Flexibility is one of the greatest benefits that working remote copywriting jobs can provide the writer. Copywriting done right gives you the flexibility of deciding where you work, when you work, and how many hours a week you must put into that said work. Instead of driving your car for an hour to sit in a cubicle for eight or more hours, with remote copywriter jobs, you can now better manage your time and hyperfocus your attention. You can carve out blocks of time to help you better manage your life and not end up having to fit random errands into your transit time. Find out what you really want to do or how you find fulfillment in those free, quiet moments in your life. Remote copywriter jobs will often offer you the right mix of money and time to help you fuel your passions and live your life to its fullest.
The Importance of Finding Balance in Life
Do you have what you consider a good work/life balance in your current job? Or do you find yourself wishing that you had more time and maybe more money, so you could pursue your true interest in life rather than just working on your laptop hour after hour and day after day? By digging deep and really examining your desired work/life balance, you can start to create a roadmap to guide you toward what you are passionate about in life.
What Role Does Work Play in Fueling Your Passions?
Are you working just to work? Or are you working to achieve the goals you have set out for yourself? Both goals to fuel your passions as well as your self-enrichment – the milestones and markers of success you want to earn in your life. How are you leveraging your copywriting jobs to help you realize those goals?
Try to determine what role your jobs are playing to help you fulfill your passions. Pay, specific skills you will learn, projects you will get to contribute to, and time you can create to focus on your passions outside of work can all be obtained through the right freelancing assignment. Keep this in mind when you examine offers, and ask what else is this position bringing me besides money.
Balance First – Exploring the Benefits of a Balanced Life.
Balance is key. Working from the moment you get out of bed until you are done for the evening is the lifestyle many fall into when working remote copywriter jobs, or any remote job. That type of regime does no one any good – not you, not your client, not your friends or loved ones. By maintaining a proper work/life balance, you can experience greater mental and physical health, which just boosts increased creativity and productivity. Harnessing these positive forces will help you have the energy and focus to fuel your passions.
Work can be used as a source of revenue to fund and fuel your passions rather than becoming the sole focus of your life. Perhaps you want to travel to the renowned art museums in Europe or take a writing retreat so you can focus on writing the next Great American Novel. It’s vital to identify your passions and set goals to help you realize them. The waypoints on your road map, so you know you are still on the right track. Copywriting jobs can be a source of revenue to help you fund your core pursuits, and also afford you the flexibility in time and scheduling that most office based, 9-5 jobs couldn’t accommodate. You can achieve this balance in your life.
Putting Work in a Box: Understanding the Necessity of Setting Boundaries
When you work from home, it is difficult to separate the two. It sounds basic, but it is paramount to keep this cliche in mind as you consider remote copywriter jobs as a means to support your passions. The last thing you want to do is burn out on your newfound profession! See if you can put your work into a box that you can put the lid on when you are done for the day.
There are a few lifestyle changes you can make to help you establish these boundaries. Try to have a separate space that you work in or at least a desk or other workspace you write at. If you have coffee-stained papers and notebooks strewn about your living room, it can be more difficult to “shut off” at the end of your designated workday.
Be clear with your clients about what your “office hours” are. Setting boundaries with your clients upfront will help them understand your limits, and ultimately lead to clearer communication as you continue working together.
A few other tips to consider:
- Take a few brief walks each day. Get out and appreciate the world around you.
- Build in time for a real, live lunch. Nourish and fuel yourself.
- Life is more than work; don’t let work become your life!
Remote Work Success Stories
Marielle and Antoine are two digital nomads (remote workers that move from place to place) who live the “van life” (working remotely and living inside a van instead of a house, apartment, or Airbnb). By working remotely, they can fund their passion for exploring different countries and cultures at the same time. As Marielle and Antoine explain, “Anyone can pursue their passions of discovering the world… or whatever travel dreams and bucket lists you may have.”
They examined the most important tips for working remotely in a van. In the article, they pointed out that one of the friction points of working remotely is that home life and work life can blur together, making the separation between the two even more difficult. Imagine having to create the distinction in a van!
Marielle and Antoine talk about the joy van life provides just by being situated in nature. To help broaden the divide between work and “real life,” they suggest ending the day with a hike, a bicycle ride, or just exploring the natural world. In this way, they contend, “Van life and remote working in a van can make the line between home and work easier to define.”
If you have a passion for international travel, remote copywriter jobs can help fuel that lifestyle. As recently profiled in Business Insider, digital nomad Michelle Checchi explained the freedom that remote work provides her. “I was thinking, ‘If I’m going to get a full-time job, it’s going to root me down to one place,'” she said. “I really wanted to create a lifestyle where I could maintain my location independence.” She found the work/life balance she was looking for in remote work.
Making It Happen
All of this sounds great, but what actionable steps can you take to make it all happen? How are you going to leverage your copywriting jobs to help you fuel your passions and take that trip to Europe or register for that writing retreat?
The first thing you need to do is identify what your passions are. As writers, we are well versed in the creative sparks that erupt from a good brainstorming or word cloud session. Spend some time writing down all the passion projects you can think of that you truly desire to accomplish, things that will help give you purpose in your life. Don’t bother with rankings or categorization; that will come later. Just get them all down on paper or doc.
Let that list marinate for a day, and feel free to add any other that might pop up.
Once you are fairly certain of the authenticity of your list, that these are your true passions, spend some time ranking the ones that bubble to the top. These are the interests and desires that give you meaning and that you hope will produce pure, crystalline joy in your life. They provide a sense of accomplishment and creation. Now rank the top three by how much you smile when you read them. This is what you should focus on.
Now determine how much money you will need to fuel these passions. Maybe your passion doesn’t take a ton of money, but the commodity you need is time in your week to write that novel or read the classics of literature. Either way, the right copywriting jobs can provide you the money or the time in your day to help you fuel those specific passions. But first, you need to know how much money you need to make (and how you will negotiate for more in your future contracts), as well as how much time you can secure once your base bills are covered. Be brutally honest with yourself and do a deep dive into your finances and your financial commitments.
Print a photo of the Slovenian coastline or the Big Sur forest to help you visualize your goals. It might sound silly, but taping the photo to your bathroom mirror so you see your goal every time you brush your teeth or wash your hands helps you visualize it throughout your day. Then, when a mini writer’s block bout hits you, remembering why you are doing all of this will help you create that next sentence and type it into the doc.
Are You Working to Work, or Working to Fuel Your Passions?
Since the pandemic, plenty of your peers have pivoted to remote copywriter jobs. Join the Copywriter Exchange to meet other freelance writers and discover how they are finding the time, money, and other resources to fuel their passions, too. There’s a lot more to be earned in copywriting jobs than just a paycheck.
Author Bio
Doug Kenck-Crispin is a podcaster and freelance writer in Portland, Oregon. He pens features for newspapers and magazines, long reads, website copy, landing pages, email campaigns and other marketing mediums. You can find more about Doug on Linkedin, Twitter, or his website.
At Copywriter Exchange, we’re a group of master content marketing pros who bring their diverse talents and backgrounds to bear on the art and science of creating high-performance content tailored to your needs. We exist to help copywriters thrive in today’s economy by connecting them with the resources they need to step up their game. Join now to access our templates, guides, and courses to help you grow your career, skills, and network.
