A funny thing happens at times. There’s a new project and a new team, and people don’t know what my copywriter role implies exactly.

So I introduce myself and tell everyone a bit about what I do and don’t. Pretty basic stuff. Everybody nods their Skype mics in approval and moves on.

But how many were actually listening?

Not everyone is going to understand what you do. Get ready for design or project management related requests in your Inbox.

Copywriting is about selling. About perfect grammar and punctuation.

It’s also about ensuring a tone of voice for your product and appealing to target audiences that need it, but don’t know it yet. We are specialists, yes. But we are complete noobs when it comes to saying ‘No’.

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I wish I knew that before getting the job — before I had unreasonable briefs, deadlines, and clients that I kept saying ‘Yes’ to, like a broken, magic 8-ball.

Trying to prove myself? Maybe I was. Afraid others will like me less after I turn them down? Well, fudge! We aim to please.

Nevertheless, I’ve witnessed writers with the backbone of a mammoth; writers that say ‘No’ and stand their ground like Attila before the Huns. Admirable! And I’m guessing they turned out this way, after they grasped the first rule in copywriting:

1. NOBODY CARES

I mean it. And I wish I’d knew it when I first started off in this industry. I call it ‘industry’ now, but back then it was this cute piece of the Marketing pie. That’s how I saw it. Haters gonna’ hate and writers gonna’ write, right?

But no. Copywriting is a living, breathing mechanism. It’s the art or the science of convincing people to take action. Now that’s a really big pie, not just a niche slice.

A junior copywriter is an easy pray for inspirational speeches and high hopes. Be careful who you decide to learn from. And who you decide to trust.

WHO DO YOU WRITE FOR?

After all, good copywriting isn’t about writing for yourself. Or your manager. It’s about what the client wants. And that might be…a lot of non-copywriting-compliant stuff.

But that’s your super power, in the end: you can take a square and turn it into a beautiful, native-looking circle. Oh, you don’t like squares? Tough luck! You still have to sell them. So take off your ego jacket and put your empath suit on.

Be flexible enough to know when to let go of your personal preferences and let business interests take over.

Copywriters should care about delivering their best in each project — not about who is right, not about what it would’ve been if we tried “my” thing, not about you at all — but mostly about your writing skills.

TOUGHEN UP, BUTTERCUP

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You will work on projects you don’t like. With people who don’t like you. With peers or managers that may or may not have your back. Own up to your work, own up to your copy. Whatever the requirements, give it your fucking, most creative best.

2. OTHER COPYWRITERS CAN BE DICKS

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not about male or female over here. It’s about thinking that you’re above it all. It’s about being an elitist piece of shit. I didn’t know about all that.

Of course writers naturally get along with other creatives. Fuck yeah…right? Well, to be honest…fuck no. There’s this competition boiling in our talent-driven bloodline. And I find it to be the shittiest feature a creative can have, when part of a team.

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BE READY TO PUT OUT FIRES

Given the industry you work in, you should be able to realize that this isn’t about you or your ego or your sparkling intelligence — it’s about working as one, putting in the time and the effort to reach our objective for the day, so we can all happily go home and play with our cats or PS4s.

4th grade logic, right?

Pride gets you lost. Pride gets you nowhere.

GET OFF YOUR HIGH, TROJAN HORSE

I have seen more stubborn copywriters than I’ve seen designers and project managers put together. It’s hard to take feedback well. It’s even harder to handle constructive, not to say negative, feedback. But there’s a catch.

Whatever challenges our beliefs is worth the effort of consideration.

Truth be told, other people help you grow — through their experience, their support and their honest opinion, they elevate your work, even if you want to admit it or not. You go back a bit. You think twice. You revisit your conclusions. You get better.

3. VALIDATION COMES FROM WITHIN

First off, it wasn’t easy for me to be acknowledged as an experienced copywriter. But I became better, mostly thanks to feedback and learning from my peers and managers. Then there was self-learning. And then there was Marni.

Marni was my first mentor — she helped me improve my copywriting process by correcting my mistakes in the kindest way possible. And I was encouraged to be my first reviewer, to be fair with myself, to learn how to evaluate the quality of my copy objectively. She elevated my creative self-esteem by always explaining things in the sweetest and kindest way possible. In the end, great mentors know that no one ever learned anything through orders or humiliation.

SEEK GUIDANCE, NOT APPROVAL

Let’s not pretend feedback doesn’t matter. But after all the excellent feedback you receive, after your clients praise your god-like skills and pat themselves on the back for trusting you with the project, after all the sweet talk…there’s one critic that still needs to be fed: yourself.

There is no happiness without self-love. No. Not even in copywriting.

