It’s time for Bristol copywriters to get together and help each other out. Here’s our rallying call to all Bristol freelance writers.
Getting a job as a freelance copywriter is harder than ever as more people enter this business than ever before. Some come packing impressive portfolios weighted down with agency examples, whereas others come with just a simple blog and a heart full of ambition.
There’s space for us all in the copywriting world, but only if we join together. Here are three things we’d love to see Bristol copywriters unite to do!
#1 Never work for free
The first and most important rule of Bristol copywriting club is never to work for free. You might love the charity, respect the business or believe the agency to be the love of your life, but take our advice and don’t work for free.
Every time you work for free you’re snatching away a flat white and a pastry from the mouth of every other freelance writer.
#2 Don’t be lazy
It’s hard to maintain your inspiration for a whole day, particularly if you’re writing about radiators, railings, roads and anything else boring that begins with ‘r’ or any other letter. (Not rabbits though, you could never be bored writing about rabbits.)
When people get bored they start to rest on the cliches of the copywriting world: lazy puns, shit song lyrics from 15-year-old Beyonce tracks and poor plays on words.
The only thing your lazy writing is going to ‘bring to your yard’ is penury.
#3 Help each other out
There are a finite number of jobs and seemingly an infinite number of copywriters out there, so what I’m going to suggest is counterintuitive – but hear me out.
We all like to consider ourselves master of the art of writing, but the reality is we probably do some things well and others less well. You might excel at snappy headlines but struggle with a 2,500 word white paper.
When you get that rush of adrenaline when a new client comes in, then the pang of fear that you may struggle to do the job, take a deep breath and… contact someone else.
Yes, I’m telling you to pass work on. This is about karma, but also about your mental health and your continuing success. If you do a shit job today, you’ll have no work tomorrow. Pass the client on to a specialist and you’ll have put a huge amount of goodwill into the universe, which will pay you back in time.
Even if you don’t believe this pseudo-spiritual nonsense, you’ll have done the right thing by the client, the Bristol copywriting community and yourself. And that’s what really matters.
That’s sort of it for this meandering meditation, but we’ll post again when the work dries up or the well of inspiration overfloweth again. In the meantime, if you need a Bristol copywriter then get in touch.
