Christa in New York

What we write online matters more than we know. A few weeks ago, I went to Terroir Wine Bar’s new location in Tribeca with my friend, Sara. My friend, Amanda, and I went to their location in the East Village a while back and I loved it so when this new one opened right near my office I had to check it out. I enjoyed it so much that I wrote a Yelp review, clicked submit, and never gave it a second thought.

About a week later I heard from Neil Squillante, Founder of Technolawyer, a social media company that writes a series of newsletters and a blog covering product reviews, technology tips, and other helpful information for lawyers and law firms of all shapes and sizes. He enjoyed my review on Yelp and then clicked to my profile to see what I do for a living. Seeing that I am a freelance writer and a product developer for a large company, he asked if I knew anyone who might be interested in freelance B2B (business-to-business) writing. I replied, “Yes. Me.”

Several weeks, a few emails back and forth, and a face-to-face meeting later, he asked if I would be interested in doing some freelance writing work for Technolawyer. I never thought a review on Yelp would lead to a freelance writing gig so I certainly didn’t write the review of Terroir for that reason. It’s a great wine bar with an exceptionally wonderful staff, so I wrote the piece in the hopes that it would get them some business. That small piece turned out to be the epitome of a textbook win-win scenario. Or karma, depending on your point-of-view.

Neil looked through my blog, gave me some solid advice about writing, life, and entrepreneurship, and then asked if I’d write about a particular area of my own expertise: positive thinking. While not strictly a required competency for a lawyer, it certainly helps get the job done. Positive thinking particularly helps people, lawyers or not, in this economy. It certainly has helped me and now I hope my post helps others, too.

My article posted on Technolawyer’s blog yesterday. Have a look at http://blog.technolawyer.com/2010/06/remain-sane.html

I must remember to send Yelp a thank you note. It just goes to show that what we put out into the online ether can have far more significance than we ever imagined. Neil’s working on my next writing mission for Technolawyer. I’ll let you know how this unfolds.