Copy Cub Corner: Watch Colin go from Corporate Cubicle to Freelance Copywriting Freedom

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Self-Study, List Switching, The Rules, Fancy Headset & Not Getting Dooced

by Colin | December 23, 2008

My Fancy VXI 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?

Studies show it takes twenty minutes to recover from “interruptions,” such as e-mail and instant messages. Twenty minutes to get back into “flow.”

I survive at my day job as it demands quick turn-around tasks. I don’t have any projects that demands singular focus and flow.

Copy, on the other hand…

Ugh. I better break this habit before I go freelance.

Here’s my weekly update on my progress towards freelance freedom…

Promoting My Copywriting Services…

No update since last week with building a prospect list as I’m enrolled in Shaune Clarke’s Copywriting Coaching Program right now and he assigns a lot of homework. (Of course, my lack of time includes a day job and a young family…)

On a relevant note, this week’s exercise helps build my self-promotional sales letter. I’m in a group of nine, Shaune’s got us writing one page on what makes us unique as individuals.

Sounds new-agey and hokey? Not really… John wrote a great report on this. Check out his “Stop Being a Copywriter” report by clicking here.

To quickly summarize… a paradox exists in the copywriting world — it seems most promotional copywriters have a hard time… promoting themselves! They all seem to forget how to apply a USP to themselves.

I can’t wait to sink my teeth into this one. As an introvert, spelunking the caverns of my soul always passes the time well.

If you want to see what I write about myself, I don’t mind sharing. Let me know in the comment box below or e-mail me at colin@realitycopywriting.com

To get started with your own USP, here are three profound questions to ask…

• What career did you always want to follow but didn’t work out?

• What belief do you hold to be the most important to you in the world?

• What do you know that few others know?

For the rest of these questions, visit John’s report by clicking here.

Writing for Copy Clients…

No new updates here either. Losing a bit of momentum due to the holidays.

My parenting info-product client will soon transfer their mailing list. Right now, it resides in a ratty Excel spreadsheet on her laptop.

Never an enjoyable exercise though… switching list software tends to cause attrition of the World War I variety.

Yes, on one hand, you clean up the list (assuming the non-readers just never got around to unsubscribing…), on another hand though…

I worry about the people who WANT to be on the list, but faced too many technical hurdles… or had too much going on personally… or worse, the e-mail ended up in the junk mail folder.

My client’s personal list sits at 300 names right now. I hope our opt-in copy and premiums convert more than 50% to the new list. I hope.

(In case you’re wondering why you need an opt-in for a list transfer… thank CAN-SPAM.)

Shaune Clarke’s Copywriting Coaching Experience…

I learn the best when a mentor beats me up over and over again for the same mistake until I stop doing it.

I think we all come with these ingrained habits and notions, each one of us. Could be childhood. Could be laziness. Could be just the way we are. It doesn’t matter. It only matters when a great mentor slaps you upside the head every time he catches you “in the act.”

As an example, John usually splatters the first drafts of this e-column with red ink. Most of it due to my lazy use of the dreaded “to be” verb (am/is/are/was/were) – a zombie family of verbs you can replace 90% of the time. (I’m getting better though. Darn it. I just used it again.)

This week in Shaune Clarke’s New Copy Secrets coaching program, Shaune raised some huge, yellow “cautions” about my literary background.

Two traps I naturally step into…

One, months of studying “How to Write Fiction” books filled my head with “rules” on what writing “should” be. On the teleconference class, I got stuck on “structure” and “character.”

Story matters in sales copy. However, Shaune pointed out story acts as a “glue” to sales elements. I got so deep into the literary parts, I forgot my job. To sell.

Two, peacocking my exquisite word-smithing flair.

Oh. There I go again.

Just because I know big words don’t mean I should use them. Especially when it interrupts the reader’s flow. Did you have trouble understanding that paragraph’s opening? Did you “pause” to figure out what I was saying?

If you did, you can place all blame on me.

To think, this is only week one with Shaune. The bruising only just began. Bring it on!

Copywriting Income & Expenses…

Caved and got the headset I said I would last week. Take a look…

Something you may not know about professional headsets, they need amplifiers unless your phone comes equipped with one already. Got one included in the eBay auction. Came out to $75 USD… retails for over $200 altogether.

If you didn’t read the last column, quick overview – Shaune’s coaching program swears by interviewing for copy research. Done properly, it reveals rich gold nuggets you won’t find in forums or magazines.

Knowing the power of Shaune’s interviewing style now… I can’t imagine ever sprawled on my couch, panicking about what my prospect wants or fears by “visualizing” how to talk to them in my copy.

So, I purchased this headset to do phone interviews.

That said, totally unnecessary expense for the burgeoning copywriter. I have a headset. It works. I simply want something better. (I also have all my appendages, and could simply hold a phone to my ear.)

I get suckered into buying neat equipment as a habit from my guitar days.

Now, the music equipment industry (especially guitars) –lots to learn about back-end sales, up-sells and down-sells there. It never ends with just the guitar — straps, cords, amps, effect pedals, picks, strings. They will suck the cash out of your wallet. They took all my teenage income, at least…

Talk soon,
Colin Y.J. Chung | REALITYcopywriting.com

Colin Y.J. Chung

P.S. In case you’re wondering, to get “dooced” means to get fired from your job for blogging about work stuff you probably shouldn’t have. (This was made famous by now influential blogger Heather Armstrong at www.dooce.com)

Do you have a comment about this or anything else in this e-column? Let me know in the comment box below…