The week’s posts on a single page (most recent at the top):
No Doubt About It
There’s no doubt that one of the most important people I’ve met since setting up my business in 2014 is my accountant.
The education he’s given me has been enlightening, so the first piece of advice I’d give someone starting out as a freelancer is to take care of business and find a good accountant.
Our Lips Are Sealed
How not to persuade:
- I booked a three-night stay in a Warsaw hotel for a colleague
- He travels, stays and leaves
- I receive an email to rate my stay (that’s OK, I expect that, and they don’t know it wasn’t for me)
- One line in the email – “You only have until 12 August 2019.” – tells me that this is about and for booking.com, not me.
Urgency works as a copywriting device when someone’s trying to convince us that we need this nice new thing, and we need it now, before the price goes up, before stock runs out or before all your friends leave you behind.
It doesn’t work when someone else tells you to hurry up because it’s more convenient for them.
Start Me Up
Two great resources to help if you’re starting out as a freelance commercial writer (I relied on both):
- Peter Bowerman’s brilliant book, The Well-Fed Writer*
- American Writers and Artists Inc. (AWAI)
*affiliate link
Some tips:
- Understand the marketing process. – it’ll help you sell your services and add another string to your bow because you’ll be able to demonstrate deeper knowledge to prospects and clients
- Make the most of social media
- Start a blog
- Understand how to stand out in a crowd of thousands of freelancers (suggestion: don’t compete on price and differentiate on how you sell, rather than what you sell)
- Set up and develop an attractive online profile
- Build a portfolio and testimonials
- “Have a success and promote the arse out of it” – Brett McFall, Australian copywriter
- Aim for consistent sales and work to avoid the feast-and-famine cycle that freelancers of all kinds face at some point
- Understand this:
New Shoes
Am I a Luddite after all?
Why won’t I update the BBC Radio app so that it becomes the much-promoted BBC Sounds?
Why won’t I buy an Amazon Echo or Google Home?
Why don’t I talk to machines that answer the phone and want to direct my call?
We’re all encouraged (trained) to want the shiny new object.
Am I cynical? Maybe. Am I a pragmatist? Certainly.
Fight The Power
Hmmm…
That was my reaction when I realised, having invested quite a lot of time and energy on one particular project, that my competitors were Facebook and Google, two of the biggest, most powerful companies that have ever existed.
With AskPazza.com, I was also up against Quora, Yahoo Answers and a load more humongous sites.
People don’t buy what they need; they buy what they want. I’d forgotten that – my first mistake. another was not focusing on attracting the questions I wanted to answer. I’d left it wide open.
Daydream Believer
I love an inspirational quote.
Here’s one from Robert Braithwaite, founder of Sunseeker boats:
In life, if you have the passion, if you really believe in what you should be doing, you will succeed.
It’s questionable whether schools promote that sentiment. Maybe they should, instead of just pushing academic subjects on every child regardless of where their passion lies, which might be one of the more marginalised subjects such as music, drama, dance or PE.
But, Honestly
I’m probably a bit too honest at times.
Like in job interviews.
People, it could be argued, aren’t always entirely honest in job interviews – on both sides of the desk.
During one interview, years ago, I was asked, “Which do you want more – this job, or to leave your current job?” I was out of the room in seconds.
But honesty’s a good thing when you’re a freelancer. It helps to maintain strong relationships with clients and suppliers and it helps when you’re clear about what you can, can’t and won’t do.
It also helps with setting goals and decision-making.
>>>Playlist<<<
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