Idea Generator

Call for submissions: IAC VOICE

Now that the July issue of the IAC VOICE is "in the can," I am setting my sights on August and beyond.

Did you know that the VOICE has over 13,000 subscribers? And they could all be reading about you!

If you serve coaches in your business, or if you are a coach with an interesting methodology, niche or business practice, I would love to work with you to create an article for the VOICE.

Writing prompt: Submission guidelines are available on the website. All you really need at this point is a desire to submit and a mere inkling of an idea. Your next step? Email voice@certifiedcoach.org.

Stuck for your next article idea? Try an article date

When I read The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, it transformed my life and my business. At the time, I was a life coach specializing in self-care. The book opened my eyes to a group of people who really needed to practice good self-care - creative artists.

Cameron has a luscious practice called the artist date. It's a chance to woo your inner artist and inspire your creativity, whether you choose a casual field trip to a music store or museum or a more structured event like an artist retreat day.

I've noticed that when I take the time to step out of my comfort zone, visit new places, meet new people and do new things, I'm always rewarded with ideas. I wrote about this article idea generating strategy back  in May 2008 in the post "Want to write more? Get out more!".

Why not create a regular routine of taking these adventures? Not predictably enough to take away the spontaneity, but often enough to keep you guessing: what's going to happen THIS week? We could even call it an article date - what do you think?

Writing prompt: Been somewhere new and different lately? Revisit the adventure in your mind and be open to any possible connections with the issues and problems your target market are facing.

Write from the headlines: War, conflict, anger and fear

I was thinking the other day about how conflict and anger can so often be boiled down to simple fear. One person or a lot of people who are afraid they will lose something they cherish or not get something they covet.

We see it in the house, in the workplace, in the car (!), around the corner and around the world (sadly, just take your pick of stories in the International news).

Writing prompt: Here are some ideas for how you can explore the connection between anger and fear in a coaching article:

• Career coaches: 5 ways to respond calmly to an emotionally-charged conversation at work

• Life coaches: 5 ways to get re-centered instead of lashing out

• Money coaches: The 5 tricks that collection agents use to trigger your emotions and how to rise above them

• Relationship coaches: 5 questions to ask yourself before you confront your spouse in anger

• Parenting coaches:5 ways to address the real reason for your child's tantrum

• Business coaches:5 ways to keep business from getting personal

• Marketing coaches:The ethical approach to using scarcity as a marketing strategy

• Spiritual coaches:10 ways to cultivate faith when you're facing fear

Write from the headlines: The reinvention of GM after Chapter 11 bankruptcy

I was quite impressed by the television commercial that GM has been airing over the last couple of days, following their filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday.

Talk about taking a coach approach to failure! In fact, seeing this commercial actually left me with the feeling that the "real world" was finally coming into alignment with the "coaching world" that I have been part of since 2002.

Writing prompt: Whatever target market you serve as a coach, I bet that you have a thing or two to say to them about reinvention, failure and starting over. Why not write some of those things down in an article or blog post?

Write from the headlines: Negotiating the future of the auto industry

With GM Canada workers voting today on an agreement designed to keep GM operating in Canada, I started thinking about the skill of negotiation, and how it shows up in different parts of our lives.

Here are some suggested coaching article topics:

• Career coaches: 5 steps to negotiating your next pay raise

• Life coaches: 5 situations where negotiation and compromise can save your relationship

• Money coaches: 5 services you could be paying less for if you just asked

• Parenting coaches:5 tips for negotiating a curfew that everyone can feel good about

• Business coaches:10 ways to communicate your value so that customers will happily pay what you're worth

• Divorce coaches:10 negotiation strategies that will keep you out of divorce court

Writing prompt: How could improved negotiation skills help your specific target market?

Write from the headlines: Michelle's Obama's vegetable garden

I came across a local news blog post about Michelle Obama's vegetable garden at the White House, and then I followed up with a little more reading at the New York Times. It is exciting to think about how this seemingly small effort has the potential to influence so many important issues in the U.S. and the entire world - healthy eating, sustainability and other environmental, social and health concerns.

Here are some coaching article ideas that sprouted for me as I considered this topic:

• Parenting/Family coaches: 10 must-have's to start your own family garden

• Food/Cooking coaches: 10 vegetable side dishes from your organic garden

• Life coaches: 10 reasons that gardening is good for your soul

• Money coaches: 10 ways that healthier eating can save you money

Writing prompt: Did these topics spark any ideas for your newsletter or blog? What's the connection between your specialty area and the Obama garden?

Catching ideas for future blog posts

I noticed a couple of weeks ago that I was struggling to come up with my next Write From the Headlines post - there are no shortage of interesting news stories, but I wasn't making any immediate connections to coaching article topics.

I let it go (what else was I to do?) and my thoughts turned to how creativity under pressure is always a precarious situation.

