Nick Usborne

How the Easy Button is killing your freelance copywriting business.

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fast easy successImagine launching and building your freelance copywriting business back in the 1980s.

Perhaps you would have spent a few years working in an ad agency, and then made the decision to go freelance.

If you didn’t take the agency route, then you would seek out the small number of books that had been written about copywriting and freelancing.

Either way, you would continue to learn – about both your craft and freelancing – at a fairly slow pace. You would learn from a very small handful of authors. You would learn from your clients. You would learn by reading the occasional article in a trade magazine. And you would learn by studying the successful work of your peers.

As for taking in-depth courses to speed things along, no such luck. As far as I recall, there were no courses or programs devoted to copywriting or freelancing back then. Just books and an occasional magazine article.

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Monday Spark: 12 Ways for freelancers to lift their spirits and stay positive.

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As you probably know, the whole idea of these Monday Spark posts is to add a little positivity to the beginning of our weeks.

Each Monday I post about something I think and hope will give you a little boost or lift in some way.

Why? First, because most of us could do with a small boost on a Monday morning. Second, because I think freelancers are particularly susceptible to mood swings.

I’m not saying we are moody, although some of us probably are. But I do believe we are susceptible to the emotional ups and downs of the freelance life.

If we end a week on a high note, with a check in the mail and a big new project from our favorite client, we will likely start on Monday with a bounce in our step. Absent any disasters, we’ll probably feel good for the rest of the week.

On the other hand, if we end the week on a down note, with payments delayed and a promised project cancelled, we’ll likely start the next week with a cloud over our heads.

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Copywriters: Understand people’s obsession with Cause, Effect and Simple Answers.

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seek simple answers signAs copywriters, part of our job is to understand our audience.

What makes them agree or disagree with what you write? What makes them form opinions about our products or services? What makes them buy?

We need to understand this, because the decisions people make, and the opinions they hold, are hardly ever based on careful, rational thinking.

We all like to think we form opinions and make decisions in a purely rational way, but we don’t.

As an example of how we avoid thinking too carefully, let’s take a look at…

Cause, Effect and Simple Answers.

Humans have a deep-seated desire for everything to make sense. If something happens, we immediately want to know why. What was the cause?

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Monday Spark: 1000 Awesome Things [VIDEO]

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happy momentsIf you haven’t visited Neil Pasricha’s blog, 1000awesomethings.com, you should check it out.

And if you watch the video below you can hear about how and why he started the site.

In brief, he had been through a few tough years, and was looking for a way to bring some smiles and happiness back into his life. He started to write this blog. Each day he wrote about one of the small pleasures of life. Nothing big or special – just a little thing.

For example, he has written about the pleasure of standing at the end of a long line at the supermarket checkout, seeing a new line open up, and jumping over to be first in new line. Nice.

Little things like that happen to us every day. Maybe we get to see the sun rise, or a bird bathing in a bird bath, a sprinkling of fresh snow, or a three year old blowing the seeds off a dandelion.

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Get into a positive mindset before you start writing for your clients.

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lollipop doctorWhen I was a fledgling copywriter in my early 20s, I attacked each project with a tsunami of positivity.

I was totally pumped, screaming with optimism, and just threw myself at every challenge and opportunity. I was like a kid in a toy store with cash in my pocket. I loved every project, even the “boring” ones for industrial clients.

I was on a natural high every time I sat down to work.

Today, 30 years and several mortgages later, that tsunami has lost a bit of its spontaneous power.

I don’t mean I have lost my interest in writing. I haven’t. I still love it just as much. And I’m almost certainly a better writer today than I was back then.

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Monday Spark: It’s OK to be imperfect. Preferable, even.

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imperfect tower of pisaBack in April I wrote a post about imperfection, and now I have some more to say on the subject.

When I talk with freelancers, particularly those who are just starting out, I hear a lot about the fear of not being perfect.

These freelancers feel they are not good enough, yet.

Not knowledgeable enough, yet.

Not ready, yet.

I understand where those fears come from, but if you hold thoughts like those in your mind for too long they will totally undermine your self-confidence.

In a sense, they are like negative affirmations. You don’t intend to drag yourself down by having these thoughts, but if you repeat them often enough you’ll soon find yourself falling.

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