Are you a newly-minted entrepreneur who wants to get quick and actionable advice on how to write high-converting copy with ease?
Tune in to my conversation with Elmari Schutte, a freelance copywriter, entrepreneur, and highly sensitive leader who empowers those who struggle with copywriting.
First of all, Elmari tells her personal story of her bold move into entrepreneurship as a highly sensitive person. She’ll explain what a highly sensitive person is and what makes them special.
Then we go into the nitty-gritty of copywriting.
You learn:
Get in touch with Elmari Schutte
Get in touch with Brigitte Bojkowszky:
Get in touch with Brigitte Bojkowszky:
👉 Download Your Entrepreneurial Branding Starter Checklist: https://courses.bridgetbrands.com/f/entrepreneurial-branding-starter-checklist
Are you a newly-minted entrepreneur who wants to get quick and actionable advice on how to write high-converting copy with ease?
Tune in to my conversation with Elmari Schutte, a freelance copywriter, entrepreneur, and highly sensitive leader who empowers those who struggle with copywriting.
First of all, Elmari tells her personal story of her bold move into entrepreneurship as a highly sensitive person. She’ll explain what a highly sensitive person is and what makes them special.
Then we go into the nitty-gritty of copywriting.
You learn:
Get in touch with Elmari Schutte
Get in touch with Brigitte Bojkowszky:
Get in touch with Brigitte Bojkowszky:
👉 Download Your Entrepreneurial Branding Starter Checklist: https://courses.bridgetbrands.com/f/entrepreneurial-branding-starter-checklist
Today my guest is Elmari Schutte. She is a freelance copywriter, entrepreneur and highly sensitive leader being in the health and wellness copywriter space for entrepreneurs she empowers those who struggle with copywriting to write with ease so that they can write inviting copy that resonates deeply with their ideal clients. I warmly welcome Elmar Schutte. Welcome to BrandsTalk. Thank you, Brigitte. I'm happy to be here. thank you so much for being here today. That's gonna be a really interesting episode all about copywriting. Before we dive deep into copywriting I would like to talk about your journey. You have taken a bold path that lately many courageous women take, and that is becoming your own boss. You started your copywriting business in 2019. And you went from like a done employee to a newly minted entrepreneur and you refer to yourself as a highly sensitive leader. So what does that mean exactly being a highly sensitive leader? Thank you. That's a beautiful question. I want to explain first, what is a highly sensitive person, because that's where it starts. You there's 20, 15 to 20% of the population that is highly sensitive. And what it basically means is that we all have. Filters. What I understand about it is we all have filters on our nervous system. So the other 80%, the filters are very narrow. So they don't take in that much information, but for highly sensitive per people, our filters on our nervous system is very wide. So we take in a lot of information. And of course, if you're taking a lot of information, it is very easily. You can visit very easily, be overwhelmed. So why I call myself a highly sensitive leader is that I have learned, and I'm still learning how to manage my filters. So I'm not so easily overwhelmed. Okay. Okay. And how does that impact you? Especially deciding as an entrepreneur? I'm done with it and I will wanna go another route. I wanna become my own boss. I wanna start my own business. So how was that journey for you as a highly sensitive person? I'd like to start with being an employee because as an employee, if you are, you take in a lot of information and you are more attuned to people's emo emotions. So when you are more attuned to people, emotions. You tend to not want to disappoint people. So it's very difficult to say no, as an employee, this is also very difficult because you take on too much. You take on everything. That's thrown your way because you can't say no, you want to be ha keep everyone happy. And then. So part of being an employee part of the transitioning from employee to entrepreneur was also because I'm highly sensitive. I wanted to manage my own time and be, get the ability to say no. For my own reasons. Not because I'm employ employed when, because when I'm employed, I just have to say yes, because what's gonna happen if I say no and someone's unhappy about it. So that was a big part, big, it had a big impact on me. Start moving over to being an entrepreneur. But yes, the beginning of the journey was really difficult because now I have to. Find a way. I didn't, like you said, I took a bold step. I didn't have a plan. When I started as an entrepreneur, I want, I needed to find a way and use yourself now, how much information is out there for entrepreneurs and why do I choose? Where do I go? So there was a lot of overwhelm and then I decided to, it's better if I find an entrepreneur course or a freelancing course to see how do I. How do I choose what I want to do? So I did a freelancing course and in this freelancing course, there was a little test and it showed me copywriting and I resonated very well with copywriting. All right. Before we go into copywriting and talk about having your own business and being an entrepreneur, how did that show that it impacted you being a highly sensitive person as an employee? Not being able to say no. What was the pain or how did you feel that and how did you understand this is not good for you? Yeah, we often, I think a lot of us take on too much, not just highly sensitive persons, and then you end up in burnout. So you feel like there's no reason for doing anything like this anymore. So it impacted me in. I couldn't progress or in work anymore because I felt like I just have to go there and get the money and get back to home and sleep it off or get over it or rest. And yes, it not being able to say no, had a huge impact on me as an employee and the biggest fall the biggest negativity about it was that. I couldn't function as myself. I wasn't really, I was just a robot working and going home. I didn't really function as myself, but at the same time, there was also a positivity because I am highly sensitive. And that made me, gave me the opportunity to connect deeper with some of the people I work with. So there's a few stories I can tell about people who work with me, who experience. The positive side of the strengths of highly sensitivity, because I