How To Know If Copywriting Is A Perfect Fit For You

“If you live to the age of a hundred you have it made
because very few people die past the age of a hundred.”
–George Burns, American Comedian

In This Issue:

How To Know If Copywriting Is
A Perfect Fit For You
by Monica Day

Before I jump into today’s essay, I have to take a moment to mark how amazed I am that the Copy Protégé has already hit our 100th issue! Just think, when we first started this little experiment, we weren’t sure if we had enough to say to fill a dozen essays.

But the exact opposite is true. Once we opened the floodgates – and heard from more and more readers how much they value hearing about our experiences – it feels like there is more to discuss with you all the time.

Speaking of you, there are close to 4,500 readers of The Copy Protégé now, and a few more join us every day. You come from all around the globe – Australia, India, Israel, Germany, Canada, to name a few. And of course, plenty of you are right here in the U.S. A handful even live in either Krista’s backyard near Atlanta or mine in Philadelphia.

Like Krista and I, CP readers share many of the same goals and values with one another. And yet we are each on our own unique path, trying to discover if copywriting is all that we hope it will be. Or maybe more accurately, if this is the best vehicle to get us to our ultimate destination.

More freedom. Greater independence. And of course, the financial success we’re hoping to achieve.

So when a reader put some tough questions to me this week – you know, the soul-searching. gut-wrenching, truth-or-dare kind of questions – I figured there was no better time to place to answer them than right here for all CP readers to see…on our 100th issue anniversary.

So, thanks to DF for the inspiration. And for all your kind words about the CP – which I’ve edited out for the sake of both length and humility – but know how much we appreciate hearing that you have been inspired by what you’ve read here. It inspires us in return.

Now, here are the answers I promised:

Is copywriting meeting the needs and desires you had when making your decision to become a copywriter? If not, where did it fall short? If so, has it turned out to be more than what you hoped for, and how?

In so many ways, copywriting has changed my life. For years I fantasized about working independently, being the master of my own time, and not going into an office every day or playing the political and social games that come along with most jobs. All those fantasies became my reality when I went freelance. And for a long time – the last five years – that was enough.

But you might not be surprised to hear me say: I want more.

Now, I’m not about to say that copywriting has failed me. Rather, copywriting opened more doors to me than I imagined possible when I started this journey. First, it was a new skill – it took my existing writing skills and turned them into something more useful and marketable than they ever were before.

Then, it became a practice – like one a doctor or a dentist might open. In exchange for my skill, people paid me very good money. I attained a better standard of living than I’ve ever had before.

But now, copywriting is becoming the cornerstone of a new venture. When people ask me what I do now, I rarely say “freelance copywriter.” I say “internet publisher.” Of course, I’m still freelancing – and probably will for a while still, especially for the handful of clients whose business and products I truly love. But copywriting has opened a new door for me – one that is taking me much further than I had ever dared hope to go – into a world where all of my passions and skills will come together under the umbrella of a my own publishing business.

When I’m doing something I love or believe in, I am so into it that although I’m working hard it doesn’t feel like hard work, it just flows and time flies. Is Copywriting doing that for you?

I often feel like that when I’m writing. I admit to having a certain drag factor in bringing myself to the page sometimes. But once I’m in, my fingers are usually flying and time does as well.

Some projects will inspire you more than others. Energy is a great barometer. It shows you which types of assignments you like and which you don’t. And the more you can stick with writing for clients and products that get you in the groove like this, the happier you’ll be.

Somewhere along the line, I think we got sold on the idea that “work” is bad. I hear people complain a lot about their work. They try to dodge it, avoid it, get time off from it. In fact, I was talking on the phone to a guy I was considering dating, and I asked him how his day at work was – and his response nipped the relationship right in the bud. He said, “Oh, it was great. Boring, just like they should be, right?” I realized right then that someone who didn’t have a passion for his work wasn’t going to be a very good match for me.

So pay attention to your attitudes about work as you learn copywriting. Most people I know who are successful in this field feel just as you do – that it really isn’t “work” at all, but rather a way to have people pay them to do something they really love doing!

