Myth #4: To a copywriter, writing is just a hobby.

If you’re thinking about setting up your own business or venture, as I have done with agoodwriteup, chances are that your entrepreneurship will flourish from a talent you have honed and a hobby you have loved.  This is exactly as it should be, as you realise the dream of making a living from doing something that you love.  However, once stability of the roof you live under starts relying on your ability to make money based solely on your former spare-time-only venture, every opportunity you get to write, bake, mend, draw, sew or design develops a key purpose of giving you an opportunity to sell.

It was this chance to make a little bit of extra cash that prompted me to move beyond the word-processed favours I was doing for my family and friends; a CV for my brother, a letter of complaint to a high street store for my aunty, a job application for my maid of honour…  it read like some sort of really underwhelming Christmas list.  When I mentally made a note of my copywriter anthology, I worked out that I had written close to a hundred documents that had won people jobs, freebies, vouchers and, hopefully, more than just a little pride in a resulting achievement.  I shared in this pride.  Seeing those you love being happy or rewarded is rewarding in itself, but I couldn’t help thinking, out of interest, what these favours would have earned if me if I had charged for my services.

Of course, this is not to say that I would have even thought of pricing up these favours at the time; I know that those people always have and always would do similar things for me with the many individual talents they could turn their hands to, and I’ve lost count of how many secret birthday cakes have been baked to pass off as my own, dresses have been hemmed and late-night taxis have been stumbled into.  There is a shift in dynamic though, when people know you no longer have a 9-5 as a copywriter, and are fully aware that the favour they are asking for would probably make you a decent amount of money if it was requested by one of the clients in the base you are striving to build.  My belief is that, as soon as one of my friends ‘goes pro’ with their venture, I absolutely insist on becoming a paying customer.  It’s a great boost for them, and you know you’ll always get mates rates anyway!

As well as the cats I obsess over in order to fulfil the copywriter stereotype, my friends and family mean everything to me, and when you work from home with nothing but a laptop and the aforementioned felines for company, this group is increasingly important to your sanity as you hold on to your interaction with human life-forms in the absence of office banter.  I will always do favours for them, and will continue to write CVs, letters, applications, profiles and whatever else they ask me to proofread or construct.  I would never take money, but I take offence when a project is handed over without warning and accompanied with the phrase, “Well, it’s not like real work for you, is it?”.  Yes, it is.  In fact, it’s even more like work, in the sense that a) we’re about to be underpaid for what is requested of us, and b) we’re now having a glass of wine with you, which means that we clocked-off several hours ago.  Whilst we copywriters undoubtedly love to write, these offerings are a proverbial busman’s holiday, and it’s eating into our actual free time.

Though I use them as an example here, my friends are not the root of this problem.  What has pushed me to write this piece is the growing trend I’ve experienced from a few clients; one of whom believes that because I’ve done a lot of paid work for him in the past, he can now ring me up at any hour of the night and gently engage me into verbally correcting/adapting/enhancing large passages of his latest novel over the telephone, before concluding the hour-long call with a friendly, “Great to catch up with you, Jo – speak soon!”  Whilst it’s true that long-term and long-standing clients would always be given a preferential rate to reward loyalty, expecting or even co-ercing freebie favours is pushing it too far, especially as what they hand over are rarely ‘two-minute’ jobs (please see my previous blog post)!

A good few years ago, when I first started thinking about becoming a freelance copywriter and creating agoodwriteup, I happened to be working with the beautiful and hard-working Jayne Tingle, professional bodybuilding athlete and UFE World Championship competitor (today!).  Whilst I was envious of her figure, I met with Jayne weekly, not to build my body but instead to indulge in a little bit of pole fitness as my exercise programme of choice.  At this point in her life, Jayne was looking to really promote herself on a local stage as well as a national and global platform.  I stepped in to help Jayne out with a few written promotional pieces, and in return, she offered me an equivalent favour in the form of a couple of free training slots, and the relationship worked perfectly.  My point it, there is always something that can be offered if money is not an option or if it’s considered inappropriate.  You work to balance these kinds of relationships with people, and just as I would not have been thankful if Jayne would have turned up unannounced on my doorstep with a ring-binder and a USB stick in order for me to carry out a free promotional write up, I wouldn’t dream of turning up at her studio asking her to quickly help me lose 3lbs and tone my limbs whilst her paying clients watched on from the treadmills.

I’m aware that this piece may make me sound a little harsh, so please let me reiterate that I in no way object to or even dislike taking on writing projects for my loved ones, and I will always continue to carry out my writing for them with love, best wishes and big words.  It’s these people who trusted in my ability and talent so much that gave me the confidence I needed to go out there into the world and do this for real, and that’s a favour I’ll never be able to repay.  It’s these people that will be the first to realise though that this is no longer my hobby; it’s my job.