Why I Quit Copywriting

I hate feeling like I’m working twice as hard to get people to do anything

Imagine that you are traveling in a country where the language is spoken and the alphabet writes. (Note: This article is not meant to be culturally insensitive).

You want someone to understand you, so you have to make it clear that you are trying to communicate. You also have to rely on your interlocutor to take what you’re saying seriously or at least give them enough of an explanation so they can handle it.

In our field, there are thousands of clients and customers who know how things work today. They go around making comments about “the new normal” or talking about how things used to be.

They talk about “how things were” and they ask questions such as “what happens next?” or “when will I see results?”

These are all signs that they don’t really care what happened, only that something better comes along. And if you try to help them deal with the changes by telling them everything that has changed, then they will feel even worse because now they have to learn a new system with no bonus points for getting up to speed as quickly as possible.

And that’s why we copywriters spend so much time educating others – so we can move onto the next project.

My co-workers feel over-worked and under-appreciated

It’s difficult to live with this constant feeling of being overwhelmed, of not mattering or worth anything, that one feels when working for others.

I remember signing up for my first job, having contract negotiations run deep into overtime, taking every second call someone needed doing, working through lunch (and sometimes past dinner), staying late night after save times; you name it.

It was hard work, but I loved what I did because I love writing and the idea of trying to write about something without loving it is like trying to eat ice cream without eating food.

I wasn’t really hungry at all.

I wish now that I had just said no and left instead of pushing everyone else to take a break and then keep asking people how their day was going and why they were so exhausted.

I think the entire department was in danger of collapsing due to stress and fatigue.

Keep your priorities straight by understanding your own value system and don’t get pulled down the rabbit hole by those who have lost sight of what matters.

Define what matters to you and learn to appreciate other people’s values.

There’s too much negativity in writing workshops

More often than not, when you hit a workshop with “negative thinking”, it hurts your work. You can sometimes feel like someone is tearing down what you do, which can hurt your enthusiasm.

I once heard about how a negative thinker named Dean Jones was tormented by critics who felt his coaching services were worthless. He endured this torment for years until he couldn’t take it anymore and left his company (which involved another high-level business opportunity) to create his own positive feedback loop.

Now, don’t get me wrong – there are definitely times where critique is necessary and valuable. I recommend it as one of the first steps for creating progress.

But if a coach comes into your life at a bad time or tries to sabotage your efforts, they should go. A good mentor/advisor will know that and have ways to help you move forward.

It sounds weird, but having more people trying to push their agenda onto you is actually painful and creates resistance.

So avoid talking to anyone outside of the creative zone unless they produce something beautiful and talented. And even then, find other ways to connect beyond networking. Most likely, you’ll meet someone very early on, and they might be able to tell right away whether you’re the type to network or not.

It becomes about who you talk to instead of what you say

The other day, my daughter was going through her emails. That usually means they’re filtering out some messages and paying attention to others.

She was chatting with someone, probably getting ready to send them something important.

And then she read one email that made her stop and do an internet search. The topic? Social justice.

What is social justice? Is it part of your education now, Mom?

It is indeed, child. And it’s not what you think.

Many people have wrong ideas about social justice. Some see it as “social equality” – making everyone equal and fair.

But that’s not what we believe at Family Rights. What we believe in are rights within our family system, including children having both parents and a parent stand by their sides when they get married.

We also believe kids should stay in school and be taught things like science, history, math and reading; issues like reproductive health and sex; and ways to communicate with others.

These are topics which discuss how individuals differ from each other and why this exists. It provides guidance on how to best achieve balance between individual differences, so no group or class can claim anyone as smarter than any other.

Finally, social justice emphasizes answers along with questions. This takes accountability into account, because the person being held accountable needs to know they will be judged by others for said action.

Accountability

You can have the best content, but if your voice comes through awkwardness or bitterness, it will kill your readership

There was one topic in particular that consistently gave me pause. It felt dangerous to put so much focus on technique for being successful at copywriting, when there is no way to be successful without doing this.

I’ve talked with several friends about how they feel about marketing experts who try to tell them what to write and how to write.

All of these friends share similar stories of trying to get by with writing despite their lack of education in the field, and attempting to fight an uphill battle against the temptation to change something in my style or approach to help people.

