"I Am a Copywriter: If You’re in Copywriting Training and Struggling, I’m Talking To You"

Hello, and happy Monday, readers.

A sort of preface. This piece was originally a lengthy Facebook post addressed mainly to one struggling person. Not that that’s a bad thing — writing to one person that is. When we write copy, we write copy for one person — our ideal customer or ideal client.

Person to person.

That is how American Writers and Artists Inc. (AWAI) trains copywriters to think about their craft. And I am now a copywriter.

But since others might be interested, it dawned on me that what I wrote on Facebook might find an audience here on LinkedIn as well.

So I offer it here.

I’ve changed the beginning, but otherwise done only light editing.

I am a freelance copywriter. AWAI and Boswell Enterprises have been training me. I still have things to learn from both. I’ve picked up ideas from others, often about business-building more generally, sometimes emphasizing different things, but pretty-much always consistent with AWAI training. 

I started out learning to ask the following questions. If you’re reading, it might be good to stop periodically and work out your answers to them. They are very important. Your answers won’t guarantee you success. Nothing can do that. Bypass them, though, and you almost guarantee failure.

First, what is your vision? Why do you want to make money writing? What is your Big Why? I like to call it. If you don't have a Big Why, you're in danger of not succeeding ... just in case money is not your biggest motivator in life (as it wasn't/isn't for me).

Let’s put it this way: there are things you can do with money that you can’t do without it. That wasn’t so hard, now, was it? 

That said, your vision has to be more than just monetizing your writing.

So what is your Big Why? 

Maybe to do something that really helps others, or helps your community, or supports a cause you believe in, or write a really big novel. Or just be a hero to your sons (success coach Ted Capshaw’s Big Why). 

Be sure to have a Big Why, and write it out in complete sentences. 

Second (and I knew this before I’d heard of AWAI): no one ever became financially independent with a J.O.B. (stands for Just Over Broke) ... unless you are working for someone who is really, really rich. Most people don’t have that luxury). 

If you have a J.O.B., you’re not being paid what YOU’RE worth — there’s no price on that — you’re paid what the J.O.B. is worth.

And your time is not your own. You’re trading your time for money, for a fixed income. That is time gone, time you could have used to improve yourself. 

So own your own business!

If you own your own business, you at least put yourself in a position to attain financial independence, live the writer's life, make a difference with your Big Why. 

Third, you can choose to get a university degree and end up with (let's say) 35K or more in student loan debt. And then find out that your degree is largely worthless because your professors taught you all the latest PC BS and how to virtue-signal, but didn’t give you any real marketable skills.

That’s sort of, kind of, the problem with higher ed today. Trust me on this. I am a copywriter, but I’m also an ex-academic.

On second thought, no, don’t even get me started! 

What you can do is invest in one or more of AWAI’s programs, perhaps spend a few K,  and gain skills you can start to use immediately ... although it takes self-discipline and it takes work. They don’t supervise you. 

My point? Be prepared to make a financial investment in your future.

And then realize, once you’ve made the investment, you have to follow the principles to the letter, though.

Or you won’t get your money’s worth and succeed when it comes time to build your business.

Here’s a thought. Identify those who have succeeded and built successful copywriting businesses, model what they did to become successful, and then begin copying what they did as closely as you can. 

A lot of times, you can just ask them. Most are very personable and eager to help you.

And then be patient. Remember the Law of the Harvest. 

Fourth, if you’re on your own ... starting your business ... you have to develop what Joshua T Boswell calls an ownership mindset.

You own the business; you create the plan and all long-term goals, short-term objectives, and all the structure you need to bring them into reality. You make the time and the space to get things done. 

As opposed to a J.O.B. mindset again, where the structure has been created for you, a boss tells you want to do (something that, frankly, drove me nuts!), and all you have to do is show up on time and follow orders. And not ruffle the wrong feathers. 

The point? Accept the responsibility that comes with ownership. It’s yours! Savor it! Relish it!

Fifth, as just suggested, you have to manage your time. AWAI has some good things on this, and I've discovered a few more on my own. Joshua Boswell has a fantastic program entitled Millionaire Time Management (can’t link to that, sorry) which I recommend. Go to his website (link above) and seek it out.

