What Losing in 2024 Taught Me About Winning in 2025

Finding out what doesn't work might be your fastest path to success

written by Sarah Check & AI Sarah

TL;DR Lost money and assets this year (a lot of us did). But I got skills and direction that I’d struggled for years to build. Sometimes the fastest way to better results isn't more planning - it's quickly trying solutions out and seeing what sticks…and doing more of that.

I started 2024 desperately gripping optimism.

I was fresh off a 9.5k masterclass launch and finally getting the support system I'd dreamed of - virtual assistants, housekeeping, high-level masterminds, the works. I was determined to keep pace with my entrepreneur peers while handling life with a toddler at home.

Then I got pregnant (yes, it was planned). Any amount of pretending-everything-could-be-kinda-like-things-were-before-kids got puked up every morning.

Plus, other factors effected the biz. AI shook up the industry (why hire writers when you had ChatGPT and Claude?). My tried-and-true copywriting offers weren't booking like they used to be. Client acquisition? Way harder. Self-marketing? Felt like pulling teeth when juggling a toddler, barfing, and trying to train a team all at once.

I had good support systems in place - but I realized they weren't targeting what I really needed.

That's on me. I should've been more honest about my goals: I specifically needed guidance on managing a business at home with very young kids. I dreamed of finding a mom mentor who'd built their business while in the thick of the baby/toddler years. But most successful mom business owners I talked to had either built their empire before kids or waited until their little ones were older.

Here's what 2024 taught me about getting real with yourself and your business.

• I needed to reduce my overhead until it hurt.

• I realized I might become the exact mentor I needed sooner than I could find/afford one.

• I had to try out more solutions quickly instead of researching them or painstakingly executing them.

• I needed to collect more data (e.g. be honest with myself with actual data) to find out what to do more (and less) of.

• I needed step back and practice some foundational skills (like being consistent with my new circumstances).

My word of the year was “Garden".” I wanted to lean into the seasons of cultivating, planting, weeding, harvesting, and resting. That was exactly the 2024 vibe — and I’m so grateful.

Let me tell you what took me a year to learn, but in 15 minutes.

"Trust Your Gut" is Terrible Growth Advice

Maybe you call it your gut or intuition. I discovered I didn’t call it anything — I just rolled with this assumption that I needed to wildly minimize risks. I spent years treating uncertainty like a problem to be solved.

I’d drive myself to a new challenge, and the Scaries Feels would hit, and my gut in the passenger’s seat would be clutching the seatbelt trying to give me “helpful” “logical” advices about how to “reduce risks.” Hiring virtual assistants, booking coaching, anything to feel like I was "doing something productive" about my discomfort.

Here's the thing about gut instincts, though: she’s trying to protect you. And when you’re in territory you’re familiar with, that you’ve navigated like a pro a thousand times before — she’s got good advice. But when you’re in new territory, your gut hasn’t built a lot of intuition. You’ve got to build it by taking risks. She wants you to survive over thrive. So when the challenge is around thriving and inviting growth — not surviving — she can give out some pretty…superfluous advice.

My gut told me that, logically, hiring virtual assistants and housekeeping would make everything easier (it didn’t once my overhead got too heavy).

It told me I needed high-level coaching for any learning to be "legit" (it didn’t when I got coaching that didn’t target the right stuff).

It told me that committing to substantial content creation was too much for my stage of life (it was — because I hadn’t learned how to do it).

But when I finally let go of these "solutions" - mostly because I had to - something unexpected happened: nothing went wrong. Well, nothing worse than what was already happening while I was paying for all that overhead.

Sure, it was nice having someone sift through my emails and post my social media content and collect leads. But since I wasn't clear on the roadmap and course correction towards my goals, those tasks weren't actually moving the needle. I was paying for motion without progress. So I let them go.

It was very grounding to have a real live coach holding my hand. But I hadn’t really given free high-level content a shot — I’d just assumed that trustworthy live coaching, even if it didn’t target what I needed, was better. So I cancelled the mastermind and coaching I’d pre-booked.

The real breakthrough? Learning to give my anxious gut a hug while doing the hard thing anyway. I heard someone coin it as keeping anxiety in your purse.

Sometimes, you’ve got to plant some seeds during bad seasons instead of waiting for a more ideal time.

Sitting With the Scary Stuff

I did a 3-month social media marketing plan in 2023. I made content based on what I was seeing in my industry and what I felt would help. Despite being consistent, it was a huge flop. No conversion, hardly any traffic or interaction, a ton of time and effort wasted.

But was I trying out new solutions to see what would work better? Nope. I was sticking with the “productivity” I felt comfortable with. I had planted a garden but refused to cultivate it.

When I finally stopped doing non-scary "productive tasks" and faced the uncertainty head-on — shocker— something shifted.

Got a Social Media Bootcamp course from a PR expert who grew converting SM accounts for a living (yay me, I got a course that actually targeted the specific goal). It challenged to post 3 short-form videos EVERY DAY across three platforms for 60 days.

Yes, that’s over 150 videos. A far cry from the 3x/week “value” Canva carousel posts I was doing before.

It was exhausting. And stressful…at first. Putting myself out there was like public speaking 3x/day. But forcing myself to stay in that uncomfortable spot made me build muscles I didn't know I needed.

• I got super fast at planning, shooting, and editing content.

• I learned to look at what was actually working and do more of it.

• I figured out how to balance content between posts that get you discovered (the viral ones) and nurturing posts for my existing audience.

• I grew thicker skin against mean comments.

• My speaking skills & hook creating got way better.

I stepped outside my comfort zone, and as I stood there long enough, my comfort zone quietly grew to accommodate where I was. The discomfort didn't magically disappear - I just got better at working with it.

Might sound stupid, but it also helped me learn how to sit with the scary feelings when things went really sideways. Later that year, our daily driver car died, my laptop was destroyed, I gave birth and needed a walker and cane, and was hit by Hurricane Helene.

Everything might (and probably will) fall apart. But it’s ok. The scary feeling will not kill you. You can hold it while you figure out the next step. By the time the hurricane blew out Asheville’s power and roads, the feeling of uncertainty was an old friend that didn’t speak as loudly as she used to.

We made it though just like we had the other stuff.

Rain comes, but eventually goes away.

If "Good" Isn't Good Enough, You're Asking for the Wrong Thing

Those virtual assistants I hired? They weren't bad at their jobs. They were actually pretty great at what they did. I wasn't clear on what I really needed them for.

I was very clear about what TASKS I wanted them to do. I gave them SOPs, Loom video trainings, and we had weekly meetings.

The tasks that really helped had very clear links to money I was making (like getting tech support with my 9.5K masterclass launch).

The tasks that weren’t useful existed because I felt like they were important (like managing my email and Instagram).

I had them posting content and gathering leads, but since those processes weren't working well to begin with, I was basically paying for premium-grade wheel-spinning.

Same thing happened with a mastermind I joined. I picked it hoping it would help me navigate the whole young-kids-plus-business circus. The mastermind was packed with amazing content and teaching - but none of the coaches had been where I was. I even knew that before committing.

That's not on them - that's on me for expecting guidance about something they'd never experienced.

Sometimes things aren't underperforming - you're just expecting them to solve problems they weren't designed to solve. Like being disappointed that your hammer isn't great at unscrewing things.

Going into 2025, I'm leaving wishful purchases. It’s inefficient for me, but it’s also a disservice to the people I’m hiring. No more hoping something will magically help with challenges it's not built for. I'm checking the seed packet before I plant them instead of putting down seed and hoping for tomatoes.

Finding My Kind of Crazy

Early in the year, my laptop and Alex Hormozi's $100M Leads book went flying off my car roof (I was trying to keep them away from a toddler with water toys. Lol). It was my last straw with totally pivoting my business offer, since I had to revert to my old laptop.

On the bright side, it led me to discover Leila Hormozi's YouTube channel. During a 9-hour car trip, I sampled one video, and was so impressed that I spent Florida to North Carolina getting the best executive skills training I’d ever seen.

It wasn't just business advice - it was permission to embrace the hard stuff.

Instead of more copywriting tips or social media strategies, Leila talked about the stuff I was actually struggling with:

• how to truly train a team (which explained a lot about my VA situation)

• how to build real consistency when the odds are against you (which explained a lot about why I kept outsourcing solutions instead of working on foundations)

• how to sit in uncomfortable seasons while working toward your goals

She considers the whole idea of "work-life balance" to be nonsense, and talks about letting them blend without treating it like a bad thing. I felt SO seen. That's exactly what being a stay-at-home parent is. You never fully get to clock out, and while you have a huge goal in mind (raising happy, capable adults), there’s a lot of un-sexy essential work. Like wiping butts.

To hear her treat life as an exciting, character-building challenge was just what I needed. It was a huge relief to find a space that was celebrated seasons of goal-focused grind — prior to that, I’d almost exclusively consumed content that demonized long hours and work that wasn’t 100% aligned with your passion.

Leila finds satisfaction in working intensely because it helps her become who she wanted to be, I realized I felt the same way about motherhood.

Plus, instead of trying to keep my executive skills locked in my "business box," I started applying them to my homemaker role. Suddenly I got better at everything - shopping smarter, delegating to my husband, training my kids, managing my time. I can’t tell you how much more fulfilled and excited I feel about my life at home. Managing all the mundane moving pieces with executive strategies has been super rewarding.

Turns out, embracing the hard stuff beats trying to make everything easy. Leaning into weeding, watering, and waiting gets stuff to grow.

Building Self-Trust Organically

Telling yourself to "trust yourself" is like telling yourself to calm down when you're angry. It’s a skill you build with practice, not an ideal you discover hiding within yourself.

I'd spent years avoiding certain commitments and outsourcing particularly scary tasks because deep down, I didn't trust myself to follow through.

I chronically made massive goals then under evaluated outcomes, creating a cycle of making commitments that were very hard to keep — fulfilling its own prophesy.

Like hiring virtual assistants to handle my social media and email because I didn't trust myself to be consistent with it.

Or booking coaching because I didn't trust my own learning process.

Or not creating content because I was worried it would flop, even if I tried hard.

When I finally had to do stuff myself, I tried making my own gym for doing the reps needed to build self trust during extreme discomfort. If I wanted the muscles, I needed to grow them organically.

I committed to creating three months of email and blog content while pregnant. And I prepared for an unmedicated birth.

And you know what? I pulled through on both. Not because I believed in myself more, but because I practiced showing up made it a habit.

• Sometimes it meant sitting with nausea while planning content.

• Sometimes it meant posting even though I knew I could make it more perfect.

• A lot of times it meant asking for help instead of trying to do it all.

• It meant saying “no” more firmly to commitments instead of leaving the door open.

• It meant breaking aspirational goals into smaller goals that felt less impressive, but were more manageable.

• It meant trying out solutions knowing that it might not work at all, even with all the effort I’d invested.

When I’m doing something really hard that’s a long haul effort, I like to imagine a conference room full of versions of me from over the years. The five year old me, ten year old, and so on until I’m an old lady. I think about what they would say to me while I’m in the season I’m in.

Usually it’s advice, encouragement, or an honest reaction to my circumstances. It give me space to react at a 5 year old level (“wow, you’re so cool!”) to an 80 year old level (“I’m proud of you”).

When I was giving birth, I went back to the conference room in my mind. I needed their support more than ever. Intense pain is manageable, but intense pain without an end in sight is much, much harder.

The vibe was different.

My child versions were running around excited to meet a baby and be a part of a high-drama event.

Teen and early 20s versions of myself were cheering in disbelief, astonished that it was even possible to deliver without an epidural.

My thirty and forty-year-old selves were coaching me — “you’ve got this, you’re making it happen!” “this is a win you’ll be able to hold on to for the rest of your life!”.

My senior selves were smiling softly with a little golfer’s clap. They said, “We knew you had it in you this whole time. This was the moment you prepared for.”

You don’t harvest the day you plant the seeds. But doing the work until you get the fruit of your labor makes planting new seeds so much more rewarding.

Not Getting Seduced By Shortcuts

I'm a shortcut junkie. It’s my superpower and my weakness.

For example, back in high school, I discovered CLEP exams that, if passed, gave you the credits for basic prerequisites, like English 110. I’d do the high school class, then go take the respective CLEP exam, which was usually only 90 minutes long and less than 200 bucks. Ten exams later, I'd avoided spending hundreds of hours in general ed classes, and saved thousands of dollars. It rolled with all my other community college credits into a full legit associate degree. At 17 year old.

Needless to say, it’s pretty hard to go back to a good old fashioned “slow and steady wins the race” mentality after tasting that kind of expedited progress.

If I’m not careful, constantly consuming life hacks atrophies my muscles for working through things that have no shortcut. Like building soft skills — accountability, resiliency, staying on top of emails, that kind of thing.

Years 2020-2024 felt like one bootcamp after another for soft skills. Being a nurse during COVID, having a kid, and running your own business will do that to you.

But in 2024, I got to dig deeper into the different between simplifying things and shortcutting things.

I'd spend hours planning, strategizing, and looking for clever solutions (shortcuts). It felt productive. And less scary than the grunt work. Like somehow, if I just thought about it hard enough, I'd find a magical way around the grunt work.

Meanwhile, I was also great at staying busy with tasks that felt good but didn't move the needle. Both extremes - all strategy, no execution, or all execution, no strategy - were just different ways of avoiding the real work.

Ironically, simplifying often IS the shortcut. I didn’t need to find the software or SOP that would be the perfect fit. I needed to quickly come up with something basic, try it out, then course correct.

I spent 2024 practicing trading shortcuts to the result for simplifying the process. It majorly grew my problem-solving intuition.

I was super inspired when I saw a typo on the very first page in Alex Hormozi’s $100M Offers book. And his janky stick-figure illustrations. The man’s got a 500 million dollar net worth. He can afford the best editors and illustrators. But the goal of his book was to impart a message effectively. Clearly, typos and Sharpie-drawings did not slow him down.

If he can do it without being afraid of looking unpolished, I figured, so can I.

Plus, it was a big inspiration to focus way more on getting better more than looking better.

Sometimes there isn't a shortcut. Sometimes you just have to put in the reps, make the calls, write the emails, and do the thing. You’ve got to weed, water, and wait. Strategy without execution is just daydreaming while calling productivity. And execution without strategy is just running in circles really fast.

The 60% Problem (and the Invisible Labor Solution)

In 2023, I had to face facts: I wasn't as fast at writing copy and managing admin as I used to be. (Having a kid will do that to you.)

I'd estimate how long something would take - like writing a video script for a client - and it would take way longer. Then I'd feel awful about missing deadlines. I simplified stuff, got faster, but I felt like I couldn’t get back to that pre-kid speed.

Stuff clicked when I found a study showing tasks take up to 60% longer when there are interruptions. That's exactly what happens when you're trying to work when your breastfeeding baby takes 3 naps a day, and your toddler’s asking for help again.

My business was really important to me — but being at home with my kids was more important. I needed to really own that choice and shape my decisions around it.

The first step was to allow that priority to level the biz stuff that didn’t fit any more. I knew could not deliver the big complex stuff when I was nauseous or < 3 months postpartum. I had to give myself permission not to make money in those seasons. It also lead me to develop and offer awesome AI products in 2024 — much easier value to deliver than a service.

The second step was owning up the the ancillary task I was rushing through, not accounting for, or just ignoring. It’s the invisible labor of the task. You can’t simplify the process of growing your garden if you act like it takes care of itself. You can’t simplify writing when you forget to factor in outlining, organizing, editing, and SEO.

Instead of fighting the interruptions or beating myself up about being slower, I got strategic about all the little things around the main task that eat up time. This let the high-value stuff not be pressured to go faster — but rather, the necessary but lower value support tasks.

So when I started using AI to help support my copywriting, I didn't use it to do my job. I used it to handle the cleanup work so I could focus on the parts that really needed my expertise. I wanted to use my brainpower on copy strategy, adding original stories/insights/data, and making sure it spoke to the audience. But I didn’t need to waste brainpower on cleaning up voice dictation cleanup, proofreading, or reorganizing content. I

By streamlining these surrounding tasks, I shaved hours off my blog and email writing time. I went from having 3ish blog posts over 4 years to a blog every 2 weeks month after month after month.

Simplifying helped me work with distractions, which grew my consistency, which then grew my quality.

Just Light the Match Already

You make exactly $0 doing when you don’t launch or pitch yourself. Putting yourself out there isn’t high risk. It just feels really uncomfortable.

I put myself out there a ton this year with that mentality. I wasn’t losing money by putting out 8 lead magnets, blogs, launches, or DMs. But if I didn’t put myself out there — I was losing the opportunity to build tons of skill, authority, and online presence.