Praise is worthless if we don’t believe we deserve it. And we believe we deserve it if we know how to value and evaluate ourselves. But we often look at other people for approval seals. Validation is tricky, that’s why you have to assert your own ideas by firmly believing in them.

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DELIVER SOLUTIONS, NOT DRAFTS

I sometimes like to see projects as puzzles. And there’s more than one way to match the pieces together. But I want to find the one that makes me feel proud when I hit that ‘Send’ button. And that means I have to check all the client requirement boxes and solve a problem, not write a copy draft.

“Inspiration exists. But it has to find you working.” Pablo Picasso

They say life’s worth living if we spend it finding solutions. And we get to pick what problems to solve in life. Being witty, useful, or helpful makes you feel good. And that’s what I call ‘value high’. When you know you’re good. You know you did an awesome job. You feel like kissing yourself. And then you’re able to validate your own worth — hopefully in a healthy, non-narcissistic way, OK?

4. YOU WILL FEEL USED

Remember the kindergarten flash-backs? Don’t lie to yourself. There’s no end to them. You will work with creative minds — and as we know, ‘creative’ sometimes derives from ‘complete psycho’.

Being damn good at your job can have side effects like: stress, perfectionism, and a fucked up feeling of written ‘noblesse oblige’ — thinking that if you write better, you owe it to the Universe to help others write as well.

Before I completed my first year as a copywriter I have already helped out with numerous reports or emails on behalf of colleagues that asked for support — star topics covered behavioral issues and smart-ass email replies.

HELPING OTHERS IS A CHOICE

If you told me that I’d help others with a passion one year before, I would’ve laughed and naively said: ‘But that’s not what a copywriter does. You write for your own projects and tasks. That’s it.”

How cute of me. Yeah, you write for yourself. But if you’re nice and give a shit when others ask for help, guess what? You will be their go-to-person.

Some people will know how to give back. Others will just ask, and ask, and annoy the creative shit out of you. Help them honestly or don’t help them at all.

You’ll probably want to do more, without anyone else asking you anyway.

And why not? We enjoy helping and we enjoy being smart asses at the same time. Don’t deny it. We all do. It comes with the job. Actually, no. It comes with the talent. And it’s OK. As long as you’re not a dick about it.

STRESS COMES WITH THE JOB

So if you’re a decent human being, people will ask for help. And if you choose to help them out, own up to the fact that it will become stressful, at some point.

It will make you want to punch them in the face and shout ‘write your own god damn cover letter, you lazy-ass, good for nothing, piece of creative excellence’.

You’re human. It’s OK to be annoyed. It’s alright to have limits. Yes, even if you are a copywriter. A very used and useful one.

Don’t be afraid to stand up for what you believe in… and sometimes, to stand up for what your peers believe in. Yes — your peers that don’t trust their writing skills enough and ask you to write their name for them.

But if you choose to help others — see it done. You could’ve just said ‘No’, but you’re a copywriter. You actually enjoy helping others write. So deal with it!

5. EMBRACE DOUBT. THEN SQUISH IT.

Just like in your personal life, you will probably want to be number one in your career as well. That’s of course, if you have any drop of ambition in those story-loving veins of yours.

If so, you will compare yourself to others. You will doubt your work. You will be harsh on yourself. You will overthink everything and question your talent. But you know what? Fuck you doubting yourself. Yeah, that’s right. Fuck doubt. Go for broke.

There shouldn’t be anyone out there who admires your effort as much as you do.

You’re not the center of the Universe, don’t get me wrong. There will be smarter and dumber writers than you. You will be in a never-ending state of evolving. You will feel confused and maybe even feel like a phony. You will put yourself down without any good reason. But you are and always will be number one.

Number 1 (uno) by DeAndre Purdie

GO EASY ON YOURSELF…

Once you purge the professional bullshit from your mind and stop reporting to others as sources of validation, you get to choose.

I chose to be a laid-back, but professional-as-fuck kind of copywriter. And I am today my biggest fan and my harshest critic. And both fan and critic live together happily and write praise-worthy copy. And that’s fine by me.

…THEN GO HARD — BUT GENTLY.

If you’re a copywriter, chances are you’re also an insane perfectionist. Maybe more chilled-back than most. Or maybe you’re the dictionary-definition of a control freak. But still an A+ perfectionist, I know.

That means two things.

1. You expect the world of yourself.

2. You bully yourself at times.

Now going hard on yourself delivers some valuable self-discipline lessons, but it can also make you harder to please. OK, let me say it simpler: it will be harder for you to be happy. And that’s not going to help you write better, get a promotion, get ‘value-high’ or inspired…ever.

Doubt may sneak up behind you like a drug dealer in a school parking lot, giving you free-anxiety rides that you later have to pay for. But remember yourself and your talent — all the way.