could relate to them and uplift them in a way. okay. Okay. And how is this overwhelmed now different as a business owner, because there is a lot of uncertainty out there and it's very overwhelming for someone who is, or has just transitioned into being his or her own boss. How do you cope with that uncertainty? How do you cope with being out of this comfort zone. So in, how far is that different now and better now for you as a sensitive leader? As a sensitive leader and being an entrepreneur, I can choose how I manage my time. And how I manage my energy. So if you were go to work, you have to be there at a certain time that is set by someone else. And then you come home and you are already overwhelmed. You have to somehow de-stress from what you're doing and it's not possible. Perhaps if you go to work every day, As an entrepreneur, I can manage my own time and I can make sure that worth the time management I can make. I can manage my energy and prepare myself better for the appointments I make. And the time I'm gonna spend on working with a client or working, doing work for a client. I understand that there is this control that I have over my own life. There is no external factor, no company that is controlling how I have to function. Is that correct? Exactly. That's exactly. I have control over what I'm doing. Okay. All right. You have control and you are a copywriter. How do you approach the topic of copywriting? How do you teach your clients how to write. Okay. So my I teach them the system I follow. So my system is basically research. The biggest part of copywriting is research. You can't just jump into something and write something. Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't, but you have a big, better understanding if you do research and there is research about what you are writing and it's research search about your client. And very importantly, it's recent about. Your client's market, your client's audience, because as a copywriter, you want to be the link between what your client is saying and being, making sure that resonates with their audience. So that's the first and very important part is doing the research around your copywriting. And then my process is basically starting with how the body of the copywriting. So I want to, I put it together. I, from the research I put together everything I will place in the copywriting and I plan, I create a structure. I plan, how do I go? How I'm gonna put this together. And from there, I fill in everything that's required in the copy. And then there's some editing. You'll see a lot of jokes. If you follow some copywriters, you'll see a lot of jokes about, Hey, how many times we edit because the first draft is never perfect and you, we strive for perfection, but we can't really reach that, but we edit and edit it because as a copywriter, you want to. the words, at least words. So you get the message across faster, but you also want to make sure you get all of the message. And then we delve into the client's heart of it. So we need to put the client's heart of it into the copywriting and that I'll teach them how to add. Yes, then when you have the body, it's easier to. To find a heading. If you try to put a heading first you are have a lot of pressure to get a perfect heading for me. If I write the body first, and then I do the heading and the intro, it's easier. It flows easier. And then after that, I'll just re-edit to make sure everything flows perfectly. And then I also teach clients how to do social media. That's from the body. You get that information from the body of your piece and yes, and then we just re-edit and make sure everything is fine and they are happy with it and it resonates with their clients or their audience. Okay. We actually start with the end. We reengineer from the hearts of the people we wanna appeal to so that we can basically resonate with them with the copy that we are writing. It's about the ideal audience or the ideal reader. I'm really trying to get an understanding about the customer or the reader I'm going to attract with my copy. It's stay exactly. In the center, they are in the heart and or we are in the heart of them and then we reengineer backwards. Is that right? Then we start writing our copy based on research, based on yeah experience based on Everything that is necessary in order to come up with the story, right? Yes. Yes. I love that. You say re-engineer, we are tracking it from where we want to, where we want it to go, and then we put it. Everything in place, the steps before that in place. Exactly. And then you say there is a certain order when it comes to a structure because there is the copy there is the title there is subtitles there is call to action. So how do I order that? You said that the title comes last or do I start with the CTA, with the call to action? How do I start? Yes for me, it's the best way is to write your message. Write what's on your heart first. Put that on the paper. And then you can I, yes, put that on the paper. Then you do the call to action or you can or add call to actions throughout the copy as well, but make sure there's a lot of pressure also on call to actions. And like I said, on the headings and the, a good intro. So you can keep your reader reading, but for me is best to put a heart of your message on the paper first. And then I'll go, I'll check. Maybe I'll add call to actions to that already, but then I'll check and see, okay, from this heart, what is a good heading for this? And then I'll write the heading and I'll try a few different headings. And then from the heading it, I find a logical intro to the heart of the copy. And then I'll also make sure that I have a call to action and see if there's throughout the copy. If there's more spaces to add a call to action, because that's what you want to do. You want to call your audience to action. So the more calls to actions you have without being salesy about it, that's a good idea. That's a good uh, word salesy. We don't wanna come across like that. So how can we become a better copywriter as let's say entrepreneurs so that the copy is not salesy reflects our branding, reflects us, and our values that we live ,by. How do we bring that together? Understanding our customer, be in their shoes, connect with them on this emotional visceral level, but at the same time, live by our values. Yeah. Being in full authenticity. So how does that go together? How do I connect here best That's a very beautiful question. What I think about