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Lesson 1: Stop writing “can”

Company X can assist you with ___________________.

Does this sound familiar when you’re looking for a product or service? What about this on a cover letter from an applicant looking to get hired:

I can work well in a team or unsupervised.

Stop saying can! “Can” simply means you have the potential ability to. It doesn’t mean you will, it doesn’t mean you excel, and it doesn’t mean you’re better than anyone else.

Uncertainty avoidance is when a cultural group avoids a level of uncertainty. Different cultural groups tolerate different levels of uncertainty or ambiguity, however when it comes to making a pitch — whether that be to make a sale, to set yourself apart as an authority figure, or to be employed — makin...

I was talking with a Turkish startup friend of mine, giving him advice on his new site and proofreading his English writing. He hasn’t yet launched his service, and I offered to put it through userinput.io so that he could get feedback on the site and know how to improve it.

He said “well, let’s wait until I launch the site, then I will get feedback.”

And I said “No no no no no, let’s do it before.”

I’ll explain why I was so adamant.

When you finally launch your site, whether it’s a startup or an e-commerce or a portfolio site, you want it to be awesome, of course. And not just “awesome” but it needs to explain your offering clearly, create trust in the visitor, and not have confusing UX/UI and flow.

And the best time to get feedback on you...