Maybe the reason you feel underwhelmed or stressed out by freelancing is because you’re expecting your freelance work to be 100% pure. If you’re doing it for other people, it won’t be.

I’ve developed something I call The 3-by-3 Copywriting Framework. I use it often as a great exercise and starting place for my copywriting projects. This framework has worked for my clients in the past, helping them generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in online sales.

One thing I’ve learned about successful people is that they don’t have much patience for people who are simply impressed. People like this are just fans. Successful people will often only work with you if you are really involved in what’s going on.

One of the most essential practices in marketing is asking how something could be misinterpreted. Marketing is meant to sell, but people will be hesitant to buy if they are confused. This practice separates marketers from people who just make stuff.

Wishing things were better is often much worse than accepting that things are bad. When we can accept the bad in life, we can recalibrate ourselves to deal with it.

As creators, we get shy. We get self-conscious. We compare ourselves to capitalistic rating systems of art. Of course we don’t sing or cook or write as well as acclaimed professionals.

One trap I fall into is convincing myself that I’ll do the important work when the urgent work slows down. This is a lie. Take a quick look at the past year. Has the urgent work ever gone away? It doesn’t.

“I don’t want to be the hardest-working man in Hollywood. I don’t want to be on the Forbes list. I don’t want to be part of any of that. Forbes Happiest List–put me there if there’s such a thing.”

If someone takes a whiff of the cookies you’re baking, you probably won’t mind. The smell is not a physical thing, and there’s no shortage of it. Ideas are more like smells than shoes. The more people smell your ideas, the more people talk about your ideas, the more input you get on your ideas, the better your ideas get.

Most brands spend October and November getting ready for Black Friday and the holiday season. If you can get in with them during late summer or early fall, you might be busy during December. Otherwise, brands are usually head down just trying to execute their plan.

Hats off to a man who re-wrote the script. Hats off to a man who pioneered good customer service in the digital age. It’s apparent that anyone who had the pleasure of working with Tony Hsieh was grateful for that experience.

The digital age brings faster results and shorter attention spans. If you waste any time, you will be scrolled right past.

This is the irony of accuracy–when we assume we have it, we’re more likely make mistakes. When we assume we might be wrong, we double check our work and catch mistakes. And we become more accurate.

He isn’t even creating most of what he shares. He’s finding it and organizing it, and that is a great service. Look at Complex, Barstool, and other platforms like that. They’re massive, while only creating less than 1% of the content they post. Incredible.

Today, at Thanksgiving lunch, my grandfather told me he used to spend $1500 per year printing pictures for reports. He has appraised golf courses for 50+ years, and when he delivers reports to clients there are a lot of photos involved.

When a freelancer is late, or gets lost, or doesn’t bring their gear, things get stressful–fast. When I’m stressed, I search for quick explanations and solutions. The easy explanation is that they misunderstood what I said. That they weren’t listening. That it’s their fault.

Creative inspiration is fleeting. It’s not a prerequisite to creating something meaningful. The only prerequisite is sitting your ass down in a chair and working on something. Every day.

We have extensive research on productivity, and an ideal amount of working hours. Lockheed Martin adopted the 9/80 schedule, which allots a Friday off every other week. KPMG offers the option for a condensed 4-day work week. So why aren’t more companies adopting this?

It might sound strange, but there’s a difference between copy that pumps up your client, and copy that actually moves the needle.

A lack of urgency makes decisions difficult. When there are no due dates and no repercussions for not delivering, decisions don’t get made. Somewhere along the way of telling ourselves we’ll do more research, and wait for someone to get back to us, our personal goals go unaccomplished. Our potential goes undiscovered.