Because there's a saying: if time can't be managed, nothing else can be managed.

When you manage time, though, you’re really managing yourself.

How do you go about it?  

The best thing to do: each night, identify your biggest priority for the next day. Write it down. If you have a second priority, write that down, too. 

But don't write down too many priorities, or else you don't have any priorities.

Be sure your priorities are moving the needle towards eventually fulfilling your Big Why. 

Review it, and your immediate priorities before you go to bed at night, so they will work their way into your subconscious. 

Determine when you are going to engage in specific tasks. Schedule your day. Don’t leave these things to chance.

Do this for each day, each week, each month.

Establish goals. Set deadlines to create urgency. 

Then do something every day! Take action! Always remember, it’s up to you. You’re the owner. You don’t have a J.O.B. No boss is standing over you.

Involve trusted others who will hold you accountable and get (lovingly!) on your case if you're just sitting there and not making progress. 

And when you accomplish something big, go ahead and reward yourself. Go out to dinner with your spouse or significant other. Have a good time.

If you’ve accomplished something really, really big, take a few days off. Take a trip! You’ve earned it!

Sixth, getting back home and before you can do that: view your work on an AWAI program, or any other program, as just that: work.

It’s not a hobby. 

Having invested money in your future, now be sure you invest the time and effort. 

(Note that I’m calling these investments, not just expenses.)

What to do: focus on the program and what it recommends that you do.

I use a technique called the Pomodoro Technique. I’ll write an article about that in the near future.

What not to do: check email, talk or play games on your phone, surf on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter, surf on news sites.

You are at work, confound it!

Focus, focus, focus on the program in front of you. 

And practice, practice, practice. 

I’m talking not just to you but to myself, too. I’d be the first to admit, I’ve fallen down on these points, occasionally lost my focus. Sometimes for a week or two. Every time, I paid the price. It slowed my progress towards my goal of getting quality clients in my niche: personal development, in case you can’t guess ... because it’s something I've become enthusiastic about. A definite component of my Big Why.

Incidentally, I read somewhere that it takes around 10,000 hours of practice to gain real expertise at anything. I’m sure copywriting is no exception. 

Seventh, speaking of enthusiasm, make sure you pick a niche that you’re truly enthusiastic about ... find what business coach Rich Schefren calls your sweet spot.

It may not lead to the absolutely highest paying projects in the world. 

I get the impression, the most lucrative copywriting niche is the financial one.

I realized, early on, I couldn’t get excited about writing financial newsletters. That’s just not me. For those who have that excitement, more power to them.

What I can get excited about are some of the people I see working in the self-improvement industry. Success coaches and the like: full of energy, their eyes ablaze with infectious enthusiasm and sincere caring, their obvious drive to help others!

Don’t go into this just for the money. It’ll show up in your copy, and you won’t make points with either your clients if you get any or their customers.

Identify the niche that’s right for you, that fits your personality and values, by asking what really sets you ablaze, so that you don’t have to create artificial motivators to get yourself out of bed in the morning. 

Eighth: learn from the ancient Stoic philosopher Epictetus that there is a difference between what you can control and what is not in your control.

Not in our control is the fact that AWAI and other such enterprises are businesses that make a lot of money selling programs (are they too expensive? who can say?). 

Not in our control is that fact that financial copywriters at Agora make even more.

Within your control is your attitude, your mindset, your values. Your decision to take those action steps and design your morning for productive work in the niche that best fits you. Your sweet spot. 

Obsess over things that are not in your control, you set yourself up for failure.

I had to learn this the hard way, too.  

You’ll make mistakes. We all do (and trust me, some of mine have been lulus!). 

But if you put the past in the past, once you’ve learned its lessons, develop a can-do attitude; adopt a growth mindset as opposed to a fixed mindset; begin to value the lives and well-being of others, and your developing ability to help them solve their problems ... you put yourself on the right path. The path to success. Always remembering that this is work just like any other kind of work. There are no short cuts and hidden get-rich-quick schemes, so don’t look for them. 

Have I become financially independent as a copywriter?

Not yet.

But I am on the path, and it is a path I chose.

I work every day except Sundays (the Lord’s day).

I am a freelance copywriter.