Will You Know It When You See It?

May 12, 2008

*** A Ship Without a Harbor

*** Bugs on the Windshield

*** Goals Aren’t Forever

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Dear Copywriter,

Do you know where you’re headed?

Will you know it when you get there?

What’s it going to look like?

What’s it going to feel like?

A Ship Without a Harbor

As the old saying goes, “When a person does not know what harbor he or she is making for, any wind will do.”

Even though I’ve only been freelancing a short while, I’ve run my business “without a harbor” for way too long.

I’ve let my client projects grow far too large in my mind… so large that making the project a success became my #1 goal.

Now I’m all for wowing your clients with great work and results… but I went further than that.

I lost track of the reality that any one client of mine is really only a stepping stone for me to reach my REAL goals. The BIG goals I’ve set for me, my business and my life.

But to reach those goals, I have to actually set some.

You see, for a while, my number one goal was to “get copywriting clients.”

But the longer I kept doing that, the less satisfied I felt.

Because “getting copywriting clients” really isn’t a goal. There’s no way to measure it and there’s no destination to arrive at. It never ends.

It’s just a continuous rat race for MORE.

I finally realized one day that I would NEVER reach that goal. And if I didn’t readjust, I’d spend my days chasing after something that really didn’t exist.

I’d keep running to get to a destination that wasn’t real.

“More Clients” ISN’T a destination.

Bugs on the Windshield

So I started setting some real goals. Not goals for the rest of my life, but goals for NOW. For the next 12 months. For the next 24 months.

This took time. And it took a lot of thought. Figuring out exactly what you REALLY want isn’t the easiest thing in the world.

But as I did that work, I realized there was another HUGE benefit to actually having some real goals:

The HUGE size of my real goals made all of my challenges, roadblocks and problems with my clients seem a whole lot smaller.

It made them seem like bugs on the windshield.

I saw them for what they were and I kept on trucking towards what I really wanted to achieve.

Goals Aren’t Forever

Here’s the best part about setting clear goals in your business:

You can always change them… at any time.

But specific goals give you structure. And they give you a VERY easy defense system to stay away from clients you shouldn’t be working with.

Here’s how it works:

For every client or new project that shows up on your doorstep, you just ask yourself this question:

“Will working with this client move me closer to my goal or farther from it?”

All you have to do is listen to your gut. It will tell you the right answer every time.


Posted by Jason | Filed Under Blog 

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