The Fearful Secret of Copywriting Success

Photo credit: bobster855

I owe my professional success, in part, to knowing which fights to pick. Picking this one may not represent my smartest play, but here I go…

Let me state up front that I have no professional or personal ax to grind with organizer Michael Stelzner, or the other copywriting luminaries putting their time, expertise and necks on the line at the Copywriting Success Summit 2009. I’ve actually purchased and read publications offered by several of the Summit’s speakers. I frequently read many of their blogs; and I’ve even exchanged friendly correspondence with a few.

Even so, this is one copywriter who won’t be shelling out the $297 early bird rate to hear any of them speak at the Summit.

A brief, but relevant digression
Social media guru Chris Brogan has taken hits lately for profiting off the professional network he took years to build with free content and advice. The profits in question stem, in part, from his publication of Trust Agents, a well-received New York Times bestseller about social media relationships.

For more on that debate, visit here and here. My take on the issue is very simple: The decision to put a price on content belongs solely to those who create it. The rest of us can vote with our wallets.

Which brings me back to the Copywriting Success Summit 2009, and why I won’t be attending…

Apologies in advance for pissing anyone off. I recognize I could just as easily cast a silent vote. But there’s a discussion worth having here about whether our profession benefits more from a communal or competitive model. Put another way, should our relationships with other freelancers be governed by capitalism or communism? (For the irony impaired: IRONY!)

I’ll be brutally honest with you. I tend to be a capitalist when I’m providing a service, and a communist (IRONY!) when I’m receiving one.

So, it’s more a reflection of me – not the Summit speakers – that when I read about these kinds of events and products, I find myself wondering whether their expertise reflects an ability to attract new clients, or extract money from new copywriters. Did success lead them to promote their methods, or did promotion of their methods lead to their success?

I digress. This isn’t about me, and it isn’t about them. It’s about all of us.

Here’s my question
What is gained and what is lost when we pay others for the secrets to their success?

Bob Bly, the Godfather of copywriting gurus, once said that tapping the proven methods of veteran copywriters can reduce your learning curve from 100 hours to 10 hours. I agree.

I still have dog-eared copies of Bob’s books, and others from Peter Bowerman and Michael Masterson on my shelf. They were constant references when I launched my freelance career nearly eight years ago. They provided some very sound advice, such as:

• Establish a niche for yourself. It’s easier to grasp the value of a specialist, than a generalist.
• Define your ideal client before getting started
• Demonstrate, rather than promote, your skill at writing persuasively
• Sell the benefits, not the features of your copywriting services
• Learn the comparative application and benefits of marketing tools – for example, email vs direct mail, blogging vs e-newsletters

All very good stuff and – another disclosure – some of these lessons came from online seminars similar to the upcoming Summit. I think it’s wise for budding copywriters to invest in materials and events that will help them cultivate expertise. I do.

But I also believe that there are certain traits to successful freelancers that, by definition, can’t be taught. These I rarely ever see the experts breathe a hint about. Among them:

• Enthusiasm bordering on a compulsive desire for the self-employed lifestyle. (Today’s enthusiasm becomes tomorrow’s hard-boiled commitment when business gets slow)
• Dogged – and I mean dogged persistence at marketing yourself. That includes building and sustaining a network of prospective clients
• A high pain threshold for risk, uncertainty and a sometimes fickle marketplace. It’s not personal, deal with it.
• A rock-solid perspective about when you’re beating yourself up, and when you’re letting yourself off the hook for mistakes
• Confidence – not cockiness – confidence that you know what constitutes good copy
• A self-sustaining and monstrous work ethic
• Attention to self-care: Your creative side is linked to your physical, mental and emotional health. Working on your writing means working on yourself
• Savings: There are no unemployment benefits for the self-employed. Debt and insolvency are not your friends, particularly when you’re sitting at the negotiating table
• And lastly, an ability to be in the right place at the right time (i.e. everywhere)

Just because these things can’t be taught doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be mentioned. Freelancing is not an easy business, and not everyone is cut out for it.

Maybe that’s my problem with seminars, kits and books that make success seem like it’s the product of a secret formula. These materials highlight the potential road to riches, and proven methods that have worked for others. But they don’t talk about the external risks, and they ignore internal factors.

They don’t tell me about me – my strengths, my weaknesses, which flaws I can correct and which I need to work around. This stuff gets brushed aside in the promotional materials because it doesn’t sell. There’s no profit in it.

And yet, I would argue that my second list of bullets plays a far greater role than the first in determining a freelancer’s long-term success.

Bottom line: I’m not out to take food off the plate of any expert who wants fair recompense for his or her expertise. But neither do I want to see the genuinely challenging path of freelance writing to be presented as a cakewalk – if you only know the secrets.

Here’s the fearful secret of copywriting success: Freelancing can be damned hard at times – anything worthwhile generally is.

So do we cultivate the next generation of freelancers by billing them for our hard-won expertise, or by freely sharing our experience and support through networks, blogs and mentorships?

What say you?