I want to be a B2B copywriter with all of its advantages. I want to work from home in pajamas, have a flexible schedule, enjoy the freedom to work anywhere, make a good income, fill a needed slot, be part of a team, and get satisfaction from my work.
What keeps me from doing it? Well, there are four recurring obstacles I have identified – and I’ll tell you how I’m overcoming them.
- I am spoiled! I don’t like to get up in the dark. The bed is warm and comfy. It’s cold outside. Unless there is a special occasion, I don’t particularly like getting dressed. PJs are less work. Sometimes I would rather starve than get up!
But, after I do reluctantly get up and get dressed, I enjoy watching the sky redden as the sun rises over the horizon. I admit, perhaps it is worth getting up early.
Also, I can get in two to three hours of work if I am up and ready before the rest of the household, usually without distractions.
My creativity is better in the early morning. Sometimes I awake with an idea in the middle of the night, which I can develop by writing in the quiet, early morning.
But how do I make myself get up and get dressed when I would rather wait until 10a.m.? I just make myself get out of bed, regardless! It has to be a habit, so if you do it 15 to 20 times without fail, it will become second nature.
Write down a start date and do it faithfully for a month. Reward yourself, if necessary, every time you do it. Make the reward something you enjoy – a special chocolate, for example, but only one!
- I don’t have enough time! There is always a plethora of things needing to be done. The car needs an oil change, I have to exchange some gifts, the grocery store calls my name if I want to eat, the grass needs mowing, I need to go and get a new battery charger because the old one stopped working, etcetera!
Time is always fixed. Everyone has 24 hours in a day. It always slips away. When you become successful and busy, you still won’t have any more time.
The only answer is: you have to make time. Better organization will help. A schedule will help. But you just have to make time. Only personal persistence will get it done.
- Things are never organized. The notebook is downstairs, the computer is upstairs, and where did I leave the charger? I have to look for my outline. I have piles of paper over my entire desk. I need more paper. The cell phone needs to be reset before it can email. Why is the server so slow in the morning? I need to check my email. I’m starving. The printer needs toner. I don’t have time to get better organized. I either organize or I write, but not both in the same day. I get overwhelmed and then I can hardly do anything.
Try a deliberate approach.
Organize your workspace with everything you need to write. Enlist help from your spouse or partner if getting organized is not your strong suit. Have your computer and smart phone charged and ready to begin at your appointed work time.
Sit down and think. No procrastination. Think of your topic. Think of your “avatar” and readers or client, and review, yet again, what they want or need from you.
Write quickly without editing unless it is your second draft.
Get your ideas down on paper. You can edit or pretty it up later. Jot down your ideas, humor, or related stories.
If you have no ideas, try taking a walk outside for 15 to 20 minutes and then return, refreshed, after giving your subconscious some time to work.
- I need to market more. How do I fit it in? I need a better list of potential clients. Where did my first list get to? How can I get the email address for the marketing director or the owner of the business? It is hard to keep up enthusiasm. I need time to explore businesses and the magazines related to them.
Set up your schedule every day. List the four to five important tasks you want to achieve that day. Work on those tasks every day during your office time. Try making your list before you go to bed at night.
Once a week, look at your long-term goals and tasks, and again, write them down, evaluate, and prioritize them.
Does this sound familiar? All B2B copywriters may face these or similar obstacles, maybe not exactly the same details, but with the same results. These are universal problems and all writers have to overcome them.
But if you do these four things every day, they will become a habit. And habits are so much easier to do than new things.
In the end, your personal efforts will determine your level of success, more than your skills, your courses, or your luck. If you are facing some of the same obstacles to achieving your goal to become a B2B copywriter that I am, try doing what I’m doing. Your effort will be rewarded with success, but YOU have to do it!