That’s right — you heard me correctly. I said it’s okay to make changes to your grammar, spelling, and word choice process to suit your audience’s perception of quality.

If you take away all of the professional touches from your message, what are you really offering the world? What makes your brand unique and worth paying attention to?

Your passion and expertise should both be very important to your messaging. When those two elements are pulled together, that’s why people hire writers.

You want someone who cares about the project working for you. Caring means taking the time to understand the task at hand and create a solution that works for you.

I tried changing businesses by starting a blogging business years ago

One of the things that stopped me from doing what I really wanted to do was writing copy for my advertising campaigns.

I knew I would have to write something if someone else were going to do it. I also knew I would have to make myself attractive to people so they would want to read what I had written.

At first, I just lied in my pitches. But eventually I began to change how I talked about my services and my products. The more I told stories through words, the more money I made for others.

The truth is, we all get into marketing because we care about what we are saying. We spend hours thinking up creative ways to say stuff so that people will listen to us.

We don’t like to be ignored, which is why we put ourselves out there every day trying to connect with people one-on-one.

But becoming a good writer takes time and repetition. There are no short cuts or easy solutions. At least not that I’ve found.

I consistently put my writing before everything else because I value my thoughts

You should, too. Writing is for sharing your mind. If you’re hesitant to share your writing with others, perhaps it’s time to rethink that.

You’ve probably heard the saying “shares don’t pay rides, pays leave credits.” It refers to the idea that social media is often nothing more than a tool used to gain followers and money.

And while there are many ways to increase the number of people who follow you, none are as effective as developing quality content and getting word out about yourself.

However, that doesn’t mean you have to let other people write for you. You can still find places where you can write well-written articles to promote yourself, your skills, and your business.

These days, anyone can publish online and refer customers to their pages. To rise above the crowd takes work and expertise.

By doing the research ahead of time and by simply putting into practice some of the tips listed in this article, you will help your visitors or clients get ready to read your documents and enter your website. Then they will be able to spend their time reading what they want to read and no longer need to turn to commercial copywriters for professional advice.

Some tips for becoming a better writer

Writing is a skill, like any other. You can’t always write without making mistakes but with enough practice you can become a very good writer.

I was never that great of a writer to start with, which is why I made it a goal to learn how to write well.

By reading books and blogs about writing, as well as taking various writers’ courses, I improved my skills over time.

But most important, I changed what I wrote from drafts to drafts. From sloppy stories to detailed plans. I cleaned up my methods by learning how to fix them.

I also learned to appreciate the written word more because of its simplicity. No lie in prose; everything is stated directly. There are no leaks such as hidden meanings or vague references.

What you read comes down to preference, but after doing both sides of the fence (teaching students how to write at all levels vs working as a literary consultant) I found I preferred an undisguised presentation of facts. In my opinion.

Maybe you don’t want to change what you write, as much as you might prefer to put your effort toward another part of the writing process. Either way, here are some recommendations :

Try to edit every sentence before you print out words. It makes you feel better when you do.

And while we’re talking about steps, follow these two rules if you want to improve your

The key to improving is putting yourself out there

Dear friends, lovers, family members, people you don’t know very well…

I want to tell you something right now, before we go any further.

If you are reading this because you think you could use help with your writing career, let me stop you right away.

You. Cannot. Write. A. Paragraph. On your blog. Or your letter about how important it is to write and call others.

You can edit articles and books pretty easily, but trying to put a story or piece of art into a vacuum seems like a bad idea.

Your first problem is that you hate ads. You love telling other people what to do, but you feel too uncomfortable doing it yourself.

There’s a big difference between being honest and being manipulative. It starts with personal stories and goes way back in history.

How did Mark Zuckerberg lead Facebook through its early years? By creating viral pages that were explicitly crafted to fool strangers into thinking they were safe when really they was full of his lies. How does Bill Gates convince millions to give money to charity? By tweeting funny videos of Steve Jobs talking about equality for animals.

We need to start believing in ourselves more. We need to learn to be creative and believe in our ideas.

Right now, you only live once, and you aren’t making anyone else lives better by pushing your own dreams onto them.