Success is something you attract 🏃‍♀️

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Hi there,

Greetings from NYC! ☀️

I’m currently resting my (embarrassingly sore) legs after finishing my first week of half-marathon training. It wasn’t the plan to run a half-marathon in Ireland this September, but my sister egged me on:

“You can do 13.1 miles. Anyone can do 13.1 miles if they train beforehand.”

I chewed on her words over the dinner table. In complete honesty, over the past few months I’d felt…stagnant. When was the last time I challenged myself to do something I thought I couldn’t? Tellingly, not a single thought bubbled to the surface.

So, I (reluctantly) said, “Sure.”

It’s not so much about the running (or changing my body) as it is about accomplishing the goal itself. It’s powerful to prove to yourself you can do hard shit. Because when you accomplish even just one far-fetched goal, the ball starts rolling for all areas of your life.

Hal Elrod, author of The Miracle Morning, adds on to this idea: “Your level of success will rarely exceed your level of personal development, because success is something you attract by the person you become.”

Despite this quote being a smidge “guru” for my taste, Elrod’s got a point. A person is likely to attract success if they’re open to challenges. If they choose the “hard” option over the “easy” one. If they constantly surprise themselves.

So, this June do one thing that you believe is “off-limits.” A shift in perspective might be just the thing you need to see how much you’re actually capable of.

As for me, I’m back to resting my feet. 🙃

✍️ Quick Writing Tip

Matt Barker is a LinkedIn ghostwriter who’s earned over $1,000,000 for his clients — and his bio is an excellent example of thumb-stopping copy.

Instead of boring the reader with blocks of text, Matt does five things to enhance his copy. Can you list them all?

Here’s what you should’ve noticed:

1. He is writing for one person.

2. He lists out the prospect’s pain points.

3. He lists out the prospect’s desired outcome.

4. He uses interactive writing elements (lists, questions, etc).

5. He addresses the prospect’s doubts as they arise.

Needless to say, I followed this dude immediately.

🥒 Content Diet

🎤 How to Design a Life with Debbie Millman by The Tim Ferriss Show — Debbie Millman is one of the most influential designers of all time. At one point, if you strolled into an American supermarket, she’d designed 20% of all the packaging. 🤯 But Debbie’s success wasn’t accidental — she’s been intentionally crafting her dream life for years. Her interview with Tim Ferriss is inspiring and motivating.

🍽 Bad Waitress by Becca Schuh — Wow. It’s not everyday you find an essay this stellar (one that’s not written for an algorithm or littered with platitudes). Becca’s personal essay is touching and shines a light on the wild reality of earning a living as a waitress to support your craft.

📖 Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang — I usually stick to reading fiction, but Qian’s memoir is engrossing. She recounts her undocumented childhood while living in NYC and the grueling impact it had on her family. If you want to be transported to another world, I 100% recommend this read.

✍🏼 Freelancing Journey

This Week: Pricing Guidelines

I brought you a present. 🎁

If you’re clueless on how to price your services, this guide from fellow freelancer Ashley Cummings will be your saving grace. Because up until now, Google results for “how much should I charge for freelance writing” will give you wildly different results.

Unlike Google, Ashley’s guide has tons of data points to help you price yourself within market rate. She includes all contributing factors, from gender to age to experience, that could impact your price.

This chart stands out:

I really could’ve used this chart two years ago when I created an entire landing page for $350. 🤦🏼‍♀️ Missing out on nearly $2K from a project…just another day as a freelancer, amiright?

Happy freelancing!

That’s it for this week! I won’t be in your inbox for awhile as I’ll be OOO in Italy 🇮🇹, so I’ll see you again July 12th!

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a beautiful week, wherever you are. If you enjoyed this newsletter, why not share it with a writer friend? 🙂 

Stay Creative,

Alice 💌