I was recently interviewed about work, life and balance by the team behind Balance the Grind. Balance the Grind is a platform for conversations with people from all walks of life about their careers, their daily rituals and how they achieve some semblance of work life balance.
When I was approached to do the interview, I felt a little ‘fraud-y’. After all, I’m new at this too and I certainly don’t have aspirations to be the next Sheryl Sandberg. What could I possibly shed any light on? But then I realised that the sort of stories I really connect to are about ordinary people doing things that feel relevant to my own life and seem vaguely achievable. So, my interview may not be groundbreaking but it’s honest and will give you a little insight into my work life and daily routine. I hope you enjoy it! Read the full interview
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I’m not a natural goal setter. In fact, I was once asked in a job interview to describe a time I set and achieved a goal. I muddled my way through a very weak answer about a team project I had worked on, then sat in awkward silence knowing that I certainly hadn’t nailed the answer. I didn’t get the job, but a few months later, they offered me a more senior position in the team, with better pay, reinforcing my unscientific belief that we all don’t have to be natural goal setters to succeed.
I’m not sure whether my aversion to goal setting is because I’m worried about committing to something and failing, or due to the fact that I’m simply not someone who plans a lot in advance. When it comes to my freelance copywriting and e-commerce business, I’ve generally been a ‘learn-and-improve-as-you-go’ business owner. I’ve had a general idea of the strengths and weaknesses of each business, and how I want to develop and grow each one. But have I sat down and written out a set of goals that are S(pecific) + M(easurable) + A(ttainable) + R(elevant) + T(imely)? Nope. On paper, SMART goals make sense. By definition, SMART goals clarify your ideas, focus your efforts, use your time and resources productively, and achieve what you want in life. It does sound useful – particularly for new business owners who can sometimes feel they are working a lot but seeing little progress. So, as 2019 hits its final weeks, I thought I would take a deep breath and set some goals for 2020 that are less scary and more SMART. My approach? Keep it simple. Think of some things you want to change about your business, and then identify roughly how to get there. Write it down, tell someone who is at least mildly interested, or commit it to memory. Whatever you decide to do, it doesn’t have to be a scary, formal process complete with a PowerPoint slide and spreadsheet. To give you some goal-setting inspiration, here are four of my business goals for 2020: 1. Reduce expenses I know where most of my money is going, and it’s paid advertising for my e-commerce business. Advertising, such as Google or Facebook Ads, is necessary to get customers to your website (the saying ‘If you build it, they will come’ is certainly not true in the online business world), but I need to make sure that the spend is as optimal as possible. This means that there’s very little wastage in terms of costly clicks that don’t turn into a sale, and ad copy and keyword lists are as effective and relevant as possible. How am I going to achieve this? By setting aside some time to really scrutinise advertising performance over the past 12 months, consider changing how much I’m spending and where I’m spending it, and reviewing and optimising ad copy and keywords. The measure? More sales at a lower Cost Per Acquisition (CPA). 2. Learn something new Ever since I started in the business world, I’ve been saying to myself, “I need to do a small business course”. It makes sense, right? After all, you don’t get taught how to run a business at school (I wish!). As time has passed, I’ve done a huge amount of learning just by running into issues and working out how to resolve them – whether through online research, listening to business podcasts or speaking to people with far more experience than me. The motivation to do a general small business course is lessening, but that doesn’t mean I won’t sign up for some training – it just might be more specific to what I’m struggling with now that I’m a few years in. It might also take the format of something that I can complete online in my own time, which is important when you need to be around during the day to keep your business running. I’m not sure which aspect of business I want to learn more about yet – but I’m committed to completing at least one course in 2020. 3. Get on top of numbers Accounting software, like Xero, makes it really easy to track your income, expenses and profit. But that doesn’t mean that I’m across my numbers, because what these tools don’t take care of is the sinking feeling I get whenever I open a report. There are just some things I don’t want to know about because it’s not going to be pretty. Having said that, I also know that it’s important to stay on top of your numbers so you can spot any problems straight away and make the necessary changes to ensure your business continues to thrive. My plan for tackling this is to simply look at some basic reporting so I can understand what’s coming in, what’s going out, and the areas I need to review. Hell, I might even book a session in with my accountant. Measuring this is simple. If someone was to ask me about my financials, I’d love to be able to bore them with an accurate and coherent summary. 4. Simplify the business This one’s a little more ambiguous, but I want to keep my businesses simple so that they are less stressful and taxing on the brain (who needs that?). For example, my e-commerce business has LOTS of different products and suppliers, including products that are selling well, and some that aren’t. I also went a bit overboard in the beginning in regards to packaging design and collateral, so even though lots of options are great, it also overcomplicates the process unnecessarily and adds to the cost. Over the past year or so, I’ve become clearer on what’s working and what’s not working. So, in 2020, I plan to strip things back a little, and refine my inventory and offering down to the bare essentials. I can’t wait to Marie Kondo my business, and I’m sure I’ll measure the success of this goal by how much lighter I feel and, hopefully, reduced stress levels. I hope I’ve helped you feel a little less daunted about goal setting. Although I’m not an expert, I don’t think that setting goals has to be a formal, intimidating process. Just keep it simple and we’ll both head into the new year with a little bit of excitement about what’s to come. Jasmine Competition. Boy, this is a big one for me at the moment.
