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Energize Your Writing and Increase Your Output
Every writer can benefit from a study of the effectiveness of their individual writing process. You can write more and you can write better by making some adjustments in your writing strategy.
Recently one of my writer friends complained about...
Promoting Your Online Writing Portfolio
Dear Writing Reader, One of the most popular questions from Authors on my site, Writing.Com, is: "How do I promote my Online Writing Portfolio outside of Writing.Com?" Here are my top five tips for increasing the amount of exposure to anyone's...
The Benefits of Journal Writing
Everyday we experience many different events. Some good, some bad, some memorable and some that can be forgotten the next day. For writers, these events of our lives are a treasure trove of material that could be very valuable to us. You just had...
The Questions People Ask About Writing Niche Non-Fiction
Here is a list of questions that people frequently ask me on the topic of writing for profit in the realms of niche non-fiction. Hopefully you will find the answers helpful but if you have any questions of your own please feel free to contact me. ...
Writing For The Web: More Places To Get Ideas
There are many places all over the place to get article ideas. Part 1 of this series explored some of the locations on the internet. This part goes into some of the places you can find ideas outside of the web. Libraries - Believe it or not,...
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Freelance Copywriting Advice #1: Take the Scary Jobs
From time to time you will be faced with an opportunity that looks downright scary.
The temptation is to think, "Hey, that's way outside my level of expertise. I'm not ready for that."
My advice to you is this: Do it.
When you are faced with opportunities that are larger, more challenging and ultimately 'scary', that's when you learn fastest, stretch yourself the most and build your inner confidence as a copywriter.
Let me give you a couple of related examples.
Within my first two months as a direct marketing copywriter I was presented with the opportunity to write a mailing for Franklin Mint.
As some of you may know, Franklin Mint is a very, very sophisticated company when it comes to direct marketing. I seriously wondered whether I might end up looking like an idiot, wasting my time and theirs.
But I took on the job. Scary, yes. But it worked out fine. I learned a great deal and continued to do work for them.
Here's another, related example.
In early 1998 a friend of mine was invited to speak to a few hundred people at a conference about marketing online. He got cold feet and asked me to speak in his place. The problem was, I had only a week to
prepare my talk.
I had never spoken to a crowd that large before. I had no idea what to do. I was terrified.
But I did it.
In hindsight, that first talk was not a great one. But it got me started. Since then I have spoken at dozens of conferences and given full day seminars to numerous companies.
Speaking has made me quite a bit of money, and has led to many copywriting jobs I would otherwise have never received. It has also helped establish me as an expert in my chosen field.
And I came so, so close to saying no.
How close? Probably not as close as I think. Looking back, I have always said yes to the scariest challenges.
It's how you grow. It's how you find new opportunities. It's how you make your name as a copywriter worth doing business with.
About the Author
Nick Usborne is a freelance copywriter, author and speaker. For more on making money as a freelance copywriter, visit his site, http://www.FreelanceWritingSuccess.com. For more on developing your skills, read his review of this copywriting course byMichael Masterson.
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