Season 2, Episode 10: Wrapping Up Season 2 - The Takeaways - The Copy Table

Episode Transcript
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Nicole Morton (00:02):
Welcome to the Copy Table, the podcast for copywriters who want to get new ideas and inspiration for building and scaling a business you love.

Erin Pennings (00:11):
In this podcast, hosts Grace Fortune, Nicole Morton, and Aaron Pennings bring new topics and guests to the table.

Grace Fortune (00:17):
Every single episode, we're spilling the beans on how you can use your interests and expertise to define what success means to you and take steps to achieve it. Welcome back to the final episode of season two of the Coffee Table. I'm Grace Fortune, and I'm here with my co hosts Aaron Pennings and Nicole Morton. And we are going to basically do a quick recap of what we've done this season on the Coffee Table and share some of our favorite takeaways, some of the things that we've learned, and also talk just a little bit more about our favorite processes. And then finally what we'll do is we'll end up with sharing our plans for the future of the podcast with you. So, guys, let's get right into it. Erin, let's start with the roundtable. What was your favorite episode this season so far?

I don't know how to pick, to be honest, like this. What's your favorite child and why? And why are they so much better than everyone else? So I. So thanks for putting me on the spot right away, Grace. No, I think. I don't know, I think that all of it's important. And I, you know, maybe one of the first episodes, like, thinking back, I. I think like the lead up to the sales process. Sales and then probably contracting and payments, too, because I don't think enough people talk about that, at least in the granular. I. And I like how systemic we took it to give people some tactical ideas that they can be. They can be using regardless of their style, their comfort, with different kinds of approaches. So. Final answer. Sales process is my favorite child.

Awesome. Awesome. Yeah. Sales is like one of the most important processes. I would argue without the sales, you don't have a business. Right? No clients, no money, no business. Yeah, I think that's a totally valid answer. Nicole, what about you?

I really enjoyed the episode on getting feedback from clients. It was interesting because the three of us have, you know, wildly divergent processes, and we've all experienced each other's processes informally or informally on projects. And it is so inspiring to me how it kind of envelops your relationships with your clients, with your team, how you want to be perceived, how you want your clients to feel like the. Just the holistic environment of that. It just, you know, and watching things come to life in a respectful way that keeps tabs on people's boundaries. And it just all around good feels. It just. It makes me happy.

Yeah, I agree. I love the fact that you can actually make getting feedback from your clients into a process, because most people don't really think of that part as an actual process, but it really is. And I'm really big on, like, working with people and collaborating. So the fact that you can actually use that feedback to work more together and kind of bring yourself closer to your clients while still maintaining your boundaries, I think is just awesome. Like, I just love it. Like, I love having everything as a very clear process.

I don't want to change my answer, but that's another favorite child. And yeah, I think you're right because it just, it establishes so much of the experience up front. Favorite children, where I'm sighing here because I don't know. What about you, Grace? What's your favorite child of the season?

I have absolutely no reservations about picking a favorite child. I am shameless. So. And you guys probably already know what my answer is. I will die on the hill that onboarding is my favorite.

Yep.

Because I don't know, I just think that having the right onboarding process can just make such a strong impression on your clients and make them just want to keep coming back for more and more. You know what I mean? Like, if you start out your projects on the right foot, your clients will be a lot more willing to give you grace down the line if you need it. Right. If you make that first impression, they'll understand. Like, you know, this person is on the ball. They're not a flake, they're not a bobblehead. Sometimes things happen, and I can be a little bit more lenient because I understand that they are a professional. You can't do over a first impression, in my opinion. That's why onboarding will always be my go to answer for that.

Okay.

Yeah.

I think that's inspiring.

Well, thank you. Plus, like, it's just, for me, it was the easiest and most natural process to come up with. Like, for me, onboarding was just like, this is what needs to happen. And I had to put a lot more effort into putting together the other processes in my business. I like to make things easy.

So I find that fascinating, given your background, how you transitioned into copywriting. I just think that's such a natural fit for you. Same thing for you, Aaron. You know, coming from thinking about your background prior to copywriting, how interesting that the sales portion feels so natural. To you and for Grace, the systems and processes of kickoff seems natural to you. And then for me, the exchange of ideas, with my background in education, isn't that wild?