Are you truly living the life you envisioned, with the potential for the financial and personal success and a feeling of accomplishment that you hoped for when making your decision?

More so than I could have imagined at the time. I’ll never, ever forget making that first phone call to the Delray office of AWAI and using the last of my available credit to order the first installment of the Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting. And I’ll certainly never regret it. I understand why people are skeptical when they contact me or Krista about this opportunity. Believe me, I sound ridiculous and dramatic even to myself sometimes.

Except that it’s all true.

I had every bit of hope and optimism that I could do something more with my life than have a regular job for a regular company and live a regular life. And I even knew that my ability to write was somehow the key to unlocking whatever potential and talent I was born with. But until I found copywriting, I didn’t have the vehicle to fully realize those lifelong dreams.

Does that sound like over-the-top copy to you? Maybe it is. But it’s my story…and I’m sticking to it!

Resource Referral:
Where You Might End Up If You Follow Your Passion

The thing I want CP readers to understand is this: even if you never become a freelance copywriter, or you never score assignments with the big mailers in the business, the skills you’re learning can still change your life.

Whether you want to travel the world or live as a recluse, work 12 hours a day or not work at all, learn more about golf or feeding the hungry… your copywriting skills can be the springboard to the kind of life you’ve envisioned.

If the idea of transforming from “freelance copywriter” to “internet publisher” is attractive to you as it was to me, you might be interested in Self Publishing: Your Complete Business Plan for Creating a Life Without Borders.

Full of practical publishing ideas and case studies that will inspire your imagination – and show you how to get started – Self Publishing: Your Complete Business Plan for Creating a Life Without Borders will teach you:

Check it out today. And when you have an idea for a publication – but don’t want to go it alone – check in with us. We aren’t going to stop with The Copy Protégé – and we’re looking for joint venture partners who have ideas – and the writing skills to back them up.

Quick Copywriting Tip: Start With A List And See Where It Takes You

One of the best ways to discover the deeper, less conventional benefits for your product is to generate a list. You’ll notice when you do that the first items you toss out will be the more obvious ones. But then, as you get to the bottom of that barrel, your creative juices should start to flow. This is a must-do exercise for finding your headline, or for anytime you get stuck writing your copy. Taking a break and creating a list could be just what you need to find the flow again.

Here’s a sample list on a subject near and dear to my heart right now:

Top 20 Uses for Crutches

  1. Good for walking when the legs and feet are challenged but the arms and hands are cool.
  2. Excellent – and valid – excuse for getting a temporary handicapped parking permit that you don’t have to feel guilty about using.
  3. For turning light switches on and off that are out of reach.
  4. As a threat to someone who is harassing you.
  5. As a weapon when said person doesn’t respond to the mere threat.
  6. Turned upside down, makes a nice footrest when there isn’t one handy.
  7. Getting someone to wheel you through the airport and skipping the security line. (Bonus: when the attendant yells “Coming Though!” at the top of their lungs and everyone stares at you and decides you don’t look in bad enough shape to be butting in front of them…)
  8. When rested across the arms of a chair, good for supporting your lunch if a TV tray isn’t handy.
  9. Eliciting a sympathy drink at the bar. (Warning: watch out for the dreaded CWI, Crutching While Intoxicated. While not illegal, it’s definitely not graceful at all…)
  10. Hurling shoes from one room to another.
  11. Hurling just about anything you can loop around the bottom of the crutch, actually.
  12. Straightening rugs you might trip over without bending down.
  13. Holding car doors open so they don’t spring back and close on your leg while you’re struggling to get out.
  14. Closing cars doors behind you.
  15. Scratching places you can’t reach on your body.
  16. Scratching places someone else can’t reach on their body without having to even touch them.
  17. Getting someone’s attention who’s trying to ignore you.
  18. Javelin-throwing when you forgot your javelin.
  19. Baton-twirling when you forgot your baton.
  20. Baseball bat when you forgot your…oh, you get the idea!