I’ve talked to a lot of writers over the years.
And based on those conversations, I’ve noticed a pattern or two.
One is that the writers who tend to succeed the fastest are those who take action before they feel ready…
Another is that the writers who keep succeeding, who build thriving, sustainable businesses, are those who take action consistently.
They identify the things that work best for them to land clients, deliver good work, and negotiate the fees they want… and they keep doing those things.
That kind of consistency is what I want to talk about today… specifically how you can develop it in your own business.
What Consistency Looks Like in a Writing Business
Before we can really talk about the ways to sharpen your own consistency, it helps to know what game-changing consistency looks like for a writer like you.
Where it tends to make the most difference is in how you market yourself. But it can also have a big impact on how you develop your skills and how much you get paid for each project.
Let’s look at an example of each…
Marketing Your Business
You’ve got a ton of options, when it comes to how you market your digital-copywriting services.
But imagine for a moment you’ve decided social media is the main method you want to use. You decide to develop a presence on LinkedIn, as well as TikTok.
If you want to build an audience, generate leads, and land new clients through your social media strategy, one of the best advantages you can give yourself is to be consistent.
And on social media, there are really two kinds of consistency you need to pay attention to: frequency and content.
Plan to post on the same days each week. And plan to cover the topics that relate to your services and how those services relieve your audience’s pain points. You can deviate on your topics occasionally, but mostly you want to stick to just a few topics that you talk about in different ways.
If you show up on LinkedIn and TikTok multiple times a week, and you stay focused on things that matter to your audience (and that you can help them with)… and you do that for six months, you’ll start to see growth in your audience, connections, and inquires.
That happens for a few reasons.
First, when you show up consistently on social media, you earn some favor from the algorithm. That means that the engine filling the social media feeds of your audience will include your content more often.
Second, your audience will get to know you better, because you keep showing up.
And third, you’ll be top of mind when individuals in your audience need services like yours.
But you have to decide to show up… and to keep showing up for at least six months before you’ll begin to see that you’re getting results.
Developing Your Skills
Being good at what you do is one of the ways you can stand out and get found by the people who need and want your services. It’s also going to help you make a good impression on the clients you land.
Like marketing yourself, you can improve your skills dramatically, if you decide to practice them consistently.
In this case, let’s say you want to be known for writing some of best email promotions for retail products in the business.
How do you get there?
You could study email messages that are going out from other retailers. Look at the subject lines… the structure of the messages… the calls to action. Evaluate each one critically. Ask yourself, how would I improve this message?
If you critically evaluate three messages every day, you’ll get better at writing email messages… and the improvement will happen fast.
Or, you could practice writing 10 (or 100) subject lines every day. Do that for a month, and you’ll have more experience writing subject lines than most writers… and it’ll show in your work.
When you consistently practice your most critical skills, it will take only a month or two for you to develop an edge over most other writers.
Increasing Your Fees
You might be wondering, how on earth will being consistent help to increase my fees?
Well, there’s the roundabout way:
- When you’re consistent about your marketing, more opportunities will open to you. And when that happens, you can pick and choose the projects you take on, opting for the more interesting, better-paying ones.
- When you’re consistent about the topics you talk about online, you’ll develop a reputation as an expert, and experts command higher fees.
- When you’re consistent about your skills development, you’ll present yourself with more confidence and have real-world results to show for your work, which lay the groundwork for charging premium fees.
But being consistent can also directly affect your ability to charge higher fees.
If you make a commitment to consistently practice your negotiating and presentation skills, whenever you enter a conversation with a prospect, you’ll be in a better position to ask for what you want.
You could do a role-playing scenario with an accountability partner once a week…
You could practice your presentation skills in the mirror for a few minutes every day…
You could watch a YouTube video on discovery calls, proposals, or negotiating every day…
Do these kinds of things regularly for a few months. And at some point, you’ll realize the conversations you have with clients and prospects go a whole lot smoother… and that you’re more comfortable asking for the fees you want.
How to Develop Game-Changing Consistency in Your Business
Understanding how consistency can make a difference is just the first step.
It would be neat if just knowing you need to be consistent were enough to make you consistent.
Unfortunately, that’s not how humans are built.
Becoming consistent in your business takes practice, but it is possible… and the better you get at it, the more success you’ll enjoy.
Here are five tips and techniques you can use to become more consistent within your business… and that you can apply to other areas of your life, as well:
1. Be patient.
You won’t wake up tomorrow being perfectly consistent at anything. It takes time to build consistent habits. So, be patient with yourself. When you drop the ball, recommit to the actions you want to take… and just keep at it.
2. Love the process.
It’s far easier to commit to something you enjoy than something you dread. Think about what you want to achieve and then try to come up with a set of actions you enjoy that, when done consistently, will get you there. For example, you may dislike social media but enjoy writing blogs. In that case, consistently publishing to your blog (even just once a week) is going to be easier than consistently engaging on social media.
3. Detach from the outcome.
Consistency is important because, for most things worth doing, it takes time to see results. You don’t expect to go to the gym once or twice and be in perfect shape. You also can’t expect to become an A-list copywriter overnight, to have thousands of followers in just a week, or to earn a ton of organic traffic because of a blog post or two.
So, at the beginning, recognize that you’re after a long-term result. Look at the work you do to build that long-term result as an opportunity to get better at the craft. And don’t worry about the results you get from any single post, email, or effort.
4. Go small.
If you want to build a consistent habit, start small. As small as you can. For example, instead of deciding you’re going to publish a LinkedIn carousel post every day, start out by publishing a short, text-based post three times a week. When that starts to feel easy, then graduate into longer posts or a different format. By starting small, you set yourself up for success… and small successes lead to big momentum.
5. Don’t miss twice in a row.
This one comes from James Clear. Once you’ve set up your plan for a consistent business-building action, it’s okay if you drop the ball and miss a day now and again. But decide right now that you won’t miss two days in a row. When you don’t take your planned action, the best thing you can do is immediately recommit and follow through the next day, That will help you keep moving forward to the goal you want.
Apply Consistency to Any Big Aim
Being more consistent is a huge predictor of your business success. The really good news is that, as you hone that skill, you’ll get the benefit of it in other areas of your life, as well…
Want to become better at a sport? Consistent practice will get you there.
Want to write a novel? Writing every day — even for just 10 minutes — will get you there.
Want to have better relationships? Connecting with your favorite people in a consistent way will help.
Start working on your consistency today. It’s one of the best things you can do to be successful at whatever you put your mind to.
