Teachers Make the Leap

4 Sneaky Obstacles to Watch Out for When You're Just Starting Out

• Hillary Gale

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Think time is your biggest obstacle to building a successful copywriting business? Think again! In this episode, Kristin and Hillary break down the four major roadblocks that actually hold new copywriters back – and more importantly, how to overcome them. Whether you're just starting out or feeling stuck in your journey, this episode provides actionable strategies to push past common obstacles and build momentum in your business.

Key Topics:

  • Moving past the "Can I do this?" mindset
  • Handling others' opinions about your new venture
  • Breaking free from perfectionism paralysis
  • Shifting from scarcity to abundance thinking

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Welcome to Teachers Make the Leap, a show that empowers educators to build online businesses they love and revolutionize the way work shows up in their lives. I'm your host, Kristen. And I'm your host, Hillary. We're two former teachers who have successfully made the leap from classroom to entrepreneurship. If you dream of finally leaving teaching to be able to make your own schedule and increase your earning potential, join us each week as we explore real ways to get there through online business.

Hillary:

Welcome to this episode of Teachers Make the Leap. Today, Kristen and I want to talk about some of the top obstacles that prevent new copywriters from making progress that they want to see in their businesses. But we're not going to stop at just the obstacles. We're also going to share, you know, some tips or strategies for how you can actually overcome these obstacles and start to see the progress that you want to see so that you have a thriving business.

Kristin:

I'm really excited to talk about this today. And I think that some of the obstacles we'll cover today are a little bit different than maybe other things we've talked about before. And I just want to point out that in the beginning, a lot of teachers kind of pinpoint some very obvious obstacles and kind of think those are the number one obstacles of why they can't get started or why they, you know, aren't seeing success in the business. Just yet. Usually for for most teachers, it's time, right? It's kind of the biggest obstacle and we can totally point the finger at time and say, oh, I'm just really busy. I don't have the time to implement things or learn things or do this and we can think that if I just have more time in my schedule, then I'd have a thriving copywriting business. And I want to acknowledge that, yes, teachers do have time constraints. Totally fair. Very valid. Lots of teachers are super busy with work stuff, after work stuff, family life, other activities, other life things. Time is not always our number one obstacle because you can have a busy schedule and also make progress in building a business that'll help support kind of your dream life beyond the classroom. But we want to point out what some of those obstacles might actually be today. So I'm really excited to dive in, Hilary.

Hillary:

Yeah. And I'm really, I'm really glad that you brought that up, Kristen, because a lot of times when I hear people say, you know, Oh, if I just had more time to build my business than I would, I'm always a little bit like, but would you, um, because you know, there, there were definitely been times in my life where I thought if I had more time, I would do something and then, you know, summer break would come around or whatever it was. And then I wouldn't do that thing. And so I think it's really just, yeah. Important to point out that a lot of times time is the easiest thing to point out. Like you said, but the things that are truly preventing us from getting started go a little bit deeper. Um, and so I think being able to manage those things 1st, uh, is really, really important. So that when you do have time, you do actually. Do the things that that need to be done and that will lead to a successful business. So the first obstacle that we're going to talk about today is a really, really common one. I think it's one that probably 99 percent of people will start with, but it's recognizing, do I have a mindset where I'm asking myself, can I do this? Can I make this work for myself? And that's actually a really dangerous question to ask yourself because it allows your brain to kind of jump in and say, okay. I don't know if I can do this, or I probably can't do this. And here's all the reasons why. Here's the reasons why it wouldn't work for me. That's a really dangerous mindset, because if you're constantly wondering, can I do this? It's going to be really hard to kind of almost make yourself sit down and do the things that you need to do before you see any results, before you have any chance at seeing results, right? And so I remember, I definitely had this mindset when I was first starting to learn about copywriting and, and thinking about starting my own business. And I think 1 of the reasons that is, because Kristen, you were the person who first introduced me to this idea of copywriting. You had discovered it a few months prior you were when you first started talking to me about it. You were building your website. You were doing the things. And then, by the time I actually started, you were working with clients. And so I. Recognize that I started to have these thoughts and fears popping up of, oh, this is going to be so embarrassing if it works for Kristen, but it doesn't work for me. Right? So what if I can't do this? What if it works for her? And I fail at this. Right? And luckily, I mean, I, I don't know what I can attribute my mindset shift change to, but I do remember. I'm actively changing it to, I'm not going to let that happen. I will do this and I will make this work no matter what. If Kristen can do this, there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to do this as well. And so I'm just going to do whatever it takes. And so I think that's the really important mindset shift that you have to make is flipping from can I do this to really teaching your brain to think, I will do this. I'm the only person that can make this happen.

