Welcome to the last episode in season two of the Tried It podcast, also known as the crunchiest episode of the season! Today, Sarah and Nicole step back and reflect on everything that’s happened since they started recording the season, approximately 10,000 years ago.

You’ll hear how season two’s books have impacted Nicole and Sarah’s businesses and how Sarah’s adapted her Homework For Life process to help her keep up the daily writing habit. Both hosts share big news from their businesses, including Nicole’s long-awaited launch of her brand-new website and newsletter! And since we’re all here for fun as well as for work, there are some fun life updates, from new pets to delicious breakfast recipes.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks so much for following along with the Tried It team, the talented authors and the wonderful guests of season two. The podcast will be back for a third season and there will even be the opportunity to feature as a guest so fill out the form if you’re interested. Sarah and Nicole would love to hear from you! And if you can’t wait until season three to get more Tried It in your life, check out the podcast membership for ambitious copywriters looking to upskill and grow their businesses.

Timestamps

[0:30] Welcome to the wrap-up episode, y’all!

[1:20] How Nicole feels from 10,000 years ago to now: Important work updates

[3:45] Let’s celebrate Nicole’s new website and newsletter!

[6:10] And there’s another new newsletter in town! Sarah introduces her new concept

[13:15] How season two’s books helped Sarah and Nicole work on their businesses

[15:40] The “mental gymnastics” of beating AI and breaking out of comfort zones

[20:35] Nicole’s fun rat-shaped life updates

[21:20] The *crunchiest* part of the episode

[23:55] Sarah’s fun life update

[25:55] How Sarah’s updated Homework For Life to help keep her habit consistent

[27:40] What changes in your life when you start doing Homework For Life

[32:00] Big announcement: There will be a season three of the podcast!

[33:50] Lonely without the pod? Try out the Tried It membership!

[35:35] Thanks for hanging with the Tried It team!

Links and Resources Related To This Episode

Nicole’s granola recipe

The granola recipe that Sarah uses and hardly modifies at all, so full credit to Cookie and Kate for this one

The Tried It Storyworthy Discussion episode

The Tried It Storyworthy Implementation episode

Are you brave enough to guest on the podcast?

Stay In Touch With The Tried It Team

Join the Tried It Membership...

Every copywriter dreams of a business that markets itself. Where you, as the writer, spend your days elbow-deep in VOC research, wireframes or email sequences, with your ideal clients forming an orderly queue to be the next to benefit from your words and insights. But if you want to get to that point, you need to build your referral system first.

In this special implementation episode of the Tried It podcast, brand voice expert Justin Blackman returns to discuss The Referral Engine with regular hosts Sarah and Nicole. Each copywriter recaps the three goals they set themselves to experiment with from the book and shares the details of how they got on. Justin talks messaging clarity and Sarah shares how author of The Referral Engine John Jantsch helped her achieve one of her implementation goals. And Nicole’s finally launched her new website!

This is the last book in the second season of the Tried It podcast, but it’s not quite the end of the season yet. Stick around for next week’s end-of-season wrap-up and debrief, featuring Sarah and Nicole discussing how the season was for them and the changes they’ve seen in their businesses. And if you want more Tried It in your life after the season is over, check out the Tried It Membership!

Timestamps

[0:30] Welcome back to the Tried It Podcast, Justin!

[1:40] Nicole gives a quick summary of The Referral Engine, in case you missed the last episode

[3:30] “Some of the stuff just didn’t work the way I wanted it to”: Justin’s experience of applying lessons from The Referral Engine

[6:30] Justin recaps his three implementation points

[8:15] Sometimes, the implementation phase makes you realise what’s not working in your business

[10:15] Using referrals to grow inbound leads - as long as you’re happy to play the long game

[14:40] How to nail your copywriting talkable difference

[18:10] What AI’s missing when you use it to write your copy

[21:00] Is Justin going to use the principles of The Referral Engine going forward?

[23:25] Should you pay someone who refers you a new client?

[24:30] Whoop whoop! Nicole’s launched her new website!

