Skills For Starting Your Copywriting Business
If you’re thinking of starting a copywriting business, you may be surprised by the other non-writing skills you need. Here’s what it’s really like.
My dreams of being a writer
I’ve always wanted to start a copywriting business. Not quite. I wanted to be a cartographer, then a lecturer, then a researcher. On that journey, I’ve combined research and data analysis. Written reports have always been the output. And a few maps were thrown in for good measure.
But the one thing I’ve always longed to do is to write a book. I thought I’d take a few months off my 9-5 job and head to France. I’d rent a little place in the country and enjoy the surrounds, the food and the atmosphere. And write. But that hasn’t happened.
Starting my copywriting business
When I started my business I was pretty naive about it all. It didn’t take me long to realise that there were all these other non-copywriting tasks to do. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m writing and getting paid to do something I love, but. And it’s a definite but, there’s so much more to do than writing.
Between doing what you love and finding time to grow your business, it’s a difficult juggle. So before you take the plunge, here are some of the additional skills I’ve had to learn. Maybe you’ve thought of them already?
Business tasks
- Taking phone and email enquiries
- Quoting for work
- Project proposals
- Invoicing clients
- Paying accounts
- Project tracking
- Creating templates and documents
- Developing processes and systems
- Managing cash flow
- Website development
- Website design
- Content management planning
- Learning how to use various social media platforms
- Social media marketing
- Blogging for my site
- Networking and building relationships
- SEO
- Building links and profiles to local groups
- Creating consistent branding
- Copywriting
So here are my tips to make it work
Outsource. Well, this is great if you’ve got funding behind you. But quite often, writers are following their passion and getting that steady income stream is hard. Until you get that steady cash flow, unfortunately, you’re performing a juggling act.
Some of my tricks are to
- develop processes and systems
- automate tasks
- purchase ready-made templates
- do similar tasks together
- set blocks of time for specific tasks
There are many more ways to increase your productivity with apps and customisation. Although they initially may take a little longer to put together, they do save you in the long run.
But the bottom line is that your core-business makes you money.