Kristin:

Yeah, it's such a subtle shift, but such an important 1 where the, can I do this question really prompts the brain? Like you said, to think about reasons why it can't and the. I will do this perspective prompts the brain to figure out or like the follow up to that is like, okay, how, like, let's figure that out and you start to just identify steps forward, rather than barriers to your success. And I think that shift again, so small, so small, but That just sets you up to have just kind of great success in the business world.

Hillary:

yeah, and I think what's so, uh, malicious about this particular obstacle is that the question. Can I do this? That question in and of itself doesn't sound like a bad question to ask yourself, right? But it really can have an impact on how you spend your time and, you know, whether you are able to make yourself sit down at the desk and do the things that need to be done and all of that. So. Yeah, I think it is just a really important one to bring up and to acknowledge because so many people are going to ask themselves these questions, and we really want to shift that as fast as we can. Mm.

Kristin:

this shift that we're talking about to like, I will become a copywriter, I will have my own business. Another obstacle crept in for me, which is the second obstacle I want to bring up. And that is, I started to become very fearful of what other people would think of me trying something new. And I think this one is very pervasive because inherently, I was just shy about being seen trying something new. I just felt very vulnerable saying to people. oh, I'm trying out a new career path. Oh, I'm building a business. Those things felt very scary to me because I didn't know if they would pan out. I didn't know if I would have a successful business, um, and just the fear of what other people might think really kept me from sharing what I did with a lot of folks. Now, if you think about that, when I was not sharing what I did with other folks. That just puts my business in a position where it has to succeed in spite of me, right? Like, did I expect my business to just take off even though I was never going to talk about it to anyone? Those are really, really hard expectations to have for a brand new fledgling business, right? so this shift of kind of saying to yourself, Well, who cares what other people think, or even better, acknowledging that nobody's really paying that much attention anyway, serves you well, especially in the beginning. Now, I'd love to share a little caveat here, because this is a little bit of a nuanced situation, because in the beginning, Whenever we're doing something brand new, it is really great to have a lot of pride and not hide what we're doing because we really want to just kind of claim our new path and not be afraid of failure or what people think. And also, we don't want other people's opinions to kind of get in the way. Of our new, path forward, I know that in the beginning, I shared what I was doing with a couple of people who kind of turned around and said to me something like, Oh, that's cute. or I would just see in their eyes that they were just very doubtful that I could make this work or actually work for myself. And we don't want to be influenced by those types of opinions when we're 1st, starting out, because they can kill our dream. You know, right? They can really dampen the flame that we have to do something brand new. So I just want to put that out there. Absolutely don't hide what you're doing because you want to have pride in it. You want to give your business the best chance of success. Shout it from the rooftops. And also, make sure you block out those, those voices that are really only there to keep you small, and to kind of shy you away from what you actually want to go after.

Hillary:

yeah, Kristen, I think that's such an important caveat to make it. It really is this balance of, of, you know, proudly sharing what you're doing. You don't want to keep your business hidden away from the world because you have to talk about it in order to get clients. but at the same time, I think we can all probably think of people in our lives who, Might not have the most encouraging response to, you know, us starting something new and taking a leap of faith and thinking and thinking like that. And so I remember for me when I was first starting to talk about my business on social media, there would be a couple of people that, you know, would pop into my mind of like, I really don't want them to see this. And I just would. Block them from seeing that particular post, you know, you can do that on Facebook. You can, uh, I don't know if you can do that on Instagram, but, I would just, kind of leave them out of it because I didn't want their comments. I didn't want their feedback. You know, I, I knew what it was going to be. So, um, I think that's a really important one. Now, the 3rd obstacle, uh, that, We see a lot of new copywriters really getting stuck in, and that we certainly experienced ourselves in different ways was wanting to know that the things that you're creating and the things that you're putting out there in the early days, wanting to know that you've done everything perfectly so that you You have the best chance at getting those first few clients, or you have the best chance of your business succeeding. And unfortunately, that's just not a possibility, really, in business. I think, you know, expecting instant success is, is a really, really high bar.