[27:45] Integrating referrals into your client onboarding process

[28:25] “Not every referral is the right referral”: What happens when people don’t understand your business

[29:55] Sarah’s most successful implementation point, with a little help from John Jantsch

[34:05] Starting a new project and navigating the graphic design maze

[37:50] Sarah’s last implementation point: Asking for a referral out loud, from a human being

[41:00] What kind of copywriter would benefit from reading The Referral Engine?

[44:00] Looking for sustainable growth for your copywriting business? Try out the Tried It membership!

Links and Resources Related To This Episode

Buy your copy of The Referral Engine by John Jantsch

Check out Justin’s Brand Voice Academy

The Sixty-Second Sales Hook by Kenny Rogers

Stay In Touch With The Tried It Team

Join the Tried It Membership here

Picture this: a freelance copywriting business with an endless stream of good-fit clients queueing up to work with you. No obligation to be active on social media or to attend networking events. Just you and your profitable copywriting projects.

That’s the dream that John Jantsch sells in his book, The Referral Engine. Whilst most business owners welcome client referrals as an unexpected bonus, Jantsch tells you step-by-step how to turn your business into a machine that generates referrals, bringing your perfect clients to your virtual door. However, the book was published in 2010 and speaks to a wide audience of service- and product-based businesses, covering both ends of the price point spectrum. So can it help today’s freelancer copywriters?

In this episode of Tried It, hosts Nicole and Sarah are joined by special guest Justin Blackman of Brand Voice Academy as they analyse The Referral Engine. Listen along as they share major insights from the book, including the difference between how you see your business and how your clients see it, and how to turn your unique processes into your sales pitch. At the end of the episode, Justin, Sarah and Nicole share the three things they’ll each take from the book to apply to their copywriting businesses.

The Tried It Podcast is nearly at the end of its second season but the copywriting implementation goes on all year round in the Tried It Podcast Membership! If you’re ready to grow your copywriting skills with intention, check out the membership details via the link below.

Timestamps

[0:35] Welcome to the Tried It podcast, Justin Blackman!

[1:45] Introducing The Referral Engine, the book that Justin “highlighted the heck out of”

[4:15] What it means to put referrals at the heart of your copywriting business strategy

[7:10] The difference between a referral and a good referral

[9:05] How to adapt the strategies of The Referral Engine to your freelance copywriting business

[10:55] How you see your business vs. How your clients see your business

[13:05] Nicole breaks down the ‘buy’ stage of the seven-step referral system

[15:50] “One of the most awkward things to ask, ever”: Getting over the mental block of asking for a referral

[21:20] How Justin’s building a referrals process for his business

[24:30] Leveraging strategic partnerships to grow your business

[26:20] TIHWDIH: The acronym that breaks down your processes so your customers want to buy

[28:00] Can referrals replace your social media marketing efforts?

[31:55] “It’s not what you think”: Working out your business ‘talkable difference’

[36:35] “Not pivoting, just narrowing”: How Justin explains to his clients the value he brings to their team

[40:55] Justin’s three implementation points

[43:45] Sarah shares her implementation points

[49:15] Aaaaand Nicole gives her three implementation points

[51:15] How to get more Tried It in your life, even between seasons

Links and Resources Related To This Episode

Buy your copy of The Referral Engine by John Jantsch

Check out Justin’s Brand Voice Academy

Exactly What To Say by Phil M Jones

Stay In Touch With The Tried It Team

Join the Tried It Membership here

Check out our website

Email:...

Copywriters, if the rise of AI makes you want to improve your writing (or puke into your shoes), the Tried It team has the answer: be Storyworthy.

In this week’s episode, Sarah and Nicole swap stories on their implementation points from Matthew Dicks’ book Storyworthy. The copywriters share their experience of how everything changed once they started Homework for Life, including their new outlook on life and the unexpected side effects (both good and bad) of jotting down something noteworthy from every day. Sarah gives two tips that helped her to stay on track with her Homework for Life goal and Nicole muses on how friction in writing can actually be a net positive for copywriters. As they note, Matthew Dicks' advice is not easy, but it is simple.

