You applied for the copywriting job and got the call to come in for an interview. Congrats! Now what? You need to prepare for the interview. This means having a ready answer for commonly asked questions and doing some prep work. Your standard interview prep should involve familiarizing yourself with their company philosophy, reorganizing your print portfolio to features … [Read more...]
6 Work-From-Home Sanity Killers (And How to Combat Them)
Sometimes, working from home is just as much a curse as a blessing. The distractions are plentiful, and there’s no boss to raise an eyebrow when you’re online shopping. Those built-in boundaries that help keep you focused in an office simply don't exist when you work from home. If you watch a movie at your desk or lay your head down to take a nap, there are no coworkers to … [Read more...]
4 Productivity Tactics
Knowing what you need to do is one thing, but doing it is another. Luckily the “productivity” industry is always coming up with new ways to help us get things done. Despite the fact that productivity improvement has been a common goal for at least 100 years, we’re still discovering new and better ways to achieve it. Here are four must-try productivity habits for … [Read more...]
Copywriting Q&A: How to Plan for the New Year
A new year means a fresh start—and a prime opportunity to jumpstart (or re-start) your copywriting business. Here’s how to plan your year to make sure it rocks. Read on… With 2016 fast approaching, it’s time to get ready to start this new year and hit the ground running. Here are three possible frameworks you can use to plan your year and make sure it’s as successful as it … [Read more...]
What to Do When Your Confidence Flags
Confidence helps you charge ahead when you’re trying to build your copywriting career. But what do you do when that confidence starts to wane, and you wonder if you can even make a go of copywriting at all? You know, those moments where you're chugging along fine and then you get a "no" from a client or some feedback that's anything less than "I love this!" and it knocks you … [Read more...]
5 Ways Super-Productive Copywriters Start Their Days
The way you start your day can set you on a successful path for the rest of your 24 hours. Everywhere you look, another article is popping up about how various business leaders and success gurus start their day. But what day-starting habits are most important for copywriters...particularly those who deal with work-from-home distractions? A lot of productivity articles will … [Read more...]
Copywriters Confess Their Dirty Secrets
Here’s a not-so-secret secret: Nobody’s perfect. But the ways that copywriters aren’t can be very instructional for other new or would-be copywriters. So, let’s unearth some deep, dark truths from real-life copywriters and learn away. In the words of Mary Poppins, I am perfectly perfect in every way.* But I happen to know a lot of copywriters, and I also happen to know that … [Read more...]
What Will Copywriting Look Like in 10 Years? The Future for Copywriters Is Bright
Good news first: the future of copywriting is safe. Copywriting—whether, full-time, part-time or freelance—isn't going anywhere. The bad news is there are plenty of sensationalist stories that will make you think otherwise. Downsizing, outsourcing, offshoring, automation: there are certainly a lot of words for economic panic, aren't there? Add to that the biweekly articles … [Read more...]
The Secret to Being Prepared for Creative Reviews
Creative reviews strike fear into the hearts of many copywriters. It’s not always the most comfortable thing to present your work to a roomful of people. But what if I told you there’s a secret to feeling much more sure and prepared? It’s completely natural and normal to be intimidated by reviews. After all, you agonize over a project only to present it and get feedback on … [Read more...]
Why People Tell You “Copywriting Is Hard to Get Into”
“Oh, copywriting is really hard to get into.” That’s one of the most popular things for people to say when they hear you’re interested in the field. But why? And what is that based on? So, let me start out with a little story. Practically anytime I’m at party or event and I meet someone new, we do the standard “What do you do?” exchange and I tell them I’m a copywriter. And … [Read more...]