Laura Brown is an author and writing coach interviewed for her advice on building a remarkable business and leading a remarkable life. For business, she advises to ask customers what they need, make your service memorable by being more of yourself, and ensure your business brings more than just money when looking back at age 80. For life, she recommends learning who you are rather than who others want you to be, using your gifts and talents, and making a daily commitment to serve others.

1. “You can construct a
life that is not yours if
you’re not careful
enough to learn who
you really are.”
Remarkable ideas from LAURA BROWN

2. This Readitfor.me Remarkable
Business // Remarkable Life
interview is with Laura Brown.
She’s a New York based author
and writing coach who has
taught writing to just about
everyone from corporate
executives to high school
students. She has over 25 years
experience providing customized
training and business writing
and consulting on business
writing projects.

3. ? What are your top
three pieces of advice
for building a
remarkable business

4. Ask your customers
what they need, don't
tell them. 1

5. It’s good to know what your
strengths are, but where you
really start to connect and
have success is when you start
meeting the needs of your
customers.

6. Make your service
memorable, by being
more of yourself. 2

7. People like to do business with
people that they like. You can do
it in all kinds of ways. I think in
general whatever you are doing,
give them more than they expect
and they will remember it and
they will remember you.

8. Imagine you are 80 years old
looking back over your career
- what did your business
bring you more than money? If
your answer is nothing,
change your business.
3

9. More money is great, but making
a difference in the world and in
other peoples lives is much
greater. As entrepreneurs we
have an opportunity to steer our
careers in directions that are
meaningful in addition, to being
lucrative.

10. If you believe in what you are
doing, if you care about what
you are doing, if you’re
passionate about it, you’re going
to do a better job.

11. ? what are your top
three pieces of advice
for leading a
remarkable life

12. 1 Learn who you are,
not who other people
want you to be.

13. We all grow up with
expectations from other people.
If you never stop and question
those at the end of the day, you
are betraying yourself.

14. You really need to pay attention
to yourself especially when you
are young — it is very hard to
tease out what makes you feel
good, different from what
satisfies your parents, or makes
them proud of you.

15. You can construct a life that is
not yours if you’re not careful
enough to learn who you really
are. It takes time. You grow and
you study yourself and you
respect yourself. I think that is
the key to a happy life.

16. It's your duty to use
the gift and talents
you've been given. 2

17. You’re probably perfectly able to
sit in your job and push pieces
of paper and respond to emails.
If you have a gift and a passion
that’s just sitting there I think it
is a terrible shame to go through
your life and never explore it.

18. I think a lot of people have a
glimmer of the sense that they
do have these gifts. A way to
explore that is to become
attuned to yourself and notice
what you enjoy.

19. Make a commitment
to serve others,
every single day. 3

20. If we’re working for ourselves
we get absorbed in ourselves.
We have a lot of problems to
solve on a daily basis. If you
are running your own
business you are pulled in a
million different directions.

21. I have check-ins with myself
every day. Every morning I get
up and I’ve usually made a list
the night before of the things
that I need to do for my
business so I check that list.
That’s something that I remind
myself, every morning do
something for someone else.

22. Learn more about LAURA BROWN:
howtowriteanything.com
laurabrowncommunications.com
Twitter: @ToWriteAnything

23. readitfor.me
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Commit 1% of your working hours
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we will create a $1,000 scholarship
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24. Best-selling business books turned into 12-minute animated videos