What I Actually Do For a Living {Thanks, Naomi}

Photo by Dominic’s pics courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons.

This is a post inspired by Naomi Dunford. Read her post first for some context.

Didn’t read it? That’s okay. The context is, you know what you do for a living, but other people {not only your brother-in-law and the other moms in your kid’s play group, but maybe even your own blog readers!} don’t understand what you do at all. You think you’ve told them. But they didn’t get it. You think it’s on your website, but maybe it’s too much work to read your copy, or else people read your copy and still don’t understand. Or else maybe they’re too lazy to click over to your About Me page and read about you. {Possibly because they were pressed for time, but more than likely because your Home page content wasn’t compelling enough to warrant another click.}

So just in case, here’s

What I Actually Do For a Living

{Questions below are from Naomi’s post.}

What’s your game? What do you do?

I’m a writer. And in my business, I specifically do two things with writing. Only one of those things is obvious on my site at this time. {Brilliant, aren’t I?}

The first and obvious thing is, I write copy {content, text, words, headlines, pages} for people’s websites. I can write SEO copy {search engine optimized}, which is what most of my clients, who are creative entrepreneurs, want. SEO is the art and science of telling Google what your site is about in a way that will help it deliver more targeted search traffic to your site. Note: I can also write other types of business copy, such as copy for brochures and ads, however I’m going to be phasing out this offering by the end of the year, because I just don’t love doing it.

The second and less obvious thing is, I help creative people find the voice of their businesses. This is something I’ve done up to this point as part and parcel of writing copy for specific projects, however, in the near future it’s going to become it’s Own Thing, maybe even The Thing. People tend to think of “finding the voice of their business” as a very airy-fairy, amorphous proposition, existing really only in the entrepreneur’s head and not so much on the page. This couldn’t be more untrue. I like to show my clients through very specific doorways where their voices are already hanging out. And then we start consistently writing in that voice when we write for and about the business. By the way, I’ve got a digital product coming out this month on this very topic, in conjunction with the très smart Holly Jackson from Cottage Copy.

I also coach/consult with creative entrepreneurs on their Big Visions. This part of my business is still evolving and in the coming months, my service pages are going to look pretty different from how they do now. Note: If you’ve had your eye on one of my Vision, Love, Phraseologie, or Boutique Industry packages, now’s the time to book, because everything is subject to change soon.

Why do you do it? Do you love it, or do you just have one of those creepy knacks?

I’m not a fan of halfsies, but truly, I very much like what I do and I have a creepy knack. I always knew I was a writer but I didn’t know that I was a good copywriter until I had my first business. Copywriting is a very specific type of writing that one either has the knack for or doesn’t {though you can certainly improve if you want to}. I wrote all the copy for my no-longer-live retail boutique website, and I got as many comments and compliments from customers on the site copy as I did on the site design and the products we featured. Then I really started to get a clue when other shop owners would email me and tell me they “borrowed” my copy for their site {apparently not knowing this is a big no-no}. At one point through doing Google research, I found six other live, active independent retail sites who had straight out copied or barely adapted huge chunks of my site copy for their own sites. It was then I realized that I must be good at describing, entertaining, connecting, and selling through the medium of words.

Along with writing, I am in love with the coaching/consulting work I get to do with creative people. I love that asking the right questions can help uncover, unfold, and expose people’s desires. It’s so hard to behold ourselves sometimes, and it’s pretty cool that working with another person can help bring us into the light.

Who are your customers? What kind of people would need or want what you offer?

My clients are primarily creative entrepreneurs and solopreneurs {in my definition, solopreneurs are those who are intentional about running their business solo}. Slightly more than half of my clientele up to this point have product-based businesses rather than service-based businesses, though I can see that trend shifting. 90% of my clientele is female.

I see that my clients are ridiculously awesome at what they do, and I think because they are so glint-y and fascinating in their work, they see where there are gaps in their business and it pains them. So I often get the artist who thinks she sucks at writing {in actuality, she never sucks as bad as she thinks she does}. Or the musician who rocks out the moment but can’t get a feel for the big picture.

Personality-wise, I tend to work best with people who are action-oriented and don’t get mired in indecision. There’s always going to be some deliberation when you’re making creative choices, but I’m not one of those people who likes to play with a thousand options before committing to a decision. My right person tends to be the same way: she can identify what she loves and what works for her because it resonates with her, and she’s able to say yes and move forward into her dream. Someone who likes to lather in the I-don’t-know’s — that’s probably not my right person.

What’s your marketing USP? Why should I buy from you instead of the other losers?

I can draw from a rich set of experiences as the founder and proprietor of a successful, nationally award-winning offline business to help online business entrepreneurs. {Though my shop did business online, too, so I’m no noob.} I understand that all the sentiment and warmth in the world means nothing if you can’t back it up with real action to get real results. I have an intuitive feel for shaping addictive brand identities. Forget brain hemispheres: I’m one-third intuitive brain, one-third left brain, and one-third right brain. {I really do score right down the middle on those “Which side are you?” tests.} So, when you hire me, you’re getting a very well-balanced partner.

What’s next for you? What’s the big plan?

I’m gonna freestyle this: bigger vision and more work fueled by vision;  create a Phraseologie Diagnostic℠ for my work with clients; transitioning to a product-based business model rather than a service-based model {creating digital products and e-courses}; much more audio, including the Creative Solopreneur Podcast; setting some perameters for my work life.

About this last thing, you can love your business, even be in love with your business, but that doesn’t mean it has to be your all-in-all. You’re allowed to have a life outside of your business. You’re allowed to create for the sake of creating, not just for your business. This is something I’ve only recently realized and am reminding myself of daily.

So what do you really do for a living? I’d love for you to share it in the comments, as well as any difficulties you may have around expressing it to the people with whom you’d like to work.

P.S. One way I’m committing to creating for myself and not just for my business is by participating in this year’s NaNoWriMo. Click on the nifty monkey graphic in the sidebar to learn more.