Copywriter Joel Klettke shares his thoughts with Kira and Rob about how copywriters like to show off only the best parts of their business and how that affects other writers struggling to make things work. It’s a great discussion, but we covered a lot more than that. Here’s a look at what you'll hear in this 107th episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast:

•  what he’s doing and how his business (and life) has changed in the past year

•  how audits and research have impacted his business

•  what Joel does in an audit and how he prices them for his clients

•  how he sells the audit and then hands it off to the client or another writer

•  why he’s taking on fewer projects and the season of “no”

•  the instagram-ification of some copywriter’s businesses—and why it hurts

•  why we end up chasing the wrong goals (and maybe what to do instead)

•  what to do if you aren’t performing as well as you think you should

•  what is “enough”

•  a few ideas for building confidence and the impact on your business

•  the biggest mistakes copywriters make that ruin your conversion rates

•  his advice to new dads and why you might need “guilt cancelling headphones”

To get the low-down on how Joel’s business has changed since the first time we talked to him more than a year ago, click the play button below. Or if you’re the reading type (and lots of copywriters are) scroll down for a full transcript. And you should be able to find it on your favorite podcast app as well.

 

The people and stuff we mentioned on the show:

Joel’s first interview

Joanna Wiebe

Case Study Buddy

Chantelle Zakarisian

Val Geisler

Laura Belgray

Joels’ Conversion Killers Presentation

Kira’s website

Rob’s website

The Copywriter Club Facebook Group

Intro: Content (for now)

Outro: Gravity

 

Full Transcript:

Rob:   What if you could hang out with seriously talented copywriters and other experts, ask them about their successes and failures, their work processes, and their habits, then steal an idea or two to inspire your own work? That's what Kira and I do every week at The Copywriter Club Podcast.

Kira:   You're invited to join a club for Episode 107 as we chat for a second time with freelance copywriter and case study specialist Joel Klettke about what he's accomplished in the year since we last talked. What it really takes to grown and run a six figure business, balancing copywriting with building a second business and being a new dad, and the biggest conversion killing mistakes copywriters make.

Kira:   Welcome Joel.

Rob:   Hey Joel.

Joel:   Hey guys, thanks so much for having me.

Kira:   Yeah it's great to have you back. All right, so let's kick this off Joel with what you've been working on over the last year. What's changed for you? We know quite a bit has changed for you, but what's changed since the last time that we had you on the show?

Joel:   I kind of started off the year, I made the promise to myself I said, ‘I'm going to step back from the copy projects, and I'm going to press into the case study business, and focus on growing that.’ And so, that was kind of my mental goal. I thought, ‘Yeah I need to see what I've got in that.’ And that went well for all of like 10 minutes, and then projects cross your desk, and it's difficult to say no. But, I have kind of stepped back a little bit from writing. I'm taking on fewer but bigger projects now, which was a big goal of mine. But I think obviously the most significant change is now I'm a dad, so I've got a little guy in the house, and learning to work, and live, and adjust my sleep schedules and life in general around this little person, which is pretty interesting.

And then the other side of it on a totally different side of things, I looked up kind of midway through the year and realized outside of case studies, and outside of my writing projects I've actually made more money, and had more work on the audits and review side of things,