Writing your own copy – despair or delight?

I don’t know about you, but when it comes to using the skills and expertise people gladly pay me for (thank you!) on my own business, I find myself curled up under my desk in a ball of agony, despair and biscuit wrappers.

No matter how swiftly I can conjure up copy magic for clients, when it comes to turning that creativity onto my own work… it's crickets.

Everything sounds trite, clichéd, or gratuitously sassy. (And believe me, I’m about as far from ‘badassery’ as it gets.) 

I start second-guessing myself. I look for reassurance.

I worry what my peers will think, instead of my future clients.

"How does [insert favourite industry A-lister] describe this?"

"Will the copy community cast me aside for this lame header and excessive use of caps?"

*Googles ‘how to write web copy’*

Jeez Louise.

Of course, there are advantages to being your own client – no parameters, no holding back, no worrying about whether the words ‘bullshit’ or ‘vomit’ fit with the brand voice or not. No lengthy sign-off process with the new Highest Paid Person.

But in some ways this freedom is what makes it so challenging.

Having no limits can be a dangerous thing, when left alone with only a WordPress editor and a fresh box of Nespresso pods for company.

It’s easy to forget the carefully designed systems that enable our client work to run so smoothly. Once I remembered this, it was actually pretty fun to go through that process of discovery, message mining and voice of customer research for myself.

(Who doesn’t like re-reading glowing testimonials? I might make this a weekly thing.)

Once I reconnected with why people want to work with me, and why I want to work with them, the words started to flow.

Because this is the thing to remember – your customers aren’t buying from you because you sound like everyone else, or because you tick all the right check boxes on Copyhackers.

They’re working with you because of who you are.

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For more tips about life as a freelancer, have a listen to my 15 Minute Freelancer podcast

[Photo by Dmitry Ratushny on Unsplash]

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