Lesson #1: Don’t let distractions be your downfall.

I had a lot of personal and family stress in 2011, which ended up being a constant distraction that affected my work productivity. As a freelance writer working alone, it can be hard to detach from the day-to-day drama of life. If you’re not careful, the days can easily get filled with other people’s problems rather than your client’s projects.

Focus on one aspect of your life at a time: work or home. Freelance writing takes an enormous amount of self discipline. When your non-writing life becomes overwhelming, find a way to carve out a set number of hours each day to focus exclusively on work – and refuse to let your mind wander to non-work thoughts. When those hours are over, give yourself permission to put your work aside and focus on your home or personal life. In the long run, you’ll be a more productive freelance writer and a more attentive spouse/partner/parent/friend.

Lesson #2: Prioritize your projects and plan your day.

As your business grows, you’ll likely find that there aren’t enough hours in your day to complete everything on your to-do list, even if you limit distractions. That’s why it’s important to develop a system for prioritizing your work tasks and planning your day.

Although there aren’t any hard and fast rules for prioritizing your work tasks, you’ll generally want to focus on billable writing projects during your peak hours of productivity. For me, that’s usually 8am until noon. Using this four-hour time window as an example, I might schedule 1.5 hours for a longer project and break the remaining hours into shorter segments assigned to various writing assignments. I often use the use the early morning to answer email or finish up something quick and easy and later afternoon hours to tackle busy work, such as paying bills or invoicing clients. When possible, save personal tasks, like laundry and errands, for evenings or weekends.

In the middle of my crazy 2011 year, I bought a large white board and hung it in my office. I made a project list for every client and wrote the list on my white board, using a color-coded system to prioritize tasks and milestones by due date so I have an at-a-glance visual of my current workload. I also have a column for “Today’s To-Do” list and update it each morning. Currently, my white board has nearly 30 ongoing and one-off projects-in-progress spread across nearly a dozen clients. (In case you’re wondering, that’s a heavy work backlog, even for me!) Without my white board, I’m pretty sure that some of those projects would slip through the cracks.

Lesson #3: Pay attention to procrastination.

Procrastination was a regular visitor to my copywriting business in 2011. But the more it knocked on my door, the more I tried to hide from it. Until the threat of deadlines drove me to invite procrastination in for a heart-to-heart talk.

What I discovered is that, for every project I put off, there was an underlying reason why. To move beyond procrastination, I needed to identify why I was stuck. Some examples:

Inexperience – In 2011, I had several writing assignments that were completely new to me. Frankly, since I had never written these types of documents before, I didn’t know how or where to begin. Asking my clients for additional guidance was a tremendous help. Once I better understood their objectives, it was easier to begin these unique projects.

Repetition – When you’ve been in business for several years, it sometimes seems like you’ve written everything you can on a given topic. Trying to find a fresh way to present a repeating message isn’t always easy. To overcome this challenge, I took a step back from my client’s messaging and put myself in their prospect’s shoes. If I were looking to buy XYZ, I wouldn’t care if the message was fresh as long as it resonated with my needs.

Fatigue – Chronic stress and sleep deprivation wreck havoc on creativity. In a misguided attempt to get my work done despite feeling exhausted – emotionally and physically – I pushed myself to stay in my office even when I wasn’t getting much done. But getting up earlier and spending longer hours at my desk proved to be ineffective methods for overcoming procrastination. When I recognized this, and gave myself permission to catch up on some much-needed rest and take extra time off during the holidays, I was able to start the new year with a fresh perspective – and genuine enthusiasm for my work.

Did 2011 teach you any lessons about managing your copywriting business? If so, feel free to share them by adding your comment below.

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For a limited time (maybe a week, maybe longer), you can get 8 Internet marketing worksops for free!

Dave Navarro is closing the curtains on The Launch Coach, and for the next week or so he is offering all 8 of his bestselling workshops for no charge. Although donations are welcome, they aren’t required. And you don’t have to opt-in to a list either.

Here are just a few of the great workshops you can download:

• Creating Products that Sell
• Building a Responsive List
• Optimizing Your Blog for Sales
• Becoming Incredible Productive

Simply click here to access and download the workshop content.

Personally, I made a donation and downloaded every transcript, worksheet, video tutorial and audio file that was available because it’s really great stuff and an opportunity like this doesn’t come around very often.

Sadly, there’s a reason why Dave is shutting down his business. If you want to read the backstory, click here to read all about it at IttyBiz. The story has all the drama and intrigue of a New York Times bestseller and will leave you shaking your head in disbelief. (To be clear, I’m not affiliated with Dave Navarro, The Launch Coach or IttyBiz in any way and have nothing to gain or lose through this offer.)

But whether you read Dave’s story or not, make sure you grab his stuff before it’s gone.

Enjoy what’s left of the long weekend!Similar Posts:

• Writing Copy that Sings
• When Disaster Strikes, Fall on Your Sword
• The Problem with Assumptions

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Sometimes, I have things to say that are just too secret for blog posts. That’s why I’ve created the Copywriters Club, an exclusive communication system that lets me share top secret tips with a select group of writers.