And losing the opportunity to make money.

Two weeks before Black Friday, I had this wild idea to cobble together a full funnel - landing pages, emails, fulfillment, everything. My dear inner perfectionist was having a stroke. It was too last-minute, too bare-bones, would flop with my small email list. I had an infant and a toddler. Moms just didn’t do this.

But doing nothing would guarantee both zero dollars AND zero learning. The biggest loss potentially hurting my own feelings. But they’ll be fine. So I went for it. I offered a subscription to my ChatGPT email and blog bots to my small email list.

And guess what? It made more than $0.

It actually got over a 1% conversion rate! Below average? Maybe. But did I plant a seed, put in the work, and grow some fruit? Yes!

So I was over the moon! What could a conversion rate look like if I DID put in more time and prep? Or if I had a bigger list?

The money was great, but the real win? Squishing my assumption that last-minute or basic launches were pointless. Also learning to pull together a launch at breakneck speed. Talk about a problem-solving critical-thinking bootcamp. Turns out you don't need a perfectly polished funnel or pitch to make sales. You just need to strike the match. Plant the seeds and see what roots.

You can't make a bonfire by just pouring gasoline somewhere that feels like it should make a fire. But if you've got even a tiny fire going? That's the perfect place to put your gas.

Now I know exactly where to pour the gas next time.

2024 Wrapped

Here's what 2024 taught me: when you keep "doing research" and "getting ready" before trying a new software, offer, solution, or SOP – you're gatekeeping yourself from your best results.

Up until this year, I wildly underestimated that letting yourself quickly finding out what doesn't work lets you refine your efforts into things that DO work. And it's way lower-risk than you think.

When things fell apart this year - the virtual assistant team, the laptop breaking, the market changes, Hurricane Helene hitting my city, having a baby (and needing a walker), cars breaking down - I could have spent more time planning, researching, and trying to make the perfect move.

Instead, I started trying things:

• Made 8 lead magnets and grew my email list

• Built blog and email support tools (then turned them into products)

• Put together a Black Friday offer in 2 weeks

• Started consistent 2x/month blogs and 2x/week email newsletters

• Collected data to know what to do more of (and to make case studies for you!)

• Sold big blog packages and custom GPTs to try out different offers

• Majorly improved my skills at quickly trying out solutions

• Learned how to plan, shoot, edit, and evaluate short-form video content

• Gave birth medication free!

• Navigated a natural disaster with a newborn and a toddler

• Did P90x after birth

• Got a baby sleeping through the night at 13 weeks

• Got an infant and toddler sharing a room!

• Deepened friendships that I’d held back on

• Learned how to find (and use) free and very low cost high-level coaching

• Figured out how to build chatbots (which helped me reduce 5 hour blogs into 2 hour blogs)

• Figured out how to sell those chatbots

• Discovered and perfected several new deserts I’d always wanted to try

I heard Sharran Srivatsaa boil down the process of getting better super well: suck, but don’t skip.

Did a lot of that in 2024. The workouts didn’t always have great form. The content was sometimes lame. The chatbot building didn’t work for a long time. But sucking at trying things out gave me better results than skipping.

You make $0 and no skills by doing nothing – which makes it very hard to lose when you try new solutions. When you plant seeds and take care of them — it’s hard not to grow things.

This was a vulnerable share. Thanks for being here.

I'd really love to hear what 2024 showed you – would you click leave a comment and tell me? What did 2024 show you? What would you like 2025 to show you?

How to Create Newsletters with AI by Recycling Your Blogs

AI Newsletters Stay Interesting & On-Brand When It Sources Your Original Content

written by Sarah Check & AI Sarah

TL;DR Want to create newsletters with AI from existing content? Convert your blog or video transcripts to PDF, feed them to an AI model with specific prompting, and use the 60-90% rule for efficient editing. You can get 4 unique newsletters from a 2K-word blog while maintaining your voice and original content.

No one wants to read your (or your client’s) AI-produced newsletter you didn’t bother to write. But your audience would LOVE to read your original content translated into a newsletter.

Most content-repurposing guides that teach you how to create newsletters with AI are all concepts, no tactics. A 30-second TikTok where an AI influence says they create a year’s with of emails in 10 minutes with some tool sponsoring their video. Or their master fill-in-the-blank “prompt” you just copy/paste into ChatGPT.

I've found a different approach that helped me create 32 original emails right before maternity leave. Instead of getting AI to generate newsletters from scratch, I use it to turn my original blog posts into emails. One blog into four distinct newsletters — while keeping my voice intact, and sharing the valuable stuff my readers want to hear.

It’s awesome for my own marketing. But its SUPER awesome if you’re copywriting for clients. Offering a bundle of 1 blog with 4 newsletters (or a year’s worth of 25 blogs and 100 newsletters) becomes super manageable. And bonus: these emails can prompt their reader to learn more by reading the full blog post, which you can attach.

Traffic to the website. Added value to the customers that want more. A chunky invoice for you and a whole lot of organic marketing off your client’s plate. Win-win-win.

I'm going to show you exactly how I do it, step by step.

1. Download your content to recycle as a PDF.

2. Upload it to your preferred AI (I like ChatGPT and Claude) with a prompt.

3. Walk through the drafting process within the AI platform.

4. Edit.

Let’s go!

Why Create Newsletters with AI This Way? It Solves Several Big Problems

When you create newsletters with AI using your original content, you're solving multiple problems at once.

It’s Your Voice & Content, Not Just AI's Database

When you give it a prompt, it simply remixes what's already in its database. Yes, even when you give it a fat prompt detailing your audience, funnel, and branding.

But when you feed it your blog post or video script, you're forcing it to sample from your unique voice and insights.

Your audience doesn’t want AI database soup — they want your OG info! Like:

• Stories and anecdotes

• Case studies and testimonials

• Original insights

• Original data and findings from stuff you’ve tried

By using your original content as the source, you're ensuring the AI creates newsletters that actually sound like you AND give your readers content they want.

Better 'Mother' Content Means Better Everything

Knowing your content will be repurposed forces you to create better original material.

Think of your blog post as the 'mother' content – it needs to be solid because everything you repurpose from it (emails, social posts, video scripts, etc) inherits its quality. If you create crappy source content, you'll get crappy newsletters.

When I do my content plan in sections, I like to spend the majority of my brainpower/time on creating the blog. I want it long, well organized, helpful, and full of original insights. Breaking it into emails and social media posts is super fast after that.

Content Creation Becomes Way More Sustainable

Why do we struggle with regular newsletters, despite email marketing's insane ROI (3,500%)? Because writing one original email after another is exhausting.

But good news – if you're already creating other content, you can significantly cut down your workload. You just tack on the email-repurposing step into the system you already use for making blogs.

Plus, using AI to create newsletters this way gives you predictability. You get a clear SOP and reliable time estimates, which beats staring at a blank page hoping inspiration strikes.

Your Audience Needs Repetition

Your audience isn't hanging on your every word. They're busy. That brilliant insight you shared once? Most of them missed it.

I can't tell you how many times I've explained that prompting AI is as simple as DMing someone online – and it's still novel to many people.

When you create newsletters with AI from your existing content, you're not being repetitive. You're being realistic about how information actually reaches and sticks with your audience. Trust me, if they like your content, they won't mind seeing your key insights more than once.

Each of these benefits compounds. You're not just creating newsletters with AI – you're building a sustainable content system that respects both your time and your audience's attention.

2. How to Create Newsletters with AI (From Blogs) | The Exact Process

Let me walk you through exactly how to create newsletters with AI, step by step.

a. Prep your content by making it a PDF

If you're starting with a blog post on your Google Doc, click 'File' in the upper left corner, select 'Download,' and choose 'PDF.' If you’re using Word, go to “save as” and click “PDF”.

For video content you want to turn into emails, take your script or transcription and follow the same PDF conversion process.

If your blog is already published, but it’s not in a Google or Word document, copy and paste it into one, then go through the PDF steps. As of now, I’ve had NO success providing the link to AI for it to read. That’s why we’re doing the whole PDF thing. This format works best with most AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, etc).

b. Feed the PDF to your AI

Open your preferred AI tool (I use ChatGPT or Claude), then simply drag and drop your PDF into the prompt bar. Or click the paperclip and select the pdfThis is where the magic starts – you're giving the AI your actual content to work with, not just instructions about your style, goals, or audience.

c. Give your AI directions

I have my instructions preloaded into my chatbots so I don’t have to manually use a prompt.

But when I DO use a manual prompt, here's exactly what I tell the AI:

'I want you to repurpose this piece of content into (X number) emails for my newsletter.

Before we begin drafting the emails, I would like you to propose an outline of each email.

Do not begin drafting the emails until I approve the outline.'

This two-step approach makes you're on the right track before investing time in the full drafts.

You’ll then walk through the outline it proposes, then each email.

Approve and tell it what you like. Give it feedback and course-correcting direction on what you don’t like.

And don’t forget — if there’s particular points from the blog you’d like to capitalize, include that in the prompt!

d. Start drafting using the 60-90% rule

When the AI creates your newsletter draft, look for content that's about 60-90% of the way there. I LOVE this method.

Why? Because this sweet spot makes editing incredibly efficient. You're not rewriting from scratch, but you're also not wasting time trying to get the AI to make everything perfect. When content hits this range, the edits you want to make usually pop into your head immediately. The structure is there – you just need to clean up the details.

e. Do quick post edits.

This is where you truly create newsletters with AI that sound like you. I focus on:

• Making sentences shorter and punchier

• Removing redundant and low-value sentences

• Swapping in words I use more frequently

• Adding humor and story details the AI wouldn't know about

• Tweaking formatting for better readability

• Injecting some humor, casual phrasing, and sarcasm (because AI sucks at it)

• Adding anything I forgot

My FAVORITE part of this process is its predictability. Once you've done it a few times, you'll develop a rhythm that makes creating newsletters with AI feel less of a struggle and more like a reliable system.

As a stay-at-home mom of an infant and toddler, working from home, efficiency + predictability is the best thing AI can give me.

3. Essential Tips for Creating Newsletters with AI From Blogs

After writing dozens of newsletters with AI, here are the critical things you need to know to get the best results:

There’s A Content Length Sweet Spot

I can comfortably get four unique, high-quality emails from a 2,000-word blog post. Any shorter hasn’t worked as well. When it’s well organized — like, it has an intuitive flow and heading/subheading breakdown — the newsletters come out even better.

When you create newsletters with AI using your blog content, honoring these proportions helps keep quality without forcing the AI to stretch content too thin. When AI doesn’t have enough to work with, it tends to fill the gaps with low-value filler text. You know — those intros, reframes, and conclusions that no one wants to read.

If You Give It Too Little, Your Newsletters Will Repeat Themselves

If you push the AI to generate too many pieces from your source content, it will start repeating itself. You’ll see the same stories, examples, and points come up. Respect the natural limits of your content when you create newsletters with AI.

To repurpose content with AI, you really want your source material to be longer than the recycled material. If you try the reverse (short content into long content), the AI will fill in the gaps with fluff.

Garbage In, Garbage Out

If you're feeding the AI low-quality, AI-generated blogs to begin with, you're going to get subpar newsletters. The quality of your repurposed content will never exceed the quality of your source material. This is why you’ve got to start with well-crafted, original content that actually says something valuable.

Include original findings, like data you’ve collected and case studies. Give it original content, like your own stories and experiences. Make your how-to’s super, super tactical. Just don’t expect AI to fix your bad content.

The Human Touch Pulls It All Together

Even after the AI does its part, you really need to edit the content. It’s not just about fixing mistakes – it's about making sure your newsletters maintain your brand voice and quality standards.

When you create newsletters with AI, think of it as a collaboration rather than automation. There’s details you forgot, formatting that best matches your brand, and humor AI just can’t replicate. These details are WAY easier to add during the edits, rather than cajoling the AI with a dozen follow up prompts trying to get it more on track.

The AI provides the structure and initial content, but your editorial touch makes it actually valuable to your readers.

They want to hear what you bring to the table. Not what AI can. Your audience can access AI and its power any time they want. But they can’t access all the cool stuff in your head (that you can put into a newsletter).

Remember: the goal isn't just to create newsletters with AI – it's to create newsletters your subscribers actually want to read and share.

Stop Ghosting Your Subscribers.

Turn Content You’ve Already Made Into Engaging Newsletters

Creating newsletters with AI doesn't have to be a crazy workflow — or be totally inauthentic. Using your existing content as a foundation saves time! And even more than that – you're ensuring your newsletters maintain your unique voice and insights.

Remember, your audience needs to hear your key messages more than once, and the blog-to-newsletter setup lets you deliver value consistently without burning out. And you can cash in on that sweet sweet 3500% ROI!

In summary:

• convert your content to PDF

• feed it to your AI with clear instructions

• use the 60-90% rule for efficient drafting/follow up prompting

• add your personal touch.

What matters most is starting with quality content and respecting the natural limits of repurposing.

Quick note if you’re using this repurposing trick as a copywriter on your client’s work. Be transparent that the newsletters are going to based on the blogs produced. This shouldn’t be a problem at all, since the blogs should be focused on what the audience wants to hear about anyway — and these emails can have seeing the full blog as the CTA, which drives traffic to the website.

Want to see this process in action? I've developed an email GPT that makes creating newsletters with AI even more streamlined. How else do you think I make this all happen? I do periodic free trials so you can test drive it. Join my email list to be notified when it becomes available.

Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the consistent. Start with one blog post, create your first AI-assisted newsletter sequence, and build from there. Your subscribers can’t wait to read your next email.

The Uncomplicated Way to Write an SEO Blog with AI

AI Blogging With Stupid Simple SEO Actually Works (My Maternity Leave Blog Data & Results)

written by Sarah Check & AI Sarah

During maternity leave, I didn't have much business leverage other than time passing. Thankfully, that's a big source of food for SEO (search engine optimization). It’s what gets the algorithms (Google, ChatGPT, etc.) to pay attention to your online stuff. So I decided to go all in.

I was nine months pregnant with a toddler at home. My capacity for client acquisition and service fulfillment became extremely limited (especially after my laptop flew off the roof of my car and I had to revert to my old beater laptop. Oops.). 

So… I decided to let my maternity leave be breathing room for my business to build its SEO.

I also wanted to create an arsenal of clearer info about AI to fellow copywriters (through these blogs).

As an AI copywriter, I noticed a theme in the copywriting communities I was in. Established copywriting authorities were talking about AI, but many writers talked about being too overwhelmed to try it. It seemed too complicated or scary.

That's why I'm sharing my unfancy (but effective) approach I took this year with creating SEO blogs with AI. It's not sophisticated, but it's straightforward to learn and easy to implement. 

I watched it work on my 8 maternity leave blogs. For example, my blog on "How to Pick a Niche," reached Google's #3 spot in just four months. I didn’t get the blog formally indexed, share it with a huge following, or even use more than one keyword.

In this blog, I'll show you how to integrate SEO into your AI-written blogs without getting overwhelmed – specifically, what I did as a super pregnant stay-at-home-mom giving it a shot, then seeing what worked. 

• Starting keyword research where it actually matters

• Finding the longtail keyword to use

• Integrating that keyword while writing with AI

• Adding that keyword to some of the technical sides

• My actual numbers (and the insights I’ll apply to the future)

Because sometimes, the simplest approach is the one that actually gets done.

Let’s go!

1. Start Your Keyword Research Where It Actually Matters

Keyword recap. 

• A keyword is a word that encapsulates a theme in what you’re writing (i.e. for this blog, it’s “AI”). 

• A longtail keyword is a phrase that does the same thing (i.e. for this blog, it’s “SEO blog with AI”).

• We care because keywords tell the algorithm (like Google) what the heck we’re talking about. When algorithms know what we’re talking about – and that we’re experts – they feature our content to the people looking for related info (i.e. people Googling “how to write an SEO blog with AI”).

• With that traffic, we can build an email list, sell stuff, build our authority, whatever we want.

Your blogs need longtail keywords. And, as I found out from my maternity leave experiment – even including only one repeated keyword works.

The easiest way to find relevant keywords? Start with the questions you already get asked. No tools required. Just tap into what your customers are actually searching for.

For example, when I was building my copywriting blog, I noticed "how to pick a niche" was one of the most commonly asked questions in beginner copywriter communities. There were the people I wanted to build authority with. That observation alone pointed me toward a keyword that would actually matter to my audience.

That’s great if you’re really familiar with your niche. But what if you're not sure what questions to target? Like, what if you’re writing blogs about hamster breeding for a client, but you know nothing about the hamster breeding biz?

