Are You the Dumbest Person in the Room?

Rob and Kira take the mic for the 281st episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast. In this episode, they walk through what makes TCC… TCC. Through an introspection of beliefs and celebrating what the last 5 years have brought, they challenge everyone listening to do the same thing for their own business. Take a sneak peek: The core belief of The Copywriter Club. No one owns a niche, specialty, or title and why this is a good thing. How to use your x-factor to differentiate yourself from the sea of others in your niche. The golden rule of investing and how to effectively use it in your business. Paid mentors vs free mentors – is one better than the other? How to keep the momentum moving in your business. Outgrowing your title and shifting into a new one. How to find the best way for YOU to grow your authority. The importance of not comparing your goals to someone else’s. How masterminds are like buffets – yes, the food kind. The growth that comes with being the dumbest person in the room. Do you have a sales problem or a marketing problem? How you can do more good in the world and become a change agent. Why it’s good practice to treat your business like an experiment. How the red pen will increase your confidence. The value of stretching yourself beyond your comfort zone. How you can help TCC reach a million downloads. Hit the play button below or check out the transcript. The people and stuff we mentioned on the show: The Copywriter Club In Real Life Event Kira’s website Rob’s website The Copywriter Club Facebook Group The Copywriter Underground   Full Transcript: Rob Marsh:  This week's episode of the podcast is going to be a little bit different. Every 10 episodes or so, Kira and I, we get together and we just share stuff that's not interview based and we've been wanting to do this for quite a while. So we're going to talk about some of the things that we believe. That we believe around copywriting and around the importance of the work that we do and maybe some of the ideas that hold together The Copywriter Club. Does that sound about right to you Kira? Kira Hug:  Yeah, like you said, this is something we haven't done before, so I'm not sure how this is going to turn out, but I'm excited to see what happens. Rob Marsh:  We could easily find out that we totally disagree on what we both believe. Kira Hug:  That's true. Rob Marsh:  Yeah so, it'll be interesting to see, because we have not really talked through this at all before hopping on to record, we just came up with our own lists and now let's share them. Before we share them though, we should say, like always, our podcast is sponsored by something and this week it is TCC IRL The Copywriter Club, In Real Life, it's happening in Nashville in just a couple of weeks, March 28th through the 30th and it is an awesome event. If you don't have a ticket, there are a few tickets left and you can come and join us. Kira Hug:  Yes. And can I share the new excitement with what we just decided? Rob Marsh:  This is good. Kira Hug:  So, we just decided that we want to help the refugees in Ukraine. And so we are going to find an organization that we both feel like is legit it and doing great work. And 10% of the profit from TCC IRL will go towards a specific organization, which is TBD, but we will figure it out soon. It feels like a good way to do something when it feels like there aren't many things we can do, this is one thing we can do. So we're excited to do that. If you do purchase a ticket, at least that part of that is going towards an organization that's doing great work in Ukraine and supporting people. Rob Marsh:  Yep. That's maybe a small way that we can make a difference for a lot of people that are being very significantly impacted by the war. Kira Hug:  Yes. So let's kick off with some of your beliefs. And again, these are TCC beliefs, but it's fun because Rob, we both have our own beliefs that bleed into TCC and if we disagree, we'll talk about it. Rob Marsh:  So, I know this is one that we both hold in common because we talk about it a lot, but number one, community over competition. If you've been around The Copywriter Club for any length of time, you realize that we really do value this community and bringing people together who may be incredibly different in so many ways and having this thing, copywriting, marketing that we have in common and a place where we can share ideas, enjoy each other's company, get to know each other's shared leads, talk about this stuff from maybe even completely opposite worldviews, but valuing the community and not looking at everybody else around us thinking, oh my gosh these are other copywriters, they're the people that they're going to be pitching my clients as well. We can help each other. We can help each other grow even when we are working with similar clients. And so number one, community over competition. Kira Hug:  Yeah. And has that shown up for you in your business Rob, just like where you have maybe viewed people as competitors and then you've changed that mindset and there's been a positive outcome. Rob Marsh:  For sure. For sure. I think for the whole first decade or two of working, I would think of other copywriters as the competition, not necessarily like cutthroat, I've got to take them down or whatever, but sharing leads, would've been the kind of thing I'm like, why would I give away a lead to somebody who now they're going to be making money or helping this client, why wouldn't I hold onto all of this? And even maybe things that I know about copy writing, why would I help you learn to write bullets if that's going to make you better than me and now you're going to be able to take away my clients. I might not have taken that same approach, but I don't know if it's maturity, I don't know if it's just that I started joining mastermind groups or meeting you or what it was that really shifted that for me, but surrounding yourself with people who can be helpful, supportive, it's so much a better approach than trying to take on the world all by myself. What about you? Kira Hug:  I was just going to say like, you and I are actually very competitive with each other. We joke around about it and it's mostly playful, but it's also okay to be really competitive if that's who you are, if how you operate best. I operate in a competitive way when I need to get stuff done, but that doesn't mean I view every other copywriter out there and creative out there as competition, but I can play with it and have fun. I almost set up my own gaming system to help me get the results I want in my business. And so I think you can have it both ways, but I do agree with what you've said and we have said it before, the copywriters we see do the best, typically in our programs seem to have this mindset shift somewhere along the way where they form more partnerships and see the upside rather than the downside. Rob Marsh:  Yeah, for sure. Okay. So what's the number one thing on your list? Kira Hug:  Well, I'm going to jump in here because this yours bleeds into this next one for me, which is similar, but we believe you should pursue an idea, a niche, a specialty, even a title even if someone you respect is already working in that space and "owning" it, or has that title already. And I'm sharing that because when we are viewing other copywriters as collaborators and we're in community with them, what often and happens is that we don't want to disrespect other copywriters because we love them so much and we hold ourselves back from pursuing what we want to pursue, because we oftentimes think, well that person's already doing it or like, I can't be this brand specialist because so and so already owns that. And so we believe no one owns any of that and we've said that before, we'll say it again. Of course, don't actually copy, steal or cheat your way into building your business, we all know that. But don't be your own barrier. Don't hold yourself back, don't get in your own way. And that's just something that I think is really important and it comes up so frequently in our conversations with copywriters behind the scenes and a good way to think about it is just like, there is not just one orthodontist in the world who specializes in fixing teeth, there is not just one dermatologist just who specializes in skin diseases. And so, there is not just one copywriter who can specialize in whatever that problem is. There's more than enough opportunity and so hopefully you aren't holding yourself back if there's something that you really want to own, but you're afraid to own it. Rob Marsh:  Yeah, like you said, we see this all the time where people will say, I can't talk about conversion copywriting because somebody else is already... I learned that from Joanna or I picked it up from this other source or I can't talk about brand voice or website copy or this approach to email because somebody else is already doing it. And I really like your comparison to the orthodontist. It's not just there's more than one orthodontist fixing teeth, there's probably more than one orthodontist in your neighborhood that's doing it. The world is so big and there's so much space and I think this is one area where nicheing really helps because if you're talking about email copy or brand voice or whatever, to your niche, as opposed to insular group of copywriters like us, this is all new information to most of those people and it's helpful to all of those people. And if you hold back because somebody else got there first, your niche isn't going to hear about this thing. And so yeah, I 100% agree. If you feel passionate about some area of your business, talk about it. Talk about it in your way, create your own ideas around it, talk about it using your own unique stories, maybe even create a framework around it and talk about it your way.