Joining the Copywriters Club is easy – and free. Just click here to subscribe to my list. (Don’t forget to confirm your subscription.)

Right away, I’ll send you my special report: 10 Top Secret Tips for Growing Your Freelance Copywriting Business.

Then, I’ll email you periodic Copywriters Club bulletins filled with tips, tricks and insider secrets for earning a living as a freelance copywriter.

As a Copywriters Club member, you’ll also get:

• Members-only special offers
• Discounts on products and services
• Automatic entry into contests and give-aways

Click here to join the Copywriters Club now.Similar Posts:

• When Disaster Strikes, Fall on Your Sword
• The Billable Hours Freelance Writing Myth
• Lessons from 2011: My Top 3 Copywriter Confessions

Before I launched my freelance copywriting business, I spent three full months planning my escape from corporate America. (Four months if you count the month I spent over-thinking whether I should quit my day job . . . or not.) 

I read Peter Bowerman’s The Well-Fed Writer cover-to-cover. Twice. I built my web-based writing portfolio. I converted our rarely-used formal living room into an office. And I planned my business implementation strategy. 

My early efforts paid off. Within 90 days of starting my business, I had replaced my full time income. 

Whether you want to start a B2B copywriting business or another type of freelance writing business, there are several questions to ask yourself before quitting your day job. 

Here are my top seven: 

1.  Do you have the writing skills and talent to produce marketable content in your field?  

Reality Check: I wrote a lot of marketing copy for my day job. And it was good stuff. I was confident that other companies would agree. Can you say the same for your writing?

If not, spend time acquiring the right experience before quitting your day job. Take some writing classes. Offer your writing services for free to a non-profit organization or a friend with a small business. Hire a writing mentor. Do whatever it takes to gain the writing skills and talent to compete in your market. 

2.  Do you have the cash reserves to replace your day job income for at least four to six months? 

Reality Check: If you and your family rely on your day job paycheck to pay the bills, you MUST have at least four to six months of income stashed in a savings account. It takes time to build a clientele and project backlog so you will need to supplement your freelance income for the first several months – maybe longer. 

I ended up cashing out a small 401K account to create my cash reserves, although I wouldn’t recommend doing that if you have another savings source. But for me, this was the only choice. (Sidenote: since the recent stock market crash would have killed my account value anyway, I don’t have any regrets for putting that money toward building a business.) 

3.  Do you have the full support of your immediate family? 

Reality Check: Starting a freelance writing business is risky. There’s the real possibility that you’ll burn up your savings without getting your business off the ground. (There’s also the real possibility that you’ll be wildly successful and much, much happier as a self-employed business owner.) It is important that your immediate family, meaning your spouse or significant other who also provides an income to support your family, understands this and supports you anyway. 

I honestly believe that having the support of my family is one of the major reasons for my success. When things didn’t go quite the way I wanted, I had an entire team cheering me on. Without that support, it would have been easy to give up. 

4.  Are you prepared to burn your current employment bridge? 

Reality Check: When I quit my day job, I naively expected my current employer to be my first and best client. After all, I knew their business inside and out and they knew I produced quality content. They gave me one project before realizing that I was also seeking work from their competitors. And that was the end of the relationship. 

My market niche is very focused and very competitive. I work with several companies that sell similar software to the same group of prospects. My current clients accept that; my old employer didn’t. Whether you will be working as a freelance writer in your company’s niche or a different market, it’s important to understand that, when you quit your day job, you may be severing that tie forever. If this does happen, will you be okay with that?

5.  Have you planned your business marketing strategy? 

Reality Check: By the last day of your current job, you should have a complete marketing plan in place for quickly getting your business off the ground. As I mentioned earlier, you should have your office set up, your web site built and your online writing portfolio in place. You should also have a list of prospects to contact and your sales pitch ready. In addition, you might want to get your business bank account established and research any business license requirements in your area. Having all of these things in place before you actually launch your business will save valuable time (and money) once you become an official business owner. 

6.  Do you have the self-discipline to be self-employed? 

Reality Check: Working for yourself from home isn’t always easy. Many potential distractions will tempt you to work less and play more, or spend your most productive time doing laundry or running errands. If you want to succeed as a full time freelance writer, you need to commit a set number of hours each day to your work. And the more hours you commit to your start-up business, the greater your chances of success. 

Friends, family and even acquaintances often mistake my work-from-home lifestyle for a stay-at-home mom existence, so it’s a constant battle to set boundaries around day time commitments. Even my own kids expect me to do things for them during my designated workday. Do you have the self-discipline to make your work a priority when a million other things are vying for your time?  

7.  Can you handle the stress of self-employment?

Reality Check: Self-employment is stressful. Some months I’m buried in work and other months I run short. Deadlines constantly nip at my heels and threaten to crush my creativity. If I’m too sick to work, I don’t get paid. Same thing when I take a vacation. The constant stress associated with full time freelance writing isn’t for everyone. But if you’re like me, and overwhelmingly prefer this stress to a “real” job, start planning your escape today!Similar Posts:

• The Billable Hours Freelance Writing Myth
• Lessons from 2011: My Top 3 Copywriter Confessions
• Are You Driven by Want or Need?