TCC Podcast #50: Kira Hug, Rob Marsh and Special Guest Ry Schwartz

For our 50th episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast, we’re doing things a little differently. Actually, quite a bit differently. We’ve flipped the microphone and invited Ry Schwartz back for another visit—but this time to ask questions of copywriters Kira Hug and Rob Marsh (your humble hosts for all the other episodes). Ry does his best to get the goods from us. In the process we cover... •  Rob’s advice on how to have a happy marriage (obviously he hasn’t had to give it a lot of thought) •  how copywriting applies to marriage •  the nicest thing anyone has ever said to Kira •  what Rob and Kira would look for if they were hiring a “copy cub” •  what they do to learn new things every day •  the music they listen to (or don’t) when they write—you may be surprised •  what Kira and Rob would do right now if they had to rebuild their businesses from scratch •  what they’ve learned as they created a coaching program •  what they would do if they couldn’t be copywriters any more Plus what they think is the most important thing for copywriters to do today, Ry’s better-than-expected-but-still-bad Irish accent, a few music clips and more. If you like 80s hip hop, Disney mermaids and great copywriting advice, you’ll want to click the play button below, or scroll down for a full transcript. The people and stuff we mentioned on the show: Sponsor: AirStory Narcos Chuck Taylors James Wedmore The Voice Hillary Weiss It’s Tricky (Run DMC) I Love You (Climax Blue’s Band) The Things You Never Remember (Dave Brubeck ) Genie in a Bottle (Christina Aguilera) Hips Don’t Lie (Shakira) Ry’s announcement episode Rob’s book The Copywriter Think Tank Tanya Geisler on the Imposter Complex The Copywriter Accelerator Rick Steeves Under Pressure (David Bowie and Queen) The Little Mermaid 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. Ry: Hi, all right. I’m interviewing you guys today, that’s fun. Kira: I’m a little nervous. Ry: A little nervous? I have some good questions here, I watched Narcos all weekend, so I have a lot of drug-related questions. Kira: Oh, my god. Ry: Yeah, it’s just where my brain is going. This almost blends perfectly well with my first question, but we haven’t done the actual intro yet. I’m going to do it in a British accent. 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 stealing an idea or two to inspire your own work, that’s what I get to do today at The Copywriter Club Podcast. I also get to put on a terrible Irish accent and I’m doing it because we are flipping the microphone, that’s an awkward thing to say; but we’re turning the microphone on the other side of the virtual table. I get to ask Rob and Kira the awkward questions about life, business, copywriting, and all the amazing things in between. Thanks for letting me do this and thanks for being on your own show, guys. Rob: Yeah, you haven’t even told us who you are yet. Kira: We’re just supposed to know after that brilliant accent. Ry: I’m a ghost, I think we should only reveal it at the end, to see if people could guess who this has been the entire team. Kira: That’s a good taste. Ry: Hint, it is Rob’s younger self coming back. Rob: Much better looking, much smarter, younger self. Yes. Ry: Yes, who initially turned older Rob on to wearing Chuck Taylors, so it’s is not old Rob, yet. Yes, thanks for being here. That’s an awkward transition. I don’t know how you guys do segues so much better than I just did. But, we will start off by talking about Kira’s wedding anniversary because that is currently happening. So, talk to us about the last six years. Kira: Oh my gosh. Ry: I mean, we’re starting off light. If you could write a headline for the last six years, what would it be? Kira: Oh my lord, my armpits are sweating. I feel like I’m in the hot seat, it’s terrifying. Ry: This is like an underhand soft pitch. This is the warm up round. Kira: This is a bad idea. Whoever came up with this idea, very bad. Yeah, I’m happy to have hit my six year anniversary with my beloved, so. We had a great weekend and just reflecting. I feel like with the start of the school year, and the fall, and change of seasons. I don’t know I’m feeling this change within my business and within my life of just kind of wanting to figure out where I’m going next. So, this conversation comes at a good time. Ry: Amazing. Rob, if you were to give Kira any amount of advice, being married for twenty plus years now- Kira: I like that. Ry: What would that be? Rob: Man, that is… Kira: Yeah, Rob. Come on. Rob: So, this is a little bit unfair, because when we have guests on the podcast, we actually prep them with questions. We actually send