From the Last Straw to the First Step

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”
– Mark Twain, American author

In Issue #234

From the Last Straw to the First Step
by Amity Hook

My journey as a freelance writer began on a cold February day. It was one of those mornings … My husband was out of town for work. The baby was cranky, and my 4-year-old son wanted to stay home and play in the snow.

I had just gotten us all bundled up when I realized my husband had accidentally taken both sets of keys. I called around frantically trying to find someone to get us to daycare and work. Luckily, my neighbor said she’d be right over.

With the baby carrier in one hand, and a preschooler’s backpack, diaper bag, briefcase, and breast pump bag over my shoulder, I started down the driveway after my son, who was happily stomping through the snow in his boots.

As I looked up to thank my neighbor, my heel hit a patch of ice, and I pitched backward. Somehow I managed to hold onto the baby, but everything else went tumbling down the driveway. Blankets, bottles, laptop charger, my planner … all of it, lying in the snow.

My neighbor rushed over to hold the baby so I could gather everything up. She said, in her heavy Portuguese accent, “Your life … . It is too much!”

That was the beginning of the end of my corporate life.

I had spent nine years in sales and marketing in the apparel industry. Most of the time, I had enjoyed it. Even after having our first child, I was able to maintain a pretty good balance of work and home life.

But when our second baby came along, everything changed. There just wasn’t enough time for everyone. I wanted to give my all at everything I did. And like most people who do that for very long, I burned out.

My husband and I had been talking about the option of me staying home with the kids. We just hadn’t made the move because life on two solid incomes was pretty comfortable.

So my slide down the driveway was our wake up call. And we decided to stop talking about it and make a plan for me to work from home … so I wouldn’t have to risk a snowy driveway in heels again.

I wanted to find something that would be a natural fit with my sales and marketing background. And more important, it had to be something I could still do if the kids get sick, and not feel guilty about staying home with them.

Freelance copywriting was that something.

I spent the first three months of my new career mostly spinning my wheels. I took the AWAI copywriting course. I read everything about copywriting I could get my hands on. I started doing promotions and a newsletter for my local yoga studio for free so I could get some experience.

I was learning and absorbing everything I could, but I wasn’t really taking any action. I had no paying clients. And I honestly couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong.

That’s when I decided it was time to do less courses and reading … and get a mentor. I was already a Copy Protégé reader – and I liked the fact that Monica and Krista shared parts of my story. I figured if they could do it, they would be able to help me do it too. I was especially interested in working with Monica since I knew she was also a mother and juggling some of the same things I was. So I signed on.

On our first call, Monica and I went over my “goals,” to use the term very loosely. They were:

1. Put up a website, and 2. Find some paying clients.

Somehow Monica kept from laughing … years of experience as a coach and a mother, I suppose. Instead, she shared a spreadsheet that takes what you want to accomplish and breaks it down into actionable steps.

Everyone talks about the importance of measurable and specific goals, but Monica showed me how they applied to my situation. That’s when it finally made sense. And once I started meeting some of the goals we set, it boosted my confidence enough to aim higher.

Monica showed me what skills to work on first, how to narrow down my niche, how to build my self-promotion package, and to “fake it till you make it” when I needed encouragement. She’s also a wealth of information about the business. I took pages of notes during our calls.

When I struggled with cold calling and how to find businesses that need copywriters, Monica suggested the online job boards. She said it was a great opportunity to “learn on someone else’s dime.”

She was right. Job boards took the guesswork out of that burning new copywriter question: Who’s going to pay me to write copy?

Although I’d heard bad things about job boards, one member of our coaching group, Angie Dixon, was making great money on Elance. And since I’m a fan of shortcuts, I was delighted to hear she was writing a guide to show others how she did it. For Angie, finishing her ebook was part of her coaching program – so I cheered her along with the rest of the group … because I knew how much I needed to use it when she was done!

The minute Elance Success for Writers was born, I grabbed it. I followed her system to the letter … and won my first bid. Even better, the project turned out to be an ongoing job writing articles, blog posts, and sales content for a website I love!

Since then I’ve worked on both short term and ongoing projects I found on job boards. Each week I update my portfolio with samples that keep getting better and better. Best of all, it was the much-needed confidence boost Monica said it would be.

I’m still prospecting for those big clients. But now, I feel more secure with my experience. And I know where to go to make some money while I’m waiting to reel in a big fish.

Oh, and last month, I slipped on the icy driveway again. This time not in a frantic rush. I was going inside to warm up with some hot cocoa after playing in the snow with the kids for a while.

It’s just like that classic Wall Street Journal promotion says … becoming a copywriter, and getting the coaching I needed to get it off the ground … has made all the difference.

Amity Hook is freelance web copy specialist for Green Businesses and the Alternative Health & Fitness markets. She lives in beautiful horse country – Lexington, Kentucky with her husband and two sons. She can be reached at amity@amityhook.com.

Resource Referral: This Niche Gets a Bum Rap … But That’s All About to Change

Monica’s Note: Sorry, this is a little last minute. So I hope you can give it your attention right away. If it’s up your alley – you’ll save a bundle if you act by Friday!

B2B does NOT stand for Boring to Boringer! It is the business-to-business niche of copywriting … and one of the most lucrative, most overlooked areas of copywriting, even today in this economy.

There are over 8 million potential clients, in what is a $6.5-trillion-dollar-a-year industry.

And while most copywriters are clamoring to get in the doors of major mailers like Boardroom, Agora, Phillips, etc. … those who are smart enough to write for the B2B market are smiling, because there isn’t really that much competition.

Maybe it’s the misconception that B2B is dry, technical, and boring.

It’s not …

There’s a wide variety of projects across thousands of industries to keep things interesting … from white papers to articles … brochures to website home pages.

Maybe it’s because people think you need to be an expert in some very hard-to-grasp field like chemical engineering, computer science, or supply-chain management.

This isn’t true either …

In fact, there are a lot of these myths holding new copywriters back from joining this highly lucrative – and relatively easy to break into – area of the business. And it’s high time that changed!

Check out this letter from our colleague, B2B copywriter Steve Slaunwhite – and AWAI’s first “virtual” workshop, Breaking Into the B2B Copywriting Market.

I think you’ll be surprised, inspired … and want to be first in line to get in the virtual door of this one. Reserve your space by Friday and save a bundle!

Don’t delay …

Virtual Mentor is Coming …

I am just terrible at keeping a secret … especially when I am excited about something!

And right now, I am over the moon about our upcoming product – Virtual Mentor. We are taking everything we’ve learned in the last three years of running our mentoring program – and pouring it into an online coaching program.

Can you imagine?

Being able to access all the coaching tools you need – in the form of podcasts, downloadable forms, special reports, a monthly Q&A teleconference, weekly coaching emails, a chatboard that is personally monitored by myself, Krista, and some of our more accomplished copywriting colleagues – and whatever else we think will help you get started …

 … and most important, get the information and motivation you need to make an income using your new skills.

Tell me, does this sound interesting to you?

Seriously, tell me. Drop me a line at admin@copyprotege.com and let me know … are you intrigued? Want to know more? Do you wish I wouldn’t tease you and just launch it already?

I can hardly stand the wait myself, and couldn’t resist asking you a couple weeks early …

If you could get a complete coaching program – with all the information you would get in a personal one-on-one or group coaching program – but access it all online, at your convenience … for less than $50 a month … would you be all over it?

Or … gulp … not?

Inquiring minds want to know …