You know what? It's almost like, I'm gonna go out on a limb here. It's almost like our past experiences and our past work comes to play in our current businesses.

Almost like all roads lead us here.

Yeah, exactly.

Listener, I do hope that you can hear the sarcasm because on zoom, it is palpable.

You know, always loving sarcasm lead us here.

So it's so funny because when I'm talking to other copywriters and they're like, yeah, my path is winding. How many copywriters have you met whose path isn't winding? Like, well, I came here from this and I came here from this. It's like. But all of those human experience elements are what make you so damn good at what you do.

You bet.

Yeah. For me, my takeaway from this just little 5 minute diverging train of thought of ours. Take what your experiences are, take your past and figure out, okay, what comes naturally to me, what is easy, what do I know, and run with that and make that part of your business as much as you can.

Yeah, good point. And I think it's to just offer a counterpoint because this may. May become my favorite child episode of the season. To be determined based on where we go. You don't always know what's easy to you until someone out to you. You don't realize that this thing that you do naturally because it comes so easily to you, this onboarding, systematizing your proposal, building all the things into how you're going to exchange ideas, figuring out what those boundaries are. You don't know what's a strength and what's a weakness a lot of the time until someone points it out to you. Well, we all know what our weaknesses are, but sometimes it's not super obvious what those strengths are.

(06:59):
So I think to carry on that train of thought, talk to people, get involved with other copywriters, start conversations, because those relationships are invaluable for figuring out what that je ne sais quoi moment is.

Yeah, absolutely. Like, I know that without getting to know other copywriters like you guys, my business would not be what it is now at all. Like, if I didn't know other people doing what I do, I honestly probably would have not even continued my business. I would have just gotten bored of it. Like a year in, like, grow your network, talk to other people, ask like, okay, what do you See in me, like, figure out, like, what people see in you and run with those strengths. And if there areas that you're struggling in, they kind of learn what they are and maybe get to know people who are good at that and then exchange ideas that way. All right, so, okay, next potential train of thought and tangent.

(07:57):
Knowing what we know now and talking about all the different processes that we've talked about over the season has your favorite or what you think is the most useful process has changed? Because if I remember correctly, Aaron, at the start of the season, when I believe we asked each other this question and you had said your favorite was, I believe it was still contracts and proposals. Is it still the same?

Full disclosure, I have no idea what I thought when we first recorded this yesterday, and it clearly wasn't, but I have no idea because I have squirrel brain memory in general, but especially at this point in the year. So at this point of the week, this point of the day, name your time there, and it'll be. It'll be squirrel brain season. Looking back, I said the biggest mistake that I see copywriters making with their systems is not systematizing. And that is a hill that I'll die on because it doesn't matter, you know, what my favorite system is for me is so different than what would be someone else's favorite system. So I don't think that there's anyone that is absolutely instrumental to every single person.

(09:10):
I do think that picking where you are and where you see the greatest opportunity is the best place to start. For example, if you have a sales process that's like, meh, but it's working for you now, and you really have hiccups other places. I think that's probably my favorite part is figuring out the weak points and then finding ways to shore them up, which is not at all the answer to what you asked. However, you know, the more I talk to people, there's a lot of people who have a lot of ideas, and most of them don't know how to bring them to life. So flipping that to the copywriter business, you may have lots of ideas.

(09:47):
You may have taken lots of ideas from this last season of listening to us and other places out in the wild, but figuring out how you're going to implement them is not easy. And so maybe that's another system that we could have, should have, didn't talk about, but is figuring out how to implement what you want to do. And there's no easy answer because there's so many variables, right?

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for running with that. Yeah. I realize I kind of put you on the spot again there with that question. It just came to my brain. So I'm like, I'm just going to ask why not?

You know what, Given the opportunity, I always have an opinion and sometimes it's.

Rambling, but that's what I love about you, Aaron. You're always open to sharing what you think. Seriously. I think that's a good point. A good, A good way to be.

Oh, appreciate you. So have either of your thoughts on systems changed in this. I'm going to flip this back on to the two of you. I'm going to pick you first because you pick the meat first. Have your thoughts changed on systems as a copywriter or in business? Or has anything become clearer as a result of some of our discussions?