them a few questions and say, “Hey, we might talk about these things.” You haven’t done any of that for us. Kira: We should note that. Just that our answers may not be as great as they could be, but we’ll still answer these questions, right? Rob: Yeah. Ry: Yes. There’s no escaping it, so. Rob: It’s sort of weird for me to answer that question because I don’t feel like I’m a counselor and I don’t feel like Kira’s and my relationship is one where I should be giving her marriage advice, so. Kira: Oh, you should be though. You should be because you’re my life coach. Rob: Yeah and it’s not going so well. Rob is the worst life coach around. Okay, so how to have a happy marriage? Kira: Yes. Rob: Marry the right person. Marry somebody that you actually like and who likes you back. That’s probably the number step, right. Kira: Okay, say I did that part though. Rob: Give each other space to do your own thing. I think my happy marriage is because I just married such an awesome person. We’re just really good partners. We don’t fight very often. We sort of have a lot of things in common. Things have just sort of worked out. I’m not sure that I’ve given the thought into why it’s so successful other than I just have a fantastic wife. Ry: All right. Let’s make this a little more specific then and transition into the copywriting game. When has your skill as a copywriter lent itself to your marriage? Rob: Well, let’s see. Copywriting is all about understanding the emotions and getting the response you want from the person you want across the table, right? That’s really ... that’s marriage. You need the other person to be able to respond in certain ways to different things. You know, you want help with this or that. So, understanding how my significant other feels or thinks, I think, is immeasurably helpful in trying to get things done. Within our family, within starting businesses, whatever that ends up being. I think that part of copywriting for sure lends itself. What do you think, Kira? Kira: I would say that I’m a big fan of social proof and all. I constantly send emails and reminders to my husband about how awesome I am and- Ry: Oh, I thought you were going to say that you sent him like testimonials and case studies from previous relationships. Kira: No, but I want him to know what’s happening in the business because it does pull me away from the family quite a bit. So, I think it’s good to remind your partner of what you’re building because ultimately it impacts everyone. He gets to experience the hard times with me where I’m stressed out, I need advice, so I do try to go out of my way to remind him of the good things. Like, “Hey, this person just said something nice about me.” Or, “Here’s something good that happened.” I got to share that. So, I have to remind myself to share that stuff too. Ry: Yeah. Kira: Because that is key to… Ry: So, what is the nicest thing anyone’s ever said about you? That has just stuck. Kira: Copywriting related? Or just in life? Ry: Yeah, let’s start copywriting related. Kira: When I’ve been called weird. I will think of James Wedmore called me weird and said he wanted to work with me originally because he picked up in the brand and the vibe that it was just about embracing who you are. He kind of dug it, so I think anyone identifying me and saying, “Hey, I think you can bring this out in me, too.” Connecting on that level of just playful, fun, weird vibe. Ry: Yeah. Kira: I think that’s a big compliment because it’s a challenge. It’s hard to embrace myself. So, if I can do that and it pulls the right person in, I feel like that’s a huge win. Ry: Yes, love it. Totally agree. I have a crush on James Wedmore. I just had to say that out loud. I had to say it out loud. No one actually knows who this is yet on this interview, yet so I can say anything. Kira: You can confess everything during this episode. Rob: To me, the interesting thing about calling Kira weird is, Kira’s not that weird, right? Kira: No. Rob: But, you’re really good though at connecting with everybody. You can relate to the weirdest person or to the straight laced person. It’s like you sort of cross all of those personalities or whatever, so. You’re not that weird, but you’re really good at understanding other people’s weird. Kira: That’s what it is. People think weird, you have to have bright pink hair and lots of tattoos, whatever weird is to you. For me it’s not that. It’s, yeah, accepting people for who they are. Ry: Right. Kira: Liking them and I just, I typically like most… Rob: You’re really good at that. Kira: People. When you like people, I think then they may like you back or not. But, I just really like people, a lot. I really like you two. I like both of you a lot.