Since the Tried It Podcast values honesty and transparency, both Nicole and Sarah share ‘before’ and ‘after’ versions of their writing so you can see how they used the Storyworthy framework and judge it for yourself. The links are below, as are links to check out the Tried It Podcast membership.

Timestamps

[1:20] Nicole, how do you feel about Storyworthy now?

[3:10] A high-level summary of Storyworthy

[5:00] Is Storyworthy a useful book for copywriters?

[6:10] Diving into Nicole’s experience of trying out Homework for Life

[9:30] “It’s changed my life!”: Sarah on Homework for Life

[11:30] Two tips to make Homework for Life easier to do every day

[14:15] Nicole’s Storyworthy moment

[15:45] But how do you know if a moment is really storyworthy?

[17:20] “A gift for copywriters”: How Homework for Life benefits copywriters

[21:15] When’s the best time to start doing Homework for Life?

[22:55] The one big risk of doing Homework for Life

[24:45] How to motivate yourself to do Homework for Life

[27:15] Nicole reports back on her Crash and Burn exercises

[34:40] Making a personal story Storyworthy: Sarah’s second implementation point

[41:00] Is it wrong to edit your life to make it Storyworthy?

[45:45] What’s it like to write a story with the Storyworthy framework?

[49:52] How Nicole used the Storyworthy framework on her About page

[53:15] Are these the biggest changes ever seen on the Tried It Podcast?

[55:15] Why Storyworthy is the book that will help copywriters defeat AI

[56:40] Way more than a newsletter: The Tried It Podcast membership

Links and Resources Related To This Episode

Buy your copy of Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks

Buy the Storyworthy audiobook on Apple

The Moth storytelling organisation

Sarah’s original story about her grandma

Sarah’s Storyworthy story about her grandma

Nicole’s previous and Storyworthy versions of her About page

Stay In Touch With The Tried It Team

Join the Tried It Membership here

Humans are storytellers and life is a story-generating machine. But some of us tell better stories than others, that some is Matthew Dicks, to be very specific. He’s the best at storytelling and he has the medals, trophies and book reviews to prove it. Listen as the Tried It Podcast hosts analyse Matthew Dick’s storytelling techniques from a copywriting lens.

On this episode of Tried It Podcast: Your Proven Pathway to a Better Copywriting Business, Sarah and Nicole talk about one of Nicole’s favourite authors. They discuss what counts as a story and how you can mine your own life for stories to use to connect with others. There are also practical tips about raising the stakes, crashing and burning, painting elephants and creating a Cinema of the Mind. Copywriters, listen out for Nicole’s advice on falling in love with copywriting again!

As Matthew Dicks points out, a story only lasts for five seconds. If that sounds awfully short to you, maybe you’d enjoy something more lasting. Something like… a membership to the Tried It Podcast! It’s your pathway to growing more confident as a copywriter and storyteller. If you’re interested, check out the links down below.

Timestamps

[0:30] Welcome to the world of one of Nicole’s favourite authors!

[2:20] How do you feel about AI, fellow copywriters?

[3:35] Sarah’s scepticism about Storyworthy

[4:35] So, what actually is a story?

[6:45] Why do stories only last for five seconds?

[10:45] How to mine your own life for stories: Matthew Dicks’ three story generating techniques

[12:15] The understated magic of Homework for Life

[15:50] Why writers should Crash and Burn, and Matthew Dicks’ last story-generating exercise

[18:50] Constructing your Storyworthy story and the permissible lies of storytelling

[22:20] Never shut down the Cinema of the Mind

[26:35] Presently, we are tense: Creating pace through speaking in the present tense in stories

[27:35] “Heightening the stakes”: How to get people to give a sh*t about your story

[30:10] Do the Storyworthy techniques apply to copywriting?

[33:40] Why elephants can change their colours, or how to use stories to sell

[36:45] “Do I have a single story to tell??!” Sarah spirals

[38:45] Nicole’s advice to copywriters who’ve fallen out of love with copywriting

[39:55] Nicole’s three implementation points from Storyworthy

[42:25] What Sarah’s implementing from Storyworthy

[48:25] Sometime is now time, for membership talk time

Links and Resources Related To This Episode

Buy your copy of Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks

Someday is Today by Matthew Dicks

The Moth storytelling organisation

All Too Well by Taylor Swift

Matthew Dicks on The Copywriter Club Podcast

Wash A Pig creative writing cards

The Tried It Podcast’s discussion of...

