Words to the Wise

My blank screen. My blank pad of paper. Nothing drains my inspiration more than these two things. You see, the words that go on the screen and on the paper don’t come FROM the paper, they come from my head. And the ideas in my head can only get there from one place - the world around me.

As a copywriter who gets paid to write web content, ad copy, radio spots and more for my clients, I can’t write “blank screen” on my invoices and charge for that empty time.

Since inspiration rarely comes to me the moment I sit down to write, I have to search for the good ideas that will make a project more than just a mechanical arrangement of words and facts. The good news is that these ideas can be built up for future use, but at the same time, you can never have too many.

My solution is to read. Reading is simply the best defense against an empty head.

For every word I write, I read a thousand more.You know when you sit down in a doctor’s office and read a magazine only to find that someone has ripped out pages? I’m that guy*. People Magazine, Macleans, Newsweek, Time - just to name a few. I read them for both the articles and the ads. Anything to give me a fresh perspective.

Even beyond magazines, I read books about interpersonal relations, human dynamics, history books - you name it. Ok, not romance novels, but you get the idea. I take notes, tuck them away and then read them when I need inspiration.

Reading generates ideas because I’m filling my brain with ideas. My imagination then filters the ideas and re-purposes them into something useful. If I stop reading, I stop getting ideas. The girls at the library know me by name.

*For the record, I have never ripped a page out of a library book or magazine, and I have begun to use my camera phone as a way of recording good ideas.

I was talking to a client/friend of mine the other day when she mentioned that the more she tries to learn things about marketing and ‘web tech stuff’, the more overwhelmed she gets.

She went on to differentiate between being an entrepreneur and being self-employed, placing herself in the self-employed category. And she makes a very good argument for the differentiation.

She points out that, as a self-employed person, she has little choice but to learn and do just about every component of her business since she (and quite frankly, many other self-employed people in America) doesn’t have enough money to pay others.

The catch-22, as she points out, is that she’s doing it all herself, which limits the time she has for other activities - including core business.

So the theory here is that if a business owner does all it takes to market, brand, write and promote their business, then they’re really in the marketing, branding, writing, and promotions business. Right?

As a freelance copywriter, I’m lucky (I think) in that much of the promoting I do for myself is based in, of course, copywriting. Whether I’m writing an email to prospective clients, or writing a blog post here for you to read, my core business matches well to my marketing and promotions.

But my friend isn’t so lucky. Don’t get me wrong, she’s great at what she does. I almost ventured into her industry after college, and it can be a very specialized and lucrative field. I think for my client, what would take her from ’self-employed’ to ‘entrepreneur’ is the one thing she mentioned early on - money. Money is the lifeblood of business. With money, you can hire someone to do your marketing, create your website and do all the things you don’t have the time to learn and do.

The point of all this? There is a difference between being an entrepreneur and being self-employed, but you’ll always be working for yourself.

So, it’s the end of yet another year of planning, working, writing, editing, testing, blogging, podcasting and all the other fun things I get to do for my clients as well as for my freelance business. Looking back one year ago at this time causes me to see some very notable diferences the past year has made:

- A year ago, I didn’t have a blog. Now, I have two, and another one planned for early 2008.

- A year ago, my home office was half the size of my current office. I even have a window now.

- A year ago, the only presence I had on the web was my website. Today I have the site, the blogs, a social media press room, a social networking presence and much more.

So what happened over the past 365 days? Well, I went for it. I took action. I made the calls, sent the emails, took the chances and completed the projects.

I couldn’t have done it without the help of my loyal clients, friends, mentors and students.

To all of you, I say Happy Holidays and all the best in 2008!

Jason

Ps. If you’re reading this, and you’re not signed up to receive updates in your inbox, I encourage you to sign up so you don’t miss anything in 2008.