Copywriter for Sale

After my self-imposed sabbatical from the work-a-day world I faced the facts – 1) I was running out of money and 2) It was time to get back to work and 3) I kind of missed working.

Easy, right? In fact, hardly any effort at all, because I got a call out of the blue from my former asking me back. How cool was that? I didn’t have to look, I simply needed to decide and the phone rang. The Universe was on my side, right? Not so much. Turned out things weren’t going well and they admitted that they didn’t have any busines and couldn’t really afford to pay me. Yikes!

I stewed, I was pissed, I worried. Okay, enough of that and I segued from Plan A to Plan B. – 1)updated the resume 2)networked with friends and acquaintances 3)sent out my resume til I wanted to puke 4)went on job interviews 5)played the part of the perfect candidate. How did that go? Uh….

Just when I thought all was lost, my friend asked me if I’d like to do a little copywriting job. Would I? Well, duh, yeah. I set to the task and it was fun and didn’t take too long at all. I sent it off, my head filled with dreams of doing more and making a buttload of money while doing it.

Except that, there was no other work to offer me. Sorry WC. Back to Plan B…more resume submission, more job interviews, more worry.

Then again, like magic, my friend had another project, was I interested? Oh yeah! We’re going to revamp a manufacturing website. What fun! And it was…sort of… The writing part was fun, the creative part was fun, the trying to get the client nailed down was a little like herding cats. Lots of starts and stops and after a while I couldn’t quite read the copy because I’d read it so much that nothing really got into the part of my brain that comprehends. The words melted and made pretty colors & shapes while the song MacArthur Park played a never-ending loop in my head.

I thought to myself, ‘You could do this. You can write – whether it’s boring, funny or serious – you’ve got the chops. You too, like thousands of others, can become a copywriter.’ It made sense. I could be my own boss, make money for myself, as I’d done for decades for other businesses, how hard could it be?

Off I went, searching out information, high and low. I found all manner of tips, tricks and secrets of the trade. I stumbled onto this website and this website and found great advice, lots of enthusiasm and motivation and free/cheap tools to help me on my journey of the self-employed. The more I read and researched, the more convinced I became I could really do it. The Universe was obviously holding up a sign that read, “Do this, stupid!”

I got so enthused that I decided,”I need a website!” I researched domain names, what would I call myself? Unfortunately, most of the obvious names and the names that would get picked up by the search engines were taken. Drat! How would people find me if the search engines couldn’t spider to my site? After much debate and surveying a few hundred friends, I came up with a name. Progress!

Trying to leverage what little funds I had, I opted to go for a free hosted site – I could always upgrade as my finances improved. Easy, right? Not so much. The site where I found the domain name promised a free web page, email, an evening dress and McDonald’s coupons but once I started the process I got confused. They kept asking me questions I didn’t understand, did I want this too for just another $2.99 a month? How about this for another $5.99? And shouldn’t I buy all the versions of my domain name in case I got famous and somebody tried to muscle in on my branding? Insert scream, here.

I went back to the free site that had been recommended by a friend – and where I stopped cold when I was prompted to find and buy a domain name – this time I went ahead with it. Click and the domain name was mine. Excitement coursed through my veins as I moved onto the next steps, building the website with their easy web building tools.

Apparently, I don’t have the IQ of a monkey when it comes to using easy web building wizards and tools and I ended up on a click-fest that got me nowhere and frustrated. Eventually, I sort of figured it out and started going. Then oops, what the heck was I going to say? How would I do this? No, that looks stupid. Nope, what sounded good in my head read pathetically on the page. Maybe another site that was more user friendly? Crap, another fee to transfer the domain name. Back to the original site. Damn, this doesn’t come with an email address? Should I or shouldn’t I? The hell with it!

I would share the url with you but frankly, I’m too embarrassed for anyone to see it and it could be years before I am not too embarrassed. To my horror, I found out that the site already had several hits and I cringed at the thought of people reading it. Oh well, will have to work it out…someday.

So, today is the day. I’m nearly finished with the manufacturing website job and I have to push myself out there. I need to ‘pull the trigger’ as one of the groovy copyrwriting gurus advises. I have to convince others to hire me. I have to be persuasive. I have to write to live.

Maybe a job isn’t such a bad idea after all….

So, anybody out there want a slightly used, will-work-for-food copywriter? Do you think I could list myself on Ebay?