• What is Copywriting?
    • Why Become a Copywriter?
  • Blog
    • Most Popular
    • Growth & Development
    • Portfolio
    • Business Development
    • Book Recommendations
    • Looking for Work
    • Copy Tactics
    • Definitions
  • Podcast
  • Copywriting Course
    • Comprehensive Copywriting Academy
    • CCA Login
    • Written Testimonials
    • Video Testimonials
  • Store
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • About Nicki
    • Contact Us
  • Copywriter Jobs

Filthy Rich Writer

Write copy, make money, be happy!

Tips, Tools and Training for New and Aspiring Copywriters

  • What does “Filthy Rich” mean? It means having a job you love, being good at what you do…and making great money doing it!

Copywriting Q&A: What to Do When Your Confidence Flags

By Nicki Krawczyk 1 Comment

What to do when your copywriting confidence wanes
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? Boy, do I have advice for you. Read on…

Today’s question comes from Ariel C., who asks, “Lately I’ve been feeling kind of daunted by…everything. I’ve gotten some clients, but every ‘no’ gets to me. I’m starting to wonder if I have what it takes. Do you have any words of wisdom? I’d appreciate it.”

The first thing I want to emphasize is that this question came in from Ariel, but it could have come in from anyone. Literally, anyone. Why? Because this crisis of confidence happens to everyone.

I know that this crisis of confidence is very personal and feels like you’re the only one who feels it. But please believe me: Not only does everyone else feel it, but it’s also completely natural. It’s part of the process.

Any time you stretch yourself outside of your comfort zone—even when it’s something you want to do—your brain is going to react by making you fearful. It doesn’t mean that you actually have anything to fear, it just means that your brain is threatened by trying something new.

Here’s a great quote about fear from Liz Gilbert’s book Big Magic: “Basically, your fear is like a mall cop who thinks he’s a Navy SEAL: He hasn’t slept in days, he’s all hopped up on Red Bull, and he’s liable to shoot at his own shadow in an absurd effort to keep everyone ‘safe.’”

So how do you get past that fear? How do you regain your confidence? Action. And not huge, earth-moving action either. Small, tiny, almost absurdly minute action.

How small? Well, think you can create a new Word file—not writing in it, just creating it—without freaking out? That small.

You already know what your next steps are. But part of why you’re losing your confidence is that they feel overwhelmingly big. Tackling your To Do list feels like trying to climb Mt. Everest. So no kidding your confidence is low.

The first thing to do is to take your to-do list and break each item down into absurdly small actions. Truly: Laughably small. If your first item is to create a list of potential contact to pitch yourself to, your absurdly small items list should start out with something like:

– Open Excel document
– List out every single business near me I can think of
– Google to get address, phone number and email address of first one
– Paste information into Excel doc

The steps you break down should be laughably easy. Nothing should take more than two minutes—maximum. The key is to get yourself to take action by creating steps that are so small, they don’t even feel like taking action.

As you complete these tasks and cross them off your list, you’ll build momentum. And as you build momentum, you’ll start to feel your confidence return. It’s very likely that, once you get yourself warmed up with a few little tasks, you’ll start charging through them and getting things done like nobody’s business.

Fear makes you doubt yourself and stops you in your tracks. The only way to combat that fear and rebuild your confidence is to get moving again.

Be gentle with yourself.  You won’t get anywhere beating yourself up or letting yourself believe that your fear means you’re not meant to succeed. It means nothing of the sort.

All “fear” means is that you’ve moved on to something new. That’s it.

And the way to get yourself past that fear (and each time it comes up) is to take tiny, tiny steps in the right direction. Eventually, those tiny steps will add up to big ones.

Your turn! Have you felt your confidence wane? How did you deal with it? Let us know in the comments below!

Tweet
Share
Pin9
Share
9 Shares

Filed Under: Growth & Development, Looking for Work, Q&A

Interested in Copywriting? Get our Free Video Training!

Plus, get on the list for updates, freebies, and more :) 



About Nicki Krawczyk

Nicki is a copywriter, copy coach and the founder of Filthy Rich Writer. She's been writing copy for more than 15 years.

Comments

  1. Terence says

    November 30, 2015 at 3:36 pm

    Yeh! We tend to look at the big things as being insurmountable, and that only helps the feeling of overwhelm become overpowering.

    But, there can be no action without a goal…even the tiniest! So, visualize the goal to begin with…it helps if it appears vivid and hence easily achievable. Boy! wont you want to get to it then!

    Thanks Nicki, it always helps to get validation from someone who has been there and done that, no matter how successful one becomes!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Follow us for more tips & tools

Facebook
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Twitter
Visit Us
Follow Me
Tweet
Pinterest
Pinterest
fb-share-icon
Instagram

Search Posts By Topic

“

Break Into Copywriting

Sign up to get our FREE video training, special resources, and more!



“skills

Portfolio Tips

Why listing out all of your possible copywriting services may not be a great idea

Do You Need to List Your Copywriting Services on Your Portfolio Site?

Should I List Prices on My Copywriting Website?

4 Things Most Copywriters Get Wrong on Their Portfolio Websites

4 Things Most Copywriters Get Wrong on Their Portfolio Websites

Comprehensive Copywriting Academy

Comprehensive Copywriting Academy from Filthy Rich Writer

Join the copywriting training program that's helping people just like you build successful copywriting careers!

Recent Articles

  • Should Copywriters Collect Sales Tax?
  • Do Copywriters Need Insurance?
  • Opening a Business Bank Account as a Copywriter
  • Paying Taxes as a Freelancer: How to Pay Quarterly Taxes
  • Getting an EIN and Filling Out a W-9

Copyright 2021 Filthy Rich Writer | About Us | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy