🤬 Sack Copywriting Clients and Do It Often!

A big mindset shift you need to get your head around

Hi, it’s Les.

If you’re just starting out on your copywriting journey you might think it’s a little premature to talk about getting rid of clients, but it’s actually part of a wider mindset thing you need to get your head around.

You see, when you strike out on the path to (hopefully) copywriting success, it’s tempting to accept virtually any client that comes along. Naturally, you’re going to be grateful for the work, and rightfully so.

There’s nothing better than getting a couple of real-world jobs under your belt to grow your confidence and help fight the “imposter syndrome” you’ll be feeling as a squeaky new Copywriter.

But, if you do want to climb the dizzy heights of writing copy for a living, it’s important not to develop bad habits right at the start. The same can be said for a lot of things in life like driving, work ethic, budgeting, punctuality and even drinking too much!

Bad habits are…well bad, but he who is without sin can cast the first stone on this one!

Here are a few of the bad habits you need to avoid as a budding Copywriter, and what to do about them.

The bad habits that will sink you as a copywriter

Let’s start with one of our examples above.

Work ethic – one thing that all successful Copywriters have in common is a work ethic second to none. In fact, anything else is just shooting yourself in the foot and the kiss of death for a growing copywriting business. Would you want to work with someone who consistently delivers work late, doesn’t turn up for meetings, goes missing in action without telling you or giving you a valid reason.

No, I thought not – and neither do your clients.

What to do about it?

Always deliver work ahead of schedule but be careful. Generally, I‘ll deliver a piece a day early at the most. After all, you don’t want your client to think it’s so easy that you can turn it in a week early, that’s sending the wrong signal. So, ahead of schedule is good, too far ahead of schedule may well create the wrong impression.

As far as the other points go, it’s obvious – get to meetings on time and don’t disappear without a valid reason you’ve made the client 100% aware of. I was astonished how often Freelance Copywriters “ghost” their clients and disappear off the scene. True, it cuts both ways and clients do it to writers as well.

But, if you’re serious about making a living from Copywriting, an outstanding work ethic immediately elevates you above a large portion of your competition. I think this is a sad state of affairs, but there’s no reason you can’t profit from it!

Let’s look at another bad habit Copywriters fall into; this one really bugs me.

Working for peanuts – okay, okay, it can be hard at the start, I get it. I also took lowly paid jobs at first just to get the ball rolling. I don’t blame you for that.

However, I do blame you for two things – working for free (and being taken in by other common ruses I’ll set out below) and consigning yourself to a never-ending stream of lowly paid jobs. Never work for free, period. If you have a great reason for doing so (is there one?) carry on, it’s your life, but I don’t recommend it, ever.

There’s a whole bunch of cheap freeloaders out there circling newbies and waiting to pounce on the poor innocents they separate from the pack.

What to do about it?

If you see any of the following, turn and run the other way as fast as possible

“We’re a new company and we can’t pay you much/at all right now, but when we’re making megabucks, we’ll look after you”.

Yeah right! Don’t be taken in by this one.

“We’ll pay you half of what you’re asking and the rest as a lump sum once the project takes off”.

Here I have to admit I’m guilty, I got taken by this and it cost me $26,000 in losses. Okay, I made $26,000 but the loss was budgeted for, and it hit me hard. Try to sue a company based in California, but registered in the British Virgin Isles, you don’t have anywhere near enough time or money, I certainly didn’t.

“We won’t pay you, but we’ll give you a byline”. (Basically, the article, for example, gets attributed to you).

Nah, rather just pay me.

And this classic…

We’d like you (and no doubt many other unsuspecting writers) to write a thousand-word test article for free - we’ll pay you if we use it/we’ll pay you if our Editor likes it/we’ll pay you if it meets our standards etc.

Translate this one as ”We won’t use it, our Editor will hate it, and even Ernest Hemingway on a good day couldn’t meet our amazing (if vague and undefined) standards.

As for being paid peanuts, yep, it can happen at the start. It’s your job to continually increase your prices till you hit your ceiling and achieve a level of income you can live off if that’s your goal with Copywriting.

And sacking clients?

Keep this in mind for the future if you’re not quite there yet.

Just as you have a responsibility to clients, they have a responsibility to you. It’s a two-way street.

So, assuming you’ve got your copywriting mojo together – you get work in on, or just ahead of time, you’re reliable, you do what you say you’ll do, and you’ve achieved the status of a “go-to writer”, this is what you should expect in return.

1)      Clear briefings and guidelines from clients

2)      Mutual respect

3)      Excellent collaboration

4)      To be paid on time

5)      Constructive criticism (of work)

6)      Adherence to agreed timelines (that can slip a lot though)

7)      Adherence to the agreed scope of work (that shouldn’t slip, unless it’s paid extra)

And finally, sacking clients

Look you didn’t become a Copywriter to be miserable. In fact, I’m willing to bet many people follow the copywriting path to escape the misery of working for a disrespectful, overbearing boss.

Here’s the crux.

As a Freelance Copywriter, YOU ARE THE BOSS, you.

This means you don’t have to deal with clients who are less than ideal, it’s up to you to figure out what that means for you.

Hint” If you wake up in the morning dreading working with a particular client, if you hate the work, if they consistently pay late, if they keep using the phrase “could you just” (which usually means they want something for nothing) maybe it’s time to move them on.

You’re in charge, it’s your call – and that’s where the big mindset shift comes for most Copywriters.

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