Here's my favorite shortcut: talk to customer service. 

Recently, I helped a power washing company with their blog content strategy. Instead of guessing what potential customers might search for, or wandering Google, I spent 45 minutes chatting with their front desk lady. She knew exactly:

• What convinced people to book power washing services

• Common hesitations before making the decision

• What customers loved most about the end results

That single conversation gave me enough insight to use Google to plan six months of SEO-optimized content – 12 blogs worth. The phrases and questions customers use when talking to service reps are often exactly what they type into Google.

Another gem for keyword research? Testimonials, reviews, and case studies. These are packed with real phrases from real customers describing their problems and solutions they want. 

When customers write reviews, they're essentially telling you exactly how they'd search for your service. These authentic voice-of-customer phrases are SEO gold.

If you (or your client) is serving local clients, your keywords need to reflect how people actually search in your area. The keywords for brick-and-mortar businesses need to have location words. For instance, someone might search "South Asheville CPA services" rather than just "accountant." 

Not familiar with the area you're blogging about? Just ask your client or their team about:

• Common neighborhood names

• How locals refer to different parts of town

• County or district names that people use

Awesome. Now we know the gist of the long-tail keyword we need, we need to figure out how to word it. Remember – if you’re keeping it ultra-simple, you can use a single longtail keyword throughout your blog, like I did.

2. Turn Basic Keywords Into SEO-Friendly Phrases

SEO tools can be pricy and overwhelming, but you don’t need a paid SEO tool to write quality SEO blogs with AI. Here’s two simple but powerful tools for keyword research that won't overwhelm you with data.

1. Google's "People Also Ask" Section

It’s free, it’s instant, it’s unlimited.

Start with what you know about your niche or what you've learned from your client. Google a basic version of your keyword and scroll past the ads. You'll find the "People Also Ask" section – a collection of real search phrases. When you click to expand these questions, it’ll populate even more of these questions. You're seeing exactly how people phrase their searches. 

For example, for that niche blog, I started out by Googling “copywriter niche.”

2. AnswerThePublic.com

Free for 3 uses per day. Here's where you can get more strategic without getting complicated. 

Type in a one or two-word keyword related to your topic, and the site will show you three-or-more-word (long-tail) keyword options. You'll see traffic data and cost-per-click information for each phrase. 

Yes, there's a lot of data here, but don't let it overwhelm you. Focus on:

• Keywords with decent traffic (it’s ok if it’s not insane traffic. Traffic from quality leads is much better than massive traffic from randos.)

• Phrases that directly relate to your topic

• Terms that feel natural in conversation (how would someone phrase it after “Hey Alexa”?)

Remember, you don't need to use every keyword you find. You don’t even need to use a bunch. Pick 1 to 5 relevant ones with good traffic numbers and save the rest for future content. 

We'll cover exactly how to tell your AI writing tool to use these keywords in the next section.

Quick Tip: When I'm planning a blog, I write it section by section, instructing my AI tool to naturally incorporate selected keywords into each part. This keeps the content flowing while maintaining SEO value. I have a blog going in more detail here.

3. Make AI Write SEO-Friendly Content (Naturally)

Want to know how to write an SEO blog with AI without making it sound robotic? These are my 3 main tricks.

1. Clearly Instruct it to include the keyword

Begin your AI writing session by telling your tool (whether it's Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or another AI) exactly what keyword you want to include. 

Don't assume it'll remember on its own. I always start with something like "Incorporate [keyword] into each section of this blog."

2. Check & Remind 

After your AI writes the first section, check if it actually included your keyword. If it didn't, simply remind it. I've found that once reminded, AI tools typically maintain keyword usage in subsequent sections. If it sounds a little clunky, I don’t sweat it – I can tweak it in the edits.

This is super important. I have not seen an AI software reliably include keywords without reminders. I’ve also not seen any do well with instructions including numbers (i.e. “include this keyword 3 times.”)

3. Get Keywords in the Headings

While you can ask your AI to include keywords in headings, don't force it if it sounds unnatural. I like to request keyword-optimized headings initially, then adjust them during editing if they feel clunky. Remember, readability trumps perfect keyword placement every time.

4. Natural Flow Matters More Than Perfect Keywords 

It's okay to modify your keyword slightly to make it sound more natural. For example, transforming "how to find your niche as a copywriter" into "how to find your copywriting niche" keeps the SEO value..

Remember: Google's algorithms don't just track keywords – they measure how long people stay on your page. An engaging blog that keeps readers reading will usually outperform a keyword-stuffed piece that has readers bouncing off the page.

4. Finishing Touches: Technical SEO Elements That Matter

These are the SEO freebies: including the long-tail keyword in your title, subtitle, and meta description.

1. Titles & Subtitles

While AI can generate title suggestions that include your keywords, I find them typically generic. Remember – you understand your audience better than AI does.

When I was making that niche blog, I got vanilla titles like "How to Pick a Niche for Copywriters | A Simple Yet Effective Guide.” Meh. Low personality.

I tweaked the wording and landed on the title "For My Newbie Self: How to Pick a Niche for Copywriting” and subtitle “Picking a Niche | Screwing Up is Harder Than You Think." More engaging and still maintains SEO value.

2. Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions – that little title and blurb that Google shows you in its search results. For extra SEO oomph, don’t let it put together default content. This is your opportunity to add stuff on the backend.

Here's a simple trick to stand out: format your keyword slightly differently than your original title. And to step it up, tweak some formatting so it doesn’t look like the competition. 

For example, instead of using my title as the meta title – or the original keyword (I used "picking a niche for copywriters"), I went with "picking a niche (for copywriters)." 

Include this in a brief meta description that sets clear expectations for readers. Including the keyword, of course.

If you’re like “but I don’t know how you even add the meta description stuff on the backend!” Take a breath. Unclench. Open ChatGPT or Claude or Perplexity or whatever. Ask it “how do I add a meta description on [X web host the blog’s gonna live on (Squarespace, Wix, etc.)]”. It’ll guide you. And if you get stuck, ask it for help.

3. URL Slug

That’s the part after web address (it’s the “/seo-blogging-with-ai” part after the “www.checkcopywriting.com part”. In the backend, you can straight-up make that slug the longtail keyword or a variation.

Now let’s talk about Getting Initial Traction 

Proper Google indexing is important (and something you can tackle when you have time), but you can jumpstart your blog's visibility by:

• Sharing the published link with your email list

• Posting it on LinkedIn, a Facebook page, or Pinterest

• Getting those first crucial reader interactions

That’s what I did. It clues Google in that you’re legit. I also recommend this to my clients when I write their blogs.

So, we’ve picked a keyword and included it in our blog content and the technical odds-and-ends. Last step is to make sure we don’t get hit with the major SEO penalty – plagiarism.

5. Quality Control: Keeping Your AI Content Original

Plagiarism is a unique challenge when writing SEO blogs with AI. It's not just about ethics – it can seriously hurt your SEO rankings. Google's algorithms are smart enough to detect duplicate content, so it’s important not to ignore it.

AI writing tools pull from their training data, which means they might accidentally reproduce existing content. This isn't intentional plagiarism, but Google doesn't care about intentions. It’ll send you to SEO jail anyway.

making AI blogs original:

1. Feed Your AI Original Material. The best way to get original content is to give your AI original input. Share your:

• Personal stories

• Real examples

• Client testimonials

• Case studies

• Original research findings

When you give AI unique material to work with, it can integrate it and produce unique content in return.

2. Use Plagiarism Checkers. Don't skip this step. Tools like Quetext (paid & my favorite) or Grammarly's free version can help catch unintentional duplicate content. Think of it as insurance for your SEO efforts.

Pro Tip: I like to be transparent with my readers by mentioning that the content was created by "Sarah" and "AI Sarah" working together. This honesty doesn't hurt SEO – if anything, it builds trust with your audience.

6. Real Results | What This Stupid Simple SEO Strategy Did for Me

When I published my blog "How to Pick a Niche for Copywriters" in July 2024, I wasn't expecting much. I had only integrated 1 longtail keyword, and tweaked the wording throughout the blog. I felt like it was better to try and suck than to skip doing it at all.

But by October 24th – just three months later – it had reached #8 on Google for both "how to pick a niche for copywriters" and "how to pick a copywriting niche." By November 29th, it had climbed to #3.

But here's what really matters: the blog wasn't just about getting visitors. It served as a gateway to my email opt-in – a specialized chatbot that helped copywriters clarify their niche. This strategy worked because:

• The blog attracted the right audience

• The chatbot offered immediate value

• Email subscribers became warm leads for future offers

The result? My email list grew with engaged subscribers who I could connect with personally – and share both free and paid resources they'd actually want.

Awesome! Now, I tried several versions of keyword usage in the 8 blogs, partly to see what would stick. Some didn’t do as well — but they gave me valuable insights I’m going to put into action. Frankly, those insights feel just as valuable as ranking well.

Here’s the data & Insights on my SEO blogs with AI test:

I wrote 8 ~2k/word blogs centered on 8 core beginner copywriting topics. I pulled them together with the help of my blog-writing GPT I built. I then scheduled these blogs to go out every other week for 4ish months.

2 blogs had a long-tail keyword featured 7 times.

2 blogs had a long tail keyword featured 4 times.

2 blogs had a long-tail keyword featured 1 time.

2 blogs had no longtail keywords, just one-word keywords and vibes around a topic.

Is it the perfect study with a super robust sample size? No. I’m a mom at home working from her laptop, not a Neil Patel megabiz that can do huge studies. Love you, Neil. Look, I realize that these blogs Google rankings will be skewed by keyword competition, the length of time these have been live, and the relatively low volume of blogs I’m measuring.

But did this experiment give me valuable insights and clear direction for improving my personal (and client’s) SEO? YES. That’s what’s important to me. I now have very customized results with actionable insights. Everything I need to make substantial course corrections.

Here’s the breakdown, then I’ll give you the insights pulled:

“How to Pick a Niche for Copywriting” | keyword: how to pick a niche for copywriting, used 7x | #3 on Google

“What I Wish I’d Known About Picking Software“ | keyword: tech stack for copywriters, used 4x | #8 on Google

“You’re Not Bad with Technology” | no longtail keywords | no data to collect

“Personal Branding for Copywriters” | keyword: personal branding for copywriters, used 1x | #20 on Google

“When to Use a Human Copyeditor vs Copy Editing Tools” | no longtail keywords | no data to collect

“Pricing for Beginner Copywriters” | keyword: pricing for beginner copywriters, used 4x | Not within top #50

“Client Acquisition for Copywriters” | keyword: client acquisition for copywriters, used 7x | #8 on Google

“How I Manage Time & Get Work Done” | keyword: managing time as a copywriter, used 1x | Not within top #50

Here’s the insights I gained and how I plan to apply them:

A single repeating keyword helped the blog rank higher. Once was good. Four times was better. Seven times was even better. This helped me see how even only one longtail keyword could have a huge SEO impact. Now imagine including 2! For future blogs, I plan to include the top keyword at least 7 times, especially in the title.

Putting in even one keyword gives you a benchmark for data collection. Write your blog, note the keyword you used, check on it in a few months. I’m embarrassed to admit, but the two blogs I had that didn’t have longtail keywords were because… I didn’t double check to make sure they were included. What data was I supposed to collect when I didn’t create a target? For future blogs, I plan on having and tracking a specific keyword — and not winging it.

3 months minimum seems to be a decent amount of time to wait to see if your SEO is picking up traction. The more recent the blog was posted, the lower it seems to rank (makes sense). For future blogs, I’m not going to worry about SEO until month #3.

Variations on keywords didn’t seem to dilute SEO. For example, I used “how to pick a niche for copywriters”, but I tweaked the wording at times to give it a little variety. For future blogs, I’m not going to worry about minor grammatical changes that make a keyword fit better.

I can update blogs any time I want! The blogs without keywords — or the ones not ranking well — can be edited to include the keywords I forgot. For future — and current — blogs, I’m going to give myself permission to see how it performs, then make edits to course correct, then see how they perform.

7. Let’s Recap: How to Write SEO Blogs with AI

Here’s the stupid simple steps I used to write an SEO blog with AI:

1. Pick the topic by knowing your audience well or asking them/those who serve them (example: “copywriting niches”)

2. Google that topic to see what common questions come up in the “people also ask” section.” Use the question – or a part of the phrase – as your keyword. Or go to answerthepublic.com and enter the topic to find the long-tail keywords with the best traffic. (example: “how to pick a niche for copywriters”)

3. Pick one to use in your blog. Pick up to five if you’re ambitious.

4. Write your blog with AI, integrating that long-tail keyword into each selection, the title & subtitle, and the meta description. Feel free to tweak the phrasing of the keyword to make the flow more natural.

Ready to Try It Yourself? 

I periodically offer limited-time access to my AI writing chatbots through paid subscriptions. But before launching paid versions, I run free trials to let you test drive the technology. 

Want to be notified when the next free trial opens up? Subscribe to get on the waitlist.

How to Write a (Good!) Blog with AI - for Copywriters

Writing quality blog copy with AI isn’t instant — but it’ll still save you a TON of time.

written by Sarah Check & AI Sarah

The world didn’t need another AI tool, but I did. 

In 2021, I was sitting in a Cracker Barrel, pregnant, talking with my husband. My copywriting business was running well – but with a baby on the way, I knew I’d need to speed up my process. By a lot.

I told him, “There’s a lot of copywriting that doesn’t need my original input—like cleaning up voice dictation automatically. That would be amazing if AI could help with that kind of stuff.” 

At the time, ChatGPT didn’t exist yet. I tried a few AI writing tools, and while they worked for generic content, they didn’t make things faster when I needed something original or optimized for SEO. 

Then, when ChatGPT launched, I tried using it both as-is and through GPTs made for blogging.

It wasn’t much better. I was still heavily editing to remove the “AI sound.” And worse – the blogs flagged plagiarism checkers pretty bad. A major problem for SEO (which is often the whole point of writing blogs).

So, I came up with my own process for using AI in blogging, which I’m going to share with you in this blog. 

I know it works because I was able to write eight long-form blogs while nine months pregnant and taking care of a toddler. These 2,000- to 3,000-word SEO blogs would have taken me at least five to eight hours each without AI… but I finished each in an average of two and a half hours. And three months after publishing, they were already meeting my SEO goals.

Here’s what I’ll cover in this blog:

1. Doing Quick Outlining & Research. It’s easy to start, keeps you organized, and give the AI you use some direction.

2. Start Writing with AI by Drafting Section by Section. Your blog will be longer, be easier to adjust, and higher quality.

3. Edit and Finalize Outside AI. The more high-quality direction you give when you’re talking with the AI tool, the less editing you’ll have to do.

I’ll also give you a POV of how I write a blog with AI, step by step. You’ll be able to open up ChatGPT, Claude or whatever AI tool you prefer and start up a smashing blog post. For you or your clients.

Let’s go!

1. Preparing to Blog with AI

How do you write a blog with AI? Well, not by prompting it “write a blog about X.” 

Even if you load up the prompt with details, like “viral worthy,” “for x niche” “with unique insights,”... you’re going to get a 400ish word piece of slop. It’ll sound like everyone else that used those prompts they got from bropreneurs on TikTok. 

People won’t want to read it. Google also won’t be impressed. 

How’s an AI supposed to know what will make something viral in your unique niche? And how original are the insights going to be if it’s just cobbled together from what it found on the internet?

We’re going to write like a professional copywriter. With an outline. It’s going to make things way better quality with very little effort.

Creating an outline kills a bunch of birds with one stone. It gives your blog structure, which makes it easier to write and read. It also helps the AI understand the end product you’re looking for.

Here’s what works for me:

• Pull up a Google doc. Write down a simple bullet list of points. 

• Don’t worry about organizing or having the exact number of points at first. These will eventually act as your core topics. More points will make your blog longer, and vice versa. In my experience, 8-10 points usually results in a 2,000-word blog.

• Have thoughts you want included in your blog? Add them to the relevant point.

• If you outlined in a doc, download it as a pdf or copy the text. You’ll give it to your AI tool later, and AI will help you refine the outline.

Without an outline, AI often produces short, repetitive content.

If I ask ChatGPT to lengthen a blog, without an outline, it tends to max out at around 800 words. But with an outline, the AI can expand each point into a complete, detailed section.

Don’t skip outlining. Even spending 5 minutes coming up with 8 points dramatically improves the whole process. It’s essential if you want to know how to write a blog with AI that’s both thorough and readable.

Cool. 

How else do we prepare to make a blog with AI? 

With a little SEO research.

Can AI do SEO research? Yes. 

Can it do good SEO research? Depends on who’s at the wheel.

