Start & Run a Copywriting Business. Steve Slaunwhite

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СКАЧАТЬ I have done my best to give you the most educated estimates I can based on my experience as a freelance copywriter in the greater Toronto area. Costs in your area, however, are bound to differ. Use my numbers as a rough guide to help you budget.

      Your personal needs, preferences, and ambitions will greatly affect your start-up costs. I suggest you start modestly, but if you have the money and inclination to set up a fancy office, design an elaborate website, and have reams of expensive letterhead printed, go for it. Just remember, this isn’t a necessity.

      When I started my copywriting business, my wife and I were waiting for our home to be built (which, because of labor strikes, took more than a year). In the interim, we lived in a small condominium apartment where I worked out of a little office not much bigger than a closet. There was barely enough room to fit a desk, let alone a copywriter. Yet I managed to complete some of my first paid copywriting assignments in that little room and built the beginnings of my client base. So, yes, you certainly can start small.

      Focus on a Goal

      This isn’t a motivational book on goal setting. However, I strongly suggest you set clear short-term and long-term goals for your copywriting business. In his popular book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey says, “Begin with the end in mind.” Good advice. In my experience, without a clear picture of where you want to go, it’s all too easy to waste time spinning your wheels.

      I’m hardly an expert on goal setting. In fact, I admit my history of setting and achieving goals is shaky. Sometimes I feel I got where I am more by accident than by design. But the times I felt most energized and motivated were when I set out to achieve a clearly defined goal.

      Author and sales coach Tom Stoyan suggests writing your goals down and reviewing them at least once a month. Because I spend so much time at my computer, I keep my goals in a computer folder named Goals and review them frequently. Inside my Goals folder are four separate files: 90-day goals, one-year goals, three-year goals, and overall goals.

      My 90-day goals tend to be very specific. Among my 90-day goals for this quarter, for example, are to attract another Fortune 500 corporate account, get another major mail-order copywriting assignment, and ride my bike around Lake Simcoe (a goal I set before I realized how big Lake Simcoe was).

      My three-year goals and overall goals tend to be less specific and more lofty. One of my overall goals, for example, is to be an outstanding father. One of my three-year goals is to be among the top 2 percent of successful freelance copywriters in my two target markets: marketing managers of business-to-business Fortune 500 corporations and direct-mail marketers. Because I market my services to these specific groups, it’s easier for me to gauge how I stack up against other freelance copywriters in the same markets.

      When I began my copywriting business, I didn’t define many goals and tended to drift. Don’t make the same mistake I did. Set some milestones you want to hit within the first few months and years of your copywriting business. Write them down and review them often. Remember: goals evolve. You can, and I’m sure you will, change them as you go along.

      Ask yourself: “Where do I want my business to be in three months? A year? Three years?” Your three-month goal might be to get your business up and running and secure your first copywriting client. Your one-year goal might be an income objective — to consistently invoice $3,000 per month, for example.

      I like to think of goals as a road map. There’s always a way to get from where you are to where you want to go. You merely have to find the best route. Just remember, as with any journey, you are bound to encounter bumps in the road, hitchhikers, bad weather, and unexpected obstacles, and at times you’re going to run out of gas. But I firmly believe that if you keep your destination in sight, you’ll eventually get there.

      One last note about goal setting: Don’t forget to celebrate when you reach a milestone. When I was starting out, I worked hard to win that first major corporate-writing assignment. When I did, I got my wife to take a photo of me proudly holding the purchase order. That picture is still pinned to my bulletin board where I can see it each day. It’s quite motivating. (And the company that gave me that order is still one of my clients.)

      Are You Going to Start Part Time or Full Time?

      Part time is a great way to launch your copywriting business, and I do recommend it. However, it can create conflicts with other priorities. For example, if you have another job during the day, how are you going to contact clients and complete assignments? If you are a busy parent with small children at home, how are you going to handle a crying child while you’re struggling to meet a deadline or you’re on the phone with an important client? Careful planning is crucial.

      The key advantage of working part time is financial. If you have another source of income, then you avoid many of the financial pressures associated with starting a business. You can start small, make some mistakes, grow your client base at your own pace, and not get too stressed by cash-flow headaches.

      Setting up a full-time copywriting business is a much different experience. Financial demands increase dramatically but, in many ways, it’s easier than working part time. You have fewer conflicts because your business is a priority, not just a sideline.

      You’ll also be taken more seriously by clients when you’re working full time. You can attend client meetings at any time of the day, and can freely schedule the time you need to complete client work. When I quit my job and went out on my own as a self-employed copywriter, my business tripled in the first month. The reason? I was putting all my energy, full time, toward making the business work.

      However, you’ll likely experience some financial worries from time to time, especially if you are relying on your copywriting business to generate some or all of your personal income needs. Financial stress is part of any new business venture, and there’s not much you can do about it. Just plan well, carefully monitor your cash flow, and try not to get too many gray hairs.

      Playing the Name Game

      The Write Touch … Write for Business … The Write Words … The Right Writer … Writing that’s Right … No doubt you’ve seen names like these before, especially among freelance writers, copywriters, and business writers. There is nothing wrong with creating a business name that plays on the curious fact that “right” is pronounced the same as “write.” It has just been overdone.

      Coming up with a creative, unique business name is difficult. In fact, some corporations and start-ups pay consultants tens of thousands of dollars to do just that. I recently read an article about a firm that charges $100,000 to find a name for a corporation. One name!

      I’ve had a long adventure with business names over the years. One of my earlier creations was word/vision. The perfect name; I’m a genius, I thought. Until one day I was networking at a trade show and everyone thought I worked for WorldVision Canada, a well-known charity.

      Then I got it into my head that calling myself a “copywriter” was too uninspired. So I adopted the title of “Promotional Writer” and included it on all my letterhead and business cards. Brilliant, I thought. I’ll stand out from the crowd. And I certainly did. Within weeks I had received inquiries ranging from someone wanting me to run an employee incentive program, to an auto dealer asking if I could rent him a large floating gorilla for a weekend sales blitz he was planning. (I had no idea how he connected Promotional Writer to promotional balloons. And I didn’t care. I dropped the name.)

      For a couple of years, I was known by the business name, “The СКАЧАТЬ