Quality Matters in Copywriting, Woodworking, and Songwriting.

In his recent post, World Class Copywriter Michel Fortin reveals his Seven-Step Copywriting Process. As I was reading his article, I started thinking about quality, craftsmanship, and professionalism vs. mass-production.

For example, my brother-in-law is a cabinet maker. He makes beautiful cabinetry and furniture. He loves to work with wood. Watching him build something is almost like taking a trip in a time machine back to a time when everyone made the effort to do their best at whatever they did. Yes he has modern tools, but what I mean is he cares about what he's building. Making the best cabinet or piece of furniture that can be made is important to him. Is it easy? No. It requires a lot of extra steps, better materials and more work than mass produced furniture. How does that relate to Michel's article? Because most people are not going to go through all the steps, trouble, and work that Michel does. And that's part of the reason most people won't get the results Michel Fortin gets either in terms of conversion ratios and sales for their Internet Business.

I'm a songwriter as well as a programmer and Internet Business entrepreneur. I've read a great quote, I don't remember who said it, that songwriting can be divided between songs the songwriter should play on his guitar in his bedroom, and songs that should be played on the stereo in the bedroom. What that means is that some songs may be therapeutic to the songwriter, or have special meaning to their loved ones, but they don't have the commercial appeal that's required to be released as a recording. The same songwriter has other songs that have more of a mass appeal and will connect with their audience, songs that he or she has probably spent more time working on their basic structure, trimming away the fat, and polishing, polishing, polishing. Consistent and quality songwriting requires a lot of the steps that Michel talks about in his article. Songwriting is usually sparked by some emotional substance or event and when it happens, you rush to get those initial thoughts down on paper before they fizzle away. Then the work begins... editing, rewriting, recording and listening, more editing, etc. But if you love it, it's not work, it's who you are and a part of you goes into and is shared in each song.

The moral to this little story is that you should strive to do something you love because you'll put more into it and get more out of it... and because you love it, it won't feel like work!

Take care,
Fred

Get Free Updates! Enter your name and e-mail address to receive a short notice each time I make a new post. First Name: Last Name: E-Mail Address: E-Mail again: NOTE: You will receive a confirmation email. You must click the link in the email to activate your free updates. Please check your spam folder(s) if you don't receive the email.