I do NOT recommend seeding your prompts with requests for content that’ll “go viral” “rank #1 on Google” “get lots of traffic” “use top industry keywords.”

Way too vague. That's like a bad boss telling an employee to write something that’ll “go viral.” The request in itself isn’t actionable.

Instead, here’s some of my favorite quick ways to do SEO research for an AI blog:

• Have a guess at a long tail keyword (3-5 word phrase) that’s relevant. Google it, then see how it’s worded in the “people also ask” section.

• Come up with a relevant long-tail keyword. Look it up on Ubersuggest, and use the variations that have higher traffic.

• Look up 1-3 highest ranking blog posts that are similar to the one you’re trying to produce. Feed the blog to an AI tool (as a pdf, url, copy/paste, or web search). Ask it what longtail keywords the blog is using. Use those.

Nice. We’ve got an outline and a longtail keyword (or a few) we want to use. 

Let’s start writing this blog.

2. Drafting with AI, Section by Section

Now we’re getting to what you came for: how to WRITE a blog with AI.

That outline you made is basically a section-by-section fill-in-the-blank. WAY easier for you (and AI!) to work with than a blank sheet of paper.

Plus, working section-by-section (instead of all in one go) makes the experience much more manageable. Instead of re-reading an entire blog repeatedly to request edits, I can focus on one section at a time, making specific requests for each chunk.

To start drafting your blog, pick your AI tool. ChatGPT. Perplexity. Claude. Whatever. I’ll shoot straight with you – to put together a top-tier blog, you’re going to need to do a bunch of follow-up prompts, especially with the section-by-section method. So you’ll probably want a paid tool, not a free one with a tight prompt limit.

Here’s my process for using AI effectively without overwhelming myself:

First, I prompt the AI tool that I want to create a blog based on the outline provided (which I attached as a PDF or copy/pasted in). 

Full disclosure: I made myself a GPT that does not require loads of front-end prompting. I just tell it i want to make a blog, load up some attachments, and away I go. What I’m sharing with you is how to blog without a preset GPT.

If you’re using a plain chatbot interface (like what you see when you open Claude, ChatGPT, etc.), include some instructions in your prompt:

• I want to create a blog (don’t bother giving it a word count. The way AI chunks data makes it suck at counting.)

• I want it based on the provided materials (that’s your outline).

• I want to work through it section by section – do not move on to the next section until I have approved it. 

• As we go through each section, I’ll tell you what I’d like included in the section.

• I want X keyword(s) included in each section.

• I want you to compile all the sections we create at the end into a single blog.

• I want to organize the outline and approve it before we begin drafting each section.

Once that prompt is in, I often ask the AI to help me fill any gaps in the outline from a reader-interest perspective. 

If I have too many points, I’ll ask it to suggest which ones could be consolidated or omitted. 

If I don’t have enough, I’ll ask for suggestions on what a reader might also want to know. 

If it feels like it needs a better flow, I ask it to rearrange the points of the outline into one that make more sense.

Once the AI suggests an outline you like, tell it to move to the next section. 

Now, it’ll ask you what you want in the section – or give you a prewritten draft suggestion. Read it. Make sure it has that keyword. Request any changes you want.

Get LONG with those re-prompts. Tell it stories, testimonials, examples, data results, step-by-steps, etc. that you want. Upload documents you feel have relevant information. Original data like this will really juice up your blog. It’s not in the AI database, so it would never come up with it.

If you want to lean more heavily into the AI’s help, request it do research on the topic or sub-topic. Specifically asking it to look at Reddit, Quora, or other forums can give you amazing customer research into what they’re interested in.

Now, if you put in a long re-prompt and the stuff it gives you don’t sound as much “like you” as you want, tell it the magic words: “Adhere more closely to the input I provided.”

Important Note on Adding Your Original Content:

Original content is what truly sets a blog apart for readers AND for algorithms. 

An AI-generated blog pulls from its database or information it retrieves online. But it can’t read your mind. Or your private company docs/data. Hopefully.

Your unique stories, client testimonials, case studies, and experiment results add authenticity and relevance.

For example, there are plenty blogs on how to blog with AI, but mine is based on my real experiences and data—not just information AI pulled together from the internet. 

OK. Important note complete. Back to drafting.

Once you feel the section is 60 to 90% where you’d like it to be, move through each section until you’re finished. 

Why not move on when it feels 100% good?

Because it needs your edits.

And a draft that’s 60% close to done is easier to edit than a draft that doesn’t exist.

At the end, I like to come up with a title, subtitle, meta tag and meta description, all with a keyword or variation of it. Sometimes the chatbot you’re using will come up with a basic title, but I only use it for inspiration.

You know what will capture your niche audience’s attention better than a chatbot would. AI’s knowledge of your niche audience is wide, but your knowledge of it is deep.

You can explicitly ask the chatbot to “suggest a title, subtitle, and meta info including [keyword].” Rework the suggestion, or request more suggestions until you build what you’re looking for.

Ok. Once we’ve gotten a draft, it should feel about 60 to 90% done. It won’t feel like it’s ready to publish. It needs your touch – your unique style of formatting, details you forgot, and sentences reworded to sound like you (or the client).

It’s time to edit.

3. Finalizing Your Blog Outside of AI

Your draft has gotten a lot of invisible labor and editing essentials covered by AI. Proofreading, cleaning up your input and arranging it into cohesive thoughts, basic formatting.

Now the final step in how to write a blog with AI: polish it outside the AI platform. 

There’s several reasons for this.

• You need to run it through a plagiarism checker. AI is notorious for plagiarizing, which is a huge SEO sucker punch. And AI chatbots are not good plagiarism checkers. Grammarly has a free one. The paid one I like is Quetext.

• You forgot stuff. It’s way easier to add it in a doc then to re-prompt the AI a million time to add additions. 

• You need to add your flair (or your client’s flair). Change things up to match how you’d say it. Delete stuff you’d never say. Add things AI would never know (like original data and stories).

So, once the AI draft is complete, I move it to a Google Doc. This gives me full control over style, grammar, and flow, helping me make it feel genuinely my own.

I review the blog to make sure each section reads smoothly. The easiest (and fastest) way to do it is by reading it aloud. I check for parts that might still sound like AI-generated text and adjust the language to match my style.

Then, I use a plagiarism checker to ensure all content is original. 

Once you’ve made all the tweaks you want, run it through a quick proofreader, like Google doc’s built in one (⌘ + alt + X), a Grammarly plugin…or AI! (I’ve got a free one here that won’t tamper with your writing)

Boom. You’re done. That was a bunch of instructions, so I’ll break my AI blogging process down into a concise list in the next part.

POV: Using AI to Write a Blog

Here’s my process when I’m inspired to start blogging with AI:

1. Capture initial ideas in a Google Doc. Whenever inspiration hits, I open a Google Doc and jot down points I want to cover. Sometimes I do this all at once; other times, I revisit the document to add new ideas.

2. Do keyword research. I’ll run a related top-ranking blog through AI to find the keywords, use Ubersuggest, or Google a phrase and see how it’s worded in the “people also ask” section.

3. Upload the outline and fine-tune it with AI. After pulling up my chatbot of choice (I like ChatGPT), I download the outline as a PDF (or copy/paste it) and attach it to the AI prompt: 

1. I ask AI to help me finalize the outline, including suggestions for organizing it more coherently, bonus points to add, items to consolidate, or points that could be omitted.

2. I make sure my prompt instructs the AI that we’ll work through it section by section, waiting for my approval before moving on. I also include the keywords I want in each section and ask the AI to compile all the sections into a single blog once we’re done.

4. Draft section by section. With the outline finalized, I work through one section at a time, guiding it to include specific original data I provide, like stories, testimonials, and results. I give the AI this information by typing it within my prompt, using my phone/laptop voice typing, and/or uploading relevant documents. If the blog section feels close to 60 to 90% what I’m looking for, I move to the next section.

5. Create additional blog details. Once all sections are complete, the AI should compile it as a full blog. I then use the AI’s help to generate ideas for the title, subtitle, meta title, and meta description. 

6. Edit in a Google Doc. I then paste the blog into a document to do my editing and final touches. I also run the blog through a plagiarism checker.

There’s several popular AI blogging “tricks” that I’ve tried and that I choose NOT to use:

• Generating images. They look AI-generated, which can imply the blog was AI-written. Nobody wants to read something that nobody bothered to write. Unless it’s an infographic or a super on-brand cover image, I don’t feel AI images add much value to a blog.

• Creating fictional testimonials and customer stories. AI likes to slide in fake stories. It’s very convenient, but it’s not honest. Just source real testimonials and stories.

• Using AI-generated blog titles. Titling blogs that get clicks takes a really rich (and current) niche understanding. I find AI is helpful for generating ideas for titles, but not coming up with them.

• Editing. Editing with AI can be super tricky. Even with detailed prompts, a chatbot often takes out your unique voice with its edits. That’s why I built an Editing Chatbot that simply gives you a suggestion list (and doesn’t tear up your writing).

Let’s wrap it up.

Yes. This blog was written with AI help.

Figuring how to write a blog with AI means finding a balance between fast and original. Through trial and error, I developed a process that lets me create high-quality, SEO-friendly blogs quickly, without losing my unique voice. 

In short:

Start with a Simple Outline. Jot down a list of main points in a Google Doc before prompting AI. This outline sets up a structure for a well-organized, readable blog. Plus, it ensures the AI knows exactly what you want.

Draft Section by Section. To avoid a crazy edit process, have AI generate each section separately. Download the outline as a PDF and attach it to your prompt, asking AI to add or consolidate points as needed. This lets you edit one chunk at a time.

Include Your Own Content and SEO. Incorporate personal stories, testimonials, or case studies, along with relevant keywords in each section to make the blog authentic and SEO’d.

Polish the Draft Outside of AI. Transfer the draft to a platform like Google Docs, where you can fine-tune language, add what you forgot, and check for plagiarism. Add final touches like a strong title, headings, meta description, and original images to complete your blog.

AI can enhance your work—but only when you stay in control of the content, voice, and final polish. 

A lot of blogging is invisible work. We think about the classic typing-writing part – but writing’s made up of lots of editing, structuring, proofreading, and brainstorming.

Spend your blogging brainpower on the stuff that needs your original touch. Original data and unique edits.

I’m excited to see where AI takes blogging. I really believe the surge of low-quality content will make the higher-value stuff rise to the top.

And of course, I think it’ll make great bloggers put out even better stuff faster.

What do you think about AI blogging?

How I Manage Time & Get Work Done (Even As A 9/M Pregnant SAHM With A Toddler)

Tactical Tips + A Free Chatbot To Streamline Your Workflow – Because Time Is Money

written by Sarah Check & AI Sarah

Time management is your success vehicle. 

Accountability is the vehicle’s fuel.

Without both, you'll struggle to meet your goals, no matter how hard you work or how many tools you try.

But this is great news – because accountability + time management puts you way ahead of the people who have it easier than you.

I’m a stay-at-home mom of a toddler, writing this blog nine months pregnant – I’m deeply invested in any time-saving and time management strategies I can get my hands on. And I’m eternally grateful to the people who have shared their insights to help me. I want to do the same for you.

You know what’s wild? Since I’ve had less time (becoming a mom), I’ve been able to close bigger deals. Build and launch my own product. Enjoy work more.

I’ve had less margin but more progress. 

Steal what I’ve learned. Make mo’ money.

In this blog, I’m sharing my recs on how to manage time as a copywriter, even when the odds are against you. It’s the only task-category breakdown I’ve found useful and how to protect it. 

And at the end, I’ll introduce you to my free Time Management Master chatbot, Macy.

She was one of the first AI resources that made a substantial positive difference in my business. She helps you take all those deadlines, projects, and work time availabilities swirling in your head and align them into a solid plan within minutes. 

Time to feel great about how we arrange work into our time. Let’s go!

1. The 2 Task Categories: Manager vs. Maker

I’ve heard this task difference called a few different things, but my favorite is Alex Hormozi’s Maker Time vs Manager time.

Not all tasks belong on the same shelf—some need your deep focus and creativity, others keep the boat afloat and can be handled in quick bursts.

Your Maker time is the stuff that needs the long stretches of your best attention. Your Manager is the stuff that needs to be done, but can be handled relatively quickly, one after the other.

• Maker Tasks: These are the creative, flow-driven activities. They tend to be high ROI. Client writing work, brainstorming and planning for the business, working on your own business copy, solving complex problems that come up. These are the tasks that get disrupted when you have a meeting, have to multitask, skip over to emails, or even do a related admin task.

• Manager Tasks. These are the administrative things that keep your business running. Sometimes it’s the client work that doesn’t require a state of flow. Think of tasks like responding to emails, scheduling social media posts, managing your finances, and attending meetings. Often they can be knocked out in a few minutes. They need your focus, but they’re open loops that are easier to close than Maker tasks.

Multitasking causes things to take up to 60% longer. That’s what happens if you let interruptions (even productive ones) into your Maker time. 

That’s why splitting these tasks into separate work blocks can save SO much time. It keeps a 5-hour client project from turning into an 8-hour one.

3 hours saved, just by doing what you were going to do anyway – but during consolidated times.

If possible, dedicate entire days to being a Maker or a Manager. Just by rearranging your schedule, you’re giving yourself free hours in the day. That’s insane.

2. What To Do During Each Category

Once you’ve identified your Manager and Maker tasks, the next step in managing time as a copywriter is to protect it. Set it up for success. 

Protect Your Maker Time

Maker tasks need deep focus and uninterrupted time, so I strongly recommend you carve out at least three hours of protected Maker time.

I know, 8 hours is more ideal, but some of us have immovable obligations, so 3 hours is as good as it gets. This means no distractions, no multitasking, and ideally, no interruptions. If you need to get out of the house so you’re not doing laundry, do it.

If you’re a parent like me, this might look like when someone else is watching the kids or when they’re asleep (if they’re sound sleepers). 

The best case scenario is where you’re 100% off the clock, not on standby. You’re not half-listening to a napping toddler or relying on Bluey to keep them occupied.

Full disclosure – while I don’t use traditional childcare, my toddler goes to nap and play with her grandparents for two afternoons a week. That gives me a combined 10 hours to do flow work. I love it. For me, it’s felt like the sweet spot between time away to work and time to focus on her. 

Try things out to find your sweet spot.

Maximize Manager TIme

Manager tasks are typically shorter and more routine. Ideally, we’d have no interruptions, but these tasks can tolerate some background noise or short pockets of time throughout your day. 

These often look like 1-10 minute tasks that you can knock out one after another. You’re handling biz admin stuff and doing meetings.

It’s the stuff you can do when the kids are playing (or watching Bluey). 

For those who, like me, have limited ability to delegate (whether due to parenting, chronic illness, or other responsibilities), consider breaking Manager tasks into another category of even smaller, easier, interruptible segments.

Things like tidying your inbox, organizing your Google Drive, engaging on LinkedIn. You don’t have to do much, but your consistency gives you momentum. This lets you make progress, even when your time is fragmented.

Another pro tip: don’t waste your valuable Maker time deciding what to work on. Use your Manager time to plan and prioritize your tasks, so that when you sit down to work in Maker Mode, you can get straight into the creative process without losing momentum.

Resist the urge to switch between Manager and Maker tasks, even if it feels like the tasks are related. Separating them reduces the cognitive load on your brain, making each block of time more productive and less draining.

3. Leverage Those Weird Time Slots

Looking at those screen time reports proves we actually have a lot of bonus time during the day – they’re just scattered as a few minutes here and there.

When you're figuring out how to manage time as a copywriter, these tiny time slots can give you astonishing leverage. Once you’ve clarified what’s not a Maker task, it’s easy to line up the Manager tasks. 

If you can keep those tasks easy to access (especially on your phone), you can potentially turn a ton of waiting time into completed or kick-started tasks.

Plus, the better you get at knocking out tiny tasks during those funky time slots, the less free time you have to sacrifice to work.

And they’re the perfect reps for building your self-accountability.

Here’s my favorite weird time slots that show up in my life:

• Waiting in line/for an appointment. Recently, during a kid’s clothes consignment event, I roughly outlined instructions on my phone for 4 chatbots because the line was so dang long. I was thrilled to sit down to my Maker time with a whole bunch of useful notes.

• In the car. Obviously, you can do stuff on your phone as a passenger princess. When I’m driving, I’ll sometimes mic myself and voice dictate notes into Google Docs. In a recent drive to a hair appointment, I knocked out 4 outlines for blogs.

• During a tedious chore. Again, I’ll mic myself and voice dictate outlines when I’m doing something like chopping vegetables.