Are you ready to live a life that’s more meaningful, more kind and connects you more deeply with the people you love? No, this podcast isn’t your first step to joining a cult, it’s the Implementation episode of the Tried It Podcast’s analysis of Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman.

If you tuned into last week’s episode, Sarah and Nicole have a time-bending surprise for you: that was actually four months ago. In between, the Tried It team have followed some of Burkmen’s principles to try to make their lives and businesses more aligned with their goals so they can live more fulfilling lives before they die. Small ask, huh? Tune in to learn what it’s like to live in uncomfortable enlargement, whether you can really ever control your own time and whether Four Thousand Weeks is the right time management book for freelance business owners.

Also, this episode of the podcast contains Sarah’s first-ever reference to The Office US. A milestone indeed.

Stay to the end to hear details of the Tried It Podcast Membership and how you can support the project without spending a single penny.

Timestamps

[0:25] It’s implementation time, y’all!

[2:45] Deep questions and vibes: What to expect when you read Four Thousand Weeks

[8:10]What Oliver Burkeman’s been up to since writing Four Thousand Weeks

[9:20] Why the Tried It team waited a long time to record this episode

[10:50] What changes has Sarah seen since reading Four Thousand Weeks?

[11:55] “I’m still not good at managing time”: Nicole’s reflections on time

[13:25] Millennials, you don’t have to change the world

[16:40] Searching for KPIs that aren’t money

[20:00] “It does feel good”: Sarah on paying herself first in time

[21:45] Controlling time: Freelancer edition

[24:45] Putting the Pro- in crastinating

[27:50] The discomfort of talking about uncomfortable enlargement

[30:40] Check back in with Sarah and Nicole?

[32:30] Nicole Burkemans her family

[37:25] Five big questions to sit with and which one helped Nicole the most

[41:55] Nicole’s experience of paying herself first in time

[43:05] Would freelancers benefit from reading Four Thousand Weeks?

[47:30] The high note of the episode: the Tried It Podcast Membership

[49:40] Free ways to help out the Tried It Podcast, if you feel like it

Links and Resources Related To This Episode

Buy your copy of Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman

Sign up for Oliver Burkeman’s newsletter, The Imperfectionist

Buy Oliver Burkeman’s new book, Meditations for Mortals

Ok so you can’t link to individual episodes of The Office US online, but it’s Season 4, episode 1, ‘Fun Run’

Nicole’s big ole jar of post-it notes

Stay In Touch With The Tried It Team

Join the Tried It Membership here

Check out our website

Email: podcast@trieditcopy.com

Well hello there, copywriting friend!

This is the Tried It Podcast: Your Proven Pathway to a Better Copywriting Business. How do we...

One day, you will die.

But the statistics say that before that, you’ll spend about four thousand weeks on earth. This is the average human lifespan, and we fill it with emails, meetings, paperwork, queuing in airports, fighting with strangers over the Internet and sometimes, with doing things that are deeply meaningful to us and those we love. Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals is a guide that says it’ll help you do more of the meaningful stuff.

On this week’s episode of the Tried It Podcast: Your Proven Pathway to a Better Copywriting Business, Sarah and Nicole discuss this philosophical guide to time management, covering some of Burkeman’s core principles and how to translate them into your own life and business. Get ready to learn about JOMO, creative neglect, manipulating the present moment and uncomfortable enlargement (no jokes please, The Tried It team managed to resist so you can too). At the end of the episode, the team share the implementation points they’ll work on before they, too, die.

If you enjoyed the episode, you’re probably the kind of person who would also like the Tried It Podcast membership! Click here to double-check.

