TCC Podcast 35: Going “Live” on Facebook with Misha Hettie

Copywriter (and photographer) Misha Hettie is in the Copywriter Club studio to talk copy and Facebook Live this week. Kira and Rob asked Misha about her business and she shared a ton of great advice, including her thoughts on: •  the importance of branding yourself as a copywriter (and not looking like everyone else) •  how she became a “brand story evangelist” •  what beginners should do to get started on Facebook Live •  what is the biggest mistake people make on Facebook Live •  her “big rock method” for creating content for Facebook •  her “don’t-miss-it” advice to everyone seeking balance in their lives As usual, there’s a ton of great information in this episode. If you’ve ever thought about using video in your business, this is don’t miss advice. Click the play button below, or scroll down for a full transcript. The people and stuff we mentioned on the show: Sponsor: AirStory Misha’s website Misha’s about page Silicone Valley Title Generator Joanna Wiebe Todd Herman 13 Reasons Why Kira’s website Rob’s website The Copywriter Club Facebook Group Intro: Content (for now) Outro: Gravity Full Transcript: The Copywriter Club Podcast is sponsored by Airstory, the writing platform for professional writers who want to get more done in half the time. Learn more at Airstory.co/club. Rob: What if you could hang out with seriously talented copywriters and other experts, ask them about the successes and failures, their work processes and their habits, then steal an idea or two to inspire your own work? That’s was Kira and I do every week at The Copywriter Club Podcast. Kira: You’re invited to join the Club for Episode 35, as we chat with copywriter Misha Heady about using social media in her copywriting business, and what other writers could be doing better there. Juggling her time as a parent, writer, photographer and coach, how Facebook Live has impacted her business and spending an afternoon taking photos of Rob and me in San Antonio. Rob: Hey Misha. Kira: Hello Misha. Misha: Hey guys, how are you? Rob: We’re great, how are you? Kira: Thanks. Misha: Yeah, I’m okay. I’m having a bit of a morning here, and I don’t know if you can her my dog in the background, but I apologize if you could. Rob: We did hear a little bit but I think was might be able with cut most of that out. Misha: Okay, I’m sorry. I swear to God. She’s like, “Oh, you’re on a call, let me go freak out about something. Kira: It’s okay. I think it’s been one of those days for all three of us, which means this is going to be a great conversation. Rob: Exactly. Misha: Yeah. Kira: So, Misha, let’s start with, you know, where you come from. Because you are this multi-talented, creative, big personality, you’ve played a really big role in the copywriter club, so where did you come from. What were you doing before you were in the club as a copywriter? Misha: Well, Kira, when a man and a woman love each other very, very much ... okay, JK, terrible, terrible joke. So, where do I come from? I used to be a nine-to-fiver, like most people, and one day I lost my job, and I was like, I got to figure this out. It’s actually a longer story than that, but that’s, you know, the gist of it. And in that last position, I had been using a lot of social media tools to kind of grow people’s knowledge of our gallery. It was a tile gallery. This is like way back in the day when Flicker was like the hottest thing around. To grow people’s knowledge of our gallery, and at the same time I was studying photography more, so that is basically the short story of how I became and entrepreneur, because it’s not a very poetic story, but it’s the truth. Rob: Walk us this step-by-step. So, you lost your job, and then suddenly you weren’t a writer/photographer, whatever. As for as setting up your business, tell us more about that process. Misha: Oh, no. It was literally that next day. No, just kidding. The seedy underbelly of the story is that I was actually five months pregnant, and they closed the showroom that I was working in. And, as a dude you don’t know this, but when you are five months pregnant, like visibly pregnant, no one wants to hire you, like with a ten-foot pole. So I was in this position of, I need to make money for my family, and no one wants to hire me, so what am I going to do? It took some time to figure it out, because I was afraid to make that leap from steady paycheck to working for myself. I thank the great State of Texas for the jucy unemployment checks. That was very helpful at the time. Literally, the day I was in labor with my daughter, I bought my first domain name, and I went from there. I figured it out. Threw together same pricing packages for photography and started taking clients when my daughter was about six weeks old. Kira: You started with photography, and then how did you make your way into the copywriting world and really kind of specialize