Why are technical terms a trap
As a specialist, your clients will always understand far less about your craft than you do. That also means that if they fail to understand something crucial about the value you provide and want to charge for, that’s not really on them. Unfortunately, that’s on you.
Once upon a time, a clever team of experts created a delicious but very special hamburger. It completely lacked conjugate linoleic acid, which they substituted with myofibrillar protein using truly ground-breaking science. But it was expensive to make, and hungry customers simply ignored all conveniently placed information about the dangers of Read more…
The doctor sat back. ‘Fairly straightforward,’ he said, thinking quickly. ‘A case of mortis portalis tackulatum with complications.’ ‘What’s that mean?’ said Chidder. ‘In layman’s terms,’ the doctor sniffed, ‘he’s as dead as a doornail.’ ‘What are the complications?’ The doctor looked shifty. ‘He’s still breathing,’ he said. ‘Look, his Read more…
How do you respond when someone asks you “what do you do?”. If you are like most people, you will answer with a noun: I’m a surgeon. I’m a translator. I’m a CPA. Of course, the noun you use is just a shortcut, a code word for many activities which you regularly do, Read more…
It’s always good to talk about important things. Let me tell you something about the qualities of my best friend: he has two ears, two eyes, and a nose. Are those important? Absolutely. Is mentioning this useful? Absolutely not. There’s a simple test for weeding out these kinds of statements, which often bloat pitches, copy, Read more…
The 99-cent double cheeseburger… to make it, you have to feed, raise and slaughter cows, grind their meat then freeze it and ship it to its destination, but also grow some wheat and process it until it’s whiter than queen Elizabeth the 1st. Also, learn to milk cows and then Read more…