The other day I made a post in the Cult Of Copy that caused a stink among a few copywriters.
Why?
Because I was talking about boundaries.
And how important it is to have strong boundaries, in regards to your fees.
In the post, I mentioned that I charge $35k for a consulting day…
And that I don’t let people guilt me into working for less than that.
This set off all kinds of reactions.
Hell, one guy didn’t even believe it was possible to charge that much.
Watching the comments roll in was quite entertaining.
Cause I could immediately tell which comments were from successful people…
And which ones weren’t…
Successful copywriters like David Deutsch, Russ Reynolds and Travis Sago chimed in said they loved the post.
While others simply bashed me…
And said that I was dumb for turning down $10k consulting days.
But that was the whole point of the post.
Having boundaries about your fees.
This is something I didn’t have even a few years ago.
Cause I grew up in a house with NO boundaries.
Everyone was in each other’s business.
I wasn’t allowed to make my own decisions.
So I struggled with boundaries…
And this hurt me a LOT in business.
But over the last two years, I’ve made it a point to get better at setting boundaries.
I know what my fees are.
I tell clients very clearly what they’re getting for those fees.
I even set boundaries on how clients communicate with me (i.e. I don’t want your emergency text at 2 AM because something isn’t working)
That ain’t part of the deal.
Having real boundaries has been a game-changer for me.
Cause without ’em, your business just turns into a nightmare…
You end up taking on crappy projects because you’re afraid to tell people “no”…
You let people walk all over you…
You’re constantly answering emails and texts late at night.
Well guess how that ends?
Bad.
You burn out.
You get angry.
And you feel like you have no control.
You’re basically a puppet and everyone else is controlling your strings.
Not exactly a fun way to do business.
And to be clear…
This doesn’t just happen to copywriters who do client work.
It happens to everyone…
Business owners included.
If you don’t have GOOD boundaries…
And a firm idea of what those boundaries are…
People will walk all over you.
I’ve had it happen to me.
And I see it happen with friends.
Once you establish REAL boundaries…
Your life will be a lot easier because of it.
Keep that in mind.
And enjoy your Wednesday.
– Justin
P.S. – I’m starting to post more stuff on Instagram these days.
If you like my emails, then you’ll prolly like my Insta stuff as well.
Feel free to follow me on insta here
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