Kristin:

Yeah, I actually think that this holds so many people back. really just having this perfectionism, this underlying perfectionism, sometimes we don't even call it perfectionism, but it really is this idea, like you were talking about Hilary, of I just want to know that what I'm creating is good, and it's perfect, and it's an A Which is such a trap for teachers, because we, I think a lot of teachers have this A plus mentality. And that comes from such a good place. Like, we want to be proud of what we're doing. We want to know that we've excelled. We want to know that we, you know, aren't taking too many shortcuts, like, that we're actually doing things with integrity behind them. So it, it, it turns, it can turn into, if we don't check it, it can turn into this place of pure procrastination and just kind of a sinkhole, so to speak, you know, preventing you from moving forward. And an example of this that I see all the time in new copywriters Is that perfectionism creeps in, especially when it comes to creating and publishing your 1st website now, to be fair, creating and publishing a website is a little bit of a project, There's, there's some things that go into creating and getting, you know, your website live. So there's plenty of opportunity for folks to get stuck in the process, but I think what holds people back the most is wanting it to be perfect. And in reality. It's not going to be perfect. Even if you think it's perfect, it's not going to be perfect. Cause it's the first, your first website, really a kind of better way through this obstacle is to. Just get something up there for your first website, then you go work with your clients, you learn about those clients, you learn about what you like to write, and then you iterate on your website, right? So, you may have 10 different versions of your website over your business journey, And that's totally normal. You're not going to get it perfect the 1st time and knowing that and publishing it anyway, that is where kind of the success lies,

Hillary:

You know what I want to say here too is that I published a website, over the next few years, I would make small updates to that website as I learned things about my clients and I wanted to kind of tweak my messaging and things like that. I have since had my website professionally done. I am over 4 years into my business and I still don't feel like my website is perfect. right? There's still pages on my website where I'm like, I don't like the way that that lands, but I don't have time to change it right now, you know? and so it is truly this thing of seeing your website as a dynamic. I hate this phrase because I think it's so overused, but it's, it's really this living, breathing thing, That, um, You will change all the time and so I think just recognizing that my website or maybe the cold email that I'm going to send to clients that the, you know, basic template I'm going to use kind of just recognizing that those things even 5 years from now are not going to be perfect. So why am I going to wait 5 years to do it? I might as well start now because the one 5 years from now is going to be better. At least, right. It's going to be closer. And I think one of the things that, that I really started to embody early in my business journey that made such a difference for me, because I would say that I actually, I really struggled with this, not with my website because I was like comfortable with it not being perfect. I just wanted to get it up there. I did struggle with it with my cold email template, because I was like, I only get one shot with this. Person who may or may not open my email. Right. But then I had to recognize in business. You don't just get one shot. You get a million shots. Right. And I need to send out hundreds of these emails to lots of different clients and I can tweak, I can send out 50 and then I can say, I'm going to change this. And then I can send out 50 more and then I can say, I'm going to change this. Right. And if I send enough of those, I'm going to get responses. I'm going to get clients, right. Even if the email. Isn't perfect in my eyes.

Kristin:

I really, truly like this. This topic gets me so fired up because I really do think it's so important. I'm going to make, like, I have an example to share here, but it's outside of the business world. And some of our listeners might have heard this from me before, but over the past, maybe year and a half, I've been on something of a little fitness journey, like a health journey. Um, and I just noticed I've been sitting down a lot during the day. And I finally felt like doing something about that and really kind of creating some brand new habits for myself. so a year and a half ago, I started working with Like a fitness coach who taught me, you know, exercises to do in the gym and ways to eat and things like that so that I can kind of optimize my fitness and get stronger. I had this goal of getting stronger. And in the beginning of that journey, I would go into the gym with these brand new exercises that, that the, this coach gave me to do. And just for clarity's sake, I had never really been in a gym before, maybe once, like, when I was in my 20s or something, but the gym was not a comfortable place for me, and working out was not a comfortable thing that I did. So, I'm trying to build new habits, and in the beginning, when I had, when I was practicing this brand new thing and trying to build this brand new habit, I would get very concerned with how I was doing the particular exercise, right? What weight am I lifting? what is my posture like? Is my form okay? How many of these should I be doing? And I had all of these little baby, kind of really detailed questions for my coach about all these things. And she graciously answered them all because they were good questions, but really what she told me was, she said something like, I'm going to be honest with you for the first 90 days. It really doesn't matter if your posture or your form is 100 percent perfect because what you're doing in the beginning is building a habit. You have to be okay with putting in the reps and not every single rep is going to be a perfect a plus rep, but they still count and they're still really important. And they still play an important role in this journey. And when she told me that, I was like, Oh, Oh, that's business. That's my business life. You know, it's about putting in the reps. It's about getting the first website published. It doesn't really matter if it's perfect. You're going to have new website versions eventually. It's about sending those cold emails. It doesn't matter if it's perfect. You're going to send lots and lots and lots of cold emails. You can change them down the road. Right? So this idea of putting in the reps. And not worrying if each rep is 100 percent perfect, but, but knowing the value lies in collecting a lot of reps. that was such an important lesson for me on my fitness journey that really maps over well into my business journey, too.

