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Recently I watched the movie Waffle Street on Netflix. It is the story of a financial advisor named James Adams. He worked for a hedge fund and, self admittedly was part of the problem that contributed to the market crash in 2008.
It was a fascinating film. Adams lost his job one day after being loyal to his bosses. He had a good life with a six-figure job for a multi-billion dollar company. He and his wife were ready to start a family, but one day he came to the office where he was let go.
“No hard feelings,” was the sentiment from his bosses. After all, he was their link to some of the shady things that they were doing. Of course, he did them at their command. No luck, they dismissed him.
What was next for him? It turned into a time of self-exploration. In the movie, he worked for a restaurant called Papas Chicken & Waffles. When you read the story online (there is a book if you want to read that too), you realize it was Waffle House.
He was drawn to the honest, hard work, of which was the opposite, he felt, of what he had been doing. He was trying to dismiss his guilt.
He tried to buy the franchise where he worked but ultimately lost out to another investor. In the process he learned about hard work, dignity, working with integrity and humbleness. Eventually, he ended up starting his own financial advising company serving clients such as his former co-workers.
There is always a story about our journey. I’m not sure I can tell the Copyflight story just yet. I just don’t think I’m on the other side, yet, but Copyflight has definitely started the engine and rolling down the runway.
Building a flight plan
I have to give credit where credit is due.
Last year, somehow, I came up with the name Copyflight. I’ll admit I was somewhat inspired by the name Copyhackers which was founded by the copy queen herself, Joanna Wiebe.
So, while visiting with my friend Davinder (of ProBeaver fame), I mentioned the name and he told me he thought it was a great name. At this point, I started thinking about using the name for something. While I loved the name grafixCat media, it didn’t make much sense to anyone but me.
By the way, Davinder designed the logo as well. He really knocked it out of the park!
I knew if I was going to use Copyflight, I would have to make a change.
I started sharing the idea with other friends like Sarah Pressler and Kim Doyal. There may have been others, I don’t remember. I am sorry if I shared it with you and didn’t mention you here. Feel free to let me know in the comments.
Copyflight on the runway
So, with the encouragement of friends and starting to feel better again, I set my plans in motion. It would have been incredible to get this thing going in about a month, but that probably would have been too quick. Press on.
I started thinking about my message and what I wanted to say while also keeping up with my client work. I had begun to develop a process for building a message and I was working through that myself.
It isn’t easy to do that for yourself. No one knows that better than I do. I am sure my message will change even more over the next few months. Nevertheless, I found a starting point.
So, I set up my WordPress install. Yes, the site is on WordPress and I wouldn’t use anything else. I installed Astra and Beaver Builder (premium versions). Davinder said he would do the design for me, so I let it go. I have a hard time letting go of things that I can do, even if I don’t do them that well.
There was a bit of a hangup as we started. Davinder kept telling me to create the copy and add it to the pages so he could use that create the pages. I found myself going back to an old habit of just creating pages and adding the content later, but Davinder wouldn’t let me do that.
After all, I ascribe to a content-first philosophy of websites (read about my rant here). So, I started carving out time to write my copy.
After I made some process, Davinder began putting the pages together. I found early on that I was trying to launch a website with what I want it to become someday. I had to scale my vision back a tad to get this thing launched.
The website is hosted on Siteground who does an outstanding job. I recommend them. If you click on the link, it is my affiliate link. Go ahead, sign up.
Recently, I purchased a copy of Brainstorm Force’s Convert Pro plugin to use for lead magnets. I’m looking forward to using it more. For now, I have a content upgrade that is available on the post about storytelling. Brainstorm Force is the company of the Astra theme which I love. It simply works fantastic with page builders, especially Beaver Builder, my page builder of choice.
I am still using MailChimp. It is hard to justify using anything else at this point. I get 2,000 subscribers on my account to start, so it is a nice way to get going. I got a long way to go. I can, however, deliver autoresponders which you will get as a welcome series when you sign up for the Copyflight email newsletter.
Scriptless Social Sharing is my plugin of choice for social sharing buttons on posts. It works really well and it is very light keeping my website lean.
I still use Yoast for my Search Engine Optimization plugin. I know how to write posts better using Yoast and it helps me with post and page optimization. It also has a great feature to ensure I use open graphs for Facebook and Twitter.
I created my lead magnets using Google Docs and Canva. I love Canva for web and social media graphics.
Flying forward
I have a host of topics for future blog posts. I am pretty excited about that. I have spent almost two years writing weekly for a customer and need to spend some time putting out content on my own platform. Some of the topics I am exploring here are Storytelling, Content Marketing, Copywriting, and Lead Magnets.
I am beginning to put the touches on my products and services and I have several ideas to launch over the next couple of years. I have already established the Uncommon Emails. I hope you are on the list. I would love to have you.
I send an email every week, sometimes more. Additionally, there is the Facebook group Uncommon Entrepreneurs. It is the place for those who have an uncommon journey to entrepreneurship. We already have 81 members. I have intentionally grown this slowly.
The future will include a podcast. It is always about putting all the pieces together which I still have to do. Then, launch imperfectly. Tweak, make better, and keep pressing on.
I try to show up every day. Some days are easier than others. My friend Kim Doyal has used the phrase Just Show Up regularly. She had some stickers printed up last year. Now we have a hashtag, #JustShowUp. I like that. It is a reminder to show up and be present, help others with what she calls “value deposits” and be ready to receive opportunities.
My friend Sofi Dagnon and I are planning some things we are going to test in the future. Airstory is part of my tool stack. I love it for writing blog posts. If you are a copywriter or blog regularly, sign up for your free account and give it a whirl. I think you will like it.
Wrapping it up
So what does this mean for you? Ultimately, it comes down to you. I am here to serve my friends in B2B services such as web developers, coaches, consultants, etc. It means more clarity, for me and you both! I help you unclutter your message.
I offer one on one coaching sessions for content strategy. I also offer core messaging for your web copywriting. These are my two primary offerings at the moment. I can build on those. I hope to offer courses and downloadable content to help you accomplish some of these for your business. As I learn and grow, it means better and more efficient resources for you.
I am also intrigued by creating an efficient blogging content strategy for your business. That doesn’t just mean writing blog posts, but creating a framework that pulls people into your marketing funnel. After all, one of the most important things we can do is to help you get leads for your business.
Follow the journey by signing up for Uncommon Emails and joining us on Facebook at Uncommon Entrepreneurs. Let’s make that journey together.
Images courtesy of Pexels.com