Yeah. Yeah, that's a really good question. Okay. So my favorite process still onboarding. I will still maintain that. However, one thing that I have learned from this season is that the other processes are a lot more important than I originally gave them credit for. And I have taken the opportunity and what I've learned from this season to start working on some of the processes on the back end of my business. Like I've always seen the value of it, but it's just become a lot more clear to me that I need to systematize other parts of my business. I never systematize the sales process really. Like I. My business is mostly referral based. People coming to me. I didn't really consider that as a potential. Potential ways to systematize that part. But now I have based on those conversations.

(11:48):
I feel like before I made that realization, I was kind of. I feel like I was kind of winging the sales process a lot more. And now that I've gotten that clearer, my close rates and the new clients, I'm getting on, when people come and reach out to me, they're a lot more likely to work with me than they were before. I don't have specific numbers that I can really compare and share. Like I can't say before this season of the coffee table, I was closing at a 50% rate and now I'm at a 90% rate. I can't really say that, but I.

Will manifest that for you though. I'll pre manifest that for you.

I would enjoy that. But anyway, yeah, I do know that more people who reach out to me are saying yes because I'm systematizing things and making the process a lot more simple and streamlined.

That's awesome.

And now it's your turn, Nicole.

I have so much more respect for the front end of the processes. Again, I also am almost entirely referral based, so lead generation is not something that I've had to put a whole lot of effort into, but I know that it's important. But now I know how attainable it is. It's always been very intimidating to me. I am not a salesy person. I am just a nervous chihuahua to my core. So talking to strangers has never been one of my strong suits. But you know, between that and the little bit of what I do enjoy is the networking portion of it, I just really kind of fleshing out the lead generation and proposal writing I think was very eye opening and taught me.

A whole lot that's fair. A lot more respect for the concept of processing processes. I mean.

Well, it has been a really fun season with you guys and I hope that everyone found something that they can pat themselves on the back for doing really well and then find something that they can think about kind of working on and starting to optimize or implement in the coming year.

Yeah, like that's one thing that I would love to see. Like whoever's listening, I would love to hear your biggest takeaway from this season and what your favorite processes are, what areas you think you need to work on. Now I do want to kind of wrap up. We wanted to keep this episode short and sweet, so I want to leave off with talking about our plan for season three of the Coffee Table. Nicole, did you want to kind of take start that?

Sure. So again, you know, we've always as a team said that this is a project of love and we respect it as much as we want it to respect us. So as working parents, we are going to enjoy a healthy and restorative break. So for right now, we're not quite sure when season three will launch, so we would love for in the interim for you guys to be, you know, sharing with us on our social media posts about how things are working for you guys. And when you're ready, we'd love for you to subscribe to our newsletter so that you'll know when season three launches and you can subscribe to us and any of the links on the copy table.com or our social media posts and we would love to bring you along for the next season.

Yep. And if you sign up for our email list, you'll be among the first to know when we are going to release season three. So Karen, did you have anything you want to add to that?

I'M just, I, I've loved doing this. It's fun. It feels like a conversation with my friends that, I mean, it is a conversation. It feels very much like we envisioned this, which was pull up a seat to the table, sit down, and we're going to have a little bit of a focused conversation just in part to keep ourselves on track, but prevent it from going off into stream of consciousness completely. And so that is exactly what we've delivered, I think, here. And it has been really fun. And so that's my hope, as you're listening in, is that it feels like you're pulling a chair up to the table with your friends. And I am very excited for the future. We just don't know what that brings and when it's going to bring it exactly yet. So season three topics to be determined.

(15:50):
Season three launch date to be determined. But we're looking forward to inviting you back to our table.

Absolutely. And we plan on every now and then putting out a social media post to say hello, just spark more conversation. And yeah, we hope to hear from you. And we do want to thank you so much for listening to us talk and pulling up a seat at the table with us. And we wish you all the best.

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Season 2, Episode 10: Wrapping Up Season 2 - The Takeaways

Episode Transcript

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Season 2, Episode 10: Wrapping Up Season 2 - The Takeaways