As a freelance copywriter, finding ongoing work when there are lots of us out there is a huge challenge. And when it comes to my other business, Gift Boss, competition is also rife. Unfortunately, the gift industry is one of the most saturated industries there is. And as technology makes it easier for budding entrepreneurs to start a business from home, it sometimes feels like every second person is launching a gift hamper or subscription box business these days. To make sales, or attract new clients, you need to get found. And the more competition there is, the more likely it is that you’ll get lost in the crowd. Unless you’re on page one or two of Google, or killing it on social media, it can be tricky to get the visibility you need to make a profitable business. Or, if you have an advertising budget, it’s a lot more expensive to get your brand out there when there are similar businesses jostling for space. People say that there are enough customers out there for everyone, and deep down, I know this to be true. But when things are a little quiet, it can be very easy to fall into a negative mindset about how difficult it is to grow your business in a competitive space. Social media really exacerbates this problem. When I see beautiful photos of gift hampers on Instagram from my competitors, I feel a little pang of anxiety that maybe I’m not as good as them. After all, I don’t use a professional photographer, so my photos will never look as beautifully styled as theirs. But this thinking isn’t going to get me anywhere. It’s not constructive to throw our hands up in the air and say “It’s just too hard” (even if we feel like doing that sometimes). So, when you’re next faced with a sense of doom and gloom about your competition, what can you do to help you get into a better head space? As a starting point, here are the three things that I think about to help me make peace with my competition:
I think that it’s healthy to be mindful of your competition, but you shouldn’t focus obsessively on what others are doing. Run your own race, remember why you started your business in the first place and communicate your difference clearly to your ideal audience. And maybe stay off Instagram. What do you do to help you make peace with your competition? While I had a full-time job, I started two businesses: This one (Make it clear) and my online gift business Gift Boss.
Two years ago, I had no intention of running my own business, let alone businesses. So I thought it would be worthwhile going back in time and writing down how it all happened. It’s quite a detailed account, so I’ve broken it up into several parts. If you’re still with me, great. Let’s get started! Part 2: Becoming a freelance copywriter Quitting my secure job and heading out into the world of freelance copywriting was something that happened slowly over the course of 12 months. While I would love to say that I was that person who threw their 9 to 5 job out the window and jumped head first into full-time freelance work, I’m not. I’m a little more risk-averse than that. And I have a Sydney mortgage to pay. So this just wasn’t feasible. To be honest, going freelance was never about money anyway. I was under no illusion that I would be able to replace my salary, or even come close, for at least the first few years after making the switch. But that didn’t matter to me. The decision to go freelance was about the freedom that came from working for myself and the flexibility that this new life would allow me to have. Go for a walk and listen to a podcast whenever I want? Don’t mind if I do! So, with that aspiration firmly etched in my mind, I set up my first business – Make it clear – while I was still a full-time employee. Make it clear is my freelance copywriting business which I started because, put simply, I love to write. And what I love to write the most (and what I think I’ve been pretty good at over the years) is clear concise copy that helps people communicate effectively with their audiences. I came up with a business name that speaks to exactly what I think I can do for others (make things clear), registered an ABN (surprisingly easy), bought the domain on GoDaddy and built a basic website with Weebly. All in one weekend. How pleased was I with myself? Very, until I realised that that was the easy part of starting a business. The tricky part was yet to come. Hustle hustle hustle When you’re running your own business or freelance gig, you need to work really hard at putting yourself out there (uncomfortable for me) and building up your online presence on Google or on social media (tough in a crowded market). So I started with the easiest approach: the ‘telling everyone you come into contact with about your new business’ method. The hairdresser, the massage therapist, the osteopath, the property manager, friends, family, neighbours, my parents’ neighbours and even work colleagues, all copped an earful of my new venture. And it paid off. My first client happened to call me about a conversation we had had months ago about property investment. I threw in a casual “Who writes your newsletter content? Because I’ve started freelance copywriting now…”, which led to us brainstorming a content series about investing in Newcastle (which his company was exploring as a new market). The articles I wrote for him resulted directly in client interest in the services his company offered. Boom. Content marketing at its finest. Following this content series, the client engaged me to write the copy for their new website and client communications, and he also started referring me to people he knew who needed a copywriter. Winning! The timing of our initial conversation really was so fortunate, as was the courage to ask who did their content (what have you got to lose by asking?!). Securing the first client when I did gave me a little boost of confidence that I was doing the right thing, and that good work is rewarded with more work. My first copywriting client took a chance on me, had a mind open to the benefits that clever content can have on their bottom line, and for that I am forever grateful. You rub my back… My next clients were