Know what you do?

Short effective answers to
“What do you do?”

So, what do you do? I’m sure you’re asked that all the time. You know, when people seize you up at gatherings, wondering if they should spend their precious time chatting to you or just give it a miss.

Now, initially, when I first started out on my own, I was a wee bit flummoxed by it. “Ah, ummm, I write and I ……”

Strange, isn’t it? You’d think that being in my line, I would do a better job of it. My brains really should not have behaved like a scrambled egg. Or did it just split like a banana?

Bad jokes aside, what I read one day had a profound effect on me. One woman’s organization had taken it upon themselves to train budding women entrepreneurs on how to tackle this. Imagine that. Something that seemed trivial required training.

To put it in a nutshell, when you are casually posed this ever so important question, you should be able to respond (eloquently, mind you) in a few short sentences that cleverly encapsulates your daily activities that bring in the mullah. Cos that’s more or less how much of time someone that you meet is going to give you. Try to remember that you are having a natural conversation, not in the midst of a one hour presentation on your outstanding skills.

So what do I do? “I write non-fiction. That includes copywriting and writing for the school market. I also conduct training and carry out public relations work, focusing mainly on media work.” Is that clear enough? Well, I can’t put everything in, can I?

Much later, as I was perusing a heavy tome on presentation skills, something struck home. The book insisted that each time we open our mouths to speak, we are in the act of persuading the listener to do something.

Hmm … that made sense. So each time I introduce myself, I want them to use my services. Think of guys who are constantly climbing the slippery corporate ladder. You know, the sort that picks up the phone to say, “I am sorry I didn’t call you back sooner. It’s just that I was so tied up with this RM1 million deal. I’m glad it’s finally all done.”

He could have stopped at the first sentence, couldn’t he?

But no, he drove home the point that he had been busy with a colossal deal that’s going to make the big guns grin from ear to ear and add even more glitter to his dazzling CV.

So, the next time I’m asked, “What do you do?”, I’ll be saying, “I write copy that compels people to buy products, that makes viewers sit up to watch videos attentively. I write books for schools that enthralls students and short stories that leave kids clamouring for more. My training sessions arm participants with work skills that change their lives. As for the media work that I do, well, let me just say that I did increase media coverage by as much as 80% for a local college.”

Hmmm… is that jazzed up enough? I’m sticking to new cardinal rules here: forget about being humble, forget about not boasting and forget about letting my work speak for itself. I’m going to do all the shouting I need in these challenging times. I’ll keep you updated on the reactions to my new intro.

By Sheela Prabhakaran
Write Thot Solutions
March 10, 2009