it is that if you need to be, if you want to be authentic, you need to know yourself. So that is part of maybe the research you need to do before you write anything is to get to know yourself, go sit down and write script out. Who am I? And what is my goals and what is my missions and where do I want to go? And why do I want to serve these people that I'm planning to serve? And then from there, if I'm planning to serve these people, then you connect it with how do I relate and how can I. How can I project the image that is true to myself and that I can, that the people that are meant to work with me, the people are meant to be my clients that resonates with my message. How do I put the message out there so they can hear my heart and my voice? All right. And once I have done that, how can we create consistency with our topic that creates value of course, but over time, to have this consistency because we are sending out newsletters, blogs let's say weekly or biweekly or monthly. How can I keep them close to me so that I can build a real trustworthy relationship with them and get them to soon or later purchase with. Well, Let me use the word full transparency as a new entrepreneur. I'm still learning how to do that. But from my experience in this little time that I've been entrepreneur is that you need to check in with your heart check in with the basis, the foundation of why you are doing it every time you write something. So it's not just about sitting down and writing something. It is like, what is the true connection I want to make here? And what is my hard saying and how I'm gonna, how I'm going to show that to my audience. All right. So do you have any copywriting tips that help us to take action and practice right away? Maybe the three to five first steps. Yes. The first step I think is that you need to make sure you are speaking to your audience. You might have heard the saying, if you wa speak to everyone, you speak to no one. So it's important to restructure sentences and restructure your copy. So you speak to your audience and the word you is very important. Let me give it a simple example. If I say to you, the first hour is free, you think, okay. Maybe let's see maybe this 31 first for hours free. I don't know what I'm gonna do with it, but if I say to you, your first hours is. it feels like I'm speaking to you directly. So the word you is my first step, that is very important. Make sure it's. You need to say, what is your service about what is your offer about, so there's gonna be eye end, we in it, but the word you is very important and see where you can restructure a sentences. So you use the word you instead of I, or we and then my second tip is, read it out. It is interesting. I don't know. I'm certain you have seen before where you get a sentence or a paragraph where the words are all scrambled, but only the first and the last letter is in place. And somehow you can still read it. It's just that our brains are that amazing. We can figure it out. If you know the word, you can figure it out. So when you are reading, I feel it's the same. When you are reading something, not out loud. When you read it to yourself, it makes sense because you are reading it. But when you read it out loud, now your brain have to take another function and use another function and translate it into something that makes sense. So then you can identify where something is not making sense or where's the little bit difficult to learn to read, and then you can change it. So your audience will understand it easily. okay. So that's my second tip. And then the third tip is what we spoke about is don't put so much praise on yourself to write your he and your intro first, write the body of the piece. And then when you are done with that, you will, it will, sometimes the eating will come to you because you have the body of the piece and then you write the hitting and the. So that's my three tips. Wonderful. So the first one was, use the word you the second was read it out loud and then the third one is, write the body first. Yes. Great. So Now I would like to switch gears a little bit. We all experienced tremendous. Personal and emotional growth in our life, through all the up and the downs and the winds and the setbacks and detours, which ultimately makes us what we are today. And yeah, we strive to be in our best version. That's human nature. So I would like to know from you, what does being in our best version mean to you? Or what does it mean to be a strong personal brand that shines. I think that is about the image you want to portray. You have to make sure that it's true to yourself. We come back to the word of authenticity. You have to be true to yourself. You can't. If your brand, I don't think a brand is sustainable. If it's superficial. It is if it's authentic, and true to yourself, that will shine. You will shine through it. That will shine and you will be the source to the brand and it will be sustainable. Good. And when it comes to you what is, what makes you shine and. At your best, what is the single thing that sets you apart from all the other copywriters? Why would someone come to you? I connect with people hard, hot. I'm not there to just write, copy and get something on your website, or get an email out. I want to connect with you and know who you are and then write, copy that resonates with you and your audience. all right. Good. Elmar before we come to the end, I would like to do some rabbit fire terms, respectively, this quick word wrap. Okay. Would you like to give me quick and short answers to that? Yes, let's do this. All right. So when it comes to story, Story. Tell it from the heart highly sensitive, Can be overwhelming, but it is very much strength in it's very much powerful. Okay. Women empowerment, something that's really essential today to. To change the economy and change the world, make it a better place. Okay. And last but not least brands, brands be authentic, Authentic. All right. Elmar where can listeners find you if they wanna get in touch with you? If they need copywriting, where do they find you? I'm on LinkedIn and I am on Facebook and on Instagram and I have a website. And they'll also find the links there as well. Okay, great. Yeah. Elmari, thank you so much for being my guest today on BrandsTalk. It really was a pleasure learning from you. How to write our copy with ease as an entrepreneur. Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time. And I appreciate being here.. Thank you.