Hillary:

Well, and, and I'm going to make a transition here between this third obstacle that we've been talking about. And then our fourth one, um, I think one of the reasons that I felt, especially with my cold emails, like these emails have to be perfect because I need to start getting clients and I need to start making money. I don't have time to be imperfect. Right. And I think that that was because. I had this fourth obstacle that has been a whole journey to overcome and still overcoming it was this idea of having kind of a scarcity mindset and thinking there's only so many clients out there in the world. So I need to send a perfect pitch to every single one of them so that I can get enough right for me. And I just had this misperception that there's not enough. Work out there for me and all the other finance copywriters that are out there. And so the scarcity mindset was a really, really big obstacle for me. Um, and I know it was an obstacle for you too, a little bit.

Kristin:

Oh, absolutely, and I think this is a very common obstacle. I think a scarcity mindset is something that we, we might all just inherently kind of have a little bit of until we confront it. And I think teachers especially can fall into the scarcity mindset trap for a few different reasons. Number one, because Work in the teacher world positions, coveted positions, you know, working out of your dream school, you know, having your dream dream job or or even getting your dream classes, right? Teaching the coveted glasses. There's a lot of scarcity built into that process because there's just not enough to go around. And I think that mindset for me, I carried that over with me by accident. Like I just did it. I wasn't, I wasn't conscious of it, but I took that into my business building journey, where I said to myself, there's probably not enough clients to go around. There's probably not enough work out there. Who's going to work with me over other copywriters. And I just brought this really competitive, there's not enough. Mindset to my business in the beginning and I share have shared this before but one of the most amazing Shifts for me when I got to the freelance and copywriting space was that the scarcity in terms of job demand really evaporates a lot. There's so many businesses out there. Like, literally, there's so many, there's more than we can even comprehend. And that's even just in the United States when you open it up globally and think about the businesses that exist all over the world. There's just, there's so much opportunity and need for the skillset that copywriters have. So that was a really exciting shift and helped me start to shift my scarcity mindset. So I started to go from, are there clients out there to. Of course the opportunity exists. I gotta just have to go find it. And that was, you know, something that I think served me well in the beginning.

Hillary:

I really, really love this notion of, you know, realizing that in reality, whether my brain believes it or not, in reality, there is so much opportunity out there. Am I going to be the type of person that that goes out and gets it? Or am I going to be the type of person that just continually wonders or tells myself that it's not out there, right? And so I think that's also just a really powerful place to shift into.

Kristin:

Yeah, I love that. That's such an empowering kind of note to end on. Um, and I just kind of want to be clear too, because I, I, I'm always so turned off by folks who make things seem simpler or easier or, you know, like, more accessible than they really are. Totally want to acknowledge that we are all starting from different starting points in life. We all have different obstacles. We all have different, you know, things that, might prevent us from actually seeking opportunity or getting that that opportunity. So, definitely not here to say, you know, oh, it's just your mindset, like, just believe you can, and you will, there are real world obstacles that you face when it comes to working in any industry. but definitely making that important shift. to a more abundant mindset, is again, just such a foundational thing that will set you up for success in your business from the beginning.

Hillary:

Yeah, I'm so, so glad that you brought that up, because I think it is so, so true. So, these are just, you know, 4 obstacles that we've talked about today. There are surely others out there that, you know, we all have to confront and do the work to, to overcome them so that we can make the progress that we want to see. So, if there are other obstacles that, you know, you yourself face, and you want to hear Kristen and I talk about those. so much. Click on the form in the show notes where you can submit a question or you can submit an idea for an episode that we can talk about. We would love to, to kind of continue this conversation and hear from you as well. So thank you so much to all of our listeners who joined us this week on this episode of Teachers Make the Leap and we will see you next Monday.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Teachers Make the Leap. We can't wait to help you make the leap from teacher to thriving business owner. If you liked what you heard today, subscribe to the show on your favorite listening app and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. We'll see you back here next week.