What Can You Expect When Working with Me? Hear from Product Leadership Coach Petra Wille

I began working with Petra Wille, product leadership coach and author of STRONG Product People, in the autumn of 2020. Petra had just finished writing her book and knew that she wanted to ramp up her blog and social media presence to coincide with the book’s publication in early 2021. I am super grateful that my longtime client and friend Teresa Torres of Product Talk recommended me to Petra and introduced the two of us!

Working with Petra has been so much fun. I love helping her find ways to bring her ideas to life and repurpose her existing content. Our work together feels like a true collaboration. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Here’s what Petra has to say about our work together.

How did you decide you needed help with content? 

While I was writing my book, I worked with an editor. This experience taught me how much it helps to work with someone who has expertise in a particular format and understands how to optimize it for a specific audience. And writing a book is totally different from writing a blog post, so I was looking for someone who had experience in writing for the web. As a non-native English speaker, I also wanted someone who could edit my writing. And finally, as a busy coach who has a lot of ideas but not so much time to execute on them, I wanted to find someone who could partner with me on bringing my ideas to life. 

What made you decide to work with Melissa?

I knew I needed someone who was familiar with the web and blog posts, so I reached out to colleagues I trust to see what they’re doing. Teresa Torres of Product Talk recommended Melissa. Not only did I trust her recommendation, but the fact that Melissa had background knowledge in product was super cool. I didn’t really need to explain much about my industry or work—we could just dive in right away!

How would you describe working with Melissa?

It really feels like a team effort. Sometimes I’ll have the beginning of an idea—something I’m not even sure of what the final product would be—and Melissa can help me really formulate it and bring it to life. For example, I had some comments that I’d received on LinkedIn, but I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with them. Melissa came up with a framework and structure so we could use those comments to recommend other resources. She essentially created something out of nothing. There’s no way I could have done that on my own!

Sometimes I’ll have the beginning of an idea—something I’m not even sure of what the final product would be—and Melissa can help me really formulate it and bring it to life.

And even when I think a post is already nice and shiny when I share it with Melissa, she still has a lot to add. I am amazed with every piece—they always turn out better than I anticipated. Even after working together for more than a year, I still find myself thinking, ‘Wow, that’s a really nice blog post. I’m glad we wrote it!’ 

I also just enjoy our monthly calls. Even though we’re halfway across the world from each other, there’s such a nice atmosphere for catching up and discussing what we can do. 

What results have you seen since working with Melissa?

I’m saving a ton of time. It used to take me about five hours to finish a blog post, which included time to refine the idea and outline, toggle back and forth between English and German, and revise it. Now I only have to spend the initial hour or two on the concept and Melissa takes care of the rest. 

I’m also able to execute a lot more now, too, since I can just share an inkling of an idea with Melissa and she’ll just run with it. 

And now I’m creating content consistently. It used to drive me nuts that I had so many ideas but didn’t have time to put them out there. Working with Melissa means I can publish blog posts every week, put my newsletter out every quarter, and share content on social media nearly every day.

Who do you think could benefit from working with Melissa?

Anyone who cares about putting out high-quality, well-formatted content. 

Interested in working with me? Fill out this form or email me at melissa AT melissasuzuno DOT com to explore how we might be able to partner on a project!

Main image photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash