How To Get More Done
By Myles Saulibio
“I like deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”
–Douglas Adams
Your ability to work better, cheaper, and faster with your ghostwriting services provider isn’t difficult. It’s a must. With or without your ghostwriting services provider you’re going to have the same amount of writing projects.
You’ll still have tons of active projects and even more in the concept/thinking stage.
If you can’t be more effective and efficient quickly, you’ll be quickly overwhelmed.
Think about it: you can get more results from your ghostwriting services provider and still have time left over for your business and personal life, like spending time with your family or playing golf.
Here are 10 ideas that can increase your productivity with your ghostwriting services provider so you can focus on other important areas of your online business and get more done in less time:
1. Master the business relationship. Gain control over all situations in your contractual relationship with your ghostwriter. The idea of control is one of a partnership or relationship based on a common, mutual understanding. The golden rule is always in effect. Treat others the same way you expect to be treated.
Fair and no compromises. Transparency and ethics-based. Constantly work on your communication skills to eliminate misunderstandings than will waste your time, such as constant re-work of submitted content.
If you intend to use US-based American English ghostwriting services get one that is well worth the money at the current price levels.
2. Don’t be a perfectionist. Sometimes good is really good enough. “Perfectionism is simply putting a limit on your future,” wrote John Eliot, Ph.D., author of Reverse Psychology for Success. “When you have an idea of perfect in your mind, you open the door to constantly comparing what you have now with what you want. That type of self criticism is significantly deterring.”
Strive to be excellent but not demanding absolute perfection from your ghostwriting services. If you have over 95% of the “perfect” solution, you are good enough to get to the next step.
But don’t slack off. Obvious mistakes should be corrected on the spot. Needless re-work and over-agonizing the minutia is counter-productive.
3. Free yourself from anxiety. As British Politician Benjamin Disraeli observes, “Great services are not canceled by one act or by one single error.” Encourage your ghostwriting services provider to do the best they can with your requirement. They will be pleased to meet your fair expectations.
Do not feel pressured to constantly check or over-supervise the effort. You’ll only end up as a roadblock to progress. Don’t be tied to a false sense of security that without your interference nothing gets done.
Let go. Most finished products are satisfactory and you will be happy you didn’t interfere. If possible, be specific with the scope of work upfront, providing enough information on the topic, research ideas, and keywords you have in mind.
4. Get more than one ghostwriting services provider if you can afford to. Having a back-up plan has its benefits. Even if you have a preferred ghostwriting services provider, having another service in place might be a good idea.
You’ll inject a different “voice” into the content as well as variety. You can reserve new ideas and approaches with a more responsive ghostwriting provider who is familiar with your intended niche area.
You’ll stay fresh and productive and more responsive to the emerging trends in the market such as social networking and social media.
5. Know when to pull the plug. Always have a letter of agreement or contract in place with your ghostwriting services provider. With a well-defined scope of work and budget, you’ll have the confidence from knowing that an agreement will lead to a product everyone will be satisfied with in accordance with the agreed terms and conditions.
There comes a time however, when despite the best efforts of all parties involved, a parting of ways is necessary.
Consult with a legal resource for the structure and content of your contract agreement that meets your minimum needs.
6. Make and communicate deadlines that work for you. According to a recent research by the Harvard Business School, redundant communication works to get projects completed quickly (cited in Harvard Business School Working Knowledge online, April 18th, 2011). Effective experts use deadlines with a specific date and time.
With no project deadline, your writing project is like a “ship without a rudder” with no priorities. What project do you suppose gets your ghostwriting services provider’s attention? And an effective means to meet specific date and time deadlines is a regular dosage of communications.
You may want to schedule several in-progress meeting with a definite agenda and specific milestones. Persistent but meaningful follow-up is healthy for a project and you will firmly establish yourself as the one in control.
Keep in the mind that the quality and specificity of your communication must increase the further you move off-shore for your outsourcing requirements.
7. Guard and value your time. Don’t waste your time with needless activities that produce little to no true value. Choose the activity with your ghostwriting services provider that will bring the highest the amount of return. You may want to concentrate on spending time on the front end planning to avoid pitfalls of poor production later on.
Carefully weigh your effort on all activities and their returns (high or low) against the cost based on the combined dollar value (your hourly rate to re-work in-process projects) and final cost of the project ( cost per word, cost per page, cost per article, etc.) you just outsourced to a ghostwriting service.
If you do jump into the middle of something during the project, keep in mind that you just added your hourly rate to the overall cost—you may end up in the “hole”. Yes, you’ve heard it before: time is money.
8. Stay Focused. Chances are your ghostwriting service provider is project driven and creative. They will focus their efforts to achieve your communicated strategy and vision.
Be careful to keep them in line, as creativity tends to be the opposite of productivity. Make sure the ghostwriting services “rifle” their work output versus “shot-gun” their wasteful and non-productivity activities causing them to miss their deadlines.
9. Set a Project Production Goal. Famous and effective authors like Stephen King set a daily writing goal and achieves it. You should treat your ghostwriting services provider no differently. Lay out a schedule that checks and reports progress, particularly if the project is a large e-book or a landing page.
The schedule should include milestones for design, outline, drafts, and final reviews. All within the time frame you set and agree with your ghostwriting services provider. Lastly, furiously hold your ghostwriting services provider accountable for their work or you will end up doing their work.
10. Enjoy the journey not the destination. Aldous Huxley, English Novelist observes, “Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities.” Working with any ghostwriting services provider is not always work for work’s sake.
If you’re bent on making this happen, you’ll have to work at this relationship yourself. A good relationship takes two to make it happen and your attitude should be one of gratitude.
“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind,” writes US Pragmatist philosopher and psychologist William James. “The secret of joy in work is contained in one word—excellence,” wrote US novelist Pearl Buck.” “To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.”
About the author:
If you liked the article above, wouldn’t you like to have one of your very own? Myles Saulibio and his Ghostwriting Services helps authors and experts like yourself fill your writing gaps and jump start article marketing campaigns that drive targeted traffic to their websites.