TCC Podcast #85: Running a healthy copywriting business with Misty Mozejko

Health and Fitness copywriter, Misty Mozejko joins Kira and Rob for the 85th episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast. We asked her all kinds of questions about her fitness and copywriting business—and got a lot of great advice to apply to our own businesses. We even talked about nipple tassels, which is new ground for us (though not for Misty). Here’s what else we talked about: •  how she got started running her own businesses and how that led to copywriting •  how she found a mentor and why she continues to look for them •  what she did to lose 120 pounds (and how long it took) •  the business lessons she learned running her own fitness club •  her diet recommendations for copywriters who need to feed their brains •  the system she has developed in her business to help her succeed •  the moment she realized she was good at copywriting •  what she’s done to improve her own writing (this is a great tip) •  her advice on how to choose clients •  why she emails her list every day (and the impact it has) •  where the ideas for her emails come from •  how she captures the voice of her clients •  how she manages two businesses, being a mom, and staying healthy •  the mistakes she’s made (and why she tries to stay in her lane) •  what she’s learned about hiring people to help her •  how she communicates with her team (and the tool she uses) •  what she does to improve her writing and business skills •  the words she uses to push back on her clients Finally, Misty pulled out her crystal ball to tell us where she sees copywriting going in the future. She’s probably not wrong. To hear it all, click the play button below, or scroll down for a full transcript.   The people and stuff we mentioned on the show: Sponsor: The Copywriter Think Tank Brian Kurtz Paul Mort Ben Settle Email Players James Friel Autopilot Entrepreneur Evernote Trello Basecamp Bond Halbert Russell Brunson Sell Health Nipple Tassels The Go Giver Misty’s Facebook Kira’s website Rob’s website The Copywriter Club Facebook Group Intro: Content (for now) Outro: Gravity Full Transcript: Rob: What if you could hang out with seriously talented copywriters and other experts, ask them about their successes and failures, their work processes and their habits, then steal an idea or two to inspire your own work? That’s what Kira and I do every week at The Copywriter Club Podcast. Kira: You’re invited to join the club for episode 85 as we talk with copywriter and business owner Misty Mozejko about succeeding as a copywriter while running a whole other business; how she stays sane balancing two businesses while being a mom; her best fitness and nutrition advice; and what she does to stand out as a copywriter in a crowded field. Rob: Hey Misty. Kira: Welcome, Misty. Misty: Well, thank you very much for having me; this is an honor! Kira: It’s great to have you hear. I think a great place to start is with your story, and how you ended up running multiple businesses. Misty: Uhhhm, yeah; you said ‘sane’? You mentioned something about my sanity in the intro, and I think we should address that, because there’s definitely none of that happened in the past. I’m not sane at all, so let’s just clear that up right now. But yeah, I think that, you know, I started out as an entrepreneur just after my son was born and he’s almost twelve, so it’s been over a decade now doing my own thing. And the fitness business arose because of my own personal... Well, I lost 120 pounds after my son was born, and I figured if I could do it, then everyone could do it; like seriously, everyone can do it. So, I grew a fitness business from that, and the copywriting kind of came out of the fitness business, because I was writing to my clients, and writing to my list everyday, unbeknownst to me what even copywriting was or even email marketing was. I had no idea. I was just doing it. And then, after a few years of thinking, “Huh, I should probably make some money off of this,” I got a mentor and they kind of helped me really get into email marketing. The fitness business came first, and then the copywriting and email marketing came second mainly because I needed it as a tool for my business, and then that little seed kind of grew and blossomed, and here I am today. So, that’s the nuts and bolts of it, really. Rob: So let’s talk about how you found your mentor—I think we know who it was, or at least one of your mentors. But, how did you find that person, and what did that mentorship look like? Misty: So, yeah. I’ve always had coached from day one; I quickly realized in business you’re not going to get very far on your own. And so I definitely try to surround myself with people who can expand my horizons, and teach me new things, and if I can learn from different people, then that’s really key, which is why obviously I’m in with Bryan and learning from him now. So, that’s always been crucial. So, the