3. Before you press send — try this

In the last post, I talked about how adjusting just one thing can create a ripple of knock-on effects you weren’t expecting.

This is the simple thing that stops it from happening, one piece of content at a time.

You need something to talk to.

A mug, a plant, a cuddly toy, an ornament, a cat (if they’re amenable).* Something physical that lives on your desk, that you can look at and speak aloud to every time you sit down to write.

It works best if it’s always the same thing. Which is why I made you a person. A printable one — fold along the line, prop them up, write your role on them. They’ll be waiting every time you open a new document. (Download yours at the bottom of this post.)

*Dogs not recommended, because they’ll just want to get involved 😉

BLOG SERIES: THREADS

The Tangled Business Series

STAGE

Prevention

READ TIME

3 mins

But first — what’s your role?

Where do you stand in relation to your audience? And what does that sound like?

Mine changed recently. I moved from working mostly with newer founders, people in their first couple of years, finding their feet. My role there was a guide, slightly ahead, showing the way and reassuring the nervous.

Now I work mostly with more established founders. Two or more years in, some scar tissue, hard-won lessons. My role now is peer. I get it because I’ve lived it too. Less don’t worry, here’s how and more you know when…

Same business, but completely different language. And if I hadn’t noticed the shift, I’d have kept writing for the person who used to show up, while wondering why the people showing up now weren’t quite feeling it.

Write your role down, that’s your crib sheet.

Then read it out loud

Before you press send on anything (an email, a post, a page), look at your crib sheet and ask: what role am I speaking from here?

Then read the new words out loud to your thing on the desk, and ask does this sound like I’m talking to the right person? Am I assuming the right things about what they already know, what they’ve already tried, what they’re tired of hearing? And, crucially, is it the same person as last time?

You hear it before you see it, every time.

Why this matters

This is one of the quietest ways a thread gets tangled. A few pieces of content written for a slightly different person, sitting alongside everything you wrote before.

The people who were your people start to feel like maybe they’re not anymore. The new people you’re trying to reach aren’t quite sure you’re talking to them either.

One clear sense of your role, a few minutes of reading aloud, and one question. It won’t untangle everything, but it’ll stop new knots from forming.