• Walking. My mind gets great ideas when my legs are moving. 

There’s a theme with starting up documents. I’ve found it insanely helpful to start up documents for things I’ll need to do later during Maker Time. 

Adding my initial thoughts and rough outlines for blogs, GPTs, or client work give me a head start. Way more fun than facing a blank sheet of paper when I sit down to work.

4. Make Stuff Wildly Accessible

One study showed that an average employee spends around 90 minutes a day looking for misplaced stuff. Imagine giving yourself a FREE hour and a half just by keeping things easy to find.

When figuring out how to manage time as a copywriter, one of the most effective strategies is to make virtual documents, relevant links, and frequently-used tools right on hand. 

These are my favorite accessibility tricks:

• Make Your Work Email On Your Phone’s Dash. Put your work email on your phone, but manage your notifications to avoid constant distractions. Turn off badges and silence notifications if you need to. This way, you’re always ready to handle small tasks without getting overwhelmed by alerts.

• Bookmark All Your Frequently Used Websites On Your Browser. Then arrange them by what you use most frequently. Seriously, there’s no reason we can’t just pull up a browser and access what we need with one click.

• Organize Your Google Drive. Your Google Drive should be easy to open, add to, and search through. Make your titles full of the keywords you use to find them (I like making my obnoxiously long and detailed for findability). Don’t leave loads of “untitled documents.” Add the Google Drive and Google Docs app to your phone. It lets you create a new doc in one click for those weird-time micro tasks.

• Include Related Links in Documents. Wherever you need them, include related links directly in your documents. Links to other docs. Links to relevant websites. Links to Loom videos or how-to’s you might need to reference. If you’re working on a blog, for example, link to relevant emails, client notes, or past projects within the document. 

• Have a Link Library Doc. Put ALL the links you might need to copy/paste in this doc. Payment links. Links to your lead magnets. Links to your website, your Instagram, whatever. When you are answering emails on your phone, having this reference might figuratively save your life.

• Plan Ahead. Again, don’t begin your valuable Maker time by planning or prioritizing what you should be doing in that block. You make your creativity more accessible by having the planning taken care of ahead of time.

• Buy a mini microphone and phone stand. They’re super cheap on Amazon. If you’re into voice dictating stuff, it makes the setup easier.

Making things accessible, you keep your mind clear. You build trust in yourself. A little organization is a major investment in your time and mental peace.

You’ve Got 2 to 8 Free Work Hours In Your Day. 

They’re Living In Your Scrolling Time, Weird Time Slots, & the Time You Waste Multitasking + Looking for Stuff.

Knowing how to manage time as a copywriter isn’t about working harder or even smarter. Most of it is just being honest about where you’re spending your time – and being intentional about doing things differently.

There’s lots of great apps and techniques. Different things work for different people. But mastering keeping promises to yourself (accountability!) and managing your time intentionally works for everyone. There is no time management tool that can overcome poor accountability, and there’s no amount of hard work that’ll outpace bad planning.

Knowing the difference between Manager and Maker tasks, separating your work blocks, protecting your creative hours, and streamlining your workflow, can make every minute count.

One of the biggest turning points for me with mastering time management was using ChatGPT to help me plan my week. It took my word-vomit of stuff I had to do – and my available time slots – and instantly arranged it all. It even helped me see where I wasn’t staying accountable to myself. 

I’ve made a free tool to do just that for you. It’s Macy, the Time Management Master chatbot. She’s here to help you align all those deadlines, projects, and work time availability into a customized schedule within minutes. She’ll make any changes you want on demand. No more doing the mental labor of the admin work of planning.

She’s helped me kick off my work without feeling overwhelmed with where to start. And frankly, that overwhelm used to be my biggest source of procrastination. But not any more!

Drop your email and I’ll connect you two.

Client Acquisition for Copywriters — The Actual Secret Sauce + a Lead-Compiling Chatbot

It’s No One’s Favorite Part Of Business...

But Putting In The Client Outreach Reps Truly Does Get You Ahead.

written by Sarah Check & AI Sarah

There’s essentially two ways to land clients: either you go out and pitch them (outbound), or they find you through referrals, your website, or platforms like Upwork (inbound). 

But when you're new—or when you really need clients—you can’t afford to wait for them to come to you. Inbound marketing is a long game. You need to do outreach.

If there was a secret cold email template, corner of the internet full of leads, or a foolproof method, I’d share it with you. But there’s a lot of trial and error with reaching good clients. In my experience, I’ve only seen one secret sauce that works consistently: 

It’s a combo of an ultra-customized message and an astonishing volume of outreach. 

Give yourself direction (like a niche/industry), then give yourself efficiency (tools & practice), then give yourself time. In this blog, I’m sharing how to do that tactically.

We’ll cover targeting your ideal client, different ways to reach them, the top mistakes I’ve made/I’ve seen, and how to pitch yourself a thousand times over—because that’s the kind of effort it takes.

Getting clients by hand might be one of the most demanding parts of running a business, but it’s also where you can separate yourself from the pack. 

If it feels like a grind, that’s normal. It doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong. 

It’s easy to procrastinate, blame imposter syndrome, or even pay someone else to do it. But if you can push through and keep at it, you’ll already be ahead. It’s where people tend to give up.

To make things even easier, I’ve got a free chatbot, Cleo, that’ll help you compile a lead list and get started on your outreach journey. You’ll be able to hit the ground running with a spreadsheet of potential clients and companies that align with your niche and offers.

1. Value + Volume → Clients

So, we know that getting clients through inbound strategies is passive. It’s putting together a website with SEO, putting up social media posts, creating a listing on Fiverr – basically, rigging up our virtual storefront and waiting for customers to stroll in.

It’s a long-term strategy that can build a ton of momentum. But it’s not fast. It takes a long time to gather actionable data. It’s not a good strategy for when you need clients yesterday.

That’s why outbound is a great place to start – it’s proactive outreach. You gather data basically as fast as you do outreach. I’m talking about coming up with a list of potential clients and literally sending them emails, DMs, a carrier pigeon, whatever. 

Plus, you don’t have to do it forever. A massive burst in the beginning will give you loads of momentum. If things slow down later on in your business, you can pick it back up to beef up your client load.

Yuck, but isn’t that like being a door-to-door salesman? Yeah, but you’re going to (internet) neighborhoods where people need your service. 

But I’m worried I’ll be wasting their time! That it’ll seem tacky. Then don’t be tacky or waste their time. Make your pitch short, sweet, valuable. If they’re not interested, they’ll not answer the (virtual) door. Or they’ll tell you no. It won’t kill you. It won’t kill them.

In the world of client acquisition for copywriters (and entrepreneurs in general), the efforts that make a difference are value + volume. 

To give value, you reach out to qualified people, not any old rando. You make your offer align with what fixes their problems, not just try to sell stuff they don’t need. Maybe you give them a useful freebie (lead magnet). You’re polite and prove you’ve done your research.

To create volume, you get efficient. You practice not procrastinating. You do the needle-moving tasks, like gathering leads and messaging them. You keep saying no to the urge to “work on my cold email template a little longer before I start.” You use tools that help you move faster.

A great stat to keep in mind: cold outreach responses are about 8.5% (Backlinko). Conversions (people hiring you) are often 1%.  Basically, you reach out to 100 people, you’ll get some responses and maybe one client.

It may not sound impressive. But if you take it as straight math – you can make a killing by just committing to outreach.

Reach out to 33 qualified people a day? That’s potentially a client in a week.

50-100 people a day for a few weeks? How are you going to avoid getting paid at that point?

If you can reach out to 1000 qualified people, it’s hard not to get a client.

Forget about waiting for the perfect method or the perfect words. Focus on giving yourself a direction—whether that’s picking a niche or targeting a specific industry—and then pitch yourself relentlessly. It’s not about crafting a masterpiece each time, but rather about getting your message in front of as many potential clients as possible. 

You might need to pitch yourself a thousand times or more before you start seeing results, and that’s okay.

The magic in this volume-based approach is that it allows you to gather data quickly. The more you reach out, the more you learn what makes people respond. This means you can do more of what works and less of what doesn’t, making your efforts exponentially effective. 

What subject lines did people tend to respond more to?

What leads are more responsive?

Do more people respond on LinkedIn?

I’ll talk more about how you can gather data in the next section.

Plus, every pitch you send is another step towards overcoming imposter syndrome. The more you put yourself out there, the more confident you’ll become. Reps are the cure.

There’s no shortcut to this process. Client acquisition is one of the most punishing parts of owning a business, and it humbles everyone. 

If it doesn’t feel good, that’s normal. It’s not because you’re doing it wrong or because you’re not cut out for it. It’s just part of the journey. 

Remember, this is where people give up. A lot of wantrepreneurs can’t take the tedium of constant outreach. If you can keep going, you’re already ahead of the game.

2. Volume = Data. Data Give You Better Direction to Better results

With client acquisition for copywriters (specifically new ones), volume is everything. Hundreds of pitches. Maybe 1000+. But it’s the only way to gather the data you need to refine your approach and start seeing real results.

The magic in volume is that it lets you quickly gather data on what makes people bite. 

You’ll start to notice patterns. You’ll send a 50 messages with one subject line, and 50 with a slightly different wording. One might get more opens, or a specific way of framing your offer might get more responses. 

This is original data, some of the most useful kind of info out there. This is the kind of information you can only gather through doing, and it’s insanely valuable. It lets you do more of what works and less of what doesn’t. 

The grind gets less grindy. The results get more resulty.

What kind of data can you collect?

• Timing each outreach effort per lead. Are you getting faster? What’s helping?

• Subject lines. What performed better?

• Lead types. Are there kinds of people you reach out to that seem more interested in your stuff?

• Bounce rates. Are you using spam-triggering language so your emails aren’t getting delivered? You can Google spam checkers for emails to see if your messages are likely to flag them.

• Types of outreach. Are you getting more traction on different platforms? (Email, LinkedIn DMs, Instagram DMs).

• Text vs. video. Does sending a personalized video make any difference?

If you only do one, time your outreach effort per lead. If you don’t know how quickly you’re working, it's hard to get faster.

And, of course, WRITE IT DOWN. Put it in a spreadsheet. You will never remember all these details. The lead name, the date you sent it, notes, and follow up details are just fine. 

If you feel overwhelmed at analyzing any patterns in your data, just feed the whole spreadsheet to ChatGPT and ask it to do that for you.

3. Point Your Effort in the Right Direction

Targeting the right clients is one of the most important aspects of client acquisition for copywriters—those who both need your services and can afford them. 

It’s frustrating for both you and the client when they aren’t in a position to hire you. You’ll inevitably do it unintentionally, but there are ways to reduce it happening.

I mention it because it was a major issue I had in the beginning – and I see it a bunch with new copywriters. I’d go after people who clearly needed my service, but keep running into “I can’t afford this” and mistrust.

A lot of businesses in the early stages may need you, but they’re still in the DIY phase. They’re not used to investing in services like yours or trusting another professional to handle their internal tasks. 

Here’s my experience in finding people who are past that stage – ready and willing to hire services like yours.

Sweet Spots & Green Flags

When targeting potential clients, look for businesses that are established enough to afford your services but still in need of what you offer. For example, if a tiny biz you found on Instagram doesn’t have a website, it might be hard to pitch them a full website of copy.

Having a website is a green flag in my book. So is having an email list (a place on their website where they can subscribe).

Having at least one employee or outsourced help, like a virtual assistant, is another great sign. This often means they have a budget for external services and understand the value of delegation. I like reaching out and hearing an assistant answer.

A company having very minimal, poor copy – and not having it at all – gives me pause. Businesses with decent existing copy are often ideal targets. These companies see the importance of good content but haven’t yet nailed it. 

You never know what’s going on behind the scenes, too, so seeing lots of copy produced can be a good sign. Maybe it’s taken care of just fine in-house. But you’d be surprised at the amount of businesses who are desperate to offload it. You may be their ticket to freeing up their time or their VA’s time.

One caveat: Businesses that are the first hits on Google in a broad niche might be the industry giants. They’re often over your head (for now!).

But their followers—those who are engaging with their content—could be perfect clients for you. I would check out the industry giants Linkedin posts, YouTube channel, podcasts, and Instagram, and see who's consistently commenting. Look into whether they align with your ideal client. A single industry leader could be a pond of tons of leads.

They Can’t Afford Me But I Feel Bad!

It’s okay if you wouldn’t be able to afford your own services. Ideally, you need to pitch people who can afford you, but if you run into those who can’t, there’s ways to help.

That’s what free resources are for. Bookmark your favorite related YouTube videos to send them. Same with how-to blogs you find helpful. And as you get more margin, you can create your own free resources.

4. Once I Find Them…Now What?

Message them! 

There’s no one-size-fits-all system for client acquisition for copywriters. In fact, there are loads of ways to message potential clients. Experiment with multiple channels and see what works best for you.

Email Outreach

Email is one of the most direct and effective ways to reach potential clients. 10/10 recommend. A bunch of times, you’ll find their email right on their website, often buried in the privacy policy. 

Sending a customized, concise message that addresses their specific needs can work wonders. Some that I’ve seen work well are:

• A template you created with a customized section (plus you can pre-load the template onto your Gmail so you don’t have to copy/paste it every time).

• A very concise, very personalized, 100% custom message.

• An email with a Loom video you made for them.

Direct Messages (DMs)

Social media platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram are goldmines for connecting with potential clients. Getting DMs is less common, so they can get a nice response rate.

LinkedIn, in particular, is great for professional networking and business outreach. You can send a direct message to decision-makers, bypassing the gatekeepers that sometimes block email outreach. And you can look up WHO the decision makers are on the company pages.

On Instagram, DMing business owners can also be an effective strategy. The informal nature of Instagram makes for a more personal touch, and a video or voice message can pique immediate interest. 

Don’t be afraid to experiment with different formats—text, video, or even audio messages—each has its own appeal depending on the platform.

Doing It All!

If you really want to get a potential client’s attention, reach out wherever you find them. You could email them, DM them on LinkedIn, AND send them a quick message on Instagram.

The more touch points you create, the more likely they are to notice you. People are busy! It’s unlikely they’re even going to get them all. Don’t be shy.

5. What Should You Say?

In client acquisition for copywriters, clarity and specificity will be superpowers. Tell them why you’re reaching out. Quickly establish your offer. Add some credibility. Thank them, and give them a clear, very easy next step (like a link to book a call).

They want a problem solver, not a suck up

"I can improve your email marketing!" doesn’t grab attention. People are bombarded with ads that say that.

“I subscribed to your emails and noticed your welcome sequence is promoting something you don’t offer any more. I can write you one that promotes what you’re offering now,” shows that you’ve taken the time to do research and have a concrete solution in mind.

“I’m a copywriter in your industry! Let me know if you need any help!” tells your recipient that you need a lot of managing (which is more work for your client).

“I noticed your bio says you have several other books you’d like to publish since this recent one – I ghostwrite memoirs for [your industry] and I want to write yours,” tells the recipient you can handle spotting problems and solving them yourself. Major value.

Customize, But Fast

While personalization works magic, it shouldn’t be time-consuming. 

I’ve enjoyed using a template with core elements—like your greeting, value proposition, and call-to-action—and tweaking a specific part to fit each prospect. 

For videos, I’ll do something similar as a script.

For example, mention a specific challenge they’re facing and how you can solve it: "I’ve enjoyed your LinkedIn posts on your new course that’s coming up. I do launch copy, and I know what a time crunch it can be. I’d like to support any copy you need to wrap up to make the launch as successful as possible.”

Less than five minutes of research goes a long way.

Look at their website and what they sell. Figure out what their goals may be (like a launch, or selling a service), and what you can do to support them.

Clarity Over Everything

Get straight to the point. Lower your writing’s reading level. Don’t let them be confused about what you’ll do for them. Make your message as short as you can. Like, to where it seems almost unprofessional.

The clearer your message, the easier it is for potential clients to see the value in what you offer. They care about your solutions, not your services (even if that’s the vehicle to the solutions).

You’re not applying for a job. You’re not schmoozing a professor. Especially on a call. Let’s talk about it.

You’re a Peer, Not a Candidate

You’ve gotta stop thinking of pitches and client calls as interviews where you need to prove yourself. It reeks of “I need to be managed and affirmed or I’ll fall apart.”

Approach them as discussions between equals. You’re there to solve a problem, not to impress them. Focus on their needs, not your qualifications.

Your results, past client proof, and qualifications are important — but they need to support your client’s needs, not be the star of the show.

Shift the conversation from “Here’s what I’ve done” to “Tell me about your goals.” That’s how you’ll organically transition to “Here’s how I’ll solve your current problem.” 