Timestamps

[0:30] Four Thousand Weeks: Not the length of time we’ll spend on this episode

[2:00] “Quite a book”: Nicole introduces Four Thousand Weeks

[4:40] What’s the significance of the title? A brief moment to dwell on time and death

[7:50] No, you don’t actually have time

[10:00] Burkeman’s approach to making the most of your time on this earth and your permission slip to procrastinate

[14:30] Comparing Four Thousand Weeks to other approaches to time management

[18:30] JOMO: Burkeman’s slightly weird approach to commitment

[23:00] Sarah and Nicole’s main criticisms of Four Thousand Weeks

[28:40] Who would benefit from the Four Thousand Weeks approach to time management?

[35:30] What stuck with Nicole and Sarah from the book

[39:20] Nicole’s three implementation points

[42:20] Sarah’s three implementation points

[49:45] Why you should check out the Tried It Podcast Membership

[53:10] Reach out to the Tried It team!

Links and Resources Related To This Episode

Buy your copy of Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman

Some Day Is Today by Matthew Dicks

Stay In Touch With The Tried It Team

Join the Tried It Membership here

Check out our website

Email: podcast@trieditcopy.com

Well hello there, copywriting friend!

This is the Tried It Podcast: Your Proven Pathway to a Better Copywriting Business. How do we know it works? Because we’ve Tried It.

We’re Nicole and Sarah, two copywriters on a mission to elevate your freelance copywriting game. We’re reading the great books about copywriting, marketing and business. Once we’ve read each book, we spend a hot minute applying the techniques we’ve learnt to our own businesses and to our client work. And then, we talk about it. We’re learning, out loud.

Join us on our journey to polish up our copywriting skills, every episode! You’ll get actionable copywriting techniques, real-life case studies, business advice, mindset reframes and marketing strategies.

Join our membership to get access to the Tried It weekly newsletter, as well as the chance to pick our brains and to vote for the next book we...

What makes copy good? What does ‘good copy’ even mean? If these are the questions keeping your freelance copywriter brain up at night, the Tried It Podcast has a book for you: Copy Logic.

In this second part of their analysis of Copy Logic, hosts Sarah and Nicole and special guest Rob Marsh catch up to find out how it went when they applied the techniques of Copy Logic to their own work. Expect conversations about managing the revisions process, sitting on a four-legged stool and debates on how to use AI to improve copy. They also unpack what kind of copywriter would benefit the most from reading Copy Logic. Listen out for the Tried It Podcast's biggest ever implementation point!

Have you read Copy Logic? Would you run your copy through a Peer Review test? Get in touch and let the Tried It team know! And if you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe so you can catch every Tried It episode as soon as they’re released.

Timestamps

[0:40] Welcome back to the very special guest!

[1:50] If you had to summarise Copy Logic, you’d say…

[3:20] Rob recaps his three implementation points

[5:10] No comments, only solutions: A new way to review copy

[8:15] Do the ideas of Copy Logic even apply to freelance copywriters?

[11:40] “This is one of the biggest takeaways for me from the book”

[12:15] CUB for the Club: How Rob’s CUB technique helped him to write better copy

[17:01] How it felt for Rob to add a fourth leg to his copywriting stool

[19:25] “Very applicable”: Why Rob is glad to have read Copy Logic

[20:20] Nicole’s clients fail the CUB test

[22:30] The CUB test culture shock

[26:55] Nicole *goes there* by discussing AI and copywriting

[28:10] Nicole pulls off the biggest implementation ever seen on the Tried It Podcast

[31:20] What happens if you expect copy revisions to… go well?

[34:00] And Sarah joins Rob on the four-legged stool

[37:20] “I think I’m in love with the CUB test”: Sarah’s new way to improve her copy

[41:15] Can you use AI to get feedback on your copy?

[45:35] Sarah reveals her new editing system

[46:35] Why Copy Logic should be on more copywriter’s shelves

[50:25] But if you’re a beginner copywriter, this might not be the book for you

[51:05] Try out the Tried It membership

Links and Resources Related To This Episode

Buy your copy of Copy Logic! by Michael Masterson and Mike Palmer

The Copywriter Club

Join The Copywriter Underground

Rob’s emotional copywriting playbook and sales page

Sarah’s final CUB-tested blog post

The Ugly First Draft of Sarah’s blog post, pre-CUB test

Mike Garner on LinkedIn

The Pledge by Michael Masterson on Amazon US