I raise my cup to you, the Café Writer

Are you a Café Writer?

What is a Café Writer, you ask?

For me, the name fits because I really do spend inordinate amounts of time in cafés. Two to three hours a day, at least.

Why? Well, I get more done drinking coffee, ambient sounds of conversation all around, without the distraction of the phone or online correspondence in my home office.

I can focus on the task at hand – writing copy for clients or one of my own businesses.

Whether you actually write in a café or not, Café Writer is also a metaphor for a new breed of copywriter.

A Café Writer is…

1. First and foremost, an Idea Generator!

If you can come up with fresh ideas and angles for yourself and your clients, and persuade other people to buy into them, you will never lack for business.

What better place to generate good ideas than a comfortable café, surrounded by good books, intelligent conversation all around (sometimes), and your notebooks full of stimulating ideas?

2. An Independent Creative, more so than a freelancer-for-hire.

More than a difference in terms, it’s a mindset and positioning difference.

As an Independent Creative, you operate a business of your own. You look for gaps in the marketplace, identify a need, create a product or service, and bring it to your audience in a new way.

You’re not a cog in someone else’s machine. No, you’re a machine, a serious operation, of your own.

3. A believer in the power of a Personal Brand.

A Personal Brand transcends a niche. Identifying a niche is fine, and may serve you well for a long time (although in my observation, most copywriters seem to change their focus every couple years for various reasons).

A Personal Brand is ongoing and over-arching. It encompasses your core business as well as off-shoot ventures that will naturally flow from all the Big Ideas you’re generating.

4. Someone who enjoys spending quiet, reflective time by yourself, yet enjoys the camaraderie, creative energy, and support of a group of like-minded people.

5. An alchemist, cooking up your own ideas and opportunities and transforming them into a solid business.

Not sure how to do this yet? Don’t fret. We’ll be discussing this in-depth on a regular basis.

6. A self-starter who can work productively from anywhere without direct supervision, yet appreciates the guidance, training, and direction of a group like the Copywriter Café.

7. A visionary. You see copywriting as a means to an end, not the be-all to end-all.

Beyond wanting to help your clients generate millions of dollars, your goals include turning your big ideas and copywriting skills into a very profitable business of your own.

Does any of this resonate with you? If it does, you may be a Café Writer, too!

If you’re a Café Writer, you take the time to lay a proper foundation for your business, then unleash your unique talents on a marketplace in need of them.

You aren’t afraid to go against the grain, as long as it makes good business sense.

You question the status quo, and don’t follow the herd just because that’s what the “big guys” are telling everyone to do.

You like the idea of selling, especially if it’s the New Way of Selling for Independent Creatives™ (details coming soon).

A Café Writer is NOT…

• A cookie-cutter copywriter who looks and sounds like a hundred other copywriters.
• A program junkie, thinking that if you buy “just one more program” you’ll be ready to launch your business.
• Waiting around for the phone to ring or for someone to land on your website out of the blue. You’re not waiting for an “assignment,” but creating your own opportunities.

Almost every one of my good ideas over the past 15 years originated in a café. I’m not exaggerating.

I operate my business in large part from a café, even when I’m traveling in Quito, NYC, Paris, or anywhere else.

I work better, think more clearly, and write faster in a café than anywhere else.

And in fact, I conduct business from my local café on occasion. I don’t need to spend money on office space because I have a regular table where I can meet clients when I need to.

One of the best ideas I’ve come up with at a café? The Copywriter Café, of course.

In addition to the individual characteristics of a Café Writer that I’ve described here, the Copywriter Café is about community.

It’s the place where you can get ideas, advice, coaching, feedback, encouragement, and training in a lively, friendly setting.

Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and James Joyce had the Shakespeare and Company Bookshop in Paris in the 1920’s.

Today’s talented and ambitious copywriters like you have their own virtual hangout: the Copywriter Café.

I’m glad you’re here, and I raise my cup of black coffee to you, the Café Writer.

Two quick questions today. Based on what I’ve said here, whether you hang out in cafés or not, does this idea of the Café Writer click with you? And where do you do your best thinking, planning, and writing these days? Tell me about it here, please.