Taking over a month to get a new blog out, not my finest moment, I know. Between the weirdest Christmas that I’ve experienced in a long time, testing positive for COVID, a subsequent trip to the hospital, and nailing down my first clients of the year, I’ve been a lot more all over the place than I’d like to admit. Taking an enforced couple of weeks off wasn’t something I wanted, but both physically and mentally, it gave me the chance to take a much-needed reset.
This was honestly the best thing that could have happened to me. Over the past while, I had grown so concerned with appearing as the quintessential copywriter (whatever the hell that means) that I ended up losing sight of things a bit. Of course, I want to appeal to big clients and get the best opportunities possible, but not at the cost of losing my identity as a copywriter in the process. I’m a straight to the point, nerdy guy from Belfast, and above all else, I’m authentic. What you see is what you get with me and yes, while I tailor my work to whatever clients need, there’s absolutely no reason why I can’t still put my voice into that.
As a writer, one of the most important things I’ve learned is that your voice is everything. It’s why people choose to work with you over every other bloody self-proclaimed copywriter on LinkedIn who cites off the exact same sales pitch. Your voice makes you stand out. The best copywriters I know stand out because of their personality. People fall in love with them as much as the work they do. Forcing yourself into a box that you think people want will not only make you unhappy, people will see right through it. No one worthy of your time will want to work with you if you’re putting on an act and trying to please everyone.
One of my first clients of the year hired me to write a D&D campaign setting for him and while yes, it’s not your typical copywriting work, it is very much something that I relish the opportunity to do. Essentially what I’m saying is that pigeon-holing yourself into one specific area, making yourself appear as what you think people want, rather than what you actually are, can deprive you of the opportunities that you’re going to enjoy the most. Here’s the thing, people who are on the same wavelength as you will want to work with you and sometimes you just need to slam that damn reset button to realise that and it couldn’t have happened at a better time for me. Clients seeing me for who I am has not only brought about more opportunities, it’s brought the right opportunities. Between writing D&D campaign settings, doing blogs for really exciting nerd culture companies, and helping local businesses here in Belfast shine by showing off what makes them so exciting, I’m doing what I love, and best of all, I’m doing it as me.
