Getting It Backwards

“It is always easier to believe than to deny. Our minds are naturally affirmative.”
– John Burroughs, Naturalist and Essayist

In This Issue:

Getting It Backwards
by Krista Jones

Last week, one of my mentoring “students” was considering taking advantage of a self-marketing opportunity that can easily make her career. The downside is if she does it before she’s ready, she could blow her career.

This courageous lady was ready to apply, but sought my advice before making the move. Well, let me tell you, she is quite talented and I’m confident she will do well in the industry. But, I was still a little nervous about telling her to go for it.

As I considered how to respond to her, I remembered a situation I was in back in the summer of 1986…

It was the last quarter of grad school and I was attempting to finish my thesis. Although I’m usually a fairly positive thinker, at the time I was mired in doubt, thinking I would never finish it on time.

Here’s why:

I needed to collect about six inches of rainfall data in order to complete the thesis, but we were in the middle of an unusually dry summer. About a month before my thesis was due, my computer, which contained the only record of everything I had written, crashed. And…my thesis advisor, who was renowned for being extremely tough on women, wasn’t the least bit interested in granting me an extension.

I was stressed out to say the least!

Well, one night I was bellyaching about my plight over pizza with George, my good friend and mentor. George listened for a while and then he told me I would finish my thesis on time.

And then he added, “But you will have to believe it before you see it.”

George always looked at life differently than anyone else I had ever known, and I usually loved him for it. But that night I was put off that he didn’t give my crisis the weight it deserved. Fortunately, about 15 minutes later I came to my senses and realized George was absolutely right.

The next day I started concentrating on reconstructing my thesis. I focused on it so much that I lost track of myself. I stayed up very late most nights, missed a few parties, and even skipped a class or two to rewrite the report. As it turned out, it was much better than the original.

And yes, the rains came in time, and I finished and successfully defended my thesis on time.

Which brings me back to my talented student.

How silly of me to hesitate to encourage her to apply for the opportunity to market her services nationwide. After all, she is doing exactly what she should do to jumpstart her copywriting business: Believing it before she sees it.

That’s what I had to do to build my business—and it’s what you’ll have to do too.

Belief is much more than a feeling. When you believe something is true, you automatically do things that align with that belief. It’s those actions (staying up late to complete a goal, getting a coach, or taking advantage of a powerful self-promotion opportunity) that bring the results you’re looking for.

So if you’re sitting back thinking “I’ll believe it when I see it” as you pursue your copywriting goals, you’re getting it backwards.

You’ll be much better off if you let go of your old identity so you can focus more heavily on what’s in front of you. Then you’ll start to see the results you want more quickly.

Resource Referral: There’s Still Time

By now you know how important Monica and I feel AWAI’s Fast Track to Success program (i.e., Bootcamp) can be on getting your copywriting career going. If not, take a minute to look at the personal invitation Monica has extended for you to attend this year’s Bootcamp: http://www.awaionline.com/monicastory/

Several weeks ago we made you a special offer: Be one of the first 20 CP readers to enroll in Bootcamp and you can join our peer critique group in Delray Beach.

Many people took us up on the offer, but several wrote us to say they were still thinking about it. We know it can be a hard leap to take, but we’re serious when we say attending a Bootcamp can be the break you’ve been looking for in your budding career.

If you’re still considering attending, we still have a few seats left. We hope to see you there!

Reader Feedback: A Little Big Sister Advice

Katherine K. wrote us the other day with a great question that I wanted to share with you:

“I need a little big sister advice if you could be so kind: I’m spending time on copywriting every day. Averaging about 4 - 5 hours a day. I know if I keep plugging away and practicing I will win success. But Bootcamp etc. is not in my budget at the moment.

However, because I’m not up and running as far as a great income goes. Barely keeping my nose above water actually. I have what I think is a "great" idea — but I want to ask your opinion.

Top 25 Great Home-Based businesses (Yahoo July 2007) include five that I have done myself in this life — 4 on my own, 1 working for a hospital (medical transcription).

But with medical background — the 3 copywriting assignments also have been in medical — I have this Idea!

I met this successful woman like ourselves — two kids — business owner — six digit income — through impressive Internet web site and on the phone.

So, there is this home-based business one of the top 25. This is a Medical Billing business! Everything is laid out — made easy — like paint-by-number.

This woman became six-digit pretty fast doing this. I’m thinking until my copywriting kicks in — I will keep doing it 4 - 5 hours a day no matter — that perhaps I could do Medical Billing at home for a few years. It is straight forward. Probably not that interesting. But simple enough — and could just fill in the money gaps — until I can make more money at copywriting.

I know you believe in the copywriting dream — and I do too. But what do you think about this other business on the side — that may be easier to get into right away than copywriting? Thank you, ladies! I so appreciate your newsletter and your example.”

In Monica’s response to Katherine she hit on one of the main points of today’s essay—the importance of focus. Here’s what Monica wrote back:

“Only you know what makes sense for you – and you’ll have to trust your assessment of how close your writing is to being good enough to start getting clients. I will tell you though that in the beginning I also took on side businesses, with the same rationale. Unfortunately, I found them more distracting than helpful, less lucrative than I’d hoped or anticipated they’d be, and I think ultimately these endeavors slowed down my success. I’ve become more convinced over the years that focusing on your goal makes it happen faster. And nothing that earns you six figures is usually as easy and turnkey as it sounds. Not even copywriting.”