The year was 2011.
I had just put up my second business website and had finally figured out how to get people finding me through organic SEO.
I was attracting lots of “leads.”
It felt really exciting. But it was also frustrating because there was just one problem – most of the people contacting me weren’t actually ready to hire a copywriter/marketing specialist.
(That was back in the day when I still referred to myself as a “marketing specialist.” Now I’m the ANTI-Marketing Copywriter!)
Truth is, a lot of people think they’re ready to hire a copywriter, but they’re not.
Signs that you’re NOT ready to hire marketing help:
- You don’t have a product…or your product doesn’t have a proven track record of selling
- Your heart’s not fully in your business, or you’re not sure if you’re in the right niche
- You allow distractions to prevent you from taking your business growth seriously
- You engage in expensive “side affairs” – such as nurturing a belief that you have to wait for something external to happen before you can get money… holding resentment towards Mom or Dad for their actions from 20 years ago (or even last week)… or wasting time tolerating things that need to be chucked into your mental or physical trash bin ASAP.
If any of the above apply to you, then you’re not ready to hire a copywriter/marketer. Period.
Hiring someone for this purpose would be a complete waste of your time and money.
In 2011 I accepted copywriting projects from people who weren’t ready. It never ended well. They lacked a solid foundation – a sense of internal resolve to succeed to matter what – and so, I couldn’t help them. It was a tough lesson to learn, especially since I used to have a savior complex.
While working with one of my early clients, I remember writing an email campaign that blew out this client’s inventory. The client freaked out, had a panic attack, and canceled the product. (I remember the embarrassment as we emailed all those customers after the fact: “Yeah, ummm… just kidding! Here’s a refund…”)
After that, I walked around with an invisible “WTF?” sign on my forehead, totally baffled as to how people could shoot themselves in the foot like that. It seemed like nobody was ready for the sales I could bring them.
It took me a few years to discover that I do better working with people who already have their head straight. They’re READY for success. They’re living fully in the present, not the past.
People who carry around “head trash,” uncertainty, limiting beliefs, and/or debilitating fears of what other people think of them… need to hire a COACH, not a copywriter.
And don’t hire a therapist – that’s also a waste of time (the entire field of therapy is trained to look for “what’s wrong,” not to create actual solutions)…hire a coach.
A coach will help you identify the inaccuracies in your thinking, so that you can stop getting in your own way and start creating success.
I tried coaching people for a while…but I didn’t have the patience to do it long-term. I’m the type of person who likes to get shit done, not hold someone’s hand as they traverse the murky waters of their own private hell (AKA their mind). Props to people who have the patience for all of that. I don’t.
Get your head and your heart (AKA the INNER stuff) straight first. Then the money and customers (AKA the EXTERNAL stuff) will flow to you more intensely than Niagara Falls. When that happens, THAT’S the time when you should be looking to hire marketing and copywriting support.
You can’t build a future if you’re busy reacting to shit that happened in the past. You can’t grow a business when you’re harboring a secret that’s gnawing at you, or an unanswered question that’s haunting you. Because then you’re busy dealing with the side effects of that uneasiness.
I would know. I wasted years trying to market my own business before I was ready. I was so busy fuming over past client failures, that I wasn’t focusing enough on the present. I had my own head trash to deal with.
So before you even think about getting copywriting help, first ask yourself: do I need copywriting/marketing support right now, or do I need a REALITY CHECK?
Michelle Lopez Boggs is a copywriter, copywriting mentor, and author of "The Anti-Marketing Manifesto: How to Sell Without Being a Sellout." She's helped her clients sell millions of dollars' worth of products and services online by using the MEI(S) principle — motivate, educate, and inspire, and sell. 