About the Writer—Suzi Elton
Guiding Values and Beliefs
Before I go into my background, here are the values and beliefs that guide my business.
My #1 Priority Is Increasing Your Revenue, Profit, and Number of Clients
Whatever we do and however we work together, I will keep you focused on the financial aspects of your business. What will work for you to attract your target market? How can you increase your revenue? What strategic changes could increase your profit?
You Need To Work Strategically To Get the Best Financial Results
If you don’t have a strategy in place, you’re probably simply doing a lot of random activities and believing you’re “doing OK”. You can count on me to help you with your business strategy, in addition to your writing.
You Must Have a Clearly Delineated Target Market To Attract The Clients You Want
If you don’t know who the target is, you can’t aim for them. You wouldn’t recognize a member of that market when they’re in front of you. Worse, they will not recognize that you are the solution they’ve been looking for.
Your Qualifications Close The Sale
I believe in helping clients “play to their strengths”. We create offerings where it will be easy for them to close a sale and bring new clients onboard. There’s no point in making your sales cycle difficult. Make it easy for prospects to decide to become clients.
The Greater Clarity You Start With, the Better Finished Product (Writing) You End Up With
We can start “from scratch” to build your business from the ground up. That’s no problem, but the more effort you put in on the front end, the happier you will be with your end product.
I Want Only Ecstatically Satisfied Clients
Delighted clients is my big thrill. Besides, clients who are thrilled are more likely to send me clients and referrals and spread my positive reputation.
Ecstatically Satisfied Clients Happen Organically When We Stick To Our Target Market and Strongest Skills
Work with the clients you get best results with. Don’t go off target. When you do, those clients often won’t be satisfied, and they’ll likely not be profitable for you. Work with those clients who benefit from your strongest skills. They’ll get great results…and be delighted with your work together.
This Business Is The Result Of Numerous Episodes Unfolding Over Time
This business has unfolded over time much like a story with episodes—each episode contributing something that led to creating my unique services.
Natural Skill
Starting about 5th or 6th grade, all my language testing scores were always at the 12th grade level. I never thought anything of this because it was “normal” to me. My strongest natural skills discovered as a child.
During high school, I was blessed with Sister Alberta, my English teacher. She was a language genius and took a special interest in my abilities. Those four years she taught me English far exceeded any college classes I ever took later. In those days, we intensively diagrammed sentences, studied and discussed literature, and drilled on tenses and spelling. I loved every minute of it!
My Mom Was a Mini Tycoon
I grew up learning how to win new business with superior customer service and unique products. My mother was an entrepreneur without even knowing what that word meant. Because we had a big family, she started baking cakes in our kitchen to sell. She eventually became a mini-tycoon in the bakery business, putting ordinary bakeries (her competitors) out of business with her ingenuity and creativity.
Corporate Marketing and Sales Background
The next episode was a 20 year stint in corporate settings. I worked in sales and marketing departments—mainly at high tech companies. Though I started at the bottom of the bottom, I ended up working for top corporate officers. It’s amazing how much marketing savvy rubs off on you with years of total immersion. I was always the one to craft perfect sales language and diplomatically convincing prose. I learned the art of sales and marketing communications.
Technical Writer—Self Employed
During the next episode, I started my own wildly successful technical writing business. For most of the 90’s, during the heyday of the Silicon Valley, I wrote software manuals and internal manuals for major companies. I did work for Oracle, Visa, Charles Schwab, and other top corporate entities, as well as many startups.
My unique value was combining technical writing with technical illustration and book design. While other technical writers only wrote, I produced complete free standing final books that required no other vendor’s work. One of my specialties is the ability to do a single illustration that summarizes an entire technical manual or a complicated process.
I tied for top honors for my business plan from the San Francisco Renaissance program. This is a San Francisco city-funded entrepreneur training center and business incubator). Their one-year (two nights a week) Business Plan course set me on the road to being an accomplished business woman.
After Microsoft lost its lawsuit regarding contractors vs. employees, I was forced to become a C Corporation.Without that, I would have been unable to continue to getting technical writing contracts. Boy, did I learn a lot about business through incorporating and operating as a corporation!
Certified Coach—Millionaire Mind Coach
In 2000, the crash of the Silicon Valley coincided with my computer injury. While I took time out to rehabilitate physically, the doctor advised me I’d be crippled for the rest of my life. That was not something I would accept and I spent years rehabilitating myself instead.
However, it did necessitate also rehabbing my career because computer work was impossible for many years. During that time, I spent two years training as a coach. In 2003, I became a certified coach, getting my CTP (Coach Training Program) certificate from Coach U.
Through a string of fortunate incidents, I became a contract Success Coach for Harv T. Eker’s motivational company, Peak Potentials. Harv wrote the book, “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind”. The focus of the coaching was to help clients work toward and gain their financial freedom. For four years, I coached hundreds of their clients about the information in the program:
- What is financial freedom? How does one achieve it?
- Invest your money in productive assets rather than non-productive “stuff”.
- Create passive income.
- Create a business:
- Base your business on a strategy.
- Brainstorm business ideas.
- Refine and develop a unique niche.
- Create marketing materials.
- Put together tag lines, business names, and business collateral.
Some of the things I became expert at:
- Intuitive assessment of a client’s situation
- Phone coaching expertise
- How to get best results from a client no matter their ability
- Bring out the best in a client and support their growth
Robert Middleton Action Plan Coaching Training
In 2007, I applied for the Action Plan Marketing Coach Certification program that Robert Middleton taught. The program lasted almost a full year and trained us on every aspect of his materials. What I found especially interesting was his Web Site Tool Kit package. In fact, the brilliance of this tool was the deciding factor in my choice to train with Robert.
As part of our program, Robert required us to produce a web site to his specifications. Until we did that, he would not list us as coaches on his site. I spent most of a year laboring over my web site. Robert spent many hours tutoring me personally on the intricacies of writing effective web site content. Now, I’ve done so much of this type of writing that I could practically do it in my sleep. It’s an art. It’s a science. It’s a great challenge.
In 2008, I became a Robert Middleton certified Action Plan Marketing© coach. As an Action Plan Marketing coach, I helped clients implement Robert’s techniques, write the full range of marketing materials, and create and implement marketing strategies and action plans.
Typically, my clients quickly doubled, tripled and even quadrupled their incomes—usually doing less work than they had been doing before we worked together. To me, it’s a lot of fun to help entrepreneurs find the words that perfectly describe their business and artfully attract exactly targeted clients.
I’m Here to Serve You and Am Dedicated to Building Your Business
My primary objective in working with clients is to increase their financial results. I love writing and helping clients capture the essence of their services and crafting the words and concepts that attract their target market.
I completely understand your challenges in distinguishing yourself in a crowded field of competitors. I’m a certified coach with a broad-spectrum business background. It’s a delight to combine writing, marketing and coaching techniques. I enjoy eliciting a finely drawn portrait of your business and your contributions to the world.
It’s fun to create compelling copy for you that attracts clients and increases your business revenue. Small business owners quietly go about changing the world. I’m here to help you “toot your horn” in those subtle, clear, and effective ways that bring your work to a much wider audience.
Where to Next?
Now that know more about Suzi, go to the Portfolio page to see work that I’ve done for other consultants and coaches.Read what they say about their experience of working with me.