Part 1 (of 6) Why Is Writing So Hard?

Why does writing have to be so hard?

In all the books, online courses, blogs, podcasts, and other information sources you devour with firehose ferocity, you can clearly see the level of copywriting that your work needs to be at to have a viable business.

You conclude that you have a copywriting problem. 

If you don’t fix it, you worry you won’t attract new clients, make money, and your business will fail. Then, you’ll have to admit to everyone that you don’t know what you’re doing after all and go back and get a crappy J.O.B.

Before you fall down the rabbit hole comparing your drafts in Google Docs to any polished multi-7-figure business owner — stop!

What you don’t know about those 6-and 7-figure launches: You can trust that the entrepreneurs behind those shiny sales pages spent years writing and tweaking their own copy, hiring experts who sucked, hiring experts who got it right, and then finally, having an entire team of word-slinging experts spending months spit-shining it and making updates every year.

As a freelance copywriter, I’ve worked on some of those big shiny sales pages. On one high-level program, a team of 6 writing experts spent over 40 hours tweaking, editing, and adding sparkle to a long-form sales page.

As an entrepreneur where you wear all the hats or have a small team, expecting your copy to look like that of the greats without investing 5-figures in some experts just isn’t possible. Not to mention the investment of your own time.

Unfussy Writing Tip: Don’t compare your first draft to someone’s 25th revision.

I can also tell you one thing’s for certain. Most copy you’re reading of any seasoned online pro today is not the very first draft they put out there. 

Between website copy, sales copy, sales emails, nurture sequences, speaker bios, referral emails, freebies, blog posts, podcast show notes, social media content, and everyday email correspondence — there’s no shortage of words that need your attention. 

You know you’ve got some writing to do, but it fucking sucks. 

You wish that your business didn’t require writing. 

#sorrynotsorry but it does.

You’re a business owner and writing your copy is one of those tasks that keeps falling to the bottom of your to-do list. You’re actively avoiding it other than firing off important emails — and maybe a few angry Tweets. And it shows because your website copy or big writing project has been a work in progress for longer than you’d ever admit.

Your Google Docs with all your website copy have been collecting dust for two years.

To rub salt in the wound, everywhere you look, you see people commiserating online —

Ugh, I hate writing copy.

Why does writing have to be so damn hard?

I’m so not a writer. I can’t write my own copy. 

You’ve tried putting it on the calendar, blocking off the time, going to a coffee shop, writing early in the morning or late at night. No matter what time of day you pencil it in, even if you write it in your paper planner with a purple Sharpie, it doesn’t happen. 

When you do write, it takes forever. Maybe it took you 12 hours to write your last blog post. 

“Write content to grow your business they said. It’ll be easy they said.”

Bullshit. 

You’re blocked. You wish you could get ahead on writing your blog, podcast show notes, newsletter, or book.

You’re sick of the constant struggle every week, wondering what it is that you want to write, or knowing what you need to write and punching and kicking your way through it.

What does your audience want to hear? What’s important to them? Does my ideal client like soy milk or almond milk? Ugh, you give up, and yet again your blog sits untouched for yet another week.

You want to sound authentic (even though you hate that word) and real. But your writing feels so flat, so boring, and lifeless. 

Whatever you’re writing, you know you just need to get it done and get it out there. Your piles of unfinished drafts aren’t making you any money — and you feel shitty about this too. 

We have a natural tendency to whine and complain, and the online forums make it easy. You’re sprouting new gray hairs fighting your way through your copy so you pop onto Facebook and furiously type a request…

“Who knows a fantastic and reasonable copywriter? And go!”

What is this “reasonable” bit anyway? All the experts, including your coaches, told you that you need good copy to sell, and you can’t afford to drop a few Gs on a great one, so you hope there’s maybe a unicorn somewhere that will take the daunting task of writing off your plate and maybe doesn’t charge a lot.

Sit back and wait for the slew of pitches from copywriters and other business owners who tagged their friends. You sit and watch the comments come in and stalk the copywriter recommendations online. 

Skipping over their about pages and heading straight to their packages so that you can find out how much they cost. 

Too expensive. 

Unreasonable. 

How dare they. 

Even if you did hire a copywriter in the past and had so-so, or pretty good results, you’re one of the lucky ones. I’ve personally coached clients who spent $10,000 (and more) on website copy only to hate it, trash the whole thing, and call me.

I’m willing to bet that if you had great results, it’s because you did 1 of 3 things:

1. You put some sweat equity into your copy alongside with your copywriter

2. You were unattached from the result, so your copywriter was set up for success

3. You were clear on your writing voice and know your client’s extremely well 

You think you need to hire a copywriter who gets it. If you had the money, you’d hire the same copywriters who wrote those expert sites.

But wait...

• How do you find that copywriter? You don’t want to be that dick shopping for “reasonable unicorn” copywriters on Facebook and Upwork.

• How can I afford that copywriter? You know you’ll have to pay big bucks to get great copy that sells.

• Interviewing copywriters is overwhelming. Even with a long list of impressive samples, how do I know they’ll do a great job for you?

And then, even if you scrounge together your benjamin’s, hold your breath, and jump in, you still hate the copy. 

• You realized that hopping on the phone with a copywriter for half an hour, even if they’re psychic, doesn’t mean that she’ll be able to magically spin words of gold out of your rambly, incoherent thoughts. Working with a copywriter is still work.

• You spent $10k and they still didn’t get your voice. The copy doesn’t sound like you.

• They couldn’t turn your copy around (you know, because they’re not unicorns) in 3 days polished and ready to plop in your website. 

Copywriting is an investment, and if you invest just as much time in the process as your copywriter, chances are pretty good you’ll get great results.

You handed over all your words and reading over the final draft of the copy you had written, you think …

I could have just written this myself.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth, and good news: you can write it better. 

Especially if you’ve never written your own website copy before.

You're about to learn why hiring a copywriter if you hate writing shouldn’t be your first move.

Next: Part 2 (of 6): Is Copywriting Worth It?

SUBTEXT

1. Most business owners aren’t getting results from their copy (it’s not just you).

2. Many also aren’t getting results from a copywriter (and it’s not their fault). 

3. The entrepreneurs who are getting results from their copywriting rolled up their sleeves and did some of (or all of) the work.

“Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it.” - Vincent Van Gogh