What does FREEDOM mean to you?

It’s an important question.  Because as much as it’s thrown around as an ideal, I don’t think many people have a clear definition of freedom.

In politics, for example, a politician can run on some promise of freedom and liberty, just to advance an agenda that actually limits freedom once they get in office.  (Politicians, lying?  No…)

But since my goal here isn’t to get political, we’ll leave that example at that, and instead talk about something much more practical and relevant to your day-to-day existence.

Your daily freedoms…

I’m writing about this today because my daughter is home sick from preschool.

It seems to be a stomach bug, and hopefully it will pass quickly.  But for most of the morning, I’ve been hanging out with her on the couch.  She drifts in and out of sleep, and I get at least some work done.

I don’t need permission to take a sick day.

I’m not penalized by employers.

I just decide — and do it.

Yes, I still have just as much work to get done as I did yesterday.

But for today, I need to prioritize time off with my daughter.  Being available for her needs.

And it’s something I can easily do, because of the career and business I’ve built for myself as a freelance direct response copywriter.

Your BIG 3 freedoms…

I remember back in 2010, just as I was getting started as a copywriter.  My main client in those first few months was AWAI.  And I was working on a promotion for the launch of an opportunity program.

At the perfect moment — and without me being aware of it — they ran a survey to their list.

It asked members what they valued most about living the life of a freelance copywriter.  Choose everything you considered important.

They reported the results in an issue of Inside AWAI.  Here’s what people valued most…

— Having a flexible schedule: 81.4%

— Having more control over your financial future: 80.5%

— Working at home: 69.8%

— Working when you want: 65.5%

— Living where you want: 64.6%

— Generating a passive income: 60.5%

— Having more time to travel: 58.4%

— Making top dollar for your creativity: 53.8%

— Owning your own business: 52.4%

— Making a six-figure income: 52.3%

— Spending more time with your family: 46.7%

— Working less: 36.2%

— Getting published: 29.7%

— Making a little extra cash on the side: 19.5%

I spent a ton of time looking at that list.  Really trying to understand it.  To figure out what people wanted most out of copywriting and similar opportunities.

And I categorized this entire list into three categories, three big freedoms that together made up most of our motivation to get into freelancing and copywriting.

  1. Freedom of time, to work when and how much we want.
  2. Freedom of place, to work where we want.
  3. Freedom of income, to expand our earnings based on value delivered.

As I said, this came at an auspicious time.  I was in the middle of writing a promotion, launching a new opportunity for them.  And I worked those three freedoms into the core sales message.

It blew expectations out of the water.  It was the biggest opportunity launch in company history.  Sales were coming in so fast we had to stop selling the product — something they insisted they’d never do, and had never done in company history.

And while there were many factors that I believe drove the success of that launch, I believe the 3 big freedoms of freelance entrepreneurship played a pivotal role.

We all want these freedoms: to work where we want, when we want, and to make a good living based on the value we create.

And freelancing — especially freelance direct response copywriting — is a proven, powerful path for achieving these freedoms.

(Especially when you follow the advice on building a copywriting business, as laid out in The Copywriters Guide to Getting Paid.)

With all of this, a warning…

There is a dark side to these freedoms.  Not to the freedoms themselves.  But to the expectations that sometimes arise out of seeing that these freedoms are possible.

Freedom of time — such as taking time off today to care for my daughter — does not mean you can just skip work all the time.  Many successful freelancers and copywriters I know work as much or more than they did in other full-time jobs.  Generally, committing more time to your career will be rewarded with more success.  (To a limit, overworking can also lead to burnout, so be careful.)

Make full use of your flexibility of time.  But also expect that you will still put in the work that needs to be done.

Freedom of place comes with its dangers, too.  When you work at home, you still have to WORK.  That’s not just an expectation you have to enforce for yourself, but for others, too.  Just because you’re at home doesn’t mean you’re available for non-work activities.  Likewise for working on vacation.  If it’s a working vacation, remember to WORK.  Otherwise, just schedule the dang vacation and take the time off.

And the income bit is really important, too.  Freedom for income does NOT mean an automatic six-figure lifestyle business.  Contrary to what you might have hoped.  People who earn six figures as a copywriter EARN six figures.  People who earn seven figures as a copywriter EARN seven figures.

It’s really easy, from the outside looking in, to see promises like freedom of time, place, and income, and assume that they come automatically with the opportunity.

The truth is often more nuanced.

They are all very real possibilities of freelance entrepreneurship.  Just like an oak tree is a possibility — even a probability — of an acorn.  But like the oak tree must be given sun and water and nutrients to grow from an acorn, you must work to grow your career to enjoy its full fruits in the form of these freedoms.

Yours for bigger breakthroughs,

Roy Furr