Here's another insight new copywriters may find helpful.

When I was working with natural health professionals
helping them market themselves more effectively many
made one crucial error in calculating their potential income.

And it's the same error many new freelance copywriters make.

They would work out they could make $30 to $120 an hour
(depending on their modality).

The calculation seems simple enough.

Multiply 40 hours by $30 or $120 and you get
$1,200 to $4,800 income a week!

Looks like a solid business.

The problem here is you're thinking like an employee
instead of a business person.

There's no analysis of exactly the core prospect group
you'll market to, whether they have the money and the
willingness to spend it with you and how you'll market
to that core group of prospects.

(That's just one reason I recommend that copywriters
starting out go sell their internet marketing services to
local business owners. It's an easy to reach market
willing to spend money on a service you can provide
fairly easily).

A savvy business person will also tell you that at least one
quarter to one third of your time will be taken up in the
administrative tasks of your business so unless you hire
someone to do that and pay them your 40 hours of
being paid just effectively dropped to 27-30 hours.

And in the real world you need to invest a whole
pile of time and/or money in marketing yourself to
get clients.

Realistically when you're starting out you can expect to
invest one quarter to one third of your time there.

So now you're working 40 hours but the time you're
actually being paid for is down to 14-20 hours.

Over time you can get to the point where you spend
less time marketing yourself and you may also get
more effective at administrative tasks or hire an
assistant (these days you might hire a virtual assistant).

But just understanding that you'll only be paid for
one third to one half of your effort will give you a far
more realistic appreciation of what kind of income you
can expect as a freelance copywriter and how much you
need to charge to make a good living.

It should also bring home to you the reality that you're
actually in the business of marketing yourself as a copywriter
(or as an internet marketing consultant for small businesses).

Once you stop thinking like an employee and start thinking
like a business person your freelance copywriting career
takes on a completely different perspective.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh