Just a quick update on the two auto-responders I set up two weeks ago for my clients. (In case you forgot… I wanted to get more “interactivity” going on their blog. One asked them to practice commenting on a guest book, the other asked them to fill out a survey.)

The results are in…
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Hey there… you haven’t heard from me for a while. I know.

As you know, John sold this website recently (along with me!) — so we’re going through some transitions right now.

One quick change you’ll notice — we’re going back to short blogs like we had them last autumn.

I’ll still talk about the five aspects of my copywriting life (Personal Balance, Self-Promotion, Writing for Clients, Shaune’s Coaching and Finances). It’ll just be broken up to two or three blog posts a week.

With that said… I’ll start “dripping” e-columns from the past two weeks to catch you up.
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It’s catching up to me. This daily grind I embarked on nearly a year ago. I popped two Robax Platinums just now. I ache from the base of my neck down to the small of my back. Muscle spasms. At twenty eight.

It hurts, dammit.

I also had small panic attacks this past week and a bit.

OK. Something changed right? It can’t just be the fact that I wake up at 530 AM and don’t sleep until half past midnight… fitting in job, copywriting and family right?

Yes, something changed. Shaune assigned the first long copy assignment in his copywriting coaching program and I am wrestling like Jacob and his angel on it.

Listen, I don’t want you to think I’m popping pain medication because of this coaching program. Becoming a copywriter doesn’t require the crazy stunts I pull – you have to remember, I have a full-time job, a young family and I’m accelerating my copywriting education and experience on top of that.

A sane person would take it easy and work on this secondary part-time business one hour a night. I am simply doing too much with too little. Do NOT role model me.

Also… I currently excel in Shaune’s coaching program and I set up tall expectations for myself.

I’ll talk more about struggling with this long copy exercise in the coaching section below…
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If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, I have an AMAZING little time-waster for you. (I say “amazing” tongue-in-cheek.)

The application is called “Distant Shores.” You walk around this deserted island collecting bottled messages and sending them out. When you send one out, the app selects someone randomly to receive your message. They can choose to reply to it, or “discard” it - which then goes to some other person’s “beach” to find.

Think of it as sending an anonymous letter to a random name on an anonymous list.

As a sales copywriter, I cannot help but delight in the social experiments my marketing mind comes up with. I send out messages like…

• If you had to kill an innocent person to prevent the world’s destruction, would you?
• When was the last time you floated down the sidewalks, oblivious to the world - because you just received the happiest news?
• Or Shaune Clarke’s Secret Six-caliber questions.

The responses you get vary greatly, and I find if you want an interesting answer, you have to write your message as clear as possible.

Now, after promoting this time-sucking application, I strongly recommend you NOT to download it. Go study your copywriting manuals instead.
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You know you’ve been watching waay too much House and studying too much Internet marketing when you have ideas like this…
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Enjoyed a “break week” this weekend. A few people in Shaune Clarke’s copywriting coaching program fell a bit behind, so Shaune cancelled this past Saturday’s class to help them catch up.

I took advantage of this to spend some quality time with the family…

Went out to a dinner and movie with Queenie on Saturday night. Saw “The Reader…” an Oscar worthy film - but I felt like it missed the emotional highs by a few scrapes. I highly recommend you go see it though. Stellar performances by all three leading actors - Ralph Fiennes, Kate Winslet and David Kross.

We also bought a cute little table and chair for Cedrik from Ikea.

Oh and yes… I watched more House reruns. (I have four seasons to catch up on here!)
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Tough week for writing copy. I ended up mired in technicalities. Read more about it in the “Writing for Copy Clients…” section below.

Also had one of those weekends…

The kind where my head was stuck in marketing gear while the family was vying for my attention…. The aftereffects of taking a big “next step” closer to profitability with my clients, I guess.

(This week may have been technical, but technical tends to be “essential.”)

The daydreaming kicked in and the brain started firing off more and more ideas on how to increase traffic, leads, sales.

Fortunately, it was Chinese New Year this weekend. I forced myself to “turn it off” on Sunday to celebrate. (above: me with Red Pocket Money… well, actually, it’s Cedrik’s. Little known fact: Once you get married, it is Chinese tradition to stop getting Lucky Money, and start giving it out. Guess who’s BREAKING tradition?)
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I haven’t made New Year resolutions since discovering Rich Dad, Poor Dad back in 2002. After I got sucked into the whole self-help and build-wealth industry, I now make resolutions on a quarterly and ad hoc basis.

That doesn’t pardon me from the general rush of everyone else making resolutions, however. In my last column I noted how my clients suddenly had this “urge to push forward.”

Fine by me. Back in the holiday season, we were cooped up in our house by the largest snow storm in thirty odd years. Can you say “cabin fever”?

I was EAGER to get back into work mode after that…
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One of the toughest inner turmoils I go through as I transition from day job to freelance copywriter?

Overcoming guilt during “down” time.

You may know it well…

I could work on my self-promotional website instead of playing video games (left: me playing Rock Band 2…) I could research my client’s competition instead of downloading applications on the iPod… I could gather more prospective client names for my database instead of watching reruns of House M.D.

I shook that feeling off this holiday season and enjoyed it.

(Yes, doing the above said things.)

I hope you did too.

As the holiday seasons ground to a halt this past week however, surveying the game plan for 2009 floats to the top.
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I seriously don’t want to get “dooced” here, so I must keep what I reveal about my day job to a minimum.

Let me say this, however…

I work inside a cubicle with constant Internet access. When work gets monotonous, which it can at times… I check my personal e-mail.

On top of this, we’re encouraged to keep our Outlook always on for urgent work communications.

On average, this happens thirty to forty times a day (personal and work e-mails).

Four out of five times, the inbox remains clear.

This repulsive habit FRIGHTENS me.

Most successful Internet Marketers check e-mail twice a day. John checks his e-mail once a day (twice on rare occasions.)

What if this habit FOLLOWS me to my copywriting life?
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