February 16th arrived… along with a reply to my daily email.
I immediately knew this wasn’t the typical gushing about how awesome yesterday’s email was.
Well… maybe I’m overstating that… just a little…
Although… please feel free to send fan mail at any time! 😆
So… this reply came from a fellow freelance writer.
We’d been chatting about stuff for a while. And he’d been getting my emails for a couple of months.
But this time his reply was different.
This time it came from a man who was now confronted with the bitter reality that… something just had to give.
He’d been following a smattering of strategies for getting his first freelancing client.
But things just didn’t seem to be moving ahead.
And when he tried to get help, through various webinars and trainings… they muddied the waters even more.
Motivation and self-belief had exited stage left… and he was simply feeling stuck.
Here was yet another freelancing soul who found himself staggering along that well-worn trail of tears and hard-truths.
So he raised the possibility of coaching being his only option left.
But before I shared with him about my coaching service… I wanted to offer some things he could consider first.
Because sometimes course-correcting just takes a little nudge. And coaching might not be needed every time.
What I offered in my reply to him, is what I’m sharing with you today.
It may give a little clarity if you’re in a similar place.
But if you’re not dealing with these kind of things…
Maybe you could pass this email on to someone else who is struggling.
Here’s my reply (with a few edits and additions for clarity)…
You’re saying things that sounded just like me. (And still do when I’m having “one of those days” — only human!).
Particularly with how you’re feeling pulled all over the place. And unclear on direction.
But the fact you’re not in denial or blameshifting… means we’re half-way there.
If you just want to run with my free, 3-step advice then…
1) Get ultra-clear on your “why?”
Why do you want to do copywriting?
Family? Financial goal? Freedom? Health? All of the above?
Then evaluate every decision in light of “does this align with my ‘why?’”
Sometimes the fog can lift just by having a clear, overarching purpose…
It can also increase your motivation to keep doing the boring marketing things that will help you land your first client.
2) Work every day (ideally) at becoming a master of your craft.
When you are confident in how to do your thing. And why it’s good for clients to hire you to do it. It makes a whole lot of stuff, like confidently talking to clients about the benefits… and actually delivering results for them… much easier.
Flitting from one course to another won’t help here.
You might instead focus on one or two types of content first. e.g. articles and facebook ads (or whatever it is).
But key thing is: focus.
Related to mastery of craft… is mastering your niche.
You may want to niche down after you’ve had a few initial clients. But no problem to do straight away.
The niche you talk about in your LinkedIn profile is pretty broad.
Can you zero in one one or two narrower areas? Then become the master, the go-to, no-brainer choice for those?
3) Buy and read 10x Steven Pressfield’s “The War of Art”.
I think understanding the enemy is one of the most crucial things to get sorted. Whether you take Pressfield’s more woo-woo view of things or not.
The book’s mostly not woo-woo… so do read it!.
It will help you understand yourself better. And where fears and self-doubt emerge from.
Other strategies, for how to work and build habits, come after.
Bonus tip…
Good health means clearer, less depressed, less anxious brain stuff going on. So good diet and exercise is a priority.
If that’s enough for you to move on with… cool.
But it does sound like meeting and talking through some of this stuff could also be helpful.
I charge a fee for coaching, to help put some scraps on my table…
But also because it can be a big help for you.
Reason being… it helps flick that mental “skin in the game” switch. So it can be a real boost for your motivation.
The plan when we meet is to unpack a bit about where roadblocks are coming up. And take a strategic approach to smashing those.
We’ll start work on gaining clarity. And building confidence for landing clients… while knocking their socks off!!
It’s not a huge amount of time we’ll have each session…
But I’ll leave you with 1-3 concrete actions to move forward with. And you’ll have the recording to refer to.
I know it can be a big mental hurdle to ask for coaching. I have a gut-wrenching feeling when I think about it for myself.
But I know it’s one of those “it’s good for me, but tastes awful at the time” kind of vegetables.
We did end up doing coaching together. And he landed his first client 🥳
Maybe that’s a story for another day.
I know he’ll read this email. And I’m sure he’ll smile. 😊
And he should… because he did the hard work.
He went out and got the proof of concept…
“People will actually pay me for the words I write!”
If you’re in that “feeling stuck” kind of place…
Is a quick email in my direction your next step? Don’t put it off.
Peace.
Ready to build your email list? Go here…
EmailForTheWin.com
Chris Milham