Frame your conversation around the specific results you’ll deliver – with the foundation being their goals. 

You have to do a little bit of estimating when you’re doing research to discover their goals. But even if you guess wrong, you’ve proven that you’re proactively solving problems.

In my experience, pitching an offer that doesn’t fit their current needs gets more work than pitching a generic menu of services. I’ve had lots of clients pivot the conversation with an “actually, we would really like your help with [different but related service].”

Win-win.

6. Top Client Acquisition Mistakes Copywriters Make

It’s time to call out those procrastination tasks that masquerade as productivity. When I’m in client-getting seasons, I have to make sure I’m not sliding back into these.

a. Not Doing Enough Volume
If you’re only reaching out to a handful of prospects, you’re not giving yourself enough chances to succeed. Low volume skews your data and can make you think your strategy isn’t working. Remember, if you reach out to 50 people and no one responds – a 1% conversion rate is gonna look like half a client. Of course you’re not going to see results.

b. Procrastinating with *Perfectionism*
Spending most of your time perfecting your cold email, website, or branding is procrastination. It’s reorganizing your pantry instead of doing your taxes. A good message sent today is better than a perfect one sent never.

c. Taking Too Much Time per Lead
One hour spent customizing a single cold email is too much, unless it’s for a hot lead. I strongly recommend getting your time-per lead efforts to 5 minutes or less. It’ll take practice to get there, but it’s about to be one of your highest-value investments for your business. Speed up your process by using templates or outlines, and cut out ANYTHING non-essential. Become a speed-researcher. The faster you can reach more prospects, the quicker you’ll start closing deals.

d. Switching Tactics Too Soon
Consistency is your friend. When you’re new to outreach, your gut telling you that things should be working faster is impatience, not intuition. It’s tempting to change your approach when that where-are-the-clients panic hits. But before you switch niches, rewrite your email, or change your outreach method, give it enough time and volume to gather meaningful data. Usually, 100 reps of a strategy will give you the insights you need to decide if it’s working or not. And if something is working well, it’ll probably show up a lot sooner than the 100th rep.

e. Neglecting Follow-Ups
People are busy. Your first email frequently gets lost in the shuffle. Following up is critical, especially as a reply to the original. It shows persistence and can often be the nudge a potential client needs to respond. Don’t be afraid to follow up a week later, two weeks later, or even more. I can’t tell you how many leads I’ve had thank me for circling back, since they were in a busy season.

f. Treating It Like an Interview
As mentioned earlier, you’re not applying for a job—you’re offering a service and solutions. Don’t approach client conversations as if you need to prove yourself. It’s desperate. Instead, focus on how you can solve their problems and deliver results.

Getting Clients – No One’s Favorite Task, But Very High ROI

Client acquisition for copywriters is what stops most of them from getting paid. But it’s less about skills than it is about numbers.

By focusing on picking a direction (niche/specialty), high volume, and targeted messaging, you can significantly improve your chances of success. 

There’s no secret formula—just the tried-and-true combination of persistence, customization, and data-driven adjustments. Play that numbers game until you win.

Do more follow ups and less procrastination.

Jot down those lead details in a spreadsheet to make data analysis – and tracking leads – easier.

When you need insights, review your sheet or throw it into ChatGPT and ask it to review patterns for you.

So now you need leads. I like splitting my tasks into a whole lotta lead gathering, then on a different day, a whole lotta outreach.

Finding leads can be tedious. And overwhelming. So I made a chatbot to give you a head start.

Meet Cleo, my free client acquisition assistant chatbot. You can talk to Cleo about your niche and offers, then she’ll start up a lead list. She’ll research and present the company, their email (if found), and more.

Imagine getting started with a ready-made spreadsheet of leads. Drop your email and I’ll get you two connected.

Pricing for Beginner Copywriters – Make It Rain While Charging Fairly

A 2024 Pricing Guide & Popular Offers You Can Steal

written by Sarah Check & AI Sarah

What should I charge for XYZ???

The #1 question I see in copywriting forums. It makes sense. As a beginner, it's easy to feel like you don’t just need a price – you need a solid justification for when the client tells you it’s too much.

Pricing for beginner copywriters tends to turn into a cycle of second-guessing your rates.

You constantly compare them to what others are charging.

You endlessly tweak your pricing sheet.

You freak out when you see some dude on Upwork will write that copy for $15. 

But here's the truth: agonizing over your rates is a super popular procrastination tactic. It just dresses itself up as “wanting to charge fairly” and “doing your research.”

While pricing is important, what truly drives your business forward is landing clients and delivering great work. 

The sooner you come up with a pricing structure—even if it’s not perfect—the sooner you can start focusing on what really matters: getting clients and building your experience. Pricing yourself low doesn’t give clients a better deal. Acting like your premium pricing and getting better with your copywriting gives them a better deal. 

I wrote this blog to time-machine it back to 2020 Sarah, who felt guilty with any pricing.

We’ll cover key factors that influence pricing, common mistakes to avoid, and practical examples you can adapt to your own services. Don’t worry – I’ve got a nice itemized pricing list with actual numbers if that’s what you’re into.

Plus, I’ll introduce you to a chatbot I trained that can help you refine offers and your pricing even further. It’s as easy as talking to her for a few minutes.

1. What You’ve Gotta Know About Pricing

When it comes to pricing for beginner copywriters – or expert ones – there’s no single “right” answer. People sell web copy for $50 to $50,000. And there are clients for every price range

It’s tempting to think there’s a magic formula clients are comparing you to, but the truth is, there’s usually a sweet spot you discover over time. And it evolves as you get more experience.

What matters most is picking a price and seeing how it lands in the market. The experience you get from testing your rates will be far more valuable than waiting to feel 100% comfortable with a number.

Remember. There are people writing much worse copy than you that are charging egregious rates. And they don’t plan on improving. And people still keep hiring them.

You’re probably not giving your effort or standards enough credit.

Here’s what I’d tell 2020 Sarah:

Don’t Lowball Yourself

Do not set “competitive” prices based on what you see on platforms like Upwork or Fiverr. It undervalues your work. It attracts clients that’ll make your life miserable.

Good copy is priced on the value it provides to the client. The closer your copy is to influencing a client’s revenue—like driving sales or generating leads—the more it’s worth. It has nothing to do with an hourly rate.

If you spent 30 minutes writing a sales email that cost your client $300…is that cheating? They’re going to feel they got the deal of the year if they make $3000 with it! 

Even if they don’t pull those sales – that’s not totally in your control. What if their funnel sucked? The performance of your copy still gives them valuable data that they can apply to their next launch to make it more successful. So no, making $600/hour is not cheating.

Increase Pricing When the Copy’s Specialized

The more specialized you are in a particular industry or topic, the higher your rates can be. Even if you’re new to copywriting, if you have non-writing experience in your niche, you’re WAY ahead of a generalist. 

For example, as a nurse, I knew how patients Google their symptoms. Even when my copywriting skills were weak, my target audience knowledge was strong – which inherently fills a huge amount of the gap. 

Plus, there are certain industries that demand higher expertise. Add some more to your price if you’re copywriting for high-risk industries like medical, financial, legal, or tech.

Increase the Price When You’re Adding SEO (search engine optimization)

SEO deserves higher pricing because it both requires more research and makes the copy go farther for the client. If you’re specialized (like when I was writing for medical clients as a nurse), you’re going to have a nose for SEO that’s more likely to work well.

Side note: since SEO applies to – you guessed it – search engines, it isn’t relevant for copy that’s not going to be searchable on the internet, like email copy or some landing pages.

Don’t. Work. For Free.

Working for free is a great strategy in some cases. But when your clientele is small clients and companies, it can be super unproductive. 

Over and over, I see this awful cycle of beginners offering their services for free (or super cheap) because the lead struggles to afford them.

If they can’t afford you now…how do you know they’ll afford you later?

Offering free work is great for situations where you’re pretty experienced and you want to pitch a premium client that’s drowning in options. These people are not desperate for you, but you know you can give them stellar results. Like, if I wanted to work with an industry expert who had copywriters pitching them every day, I’d want to stand out by delivering value up front. 

Free work’s also a good option when you’re refining a novel service or product. As you test something with really unforeseeable outcomes, it’s classy to make their buy-in easy. But I doubt you’re offering something that new if you’re doing common types of copy.

And…if you really want to…you can do free stuff to build your initial portfolio and testimonial base. 

Otherwise, set a fair price and stick to it. Your time and skills are worth something from day one.

Raise Your Rates As You Get Experience & Get Results

Pricing isn’t static. As you gain experience and build your portfolio, you can and should raise your rates. Add in inflation. 

Start somewhere, learn from client feedback, and adjust accordingly.

Remember, pricing is a learning process. Pitch your price, see how people react. See what people it attracts. See what people it repels. 

Raise your price when you get your clients results (you’ve proven the value of your service!). Raise those prices when you’ve been doing the same thing for a year. Raise your prices just for the heck of it to see what happens.

2. Pricing Copy When You Don’t Have Experience

Charge based on the value you deliver. But what about when you don’t know what that value is – and you have no client results yet?

First, I strongly recommend project-based pricing rather than hourly rates. Project-based pricing encourages you to work more efficiently because you’ll make more money the faster you work. Plus, you’re delivering very different value with different types of copy. A blog might not be worth $500/hour, but a landing page might.

Additionally, project-pricing gives clear, predictable costs for your clients, making it easier for them to plan their budgets. It's better for both of you.

Here’s some recommended starting rates for BEGINNER copywriting. This isn’t based on an industry standard. It’s what I’ve seen over the past 5 years in the industry and with my peers.

• Blog Posts: $200 per 1K to 1.3K-word blog with SEO. If you're writing for specialized industries such as medical, legal, financial, or tech, consider adding $100 to your base rate. Add another $100 for a 2k+ word count.

• Website Pages: $500 for a minimum of 500 words, including SEO. Add $100 for specialized industries like medical, legal, financial, tech, or high-ticket products. Charge at least $1000 for one-page websites.

• Emails:

• Nurture or Newsletter Emails: $75 each.

• Sales Emails: $200 per email in a campaign. Double it for high-ticket and high-risk products.

• Landing Pages: $700 minimum. Add $500 or more for specialized industries like medical, legal, financial, tech, or high-ticket products.

• Product Descriptions: $100 each. Add $200 for specialized industries or high-ticket products.

• White Papers: $2,000. For specialized industries, double it.

• Social Media Posts: $50 for a 100-300 word post. Although social media content tends to lean more toward general content than real copy, this is a popular rate.

• Facebook Ads: Varies enormously since different “creative” needs to be tested. At least $100 per ad (they’ll often need 3-5 at a time).

It’s important to start somewhere, even if these figures seem daunting at first. And remember: charging by the project > charging by the hour.

3. Raise the Value, Raise Your Pricing: Creating Offers

As you get more experience, one of the most effective ways to increase your income is by creating and pricing bundled offers. 

Bundling related services is a win for you AND your client. You take more off your client’s plate, and it opens the door for ongoing work and retainers. 

Here are some popular bundles I’ve seen in the industry:

• Monthly Blogs + Emails + Social Media Posts: This package handles all the organic marketing copy. You can offer a monthly package that includes a set number of blog posts, corresponding emails, and social media posts. And you know what’s cool? It’s really easy to come up with related emails and SM posts right after you’ve written the blog.

• Blogs + Website Uploads & Analytics Reporting: Many clients get stressed with the backend website stuff. They love a full-service package where you write the blogs AND handle the technical side of uploading them to their site and tracking the analytics. It lets you both see how your content performs and refine the strategy over time. This package is perfect for ongoing work and retainers.

• Complete Funnel: This bundle includes everything from the opt-in page and lead magnet to the landing page, checkout page, and welcome sequence of emails. It’s a comprehensive package that supports a client’s entire sales funnel. It’s super valuable for a single copywriter to handle it all – the branding ends up much more consistent. And if you offer to do the technical side of uploading it all? More $$$.

• Sales Sequence of Emails: For clients launching a product or service, they need an email sequence. It’s high value, direct response copy – and it tends to be very easy to write.

• Whole Website with Meta Descriptions: Writing (or re-writing) web copy is super time consuming. You offer a ton of value to do it all, especially the bonus SEO and meta descriptions. It’s a big project, but it’s one that clients often need when undergoing a rebrand or launching a new business.

• Newsletters + Backend Handling: In addition to writing the copy, you can offer to manage the technical aspect of uploading emails to the client’s email platform and keeping an eye on analytics (and letting that guide future email copy into more success). You can learn on the job by asking ChatGPT about how to do stuff on their particular platform. This adds a major layer of convenience for the client.

• Cluster of Product Descriptions: This package is great for e-commerce clients who need detailed, persuasive product descriptions for a launch of related products. Offering to write multiple descriptions at once helps them maintain consistency across their catalog while saving them time.

• Cluster of Facebook Ads: Facebook ads are a high-demand service, and companies tend to need 3-5 to run at a time. Offering a bundle of ad copy lets you provide several options for the creative they need so they can test what performs well.

• Funnel Audit & Copy Pitch: You can offer to audit their existing copy, identify weak spots, and pitch new copy to improve their conversion rates. If you’ve gotten similar clients great results, then your insight’s super high value.

All you have to do to create offers is see what bundles people really want. You can see what other people are offering. Ask your clients if they’d be interested in X, Y, and Z together. 

Then, you do a little math. Add up the pieces of copy. And if there’s something you’re not sure about, give yourself a “secret” hourly rate (like $100), estimate the time it’ll take, then add that to the offer price.

If Copy Delivers the Value…

There’s A Client Willing To Pay Premium

Pricing for beginner copywriters can be all over the place. The process is as much about learning and adapting as it is about setting decent rates from the start. 

Your prices don’t have to be set in stone. They can and should evolve as you gain experience, confidence, and a proof of conversions.

One crucial step that beginners often overlook (and I know I did) is following up with clients to see how your copy performed. 

Did your emails lead to higher open rates? How many people clicked bought after hitting the landing page? This feedback not only helps you refine your skills. It gives you concrete results to back up your pricing when pitching to new clients.

The most important thing is to get your pricing out there and start working with clients. 

The experience you gain will teach you far more than hours spent agonizing over picking the “right price.” 

If you’re ready for more guidance, you need to check out Opal, my offers and pricing chatbot, for personalized advice.

She can do the math for you and help you explore putting together offers. One conversation with Opal might be the clarity you need to move forward and start pitching.

Drop your email and I’ll connect you two.

When to Use a Human Copyeditor vs Copy Editing Tools

…And What It Actually Does For Your Ability To Charge More

written by Sarah Check & AI Sarah

If you're a copywriter and a perfectionist, editing probably feels like second nature. 

Why delegate it when you're so good at it? And when it can be so fun! 

I’m right there with you.

In the beginning, I couldn't understand why anyone would pay for something I enjoyed doing myself.

I had Grammarly and a detail-oriented eye. I was convinced that professional editing was an unnecessary luxury. For people who weren’t as perfectionistic a *me*.

My humble pie got Door Dashed to my step soon enough.

The first piece of copy I got professionally edited was back in 2020 – a guest blog submission to Sarah Turner’s (Write Your Way To Freedom) blog. The lovely Carley DenBoer handled my work. 

I didn’t know what to expect. Maybe I’d get an A+ and no recommendations. Or maybe she would tear it up.

Turns out, the feedback didn’t change things as much as it made the work fresher. And I didn’t ever feel judged. Better copy AND an esteem boost.

Now, I’m converted. You need a second set of eyes for your work. Preferably a human, but AI works too.

• Obviously, you need the proofreading stuff cleaned up.

• But you also need someone who’s got a 10,000 view of the funnel & CTA.

• And if you need ideas to fix flow/voice/whatever problems, what’s Grammarly gonna do? Not give you the suggestions you need.

In this blog, I’m covering stuff I wish I knew from the beginning – including when to hire a real copyeditor (and when not to).

I’m also sharing my recommended editing resources.

Plus, I made you a chatbot copyediting assistant. Her name is Calla, and her input is free, professional, and on-demand.

1. What I Didn’t Realize About Copyediting

When I first started, I assumed that all editors did the same thing—clean up grammar, fix spelling errors, and maybe make a few suggestions for improvement. Looks like that’s not the case.

For example, proofreaders focus on the general cleanup. They’re the last line of defense, catching typos, punctuation errors, and minor grammatical issues. They make sure that your work is technically error-free before it’s published.

On the other hand, copyeditors are specialized. They don’t just correct mistakes – they make sure your writing is coherent, on track, and tailored for its place in the funnel. 