as a communicator, a strategic communicator? Misha: I wish I had really cool stories about this. I wish there was some sort of movie moment where people were chanting my name or something like that, but I actually moved. At the time that I was a photographer, I built myself up from my first client paying me like $175 to regularly selling packages that were $2,400 and above, and then I moved from Texas to California. And the problem with that is when you are a local service provider, you have to have a local clientele. When I moved, I had no one and nothing. So I spent that time blogging about photography, and how to improve your photography business. Yeah, people started hiring me for my opinion, because they’re like, “Well you grew your business in under a year, from, like I said, 175 bucks to 2,400 bucks per client. How can we do that too?” That is when I started offering communications coaching and copywriting services. It was like a totally organic thing because that’s what my people were asking me for. Rob: Yeah, I was going to say, you know, even when I go to your website, it’s photography based, but, you know, I know you as a writer because you’re showing up in our group as a writer. Do you start with the photo products and then people ask you for help with the writing, or do you actually have a way that you approach clients for copywriting as well? Misha: Now, it’s morphed into something where I keep the two completely separate. The photo business is its own animal, and then the copywriting is my main jam. Basically, I decided if I didn’t have to leave my house ever, that would be better. I could write for anyone in the world to any time of day, and not have to worry about rain, you know, or bugs, like you guys got to experience some of our Texas bugs the other day. When I approach a copywriting client, it’s from a copywriting standpoint only. I will, occasionally, like let’s say it’s a communication strategy client, I will say, the images on your site, they’re kind of problematic because it doesn’t fit your aesthetic, of whatever, so I do offer a side dish of that, but the copywriting is my main jam, if you will. Kira: Okay, and because you mentioned it, can you just share the breakdown of your services under the copy communications arm of your business? Just to give us some context as to what your putting out there in the world and how you’re making money. Misha: I know, I know, I’m supposed to niche down, I’m supposed to have a very specific answer for this, but ... Kira: No, that’s not true, that’s not true. Misha: Yeah. I don’t do that. I do web and sales copy. I do specifically, when people are in the second or third iteration of their business, and it’s not quite right. I help them create a strategy for portraying themselves. And if sometimes that looks like web copy, I may redo their website, sometimes that looks like sales copy, and we sell their program, and sometimes it looks like both because they just don’t know how to express what it is that they sell. I would say my main thing that I offer is copy with strategy. Rob: I started looking a some of the images on your website, and I’m really hungry now. Your website has this total food vibe, and it’s showing off so many of your photography skills in additional to how you help people with copywriting. Let’s talk a little bit more about the typical project for you. When a customer comes to you for help with copywriting, what’s the onboarding process look like? How do you figure out was you’re going to do with them. Just talk about that whole process of getting to know the customer and producing work for them. Misha: And you know my process is very organic. It’s not very contrived. I don’t have a lot of documents for people to fill out or anything. But because of that, I spend a lot of time talking with them directly, so that’s a lot of phone calls, a lot of Skype, a lot of note taking on my part. What I’m doing when we have that conversation is I’m not just saying, tell me about your program, tell me about your business, I’m saying, “So tell me how your husband. And when you guys were in Argentina, what did you think about the culture?” I ask this questions that have nothing to do with their program or business, because I want of hear the actual cadence of their voice. I want to hear their personality, because to me it’s very important to be able to portray that in their copy. I feel like if you have someone that you’re looking to hire, and let’s say their website is very hyper, and very out there, and very in your face, and then you get them on the phone, and they’re like, “Hey, so”, that creates serious mismatch, and when there’s that moment of confusion for the client, they’re not going to get hired. So, I spend most of my time talking to them about stuff that has nothing to do with their business. And then I produce their copy for them, and we have another meeting. If they’re happy,