mentorship with the email marketing started way back in the day with a guy in England called Paul Mort. And then it kind of went on from there. I ended up with the notorious Ben Settle a couple of years ago, and I worked with him, firstly as his podcast announcer, and then secondly as a writer for his podcast list. So working with Ben was terrifying, actually. Kira: Laughs. Misty: And also, quite wonderful. So, a little bit of both, you know? You never know what you’re going to get. It taught me a lot; it really did teach me a lot. A lot about online marketing, email marketing, a world that I wasn’t really in. When I have a brick and mortar business, you don’t really get into that. So, he definitely did open my eyes to this world now, which is fantastic. Kira: Yeah, I remember hearing your name from Ben’s show a couple of years ago, i guess now, and just wondering like, “Who is this Misty person? Like, what’s her story?” So it comes full circle! So how did you end up becoming his announcer, and working with him? Misty: Well, you know, I’m an “email player”. I was on his subscription list, and so with this little group—we’ve gone through quite a few groups, but the group back then, he put out an email and maybe a message in the group saying he was looking for a podcast announcer, and I just figured, you know like, I had tons of experience talking everyday, so that put me in good stead to be a podcast announcer, so i just said, “Yeah, I’m going to do this.” And so I emailed in my application; just said, “Yep. I’m pretty good at speaking, so let’s do this.” And I put on my best British accent, and I really ramped it up for the mic. And, it went from there. So I was a podcast announcer. I’ve also got quite a big mouth, and some wordy fingers, and so I think he saw some of the writing I was doing inside of the group, and then invited me to write for him as well. So, I just kind of walked my way into the podcast announcership position, and it all went from there. Rob: Okay, so I want to go back a little bit to the fitness business, and talk a little bit about some of things that you learned. You said that you had lost some weight on your own, and I’m curious—first of all, what that was like, and then second of all, what it’s like teaching that to other people? Misty: I think losing weight is really hard. Like it’s one of the hardest things, you know, you’ll ever do because food’s everywhere; temptation’s everywhere, you know. I was like over 300 pounds, and to be honest, like I didn’t even really think I was eating that bad! Like I grew up with a terrible diet, you know? Just, drinking and all things that you shouldn’t do. And, you know, I just didn’t think it was that bad until I actually went and got an education on nutrition and became a nutritionist and that’s when, you know, I had my eyes opened to me. But losing weight was hard; it took me two-and-a-half years to lost a hundred and twenty pounds, and it’s a longer battle than most really want it to me and that’s, when it comes to teaching others, I think, that’s the hardest lesson, is to teach them that it takes a long time, and the older you get, the harder it is! And so, if you’ve ever suffered from obesity or battled weight, it’s a longer process than most want, and pretty much no one wants to hear that. So that’s a hard sell, but I try to do it anyway. Kira: I’m curious. What’s a lesson or maybe two lessons you’ve taken from your experience growing that fitness business, and what does that business look like today? Misty: Everyone will tell you their niche is the hardest niche to work in. “It’s such a hard niche to work in; it’s so overcrowded,” and every niche is the same. But the fitness industry really is a changing landscape and it changes all the time. And it’s tricky, right, to keep up because the 99% of the fitness industry is complete bull, and there’s 1% who’s actually trying to do a good job. And so, trying to face down Goliath every single day is, you know, it’s tiring. So, I think the one thing that I’ve learned it, especially in the fitness industry is, you have to be very careful with what you sell. You have to sell what people want, and you can’t sell what people need, which is very, very tricky in the health industry, because they’re two very, very different things. People want flat abs, but you really want them to be healthy, and those two often don’t really meet, at all! So there’s building your audience and knowing what they want is very, very important, and also I think, especially if you’re looking at a business that has team members where you’ve got employees or subcontractors, if you’d got a brick and mortar location that’s, you know, more than likely, and understanding that people come and go, and that employees and subcontractors just won’t last forever, and that you have to have systems on board to make sure that as people circle in and out of you business, your business isn’t affected by individuals that come and go.