“A word after a word after a word is power.” — Margaret Atwood
Hi! You don’t know me, but you actually do. I’m Allison Webster, the blog writer here at Staff Shop. That’s right, I’m the mysterious person behind the curtain producing content each month on behalf of Staff Shop, Jennifer and Alison. While they’re busy running a growing business, I’m researching and writing on the topic for the month. That isn’t to say they are completely hands off, but I’ll get to that later.
A Bit About Me
I’ve always been a creative person. I have always had an appreciation for the arts. Painting, drawing, music, and writing. When it came time to apply for university, I was drawn to writing courses, which led me to select York University’s Professional Writing program as my first choice.
I’m a rare breed, you see, I actually made a career out of my university arts degree. My first job out of school was working for a local magazine, writing pieces and assisting the editor with articles about local businesses and people. You can say this is where my love of small businesses began.
Unfortunately, a recession hit and cutbacks were necessary, and I was a casualty of the circumstances. This led me to live the starving artist lifestyle for a few years, working as a barista. But even during my coffee shop days, I was writing on a personal blog that I’d started, where I found a community of young bloggers from around the world. I also had a modest side hustle as a freelance writer and copy editor.
I restarted my professional writing career in 2014, when I was hired as a content writer for Metroland Media’s digital division. Once again, I was profiling small and medium sized businesses. I continued my side hustle, blogging and writing for a few select clients. However, the media landscape was shifting, and I was once again laid off from my full time job.
Then a pandemic hit, and any hope I had of getting a new job in my field died. But then, through the power of networking, an opportunity to blog for Staff Shop was presented to me. Staff Shop was looking for a freelance writer to do their monthly blogs for them, so I compiled a packet and submitted myself for consideration.
The rest is history. I have been blogging for Staff Shop since September 2020. Jennifer and Alison took a chance on me based on my qualifications and since then we have fostered a meaningful working relationship. Though I am a freelancer, I genuinely feel like part of the team.
How to Work with a Ghostwriter – The Staff Shop Way
Working with Staff Shop has been a dream. Over the years we have established a process that works for us, so maybe I’ll share our secret to success.
It’s important to note that Staff Shop is a 100% remote business. Everyone works from their own home offices or shared workspaces. This means that I don’t have to live in the same city as Jennifer and Alison. All our meetings are virtual.
Here is how we make it work:
- Collaboration: Sure, you can hand your writer the keys and let them drive, but what you end up with may not align well with your values. The reason our partnership has lasted so long is that we work together on each and every blog. Yes, I do the heavy lifting of producing the content, but Jennifer and Alison choose the topic and together we decide on a direction. We do this through monthly meetings. Each month we meet to discuss our next topic. Sometimes, other members of the team are brought in to discuss a topic that they are a subject matter expert on, so we get new and different perspectives each time. Early on, I needed a bit more hand-holding, as I was still learning about their business culture, voice. And style, but now we have this pretty much figured out. Our process goes more or less smoothly each month. Jennifer and Alison do a final edit and review, and they say when it’s approved.
- Trust: When hiring a writer, you need to be selective based on who you think you can work best with. You also need to have a level of trust in them, that they will carry your voice forward and cast a positive light on your business. One of the major benefits of hiring a ghostwriter is to free up your own time, so you need to trust that they will get the job done without you having to intervene or do heavy rewrites. The point is to delegate this task onto someone else.
- Teamwork: Make your writer feel like part of the team! This will improve the quality of your content, as they will feel more connected to your business. For me, Staff Shop isn’t just my client, they are my colleagues in a way. We have built relationships over the years. It’s more than transactional, it’s personal. This works for us and allows us to produce better content together.
Why Start a Blog for Your Business?
I believe that Content Marketing is an important way to spread your business’s message in the digital space. Having sharable, clickable content is pretty much necessary these days. It’s also important to keep a pulse on what’s trending in your industry and topics you are passionate about. You will have noticed that sometimes the Staff Shop blog tackles topics such as health and wellness, while other times we share business-specific tips. It’s all about variety. Some of our stories are deeply personal, while others are more fact-based. Regardless of the topic or trends we aim to lead or follow, we always provide value to our readers.
Having a blog is also a great way to freshen up your website content on a regular basis. When you have monthly blogs, with trending topics, you are more likely to show up on search engines.
You can also cross promote your blogs on social media, to ensure more eyes will see it.
Jennifer and Alison’s Takes
“Allison has been a dream to work with. She’s a great writer but it takes more than that – she listens to understand, she respects our style in alignment with our brand and she’s saved me countless hours that I will forever be grateful for. Hiring a writer like her is a no brainer for any business!” — Jennifer Ménard-Shand, CEO & Founder
“They always say, stick to what you are best at. We are great at running our business, and Allison is great at telling our stories! Teaming up with a talented writer who can turn our thoughts into an engaging story has really boosted our ability to show the world who we really are. She has taken the time to understand the DNA of our organization and as a result, we get to put our best content out there without worry.” — Alison “Ali” Hernández, Chief Operating Officer
Contact Us
- For staffing inquiries, contact Staff Shop today!
- For information about hiring a blogger, visit Allison Webster – Professional Writer – Digital Content Producer.
- You can also connect with me on LinkedIn.
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” — Maya Angelou