So I've created an idea catcher (read more about idea catchers) - a worksheet that lists the types of coaching I've been addressing in previous Write From the Headlines posts, so I can keep it by the seat where I do most of my television news watching. I also carry a few in the car with me (to use only at stoplights, of course!), because I often listen t0 680 news while I drive.

This way, I can open my mind to possible article topic ideas throughout the week (instead of just when I do most of my blogging, which is Friday through Monday), and I have an easy way to jot them down.

It's a very simple solution - check out the worksheet here - but has already proven to be SO helpful!

Writing prompts: Is there a template, checklist or other idea catcher you can create as a quick and easy way to jot down content ideas for your newsletter or blog?

Vicki Pinkerton's Quest Across Canada

Vicki Pinkerton is a writer, creativity coach and visionary spirit. We did some of our coach training at CTI together back in the day (sometime between 2002 and 2004), and because we felt a connection, we've stayed connected.

Vicki's Quest Across Canada has been a long-time dream, and in just another week, she is making it come true!

When I heard about the party to celebrate Vicki's Quest, raise gas money and show our support, I couldn't wait to RSVP. I also thought immediately of the song I wanted to present to Vicki.

I've written before about the song "If I were brave," and how inspirational it is to me. Well, I think Vicki is incredibly brave to be doing what she's doing, and so I made up my mind to sing the song for her.

Songwriter Jimmy Scott was kind enough to send me the chord chart (thanks, Jimmy!). Unfortunately, I've strained my elbow/wrist and didn't feel up to playing the guitar last night. Thankfully, Rosanne Speckert stepped in to accompany me, quite artfully and quite possibly better than I would have played myself!

I am so glad I could be there to send Vicki off with my love, support and music. And I can't wait to follow her journey through email updates from her blog.

Click here to find out how you can help, and to sign up for Vicki's updates. Trust me - you will be enlightened, inspired and entertained.

Writing prompt: Coaching has been a big part of Vicki's life, both being coached and coaching others. There's no doubt those experiences played a role in her realizing this vision. What would you like to say to your clients/readers that might help them take their next step towards making their own dream come true? Here are some of my ideas for you:

• Career coaches: 10 ways to discover your dream job

• Life coaches: 10 baby steps to take towards your dream

• Money coaches: 10 things you can do today to start funding your dream

• Family/parenting coaches: 10 ways to keep your dream family vacation from becoming a nightmare

• Business coaches: 10 ways to incorporate your dream into your business plan

• Spiritual coaches: 10 questions to ask in meditation before you go after your dream

Please let me know if any of these titles sparked an idea for you!

Write from the headlines: Good news is the best news

I just heard a promotion that tonight on CityTV's 6:00 o'clock news they are only telling good news. I definitely plan to tune in and I'm looking forward to the positive spin.

[Update: 6:04 p.m. - It turns out that the good news stories will be interspersed with the "regular" news of the day.]

On the radio, I've been enjoying a new feature on 680 News, which now has regular good news reports on the air. They also collect good news stories on their website.

In the coaching world we talk a lot about positive affirmations, the Law of Attraction and the power to choose where we will focus our thoughts. But in the "real world" it's sometimes difficult to shield ourselves from the darker events going on in our communities and in the world.

Most of the time it feels like the media is the enemy of positive thinking, and our first defense against "doom and gloom" thinking is usually to turn OFF the news.

That's why it's so exciting to see these media outlets turning that around - even for just a few minutes a day or for one special broadcast.

Here are the coaching article topics I thought of in relation to this story:

• Executive coaches: 10 positive employee attributes you may be forgetting to praise

• Marketing coaches: 10 good news stories about your business that you could pitch to the media 

• Life coaches: 10 ways to put a positive spin on bad news

• Dating coaches: 10 positive topics to talk about on a first date

• Business coaches: 10 ways to use your influence to do some good

Writing prompt: Did these article topics spark any ideas for your own newsletter or blog? Are there any good news stories you could be sharing with your readers?

Write from the Headlines: A "Giant" leap for diabetes awareness in the Innu community of Labrador

This is not a brand new story. It was actually Wednesday, March 18th that Michel "Giant" Andrew completed a 300-km, five-walk solitary walk through the wilderness to raise awareness of the high rate of diabetes in his Innu community.

I saw this story last weekend on CBC National. You can watch the story or read more about Michel here.

I was fascinated to learn about Michel; not just his journey, but the bigger story this news report told of what's happening in his community (particularly their decision to ban alcohol in February 2008), and it led me to these possible coaching topics for your articles:

• Career coaches: How to turn around your past and create a new future


• Life coaches: How to keep going when the odds are stacked against you


• Parenting coaches: 10 signs your child may be involved with drugs or alcohol


• Business coaches: How to sell an unpopular idea


• Marketing coaches: How to sell people on what they need, when it's not what they want


• Spiritual coaches: How to express your inner spirit as a way of healing your outer world


• Non-profit sector coaches: How to rally a community into action

Writing prompt:Can you expand any of these titles into an article for your target market? Please comment below - I would love to hear what you do with it!