TCC Podcast #243: Growing as a Copywriter with Yara Golden

On the 243rd episode of The Copywriter Club podcast, Yara Golden (dare we say it) drops gems you need to take note of. Yara Golden fell into the world of copywriting unexpectedly and said goodbye to her relationship coaching days. Now, she runs an agency of copywriters on the basis of storytelling. Here’s what we covered: How our greatest strengths can become our biggest weaknesses. When things seem to be falling apart, how do you pick up the pieces? The art of not being able to screw up being yourself. Transitioning from relationship coach to email copywriting magician. 3 lessons to improve yourself and the relationships you have with others. Going against the grain and breaking the copy “rules.” The #1 thing business owners need. How to strategically take on multiple clients at a time while managing a team. Reaching the epiphany step in the story selling method. The secret to being the character that your ideal client or customer wants to be. The better way to be customer-centric and close sales. The truth about negative inspiration and why it works for entrepreneurs. The fine line of taking in knowledge and closing off what makes us unique. How to revive an inactive email list. - Hint: Don’t say sorry. Are copy blocks the new day rates? Mentorships and helping others sparkle as they grow their businesses. The mindset shift between self-employed and entrepreneur. How to step into the spotlight when you don’t feel you deserve it. Taking the feelings of discomfort and using them to your full advantage. Working through a bad relationship with money and coming up with a strategic plan. The merging of projects and companies: How can this be done? How to write copy without VOC. This episode is a must-listen. If not, a must-read. Check out the transcript below. The people and stuff we mentioned on the show: Kira’s website Rob’s website The Copywriter Club Facebook Group The Copywriter Underground Think Tank Yara’s website Full Transcript: Kira:  Maybe the best thing about having a podcast is the opportunity to talk to so many smart and accomplished copywriters and marketing experts. Even the writers we talked to who are just starting out have unique ideas and perspectives. I think we both can safely say we feel lucky to talk to such talented people and get to learn while we're doing it. And today's guest for the 243rd episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast is Yara Golden. And she shared some of her early struggles in her business, the way she packages and sells her services, the lessons she's learned about boundaries and so much more. There are a ton of great takeaways in this episode. Rob:  Before we talk to Yara, let's talk to you, our listeners, about the Copywriter Think Tank. That's our mastermind for copywriters and other marketers who want to do more in their business in their work. Maybe you've dreamed about creating a product, podcast, and you want to build a mini agency, like the one that Yara built, that she's going to tell us about here in just a minute, or a product company. Maybe you want to become just the best copywriter in your industry or in your niche, or the person that has the high-paying clients and have them know that you're the one that they should be calling. That's the kind of thing that we help copywriters in the Copywriter Think Tank do. To learn more, visit copywriterthinktank.com, and maybe you can join this group of extraordinary business owners too. Kira:  Before we get into the interview, we should note that after a couple of minutes, Rob's internet went down. So, if you're wondering why I hog the mic, and ask all the questions while Rob is quiet, while I didn't kick him off the show, it's just a little bit of trouble. Rob:  Not yet. Kira:  Not yet. So, let's jump into our conversation with Yara and find out about her path into copywriting. Yara:  Oh, my gosh, it's such a great question because I have no idea. I think when I look back on my life, writing has always been a huge part of me, right? I tell people, I didn't choose writing, writing chose me. And so, and at the end of 2013, I was going through a divorce. And it was really the first time in my life that I was going to be on my own, responsible for my own bills. And now, it wasn't just me, it was me and my two kids, right? And so, I was very much thinking, how am I going to provide the life that I'm used to that I want without having to trade my time for it, right? And so, and I remember this conversation I had with a girlfriend back then. And she said, "You can always get a job at Nordstrom." And I felt this fire ignite inside of me. And it was indignation, right, where I was like, "I don't work at Nordstrom, I shop there." And it's nothing against retail, there's any job that you want to do is perfectly fine, but it was that moment of knowing that I was capable of so much more. And the fact that that's where she had boxed me in just enraged me. And I was fortunate enough to have been around a lot of people who were in the internet marketing space. There was a lot of coaches and coaching groups and things like that. And I started seeing people were making money by getting on the phone and having a really cool conversation with people. And I was like, "Can you sign me up for that? I can totally do that." And then, I went through this whole journey of like, well, what can you actually help people with? And I think at the time, it was really going through and navigating the divorce process and becoming someone else on the other side of that, right, like my personal growth journey. And so, I became a Relationship Coach. At a time when I absolutely could not believe people were paying me for relationship advice, because I was like, "Do they not see the disaster I just created in my life?" But it was learning that, it was navigating that and how I was going through the process that was inspiring them, that was encouraging them, and motivating them to do things differently than they thought they needed to be done. And so, growing that business, I needed to become a marketer, and I needed to become a business person, and I needed to become all of these different things that I'd had no experience with. And writing became the thing I really leaned on and the way that I marketed my business. And I really was that person that thought, I'm going to write that one email, or I'm going to write that one Facebook post and it's going to be the thing that changes everything for me. And slowly and surely, I realized that that wasn't actually the case, but that's really how I got into writing sales copy and really using it as something that I could leverage to grow a business. Rob:  Yeah, tell us a little bit more about that process of rethinking who you were, rebuilding, not just from a business or work standpoint, but what you were doing as a human being, as you're going through that divorce and figuring out what it was that you wanted to do. Yara:  Yeah. So, it's actually really interesting. And I'm glad you asked this, because I don't think a lot of people hone in on that piece of the story. My ex-husband and I had done a ton of personal relationship. If there was a Tony Robbins event, we were there. If there was a program, we did it. If there was a book, we read it. But I find that people come to personal development at one of two points in their lives, typically, right? You're either on a high, and you don't want it to end, or you're at a low and you're like, something's got to change. I wasn't in any of those situations when I was going through personal development. And so, I learned and conceptualized a lot of the stuff that I was learning. And I became really, really good at looking at other people and saying, well, you're significance-driven, or you should really look into this or that or the other, but I've never looked at myself through the lens of personal development. And so, it was really when I hit that low in my own life, where I was like, oh, my gosh, my life is falling apart, my marriage is falling apart. The people around me are not really the people that I want to be around. I'm not showing up as how I really want to be. And the common denominator is me, right? I'm the one thing that all of these situations have in common, maybe I should start taking a look at me. And again, that wasn't completely self-driven. There were a lot of people around me who were years ahead of me in the personal development game and the transformation game. And so, I was really, really fortunate to be able to look around me and see people that were already in that messy middle and coming out on the other side. But it was a lot of journaling. It was a lot of talking really, really honest, vulnerable conversations. My ex-husband and I actually have a really, really great friendship. And we did from the moment that we decided to separate. We were like, we still love each other, we just don't want to be married anymore. And we have these two amazing kids and they deserve a happy co-parenting relationship from here on out. And so, it was just a lot of, I mean, it sounds cliché, because vulnerability is such a catchword right now, but it was a lot of vulnerability and honesty and authenticity of saying, "You know what, I like this, I don't like that. I want this, I don't want that." And the process of figuring out what those preferences were was really difficult for me because I had been showing up as such a people pleaser for so many years that I'd really lost who I was in the process. Kira:  Yeah. Well, maybe we could dig deeper into that, the people pleasing side because so many copywriters that we chat with in a community are people pleasers. I'm myself included. So, what advice would you give to someone else who is struggling and shows up as a people person, people pleaser?