Put Value On Your Time

One of the things that I keep seeing as I delve further into the copywriting business is the need to "put value on your time." In other words, don't slave
over jobs that don't pay, or pay poorly.

In addition to the writing for the course I'm currently completing, I also write
almost daily here on the blog; I recently had a freelance article published in Radio World, which I shared in an earlier post; and I have five projects going
at the moment.

My wife was just a little uncertain about the viability of copywriting, although she's been supportive of my career(s) generally. So my very first ad, I did for her.

She had a Ford Bronco that her father gave us back in 2001. It was a tough little
vehicle and almost indestructible. It was also a 1985 model, which for some reason, meant that no part on it was standard. We spent literally thousands of dollars on that Bronco, and we still had an old, worn-out, becoming-less-reliable-by-the-day vehicle.

The clincher came last March, when my wife didn't arrive home from work on time. Around 7:30 pm she called. The Bronco had broken down, and wouldn't move. It cranked, the engine ran, but it wouldn't move. Around 8:15 it arrived home, behind a tow truck. The towing folks left it in the back yard. And there it sat. And sat. And sat.

I'd go crank it periodically, which kept my wife and my father-in-law satisfied that it wasn't sitting there just rotting away. My wife got a new Corolla, with some financial help from her parents and my parents. At that point I was desperately trying to get the internet station to financially support us. It wasn't, and we were struggling to try to survive.

The Bronco was still sitting in the same spot where the tow truck left it in October. I hadn't even started the course in copywriting yet when I asked my wife about the future of the Bronco.

"Dad says he doesn't really care if I sell it," she said, "but it's been in the family a long time..."

I ended up writing an ad for the Bronco, which needed a new transmission and other things, and I put the ad in the free classified paper. We got a couple of calls but no real takers, until day 6.

A fellow and his little boy came out and looked at the Bronco. The fellow said, "I
LIKE it and can fix it up. Me and my boy here'll have fun doing it together."

He paid $350 cash for the Bronco and had it towed to his house. So hopefully
the Bronco will get a new lease on life, a father and son will spend time together
fixing it up..and I handed my wife $350 in cash.

That's the only job I have written for "free."

The five projects I have now, have values of varying levels. The total potential income to these clients totals over $1.5 million if you add them all together. So,
it's true that sometimes my writing for the course gets "bumped" when I have
paying projects going on. But I know that I WILL finish the course in good time.

As for my wife nowadays? I think she might like the copywriting business.

She bought me a new pack of pens.