They’ll cover the grade level of your writing and whether the copy aligns with the brand’s voice. Most importantly, they’re keeping the copy on track with the call-to-action assigned to it.

Crazy important, considering that’s why we copywriters get hired.

I also didn’t realize that different editors specialize in different types of writing. 

A copywriting editor isn’t going to take on someone’s fiction manuscript. They handle persuasive writing that sells stuff, which is going to have different editing needs.

That’s why something feels off when you use grammar/editor tools for copywriting. It’s a nuanced skill set that doesn’t always roll over to other kinds of writing. You tend to need a more relaxed writing and grammar style, which lots of tools flag as too casual.

But clearly, those tools are still helpful.

So when do you hire a copyeditor, and when do you use the tools?

2. When to Invest in Professional Copyediting

Can it be expensive? Yes. It’s a premium service. But can it be the bridge between getting better clients, boosting your skills, and getting paid more.  

Here’s when I’d recommend looking into copyediting services.

You’re Trying Out New Types of Copy

Imagine you’re writing a landing page for the first time. It’s a very lucrative kind of copywriting. But it’s a high-stakes project where wasting words is wasting attention.

A professional copyeditor’s handled plenty of them. They know what works. If anyone can help set up your landing page for success, it’s them.

That gives you the kind of confidence (and success!) to try out those higher-paying projects – even as a beginner. 

You’re Unsure About Your Work’s Quality

It can take a while to build your confidence when you’re flying solo as a freelancer. How do you know if your copy is hitting the mark? 

A copyeditor’s expertise can really stand in the gap. They don’t just make changes. They provide rationales for why something works or doesn’t. It’s helpful for learning (when it’s constructive criticism) and helpful for an esteem boost (when it’s affirmative).

They draw from their experience with what has worked for other copywriters, so you’re not left feeling like you need to test everything yourself. 

You Need Really Comprehensive Feedback 

Copyeditors help keep you on track with your ultimate goal—conversions. Copy is just a piece of a funnel, not a stand-alone essay. 

You don’t want your copy to be the part of the funnel where leads drop off, so having it’s super helpful to have both the up-close and 10,000 foot perspective. Especially with direct response copy, like landing pages and sales emails.

You Want To Save Time

If you’re tired of hopping between a million different tools, a copyeditor can streamline your process. You get to focus on what you do best—writing. Copyeditors save a bunch of time you’d otherwise be re-reading your work.

You Want the Max Amount of Awesomeness in Your Copy

What can I say? The professionals make it more professional. It lets you charge more. It potentially helps it perform better. Wins all around.

Now…full disclosure.

I’ve absolutely paid a copyeditor when, in hindsight, I should have skipped it.

Let’s talk about it.

3. When to Skip Professional (Human) Copyediting

Professional editing can be incredibly valuable, but here’s when I would skip it:

You Can’t Afford It

I had a season where I made this mistake. I felt too guilty giving it a break, but I let it pinch my budget until I had no margin at all. Which left me without a professional copyeditor even longer.

You’re Submitting AI-Generated Copy

By all means, use AI to help with your writing process. But if you’re just submitting a piece you coughed up with ChatGPT, you’re essentially asking them to re-write your copy. 

It’s lazy. And they can tell it’s AI. It’ll flag for so much plagiarism and struggle to fit in the overall funnel. Giving copyeditors AI copy creates WAY more cleanup work for both you and them.

You’re Submitting Lazy Copy

If you’re hoping a copyeditor will magically fix subpar, rushed writing, maybe hire a junior copywriter to clean up your work. Or get better.

Professional editors are there to refine and elevate your work, not to rescue poorly written copy. Deliver your best effort before expecting someone else to polish it.

You Struggle With Deadlines

I’ve also made this mistake in the beginning.

Copyediting requires planning. If you’re consistently running behind on deadlines, it’ll be tough to fit in time for an editor to review your work. 

You need to plan ahead to write your copy in time to get it to the copyeditors (and back) before it's due. Working on self-accountability in that case will be more helpful than hiring an editor.

Whether you’re at a place to hire a human copyeditor, or you need some free/cheap resources, I’ve got some recommendations after 5 years of writing.

4. My Recommended Copyediting Resources ($0 to $$$)

As a copywriter, having the right tools at your disposal can restore a bunch of confidence. Here are some of the resources I’ve found incredibly helpful:

• Google Docs' Spelling/Grammar Checker (⌘+alt+X): This tool is a great first line of defense. It pulls up each error with a suggested fix and allows you to click "Ignore" or "Accept," then moves on to the next one. You can blast through corrections in a minute. While it sometimes misses things, it’s fast and integrated right into your workflow.

• Grammarly: A fast and free tool that works both as a website and a plugin. Grammarly is great for catching basic errors and making sure your writing is clean. It tends to lean a bit on the formal side, so you may want to tweak its suggestions to match the voice your copy needs.

• Hemingway: This desktop app is excellent for toning down overly complex or flowery writing. And if you’re new to copywriting, I promise, it’s too fancy. It highlights sentences that are hard to read and gives you a readability score, which is particularly helpful for copywriting, where we need to convert, not impress. 

• Quetext: A subscription-based tool that checks for plagiarism and can detect an “AI” tone in your writing. It’s a user-friendly resource when you want your content to sound both original and authentically human.

• This Copyeditor Chatbot: My ChatGPT team member reviews my work and gives me a list of editing suggestions without altering the actual copy. It’s a super fast, free second pair of eyes. It’s especially helpful when I’m struggling to connect one section to another or need a quick review.

• The Editing Marketplace: These are real humans who specialize in copyediting. I’ve had great experiences with Carley’s team—they don’t just edit your work; they also provide copy coaching. It’s an investment, but you get a lot of value from the feedback and the learning experience that comes with it.

Copyediting Keeps Your Copy From Acting Like Content.

Beyond the technical improvements, one of the biggest benefits of working with a copyeditor is the confidence it gives you. 

That boost – knowing your work has been sharpened by a pro – can give you the courage to charge more, try new kinds of copy, and ultimately step up your skill.

That’s why I trained Calla to help you out, for free.

She’s my copyeditor chatbot. 

Calla is like having a second set of eyes on demand—she reviews your copy and gives you a list of editing suggestions without tampering with the actual piece (a common issue I’ve found with many AI tools). 

If you’d like to have Calla in your corner, I’ll send her right to your inbox.

Personal Branding for Copywriters: How To Nail It Down Before the End of Today

Get consistent so you're memorable.

We're covering your color palette, brand journey, and more.

written by Sarah Check & AI Sarah

Branding, at its core, is just about creating an association in the minds of your leads. A link between what they know (themes, values, products, outcomes) and what they don’t yet know (you and your product).

It’s that simple. And with solopreneurs, you make things muddy if you overcomplicate things.

The aesthetics of branding are super seductive—logos, colors, fonts— but these aren’t the elements that will make or break your business. Particularly in the early stages. 

I remember gathering up a bouquet of cute colors, picking out stock photos, finding a cool vector of a queen chess piece for a logo, then patting myself on the back for coming up with such classy “branding.”

Problem was, it didn’t actually support my brand.

The colors were pretty, but they were hard to read when I used one as the text color and one as the background.

And the “logo” gave me some consistency – but not where I needed it (ahem, my client experience).

Branding’s way more important for the basics that support your growth and client engagement. 

Plus, many of the branding elements you think you need will naturally emerge as you consistently work within your niche and engage with clients.

For example, I had a mentor who quickly scaled his business to five-figure months without any traditional branding—no logo, no color palette, no “brand message,” not even a website. 

His aesthetic (if he even had one) was a black tee shirt and a backwards baseball cap.

What he DID have was consistency and a clear, relaxed approach to his work. 

His offers were high-ticket, and his business decisions were driven by simplicity and premium service delivery.

For instance, he’d skip on building a website because he was finding clients fine without it. Yet he didn’t hesitate to drop money on transcription services that let him dictate his writing instead of typing it out.

His branding wasn’t built on visuals. It was based on strong associations with marketing, simplicity, and premium quality. 

Those themes made it super easy to add upgrades and premium touches as he scaled. 

Ironically, this twenty-something backwards baseball cap dude has a more potent brand than those who’d invested heavily in perfecting their visual identity. He’s built a strong association between what he does (marketing) and how he does it (simple & premium).

Was it because he “decided” those elements when he “built his brand message?” Yeah, no. He would never.

They showed up organically as he ruthlessly focused on making money as efficiently as possible. Those associations baked themselves into his messaging and client experience. And into my coachee experience.

Much of your brand’s identity will reveal itself through your consistency and the value you deliver. And I want this blog to give you a shortcut to starting off strong.

I spent a ton of time on branding in the beginning of my business, but not in a way that turned out to be useful. 

I want only the useful stuff for you. That’s why this blog covers:

• Your brand elevator pitch (which naturally packs in a bunch of core brand components, and is insanely practical for outreach & copy)

• Your brand experience (brand operations that give you consistency and your clients confidence in you)

• Your brand visuals (colors, fonts, the stuff that is great to have as a reference so your online presence isn’t a total mixed bag)

And to make this even easier, I’ll introduce you to Bree, a GPT chatbot I trained to help you build your brand basics kit. Have a conversation with Bree, and she’ll guide you through creating all those brand foundation. 

You can have a robust (and actually useful) brand kit by the end of the day.

1. More Than Simple – Keeping It Essential

Trying to curate the perfect branding early is one of the most fun ways to procrastinate what you actually need to do to move the biz forward.

Why do boring cold emails when you could be pouring over a Pinterest board?

At this stage, basic branding can be incredibly valuable, but only if it's making your client acquisition and client experience more efficient. 

Could you tell me what Chick-fil-A’s exact branding strategy looks like? Probably not.

But you could probably recognize it if you saw billboards of illiterate cows begging for their lives (client acquisition), and you received your food to a “my pleasure” greeting (client experience).

Think of basic branding like picking out a sensible signature outfit. It’s about having something you can rely on daily.

You know you’ll upgrade over time, but for now, this outfit saves you from decision fatigue and helps you stay focused on what matters most—growing your business.

Over-branding in the early stages is like spending money on getting your car detailed — when what you really need is gas. A lot of brand elements, like a brand voice guide and icons, aren’t useful until you’re delegating, and team members need a more in-depth reference. 

For a solopreneur, the focus should be on branding elements that support your immediate goals: clarity, consistency, and client engagement.

It lets you concentrate on delivering value and testing your offers. After 5 years in the biz of copywriting/marketing, that’s what I’ve found to truly be essential.

As you gain more experience and feedback, your branding will naturally evolve. Plus, the organic growth tends to make your brand feel more authentic and become more aligned with your business’s actual needs. 

2. Creating Consistency (Why We Care About Branding At All)

Branding is not a magic wand that attracts premium clients. Seducing clients with an aesthetic isn’t the most sustainable mode of client acquisition if you’re a freelance copywriter/marketer.

Your brand’s reputation is more influenced by your integrity and consistency than by any visual element or clever tagline. Especially in the beginning.

People driving in the American south (where I’m at) love stopping at Buccee’s gas stations. Is it because I love getting road snacks with a beaver logo (branding visuals), or I want a million slushy options (unique selling point)? Those are cool, but no.

People love those gas stations because their bathrooms are always clean. That’s integrity and consistency.

Buccee’s has absolutely wild billboards. Things like “Potty Like a Rockstar” and “You Can Hold It.” But my very favorite (and some of the cleverest marketing I’ve seen) is the one that says–

Top 2 reasons to stop at Buccee’s:

#1

#2 

So what does that kind of branding look like for us entrepreneurs? 

Clarity in your offers. Talking about your offers over and over. Delivering your offers in the same quality SOP, over and over.

We’ll cover how to tactically do that in the next section.

So what’s Buccee’s brand voice, brand message, brand values, brand fonts? Who cares? We’re here for the bathrooms.

That’s why trying to nail down your brand voice too early can be counterproductive. It’s like getting a custom pair of jeans made for your future self—you don’t know how you’ll change or what will suit you best as your business grows. You need something that works for right now.

Same with the branding. Pull together something that works well now (so you’re not totally directionless) then refine it over time based on real-world feedback.

3. Your Brand Elevator Pitch: a Whole Stack of Brand Elements

I know I started entrepreneur-ing to give myself the freedom to actually scale my income and time freedom (I was an RN through the Covid year. Enough said.)

But for as tough as it was being a corporate cog, it’s still really tough being a one man show. 

So how was I going to cut through the internet noise as some rando sitting on her couch with a laptop?

I remember the moment it clicked. I was at a mastermind where the session was on creating your brand’s elevator pitch. A surprisingly tough exercise, since there was no room for fluff. 

But that’s what made it so powerful – the brand elevator pitch was essentially a raw sandwich of your brand offer, unique selling point, target audience, and brand promise.

It’s a statement that answers three crucial questions:

• What do you offer?

• Who is it for?

• Why should they care? 

You can use it in your copy on your website. Social media banners. Discovery calls. When you’re out and about talking to people about what you do. It’s insanely versatile. 

And since it’s the first impression your leads will get of you, it does a lot of heavy lifting for your brand.

Here’s the formula:

“[Business name/You] offers/does [product and/or service]. 

We help [ideal customer] [avoid pain point] so they can [deep desire].”

That’s it. But it covers several brand essentials in one place:

• Brand Positioning. What the heck do you even do that’s so special? It’s elementary, but think about the buildings or websites you’ve come across that feel professional – but you have no idea what they sell.

  What would you think if you say the elevator pitch: “We’re committed to equipping female-owned small businesses so they can market themselves successfully.” Cool, so is it copywriting? An ad agency? A warehouse of blazers? 

  A solid elevator pitch is a great tool for taking out the corporate-ese and bringing it down to earth. Like, “I write email copy for personal fitness trainers so they can stop having launches flop and instead build a list that’s thrilled to pre-buy whenever a new product is dropped.”

• Target Audience. Your ideal client should know you’re talking to them. Not whatever generic client will hire you. Targeting specific people (and leaving others out) tells them that you target specific problems. You know, the ones so relevant to those ideal clients that they’d pay you to fix them.

• Brand Promise. You’re clarifying the Big Relief from the get-go. The pain point. People don’t buy stuff as much as they buy relief from frustrations and problems. You’re connecting the dots for them with the [deep desire] section. 

So once you’ve got your killer brand elevator pitch, you’ve basically clarified yourself. That puts you ahead of every business that’s getting lost curating the perfect brand kit!

4. Your Brand Journey – Clients Never Forget How You Made Them Feel

This is an unconventional branding take. But your client’s experience working with you is a MAJOR component of your brand.

After all, we can talk about brand values, brand messaging, brand purpose…but the client experience is where they all show up.

That mentor from earlier? I doubt he had a whiteboard that said “My brand values: simplicity and premium service.” But those certainly showed up in how he closed people on 50K services right on the call, no formal proposal (does it get simpler/more premium than that?).

So instead of gazing at our navels and crafting fancy statements for our brand – let’s just turn the client journey into a standard operating procedure (SOP) we can continue to improve over time.

From my experience, there’s 3 main parts of your client experience:

1. Onboarding

2. Communication during the project

3. Offboarding (delivering the product and communication afterwards)

We could add the client acquisition process, where the client is more of a lead at that point. I’ll talk about that in its own blog.

Onboarding

What’s the steps you and a client go through to get things set up pre-project? 

Right now, for me, I have a discovery call where I feel out whether they’re a good fit for my offer. Then I pitch’em. I tell them what they get, what the process looks like, and what it’ll do for them.

If they’re on board, I ask if there’s any reason they couldn’t sign a contract and pay the deposit today. If they’re ready to roll, I gather needed info for the contract and send the contract via a Honeybooks email, which also includes a payment link (Stripe) and a rehash of the call and what they can expect next.

I often have this all pre-drafted before the call so I’m not spending hours afterwards getting my poop in a group.

Project communication

Do you send updates? Do you need anything from THEM during the process? And when?

When my work was more with blogs and websites, I made the mistake of going radio silent until my work was delivered and I needed their edit requests. I figured that telling them I’d get back to them in a week was fine. I was being low maintenance, right?

In hindsight, I wish I sent a quick mid-week update to feel like a quick win for them (and to remind them I’d need their edit requests within a week after delivering the first draft). 

I believe this would have kept clients from feeling so antsy about having deadlines met. And helped them get their edits in on time.

Offboarding

How do you like to deliver your stuff? Do you follow up, and when?

You’ve got a ton of goodwill and momentum at this juncture. I love delivering stuff via a link in an email. I tell them whatever they need to know, and I include a Loom video where I walk through their actual deliverable. 

