole authors of their messages. In fact, their very brands are being formed and changed not by their marketing departments, but by their customers, fans and detractors.