You are a writer, so write

As a writer you have a very important job. You have to convey in words your ideas, strategies, and reasons why someone else should read what you have to say.

You didn't know you were a writer did you?

Well you are.

Every email you send, every letter you write, invoice you raise, advertisement, website, assignment, report, article and e-zines are ways you "speak" to your "audience".

Imagine then if your words had the power to make or break your business? Well I have news for you - they do. Just like we were pulled up for bad grammar, poor spelling and terrible sentence construction at school, so our audience is doing the same thing to the words they see. Words we have written.

Job applications with one or more spelling errors are not usually chosen by a recruiter. The reason is a simple one. If the job advertisement asked for "attention to detail" - you have proven with a single document that you do not have it. Did you also know that your application is used as a good (or bad) example of the answer to their question of - do you have good written communication skills or not?

Translate that into the workplace.

How many of you use e-mail as your primary source of communication with your clients? (Puts hands up). How many of you use the draft function - so you have a chance to re-read your e-mail before you hit the send button? How many of you use the spell-check function? Taking a look at the font you use, it is the same as the signature panel? I know it's pedantic, but it does jar if there are multiple colours, fonts and sizes in a single e-mail. If you are trying to impress a client, would they be impressed or not? Given that the words we use are only a small percentage of whether or not our message gets across to a potential client, can you now see why it becomes important to employ a few of the writer's tools. This is especially true for the students out there, a couple of other tips for you. If you really want to know what your words sound like (from someone else's perspective), then make a habit of reading the words aloud. You'd be amazed at how fast you can tighten up your writing, you will spot the not-so obvious grammatical errors and even pick up the spelling mistakes (correctly spelled words, used in the wrong places).

Is it time to take your written communication to the next level?