two sisters who ran a holistic health business and needed help with their website copy and blog articles. They didn’t have much budget so we worked out a ‘skill swap’ system where my husband and I would get free massage and osteo appointments in exchange for copywriting and copy editing services. I was happy with this arrangement. After all, I was still starting out plus the years spent at a computer had given me chronic neck and shoulder tightness and pain. So this arrangement worked nicely. And my freeloading husband thought it was pretty good too. I fit my freelance work in on weekends and some evenings after I got home from my day job. Thankfully my 9 to 5 wasn’t exhausting or mentally draining enough to impact my ability to fit this in. If I was stressed out at work, or worked long hours (on top of my pretty significant commute), there’s no way I would have been able to start my side hustle. You really do need a certain amount of energy and mental clarity to be able to write and keep up with the business admin, such as quoting, invoicing, managing expenses and keeping the website up-to-date. My list of copywriting clients began to grow purely through referrals which I was very thankful for, and I began to write for all sorts of industries: from artificial intelligence, to children’s toys, to financial advice, to event styling to GPS fleet tracking to Iyengar Yoga. I loved it all and I particularly loved working directly with small business owners. It was easy, agile and most of all, satisfying. I could see my work up on their websites or social media straight away, rather than having to go through the multiple rounds of stakeholder review, compliance and legal sign off and meetings that epitomised corporate life. Ah, I don’t miss that at all! In Part 3, I reflect on what made me start another business. Stay tuned! Jasmine While I had a full-time job, I started two businesses: This one (Make it clear) and my online gift business Gift Boss.
Two years ago, I had no intention of running my own business, let alone businesses. So I thought it would be worthwhile going back in time and writing down how it all happened. It’s quite a detailed account, so I’ve broken it up into several parts. If you’re still with me, great. Let’s get started! Part 1: The small business itch I haven’t always been entrepreneurial. In fact, I fell into a ‘trained-to-be-an-employee-from-birth’ school of thinking, where it was expected that once you graduate from university or high school, you’d simply get a job and then work for other people until you retire or die. Day in day out, you’d serve someone else’s customers. Earn money for someone else’s books. Get told what to do and when to do it. Complete the same annual performance review process. Give the same feedback on the employee engagement survey each year. Wow, doesn’t that sound monotonous? Sure, the regular pay check, superannuation, employee benefits, training and social camaraderie that comes with a 9 to 5 job is a massive benefit that I could have been fairly happy continuing until retirement in approximately 30 years’ time. But after 20 years working for other people (gosh, that does sound like a long time now that I’ve done the math), I had the unmistakable, gnawing, relentless feeling that there was more to life than simply turning up to a job that no longer stimulated me. It started with a growing awareness of the possibility of owning my own business. I watched several friends start their own businesses or freelance careers after experiencing similar feelings of corporate restlessness, or life-changing events such as starting a family. I was in awe of the flexibility that a small business afforded them, the risk they took financially and all the fun stuff they got to do such as create a website, build an Instagram following, write blog articles, and most importantly, work the hours that suited them, from the comfort of their own home. Working 9 to 5 I was working as a Digital Content Manager for a large bank. It was a great job. I got to work with talented writers and creative agencies. I got to create content that smashed benchmarks and delivered a more engaged audience on social media than had ever been achieved before. I was part of a team I loved and made incredible life-long friends who supported me through some tricky personal situations. Some of the content that did so well during my time in the role involved sharing the stories of Aussie millennials who had left their 9 to 5 jobs to start their own businesses, side hustles, passion projects or volunteer initiatives. They had found success doing what they love. Going against the grain may have caused them some anxiety at the start, but they stuck to it, hustled like crazy and changed their lives for the better. Quotes such as this from one of our interviewees really resonated me: I wasn’t excited about my career anymore. I always thought working as a marketing manager was what I wanted to do with my life but it wasn’t as fulfilling as I thought it would be. I related because although my job was great, I didn't feel fulfilled. I had no aspiration to take on more responsibility in the company, get a promotion or climb the corporate ladder. My heart and soul simply weren't in it anymore and I needed to do something about it before I became resentful. So this is really where my entrepreneurial journey started. I had the itch, I was inspired by others who had blazed the trail and I saw the logistical possibility in making a complete career shift. In Part 2, I take a look at exactly how my freelance copywriting business, Make it clear, started. Stay tuned! Jasmine |
AuthorThis is the section where I tell you a little bit more about me. Not just as a freelance copywriter, but who I am as a person. The things that I like, the things that challenge me, my small business journey, freelance life, my copywriting and marketing tips, personal stuff and more. Because if you have a clear picture of who I am, then I feel you're in a better position to decide if I’m the freelance copywriter for you. Let’s go! Archives
November 2020
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