4 Reasons Why Being a Freelance Copywriter Is One of the Best and Safest Jobs in Today’s New World
By Nick Usborne

If you’re a freelance copywriter, you probably already know and appreciate these four reasons.

If you’re employed, and do some moonlighting, one of these four reasons might tip you over into becoming a freelancer full-time.

If you don’t yet do any freelance copywriting work, feast your mind on the following.

(As you consider each reason, repeat after me, “Thank goodness I have a strong right side to my brain and am both creative and intuitive.”)

Reason #1: Quality copywriting can’t be outsourced overseas.

Pity the web designers. Pity the programmers and coders. Their jobs are disappearing fast.

India has many excellent universities which graduate thousands of new engineers and programmers every year. They’re every bit as qualified and skilled as their North American counterparts and work for a fraction of the price.

And if you want some design work done for online or offline projects, try graphic designers from Eastern Europe or Russia. You’ll get some fabulous work, at an amazing price.

It’s not that these Indian programmers or Bulgarian designers work for peanuts. Their fees are low, because their cost of living is low.

As a result, if you want to protect your income for decades to come, don’t become a programmer or designer. Or a customer service agent. Or a virtual assistant. Or even a project manager.

But a freelance copywriter? That’s a great job to have, because it’s really, really hard to outsource.

As a copywriter, you’re protected both by your language and your culture.

A copywriter from Latvia, for whom English is a second or third language, is going to find it very hard competing with you.

A copywriter from India, who may be totally fluent in English, is going to find it hard or impossible to understand the cultural nuances that are part of copywriting to a North American or European audience.

In short, as a freelance copywriter, you’re almost totally protected from having your job outsourced to an overseas competitor.

Reason #2: Copywriting can’t be automated.

For a huge number of careers, the threat doesn’t come just from outsourcing; it also comes from automation.

Remember typographers? A beautiful craft and career that has pretty much disappeared.

You’re a bookkeeper? I bet you hate QuickBooks and all the other software that enables small-business owners to track their own costs and income.

You’re a car mechanic? You’d better start learning less about the car and more about the software that diagnoses the car’s problems.

And while we’re on the subject of diagnosis, are doctors safe from being automated? Probably not for long. (But, if you’re a nurse, good for you. There’s a job that can’t be outsourced or automated. Very right-brain. Very intuitive.)

Copywriting can’t be automated either. Some software and systems come close to writing really bad copy, but they’ll never be able to write great copy.

How come? Because computers can’t be creative or intuitive. But you can.

Reason #3: Copywriters can always make good money.

The work of the copywriter is intimately and closely connected with sales.

When you do good work, your client or employer sees the extra dollars flowing in. And he can immediately connect those extra dollars to the work you did for him.

Being close to the sale is the best place to be. That’s why sales people can earn huge commissions.

And that’s why good copywriters can command terrific fees.

When you’re close to the point of sale and do good work, you can always justify your costs.

Reason #4: As a freelancer, you can’t be fired.

This final point applies only to freelancers.

Copywriters, as a group, are well-protected from having their jobs outsourced or automated, but they can still be “downsized.”

In other words, when you’re employed, you can be fired.

As a smart freelance copywriter, spreading your income across several different clients, you can never be fired. If you lose one client, you have others to take up the slack.

Concluding thoughts …

These are scary times. Jobs are under threat from so many directions.

When the economy is bad, your job can simply disappear overnight.

If you have a left-brain, problem-solving job, it can probably be outsourced overseas or automated.

If your job is far from the point of sale, you’ll always find it hard to make more money as an employee.

That’s why being a freelance copywriter is such a wonderful career. It’s protected and it’s close to the point of sale. You will always be needed and will always be able to command a good fee.

As for whether you should focus on copywriting for offline or online media, that’s a whole different story and probably another article.

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Published: June 2, 2009