No More Half-Steppin’

“The moment you start talking about what you’re going to do if you lose, you have lost.”
– George P. Shultz, former U.S. Secretary of Labor,
U.S. Secretary of State, and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury

In Issue #183

Main Essay: No More Half-Steppin’
by Krista Jones

As you know, Monica and I backed off of our freelance careers this year. The goal was to work on only the projects and with the clients that light us up.

Things went smoothly for me for a while. But then, as I shared with you in April, I had trouble giving up a business-to-business client that was responsible for adding a few grand to my bank account each month. The money was nice, but the work was grueling.

I finally let the work go back in early May. And boy, what a relief it was! Granted, I had moments of weakness for a few weeks, but I never doubted my decision. I knew it was the right thing to do.

By mid June, I had stopped giving the decision any energy at all. No more waffling. No more thoughts of scarcity. And most importantly, no more doing a job solely for the money.

Being free of the burden of doing work that I hated did far more than create a vacuum for more enjoyable freelance projects to appear. It also provided the time I needed to regroup and assess my next steps.

But here’s the true beauty of this entire letting go process …

I can now see that I was segmenting my life so much that I wasn’t able to bring my best me to my work.

Of course now that I’ve had that realization I’m not going to be satisfied with going back to half-stepping again. So now I have to create the best job in the world for myself.

I read something in a book that sums up what I’ve learned. It said something like when you’re in the process of recreating yourself, you should begin by recreating the way you do business.

That brings me to you.

How do you do business? Does your work represent who you are? Are you all that you can be between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.? What does the best job in the world look like for you?

Answering those kinds of questions can be incredibly freeing and exciting. It can also be terrifying. Either way, knowing the answers can have a transformative effect on you.

It certainly has for me.

Resource Referral: Two Books We Should Have Written

One thing Monica and I have heard over and over again is how much you enjoy hearing about our challenges, successes, and different approaches to building and managing our respective businesses. We understand how you feel; when we were starting our copywriting careers, we had a hard time finding good resources on the nuts and bolts of getting started in the business. But these days we’re hearing about more and more good reads, and it’s very exciting.

First we heard about Ed Gandia’sStop Wishing and Start Earning: A Low-Risk Plan to Escape 9–5 and Launch a Profitable Copywriting Business which has received rave reviews. And now there’s Sue LaPointe’s Working Writer Happy Writer : How to Build a Thriving Writing Business from NOTHING. Both books are right on point and we believe they will help you map a plan for your own journey to success.

We’re thrilled to be able to offer you the secrets to success from other freelancers who are still in the trenches making their own way. We’re confident you’ll find nuggets of gold in both of these books. Let us know what you think.

Quick Business Tip: A GPS for Your Business

When Monica and I started Copy Protégé, we intended to share tips and strategies that have helped us succeed as freelance copywriters. It didn’t take long for us to figure out that we couldn’t separate what we learned in business from what we learned in life.

Something else that became apparent is that your business is a reflection of every aspect of your life. So if your business isn’t working for you at the moment, don’t look for answers or solutions just in your business. Take a good look at the other areas of your life as well (e.g., your relationships, health, and spirituality) to get an integrated picture.

Assessing every area of your life lets you get clear on where you stand right now. Once you know where you’re starting from, you’ll be able to achieve your business goals much quicker.