Making a Choice for Change

Welcome to The Copywriting Connection! This week I am answering some frequently asked questions we had after the "interviewing successful copywriters" teleseminar last week.

Have you been thinking about starting a freelance copywriting career but not sure if you're ready? This week's feature article prompts you with some questions to help you make the right decision. Only YOU know if you are ready to take the leap.

Last week we had our free teleseminar "interviewing successful copywriters - common factors for success". The teleseminar was awesome and many folks on the call emailed us with important things they took away from the conversations.

Several people also reached out to us that they are interested in starting a freelance copywriting business. They've been asking me questions such as; Where do I start? How much time does it take to start a business? How long until I get writing clients? How long does it take to write my own web site? How much money will I make the first year? I have bills to pay and can't afford to lose any money, I need to be sure this is going to work...

The fact is that I don't have the answers to most of these questions. Only you do. Whether you quit your job and jump into freelance copywriting full-force, or get your feet wet by starting to write and take classes during the evening or weekends on your time off, you are putting your thoughts and energy into the wrong questions. Don't ask "how". The how to do it comes after you've made the decision. Here are the questions you should be asking yourself to be sure you are making the right decision for YOU:

Am I ready to be in control of my future - both the success and the failures?
Am I ready to take responsibility for the results I achieve?
Am I ready for change? Understand that when you make a change the people around you will change too - are they ready? Will they support you?
Starting a business as a freelance copywriter is starting a business. You will be an entrepreneur. Being an entrepreneur can be extremely fun as well as extremely stressful. Are you ready for the ups and downs you may experience?
Being an entrepreneur means using a little elbow grease sometimes to make things happen; often pushing past your comfort zone. Are you willing to do that?
When you are an entrepreneur you don't work from 8:00 to 4:00 and stop because you've put your eight hours in. You work until the deadlines are met. You work until the bills are paid. You do whatever it takes to succeed. Are you willing to do more than simply put your time in?
When you are an entrepreneur you learn a lot about yourself. You push yourself to places you never knew you could go. You learn by trial and error. It can be fearful and exciting at the same time. Are you up for the challenge? Do you want to learn more about yourself and see what you are made of? What you are capable of??
There is no roadmap to success. You must find your own path. You can learn from others what worked and didn't work for them, but there are no guarantees it will work for you in exactly the same way. Know that before you start. You need to find your own unique path.
There is no guaranteed time frame to profitability or success. I've had students in our build your copywriting business class have clients before they even finished the class, others that three years later don't have clients. How much energy are you willing to put in? How far outside of your comfort zone are you willing to go to be successful?
You do what you BELIEVE you can do. Do you BELIEVE you can be successful?

So friends, to answer the question "Should I take your copywriting business building class", answer these questions yourself. Are YOU ready to make a change? It's a choice. Only you know the answer to that question.

Want to use this article for your e-zine or web site? No problem! Just let us know at support@thecopywritinginstitute. We'll send you a short bio to include at the end of the article.

Copywriters Challenge

Before you make the leap into freelance copywriting answer the questions posed in this week's issue. Are you ready to commit to change?

Word of the Week

This week's word of the week is dereliction [der-uh-lik-shuhn]. Dereliction is the deliberate or conscious neglect; negligence; delinquency: dereliction of duty or an an intentional abandonment. It also means a recession of water leaving permanently dry land.

Tools for your Success

www.google.com/alerts - Google Alerts provide you with email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. You can track your competitors, see when other people post about you, or just keep an eye on your top keywords.

If you have any other great resources you'd like us to share with everyone, let us know and we'll check it out. rachel@thecopywritinginstitute.com

Build Your Copywriting Business Course - Get started for only $260 down. In this course you will get your copywriting business off the ground and put systems in place to attract high paying clients! You'll have homework, write your own marketing materials, learn what's important to your target market and how you can best help them.

You'll learn how to get to know your ideal client, how to uncover what they need from a copywriter and how to get in front of them. You'll also learn what things you MUST do in order to be a high earning copywriter and learn what marketing methods work best for successful copywriters. Develop marketing materials - like your web site, business cards, a sales letter (and get feedback on them from those that have done it successfully!) And you'll create writing samples and learn how to get them published. Course also includes coaching and feedback on all assignments and written materials. www.thecopywritinginstitute.com/buildyourbusiness.html

In This Issue:

A Message from Kelly

Making a Choice for Change

Copywriters Challenge

Word of the Week

Tools for your Success