Right now, I’m also adding follow-up checkpoints to see how things are going. And to see if they need anything else! That’s bonus work.

Standardizing these client experiences does SO much to strengthen your brand. It lets you stop reinventing the wheel and give you something to reference when you forget what to do next.

It gives you expectations you can share with the client – and as you fulfill them, it builds their trust and satisfaction.

Plus, it doesn’t need to be complicated. Just write down what you do for each part in a Google Doc.

• List the relevant software you use.

• Include links to where you set up contracts, arrange payment, etc.

• Update it if certain tweaks make the process better for you and your client.

This is the kind of thing that’s amazingly helpful to have as a reference when you bring a VA on board.

What’s also great is that as you refine your SOPs, your brand values, purpose, and messaging organically come through. Instead of trying to come up with them at the beginning, they’ll float to the surface. 

That’s how I discovered mine. Another mentor listened to my process, and mentioned “It sounds like ease and integrity are really important to how you work.”

She was right. It clicked. Those were my brand values, and the services I offered were to give my clients ease and integrity in their organic marketing (brand purpose). 

5. Your Brand Identity – It’s Easy to Avoid Looking Like a Mess

This is the stuff that *feels* like real branding. Color palette, fonts, imagery, logos, etc. It’s more of the outfit you wear. It’s not the thing that sells people on your product, but it sure can help.

I come from a family that has very intense opinions on design. Kerning was a household term (it’s the spacing between letters).

It boils down to making your look clear, consistent, and not distraction.

• You don’t want text that’s hard to read (either by color issues or funky fonts)

• You don’t want stuff that’s not relevant or implies something different than what you want (like having too much going on visually, or having a logo that looks like you offer a different service)

Clear and representative. That’s all.

From my experience:

• Your color palette needs to have the margin for text to be readable. A cool stack of colors isn’t going to help if you can hardly read any combo of text/background. A primary, secondary, accent, light neutral, and dark neutral will have you well taken care of.

• Your fonts need to pair well and be readable. 2-4 is fine. A serif font for titles and sans serif font for the body text will put you way ahead of your peers. Make sure both are legible when you look at them on a phone.

• Your logo isn’t super important, but if you opt for one from Canva or something (it can be nice to stick on contracts, websites, whatever), make it clear enough to see as a teeny thumbnail. Don’t add loads of words or make the lines too thin. Simple is your friend. That’s why I’ve got a queen chess piece.

• Your images (photography, icons) aren’t going to launch you into a pile of premium clients if it's good – but if they suck, it can deter them. Don’t get complicated with this. You do not have to go on Canva and pick out a bunch of cool stuff that feels on brand. The best look with the lowest budget I’ve seen for streamlining your brand look is getting a single photography session from a BRAND photographer. The editing and elements are naturally cohesive. You’ll have options across the board. It’s also a bunch of fun.

But don’t forget. Using default colors, default text, and a great selfie also work great for your brand visuals. 

But what if you DO want these elements – but you’re overwhelmed? Hang tight, I made a chatbot that’ll handle it for you.

Brand = Reputation. 

Branding For a Solopreneur is Nailing Down Integrity.

Basic branding is like picking out a signature outfit—it’s practical, saves you time, and helps people recognize you. And you’ll naturally gravitate to most elements, you don’t have to build it all from the ground up.

You don’t need to overcomplicate it in the beginning. A strong elevator pitch, quality SOPs, and solid visuals, you can create branding that serves you well now and gives you room to grow.

Remember, your brand won’t land you the gig or guarantee success, but it will help maintain your impression when you’re not there. Your integrity, consistency, and the experience you deliver will have a louder, more positive impact on your brand’s reputation than any logo or color scheme.

As you continue to grow, many of the branding elements you think you need now will naturally come to the surface through your work and client interactions. Stay focused on what matters: delivering value and being consistent.

To help you get started, I’m introducing Bree, a GPT-powered chatbot that can assist you in building your brand basics kit. 

Those three essentials we talked about? She covers that with you in a conversation. Brand elevator pitch, brand journey, and brand identity basics.

Bree will guide you through crafting your elevator pitch, defining your brand’s core elements, and ensuring your branding is practical and effective. Whether you’re just starting out or refining your existing brand, Bree will help you stay on track without getting lost in the details.

Drop your email and I’ll get you connected.

You’re Not Bad with Technology: How I Fix All My Tech Issues Without Crying or Procrastinating

From One Freelancer to Another – Tactical Tips & a Free Tech-Support Chatbot

written by Sarah Check & AI Sarah

If you tell yourself, “I’m SO bad with technology,” this blog is for you. 

First off, stop saying that. Not a boss vibe.

As a freelancer, you can’t side-step tech challenges – and avoiding them can (and WILL) cannibalize your business.

The entrepreneurs you look up to most? They’ve had late nights on the laptop trying to set up their website. Troubleshoot automations. Figure out why their payroll didn’t go through. Arrange the landing page blocks in the right order. Send the invoice the right way.

It’s not sexy, but seriously – we’ve all been there.

So how do we “been there”…but faster? Tech troubles have a nasty way of eating your energy and motivation in huge chunks. Reducing the tech issues and the time it takes to resolve them has major ROI.

Over the years, I’ve had loads of tech troubles that had me in tears. There isn’t really a secret to making things easier other than:

• You need to commit to believing it’s figureoutable (trust me, it is).

• You’ve got to act like it by putting in the work.

But here’s the really, really great news – 99.9% of the time, someone else has figured it out. It’s just a matter of finding how they did it most efficiently.

I’ve got 8 tactical tips on what’s helped me go from hours to minutes when troubleshooting. 

But better than that – I built you a free on-demand chatbot that can give you customized tech support tailored for tech conundrums that come up as a freelancer.

Let’s go!

1. You’ve Got To Stop Avoiding Them (That’s What’ll Give You Power As An Entrepreneur)

As a freelancer, you don’t get the option of sidestepping technology. It’s a part of the deal.

Thankfully, you don’t have to make it complicated. You don’t have to master all the software or become a tech guru. 

But your unwillingness (or procrastination) with facing tech challenges will directly limit your ability to grow and make money.

I’m talking about things like:

• Building your own website

• Learning how to find and understand backend analytics

• Exploring automations to make your systems easier

• Using search engines efficiently (like Google)

• Using long language model AI (like ChatGPT)

• Even just figuring out how to adjust the font on your Google Docs

Early on, I loved telling myself that I wasn’t great with tech. I used this cop-out partly because my brother literally graduated at 18 with his Bachelor’s degree in computer science. How could I compare to that? 

Mostly, though, it felt like a justifiable Band-Aid when things got too frustrating. Why push through when I could ask someone more tech-savvy… or just give up?

Well, as a business owner, you’re the boss. It’s your job to figure things out. The person paying for your unwillingness or procrastination with tech issues is YOU. 

Thankfully, part of being a great boss to yourself is making things easier for yourself, even if you can’t avoid facing tech challenges. Let’s talk more about those. 

2. Dumber People Have Figured Out the Tech Issues You’re Avoiding

Perseverance will take you a lot farther than skill when it comes to tech. There are people way less savvy with technology who are doing the things you wish you knew how to do. 

It's not because they're "young" or "good with computers." It's because they stuck with solving the problem.

They were willing to:

• Find some low-quality video on YouTube where a nice professor explains how to work Excel

• Commit to an hour of the old "plug & play," trying out different things until something worked

• Reach out to a friend or acquaintance who does stuff like what they’re trying to accomplish

• Haunt some Reddit forums

• Berate Google/ChatGPT/etc. until it gave them something that worked.

Thankfully, now you can get AI to do a lot of that research for you and compile it into a nice step-by-step guide of what to do next. 

The “secret” is persistence. It’s the knife in procrastination’s gut. It’ll always trump skill in Freelancerville. Stick with it, and you'll be surprised at how many issues weren’t that hard to solve.

3. Start Simple and Upgrade Over Time

Online freelancers have to use some software to get the job done. And there’s a ton of software that would be happy to take your money to help support your business. 

I was totally overwhelmed in the beginning.

What’s the right website hosting platform?

Invoicing software?

Email marketing platform?

Course hosting platform?

Do I get them all separate, or try out the ones that integrate lots of different functions? 

The major issue was that I treated these decisions like they were irreversible.

You're not picking a life partner, your retirement investments, or a degree from a university. 

Software decisions are extremely reversible. There’s nothing stopping you from using one website hosting platform for a year and then switching to something different if you find a better fit. Great businesses do it all the time.

What I didn’t understand as a newbie was that savvy business owners have no problem switching up their systems or software when they see it’ll make things easier. 

You can do this with both the software you’re using and the business systems you have in place. 

Change how you onboard clients if you found something more efficient. Cancel your invoicing software subscription if you discover a better one. You’re not getting points docked from some Business Police.

A big reason I was stressed about picking the “right” technology was because I thought I needed something that could grow with me. 

While this CAN be useful, it’s a lot more useful to work with technology that will actually get you using it. You don’t have to learn on a stickshift every time you’ve got a new technology to navigate.

In the beginning, you won’t need all the bells and whistles. You might later on, but that doesn’t mean you need the fancier software from the start.

Most software technology can be divided into two rough categories: user-friendly with fewer features and more complex with a steeper learning curve. 

In my experience, if you’re starting out, there’s no shame in using something user-friendly. It boosts your confidence and strengthens your foundational skills faster. 

Your software doesn’t make you “more professional.” Your integrity does. People build 6-7-8 figure businesses on Gmail and Google Docs.

4. Don’t Reinvent Resources That Are Already Available

You’re not the only one who has tried to figure out the tech problems on your plate. People have created TONs of resources that’ll make things faster. 

I know, the emotional strain of figuring out your own tech troubles hurts a lot. That’s why business owners shell out thousands of dollars to get someone else to fix tech problems for them. 

I’ve seen countless beginner freelancers on forums looking for someone to help with their website. Not because they could afford it or were strapped for time – but because they were intimidated by trying to figure it out themselves.

Use the resources available to you:

• Call up customer support

• Go to the software website FAQ or blog

• Do a Google search

• Find a relevant blog post

• Watch tutorial videos on YouTube

• Ask questions on Reddit forums (or creep around to see what people already said)

• Reach out to a friend for some fresh eyes

• Ask ChatGPT for help (my ultimate favorite!)

There are good reasons to pay someone to handle your tech struggles, but in the beginning, being intimidated is a terrible reason to outsource tech. 

You likely don’t have the budget for it, and the perseverance muscles you build by tackling these challenges will flex in other areas of your freelancing.

5. Block an Hour to Tackle Tech Issues

For most of us, dealing with technology isn't stressful because it takes a lot of time. It's because we have trouble tolerating the emotional discomfort of figuring out the unknown for more than five minutes. 

Everything gets so much more frustrating because a tech problem usually stands directly in the way of a bigger task we need to complete. We'd much rather be dealing with the task on the other side, but now we have two tasks to worry about.

Another thing that escalates our emotions is this fear that we ultimately won't be able to figure out the problem. 

As a recovering perfectionist, this mindset was especially popular in my head. 

A mentor once gave me a great piece of advice: if you’ve got a problem in your business that’s totally overwhelming, schedule one hour just to work on it.

• It takes away some of the pressure of getting to the task on the other side.

• It gives you the margin to take your time figuring something out instead of pressuring yourself to squeeze it in between other tasks.

Block out an hour. You’ll make a ton of progress. And you’ll see how much a single issue was congesting your business.

6. Sometimes It’s Hard Because You’re Making It Harder For Yourself

You don’t get points by making things more “fancier” (e.g. more complicated). Simple is king.

And alot of the time, the simplicity you’re looking for with tech is living outside the box.

Let’s say you’re having trouble figuring out how to use the “send proposal” feature on your client management platform. You got Honeybooks or Dubsado or whatever, and you’re super excited to have a platform that’ll do it all!

You’ve got an interested lead because you just had a call. But you’re getting stuck on the proposal. You can’t get it to send a test to yourself to see if it works. It’s hard to write, you don’t know if you’re formatting it the way you’re supposed to, and you’re really stressing out because you don’t want to lose this potential sale.

Experienced business owners know there are loads of potential solutions to “unsolvable” problems.

• Call customer service

• Look up a video tutorial

• Check out the company’s FAQs

• Ask ChatGPT how to set it up on that specific platform

• Just send what you have as is and let the chips fall so you can course correct later

• Opt not to use that platform for the proposal and simply send it as an email

• Scrap the proposal entirely and treat the contract as the proposal that they’ll either accept or decline

• And that’s just a few options

If you’re feeling overwhelmed and out of ideas for the next step, I can’t recommend talking to a friend enough. And if one isn’t available for a brainstorming session, use AI.

7. Save & Create How-To’s for Recurring Tech Struggles

Tech troubles are inevitable. But the good news is you’re going to encounter many of the same ones repeatedly. 

Tech issues tend to be front-ended problems. Once you figure out how to solve an issue once, it doesn’t have to be a problem anymore. 

One of the biggest timesavers you can create in your business is a simple document that acts as a link library. These links could be to:

• A YouTube video that addresses a recurring problem (thank you, Squarespace and Flodesk tutorial people. You’re my hero.)

• Another document where you wrote down step-by-step instructions for a complicated process (I frequently reference my Google Doc shortcuts)

• A loom you created for yourself walking through something technical (I have lots of these, like the SOP for creating an email signup banner in Flodesk then plugging in the code to Squarespace)

Label these solutions with lots of keywords so that it’s easy to find them when you need them. 

You might only have five links that you constantly refer to, but that’s a substantial amount of time and mental energy saved.

8. Making Tech Easy for You Makes It Easy For Clients

User-friendliness gives you a ton of momentum as a beginner or when you're in an overwhelmed season. But another amazing benefit of making things simple is that it makes it easier for your clients.

 A process that’s easy for a client to navigate will always improve their customer experience. You’ll impress clients with how easy it is to work with you, not by how fancy you make things. 

If your email, a Google doc, or a spreadsheet can handle an area of your business, try it out first. There’s plenty of million-dollar businesses that keep their clients organized with these basics.

Plus, if you want to upgrade in the future as your business needs get more complex, you’ll want to be familiar with the basics of a system. For example, if you’re brand new to keeping your leads and your outreach efforts organized, a nifty customer relationship management (CRM) is not going to magically work better than a basic spreadsheet.

Are the fancy softwares helpful? Sure they are, that’s why they’re made. But they were built to solve complex problems, like overwhelming amounts of data and building automations. 

There’s a TikTok that lives in my head rent-free that perfectly illustrates this. 

An HR rep, on a Zoom call, was trying to figure out a manager's thought process on adding a QR code to an email. It had caused a lot of problems because employees tended to check their email on their phones – but they needed their phone to scan the QR code. 

At the end, the HR rep bluntly asked: “Is there a reason we didn’t just include a clickable link in the email instead of a QR code leading to a clickable link?”

You have no idea how many business owners complicate their systems by over-fancifying technology like this. Keep it simple, and you'll improve both your efficiency and your client's experience.

That Tech Snag That’s Stalling Your Business?

That’s The Exact Place Your Peers Are Giving Up.

Keep Going.

Dealing with tech is some of the least glamorous but most common business tasks out there.

 Remember, when things get hard with technology, it's the exact place where most people stop. Most of your competition won’t push through these tech struggles, which gives you a major head start if you choose to persevere.

All boiled down, here’s what I want you to know:

• Face tech troubles head-on. Avoiding them limits your growth.

• Dumber people have overcome the tech challenges you’re facing with persistence.

• Start simple with user-friendly software and upgrade as you grow.

• Use resources that are already out there, like customer support, YouTube, and AI.

• Schedule an hour to tackle that one tech issue.

• Simplify your approach to prevent self-imposed complications.

• Create a doc as a library of resources for recurring tech problems.

• Make tech processes easy – your clients will love it.

Lemme tip my hand. I really believe that using AI to get step-by-step help with your tech troubles is one of the best ways to save your sanity (and time!) as a freelancer.

It’s as easy as pulling up ChatGPT, telling it what’s going on, and trying out what it suggests.

That’s why I’ve trained Teal, your Tech Support chatbot specifically designed for freelancers and small business owners. Sign up below  and I’ll send you the the link so you can start talking to her right now.

For a little context, here’s stuff I’ve been able to resolve thanks to a quick convo with ChatGPT:

• How to create segments on my email platform

• How (and where) to inject code on my website so that email sign-up shows up

• Where to find the API (and what the heck that even means).

• Resolving popups that told me I couldn’t do X until I resolved Y.

• How to create a complex automation on my ClickUp.

• How to turn a Google doc into a PDF

• And so much more.

You’ve got this!