adpapa Editor
11 September 2020
Freelance copywriters can learn a lot from Harry Potter.
The goal
Harry’s goal was to find and kill Voldemort, which involved first finding and killing the 7 horcruxes where Voldemort had hidden parts of his soul. Harry was very clear on his goal and looked at every experience and encounter as either for or against him achieving his goal. Did this experience point him in a new direction? Was this person helpful or hurtful to achieving the goal?
How clear are you on your goal? Is it to make a specific amount of money this week? How much exactly? Is it to master copywriting skills? Is it to gain 2 new copywriting clients this month? To achieve your goal you must first be absolutely crystal clear on what it is and keep it at the forefront of your mind at all times.
Finding your path
Harry had to both find and kill each horcrux and then Voldemort — one step at a time. He didn’t know if the path he was on was the right one or not – he just kept going until he found what he was searching for. Harry took one step and then assessed what the next step should be. Only one step appeared to Harry at a time, the entire path to achieving his goal was not laid out ahead of time. He made corrections and adjustments along the way until he ultimately achieved his goal.
The same is true for you achieving your goal. You may start by choosing a niche – it may or may not be the right one for you. You won’t know until you try. To make money you will try different advertising and marketing methods. What works for me may not work for you – we all have different backgrounds, different experiences, different people we will connect with.
YOU have to get out there and try things and determine if they put you on the path to achieving your goal or not. The minute you know you are not on the right path stop and go in a different direction. You have to take the first step before the second will appear. This is a mistake many copywriters make…they wait for the entire path to be clear before they will take the first step. They want to know they will succeed before they step into the business. You can’t do that. The second step appears after you take the first step. You must learn to trust this.
Ignoring distractions
This is one of the most important step as many copywriters get derailed here. Imagine life as a Harry Potter movie. The school, Hogwarts, was on fire and explosions were happening everywhere. The walls were literally falling down in flames. Harry’s friends were yelling and running and being killed all around him. Harry paid no attention to the chaos and simply stayed focused on his goal – finding and killing the horcruxes.
This is the same way you need to look at building a profitable and successful copywriting business. Focus on one goal – making money. Closing sales. You can NOT do what everyone else is doing or what your friends and/or family are telling you to do. Odds are the people around you are not making the money or having the success you desire. You have to be determined enough to follow through and achieve your goal and not get distracted.
A side note on this. As you do change and grow and strive to achieve your goal “life” will begin to distract you – usually in a really big way. Energy in the form of pure chaos will come up to block your growth. It may look like this – your car may break, your best friend may be getting divorced and need you, your basement could flood, you may get the flu …it goes on and on. You must deal with these events because they are really happening, however keep moving forward and don’t let them distract you. Deal with them and get right back to work.
Set a goal. Find your path. Ignore distractions. Your success literally depends on it.
Happy Copywriting!
