Block-Busting
I'll let you in on a secret - sometimes, when I get a new client, one whom I'm really excited about (which, these days, are the only new clients I take on), I get performance anxiety. And I know where it comes from; it comes from wanting so very badly to do the most amazing job for this person. Because I care so much about them as people, about their businesses, about their success. I take it all on my shoulders, which isn't that absurd because copy is that important. It can be a game changer when you get it right. And I have to get it right. Every time.So much pressure.I bet it's the same pressure you feel - those of you who struggle to DIY your own content and website copy. You care so much. Everything has to be perfect.And you get stuck. Stuck to the point where you can't write a sentence without hating it.Then you might even start hating yourself, just a little.Here's another secret:Every writer goes through this.But, professional writers don't have a choice but to move past it. People are counting on us.So, how do you get past it?Well, if you're not a professional writer, you can outsource (I'm a big believer in taking the jobs you hate and giving them to someone else - it's why I don't clean my own floors). It frees you up to do what you love.Or, if you're a determined DIYer (as I am, I confess - I mostly DIYed this website, which is why it isn't perfect), try this. It works for just about any kind of client-facing writing you need to do.Day 1: Sit down with a 15 minute timer, and for 15 minutes, just research pages and copy you like. Look at your competitors, see what they do. Copy and paste everything you like into a document. Then end your 15 minutes by highlighting what you *really* like.Grab a mug of tea and a chocolate, and think about what makes you really like what you've highlighted. What speaks to you? What is the soul of the words? Jot down your answers and move on to something else.Day 2: Sit down with a 15 minute timer, and for 15 minutes, gather every nice thing anyone has ever said about your business, what you do for them, and why they love you. Copy all of that into your document too.Day 3: This time, give yourself 45 minutes. Look at your document and find the connections between the words that speak to you, and the words your audience uses to speak about you. See if you can find common ground. What we're looking for is the deepest truths your audience wants to hear.The next part is hard to explain, because it's partially subconscious. What I do know is that by grounding my work in the above steps, all of a sudden I'm not staring at a blank page, and I know that what I have on that page - the raw notes - are the most important things. By now, the input has swirled around in my subconscious enough that answers start to emerge. Phrases pop up in the shower. Strategies for how to tackle the copy appear, and all I need to do is sit at my desk and whittle these vague shapes into their final forms.The trick is to get over that initial hump of psyching yourself out.So you start slow and easy, until you find a path.And, if that path doesn't appear? Well, then you hack through the bushes until it does, or you make your own. Yeah, sometimes it doesn't get easier.But - it always gets done.