Allen Plummer

This. 100%. I've gone from copywriting, to getting an MBA, to becoming a marketer, creative director, and leader of content marketing and digital marketing. None of that evolution would have been possible without a personal commitment to learning and growing. Embrace a growth mindset, no matter where you are in your career.

Developing your niche means not just positioning yourself but finding your whitespace among other copywriters. When I freelanced for almost a decade in the late 90's and early 00's, I developed expertise writing about technology for financial advisors. Surrounded by Baby Boomers who were not as tech-savvy as I was, I found that I could become the "go to" writer about new software, platforms, and technology advancements that my peer writers didn't always understand. That growing knowledge, combined with an aptitude to explain difficult concepts in layman's terms, gave me a niche that few other writers in the B2B financial services space had. Don't worry about competing with other writers, find your own space.

Many B2B marketing teams and copywriters default to overly verbose, complex language. Exceptional copywriters seek balance between technical terminology and conversational copy complimented by shorter sentence structure. Because even executives want the executive summary. Accurate language is critical in any B2B space, but copywriters need to learn when to scale back SMEs and experts who rely on lengthy, hard-to-follow copy. Pick your battles as you develop expertise and gain trust with your business partners and marketers.

Knowing your persona is fine, but you also need to know your industry. Editors, marketing managers, and business SMEs can easily tell if you don't know what you're talking about, and there's no faking it. The best B2B writers have deep knowledge in their industry and are not generalists (something more common among B2C copywriters). This takes time, but once you develop expertise in a particular industry, you'll find yourself highly competitive among a much smaller pool of talented writers. When in doubt, go deep, not wide.

Here's a secret; lots of self-claimed "freelancers" love the idea of being a self-employed writer yet fail to take their job seriously. Don't be one of those people. My first big breaks as a freelancer were because others flaked out on deadlines or simply ghosted editors and clients. By simply being professional, meeting deadlines, and open to feedback, I quickly built a stable of clients or jobs. It didn't require me to be the best writer among stringers; just to consistently deliver solid, good copy. That's it. Your clients have deadlines of their own. Make their lives easier by being dependable and mature. You'll be surprised how much of a difference that makes.

Self-employment of any kind means you need to have an "owner's mindset." You're not only writing, but running your business. That means managing your budget each month, recognizing that there are no paid days off, and that when you don't work, no one else is making money to pay you or cover expenses. Being self-employed, particularly during and after 9/11, when the economy took a hit and work dried up, made me incredibly resilient and appreciative for full-time jobs once I decided to re-enter the corporate world. Self-employment is not for the faint of heart, but it can take your career to the next level if you take your responsibilities as a freelancer seriously.