TCC Podcast #234: Business Metamorphosis with Linda Perry

Mindset coach and business strategist, Linda Perry, is back for the 234th episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast. Linda is a recovering copywriter who sheds light on how to make mindset approachable in business. No matter what stage of business, everyone experiences struggles with mindset in one way or another. There's a ton of great advice in this episode. You’ll want to note all the ways you can make mindset practical in your own business. Here’s an inkling of what we talked about: •  The mindset around pivoting and the fear of not making money. •  The sneaky way low-hanging fruit can set you back if you’re not aware, and the better way to handle the low-hanging fruit. •  The truth about being afraid to say no to projects and the feeling of always saying yes to everything. •  The answer to the question: Are you telling yourself stories or facts? •  How to create vision in your business and why it’s the #1 thing to do. •  Why creating boundaries are key to setting yourself up to work the way YOU want to work. •  The reality of overwhelm and why it’s a trap. •  A clear vision is not a financial goal—here's what it really is. •  The 3 steps to let go of the “how” to let your vision thrive Linda’s website Linda’s 1st TCC Episode The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson Kira’s website Rob’s website The Copywriter Club Facebook Group The Copywriter Underground   Full Transcript: Rob: As a business owner, you get to decide how your business changes over time, whether it shrinks or grows, whether you add products or services, employees or not, it's all up to you. I was trying to think of a metaphor for how this works, but the regular metaphors that we use for transformation, like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, doesn't really feel like a fit to me here because the process isn't that straightforward and the results that you get, aren't always beautiful. So maybe a better metaphor is playing with LEGO bricks, building one thing and then breaking off pieces to expand it here or there and changing it into something completely different. And oftentimes the colors don't match and the shape isn't perfect. And maybe this thing that you've built, isn't even recognizable to anybody who didn't see you build it or who you haven't told the thing is. And our guest for the 234th episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast is Think Tank alum, Linda Perry. She has dramatically reshaped and changed her copywriting business over the past year. A lot like playing with those LEGO bricks. And while the result is a better business, the process wasn't easy. And in a moment she's going to share exactly what that was like and where she's ended up. Kira: And clearly you have not played LEGO with me, Rob, because my colors do match. My shape is perfect. And the thing I build is always recognizable. Rob: You didn't grow up with the old sets where you only had... Kira: I did. Rob: ...like 15 bricks of blue and 15 bricks of red. Yeah. Kira: I did actually, and I feel like kids are missing out today because it's like, you have your blueprint and you have to make the thing that you purchased and you can just be more creative. So yeah, we can talk about LEGOs. I'm glad you're not talking about butterflies and caterpillars and LEGOs are way more fun. So thank you. And before we hear what Linda has to say, this podcast episode is brought to you by The Copywriter Think Tank. The Think Tank is our private mastermind for copywriters and other marketers who want to challenge each other, create new revenue streams in their businesses, receive coaching from the two of us and ultimately grow to six figures or more depending on your unique goal and vision. up until last year, we only opened the Think Tank once a year, but today we invite a few new members each quarter. So if you've been looking for a mastermind to help you grow email, help@thecopywriterclub.com to set up an interview. Rob: Okay, let's jump into our interview with Linda Perry and find out about what she's been up to since we last interviewed her on the podcast more than a year ago—way back on episode 108. Linda: I feel like everything has changed in my business since I was last on. To start with, I think my business back then was primarily copywriting, working with a series of clients, having a couple of retainer clients and really just diving back into the mindset space in this whole new way where I really got to own myself and be really much more of a version of myself in the mindset space than I'd ever been. And today I think I have one copy writing client left. I do teach some life coaches about how to build their business, but I have built up my mindset business and have really nailed down who I love working with. And it is really, yes, I work with a ton of copywriters, but I love identifying sort of the phases people are in, in their growth of their business. So I typically like to work with people who are a little bit more established because they're aware of their mindset and how it's starting to be a problem in their business and how it's holding them back. So I have really transformed my business to be one of working on mindset and helping people really get out of their own way so they can build this super intentional, happy business. Kira: So was it difficult to let go of the client side and the client work? I'm asking that, knowing that it's a difficult process for most of us and a lot of copywriters really struggle with that. Even if that's the direction they ultimately want to go, there's a lot of mindset trash around even making that decision to let go of a lot of client work. So how did you work through that. Linda: Yeah. You you guys know me really well in the sense that I was somebody who was super attached to, well, I've got this coming in. I have obligations to this. I have to keep doing this. It's bringing in a certain amount of money. All of that stuff was in the space and in this space was this idea of, I really like writing, right. And am I going to lose that by focusing on my business, in the mindset space, am I going to lose this opportunity? Am I going to become sort of dull even in my own writing? So I had a lot of those things come into play. And at the same time, I think I got super clear on what I wanted to do and the impact I wanted to make so that all of that noise was really clear to me that it was noise, that it was fears, that it was my own limiting beliefs that were standing in the way. And then I could really start to anchor myself into something bigger and let it go. And I'll be honest, I still love writing. I still love doing it. I do write for myself, it's really enjoyable and fun and I don't feel like I've lost anything. So yeah, it was a process though, for sure. It took a good six months to really let all that go. Rob: I want to actually talk more about the process and I actually think is longer than six months because I want to go back when you were thinking, "Hey, I want to continuing education for attorneys." And then you were actually creating like a mindset course for another person, for a partner or a client. You've gone through a pretty massive evolution. And I just, I wonder if you could maybe talk through that a little bit before we get into where your business is today because I think the process of choosing a niche or leaning into a niche can be really uncomfortable sometimes. And I think you've done something more than just like choosing a copywriting niche. You've changed your business fundamentally and who you work with and what you do, but it's very similar to that process of choosing a niche, talk about that. And going back even farther, the head trash, what was holding you back, why it was so hard to finally find the right path and also your willingness to try different things to get there. Linda: Yeah. I mean, if I go back to that time, I mean, I love thinking back to those conversations where the three of us sat in. I was talking about the legal programs that I would create. The mindset around that was what is low hanging fruit, right? Where do I have contacts? What have I been good at? What do I understand so I should be doing this? And even though I understood how shoulds really get in the way, I had those shoulds coming up, because like everyone else, I did have those financial concerns and pressures. I still had, at the time my kids were in high school, I had a bunch of obligations that I wanted to fulfill. Money was an issue. And so I was always looking at what can I quickly do in this space to maybe become known, to make a decent amount of money. And that really got in the way of me being able to see what was I really passionate about? What did I really want to do? And what I realized was that in the process of doing that, all I was doing was spinning and spinning and working hard. I mean, my biggest struggle all along has always been going into giant overwhelm. And I think a lot of people get there and they think, "How did this happen?" And I used to find myself in overwhelm every few months and go, "Wait a minute. How'd that happen again?" And it was really all my doing because I was so afraid that if I didn't say yes to something, if I didn't say yes to a client, if I didn't say yes to the needs of other businesses, that somehow I would not succeed. And so that process was really little by little calling myself out and saying, "Okay, Linda, you're just scared. You're just scared that if you take this leap, there's not going to be anything." And in fact, maybe we think the niche that we go into, isn't going to pay us what we're doing now, right. We give up the good for the great.And for me, there was a story going on like, well, mindset coaches don't make what copywriters make. It was easier to make money as a copywriter. And it was really a story I was telling myself, and we all do that.