I took a big, scary step a couple weeks ago. I made the biggest investment in my business by joining a mastermind-type group.
My goals are:
- 6x my 2023 revenue
- Be known for one thing (tbd on the “one thing”)
The 6x goal is very big and scary, but it’s not arbitrary. I chose it because that is what it would take to replace my husband’s salary. Not trying to replace my husband, but it would make me feel good to know that I could support my family if something happened to him. Not at all sure how I will get there. My hope lies in the program, my coaches, and my ability to be coached.
My mind feels scattered, so I’m going to attempt to organize them here. First, here’s what I know:
- Imposter syndrome is real for me. It impacts my pricing, marketing, how I approach client conversations, extra unpaid hours spent on a project, etc.
- I am resourceful, and a persistent, tenacious problem-solver.
- I like web design because the result is more tangible and success is visible.
- I like conversion copywriting because I have always believed that a website should “do” something. I appreciate that it rooted in research and data.
- I like to unbury or uncover messages in copy. I enjoy this more than generating fresh copy.
- Back in school, when working on a group project, I was the one who looked everything over and reorganized things to ensure the paper/ project made sense. Also, I help with college essays, and my favorite stage is round 2 or 3 where I get to reorganize paragraphs and sentences and identify gaps. This is also how I approached web copy before I started writing it myself. I guess I like to organize data.
- I didn’t set out to be a generalist, but I became one due to my aforementioned problem-solving skills. But I am ready to niche/ specialize.
- I am uncomfortable with self-promotion and tend to avoid it.
- I struggle with ADHD/ ADHD-like symptoms. Another reason niching/ specializing feels so attractive.
- I’m shy, but I love talking to clients. With practice, I think I will really enjoy customer research calls.
Thoughts about my business:
- I’m at an inflection point. I’m not able to grow my copywriting business because I’m too busy with my web business.
- In order to grow my business, I believe I need to let go of the commodity tasks and some clients. This is hard because I really like my clients and I like helping people if I know I have the ability.
- I need to learn to say “no” and remember that just because I “can” do something, doesn’t mean I need to do it.
- I have been talking about not trading time for $, but I continue to do it. (All of my maintenance/ ongoing contracts are hourly. I do not charge minimum or a fixed monthly fee. Simply bill as needed.)
- I made the most incredible and depressing discovery the other day: Not only is my rate below market (I have not raised my rate in years), but also, my pricing actively discounts my experience. A task that took me an hour years ago, may only take me 15 minutes today; however, since I bill for actual time spent, I am only earning a fraction for the same output. Super depressing. That’s partly why I feel like I’m doing a lot, but my bank account doesn’t show it, and it’s contributing to burnout.
- I have never considered an agency model because I like having control over the output and client satisfaction.
- I think my ideal workload looks like this: 2 medium copywriting projects/ 1 large copywriting projects + 2 small web maintenance projects at any given time. Full website re/ design (up to 7 pages) offered in very limited cases.
- I would like to transition from local, small businesses to SaaS clients.
In the pipeline for 2024:
- 1 new build in the pipeline for 2024
- Finish new build (already started)
- Finish research-only project
- Possible new maintenance project
- Evolution of current, ongoing web consulting/ design contract (they are redesigning—which I said no to—but they asked if I could stay on to help maintain it)
- Ad hoc tasks from existing clients
- Hot off the press! This email landed in my inbox minutes ago: Can we actually hop on a quick call again? It’s been a bit since we spoke & since our needs have changed I’d love to realign on getting content written for the home page sooner rather than later. This is SaaS prospect who found me through referral. She came looking for a web designer but it became clear in our initial call she could also use copywriting help. Our conversation went cold because they were trying to figure out exactly what their web needs were. I followed up last week, we reconnected, but still she wasn’t quite ready to move forward with anything because the website is a moving target. I offered a couple quick win ideas last Thursday and she came back! I really want this project!
Where I need help:
- How to transition as painlessly and smoothly as possible (for clients and me)
- Pricing
- Based on what you now know about me, do you see a unique intersection of my skills and interests and market need? Been thinking about my market position and my ideal audience… So far, I’ve narrowed it to people who have identified their website as the broken part of their funnel. I’d like to go deeper and get more specific.
