Over the last two years I’ve contacted over 200 local small business owners and offered my services as a copywriter for free in exchange for a testimonial for my website.

Queerly enough, not one owner took me up on my offer.

I know it’s typical for a copywriter to reach out and hear nothing back most of the time, but I let them know I lived in the same small town, and you’d think they’d be neighborly enough to reply.

Actually, it should be good business practice, especially if I could be a potential customer who lives only a few blocks away.

I listened to an interesting podcast about money blocks, and it’s here that this podcast came in handy. I was glad I listened to it.

I thought (with the help of the podcast), why am I reaching out to small businesses in Ardmore?

They’re small because they think small, just as I did when contacting them.

Let me explain: every business owner I reached out to was LOCAL. I let them know I lived in the same town and that I could help them with their outreach to grow (because I researched every one of those places before I sent a personalized email).

If I found holes in their local SEO, websites, or Facebook pages that I could quickly help them improve, I would reach out and offer my services without any cost to them as I was building my portfolio.

Example: I emailed one of Ardmore’s lawn care services because I saw his Facebook ad. I mentioned his local SEO wasn’t optimized and I could explain it if he wanted me to. After all, why was he running an ad?

I don’t mean to sound like I’m the best at it, I just know a few things.

I was astonished at the lack of response. Not so much because they didn’t need me as a copywriter but as a local business owner who should have been on the ball with a potential customer who reached out to them.

The lack of response shed light on how they ran their business. Some places serve their community, and they know what they do is an important part of it. But many others, not so much.

I even reached out to a couple of churches who could have politely said ‘no thank you’ in their reply and then followed up with their pitch to me, as in -> I’d like to invite you to church!

After all, it’s a business, too.

Instead, I was ignored like a sad, smashed penny on the side of the road.

I’ve seen so many small businesses open and eventually close.

Another example:

There’s a local car cleaning business that details inside and out. So, I reached out via Facebook Messenger because there is no way to get in touch other than calling. They have no email. They have no website. I never knew he existed, and it’s been open since 2019. Really?

He read my message and ignored it.

Now, I know what you’re probably thinking. I must have sounded like spam.

On the contrary, I did everything to sound like a neighbor. I explained that I pass by his business daily because I work nearby. Did he respond to this potential, neighborly customer? After all, we have two cars that could use a deep cleaning! No, he did not.

Is this good business practice? No, it isn’t.

Answering my message may have earned him a couple of gold stars.

His action further imploded my thinking about reaching out to our local small businesses. Now, why was I doing it? I asked myself.

I know why. It’s money blocks. It’s the way I think about making money.

My money blocks were why I went after small businesses that made very little money and aren’t interested in nurturing possible clients.  

I grew up poor, and most people I know live paycheck to paycheck and make just enough money to get by.

I don’t really want to be in this camp. We don’t live paycheck to paycheck, but I do have a slight poverty mindset.

I have been working on my writing skills for the last few years to transition into something more profitable than teaching. I’ve been studying the art of copywriting, which is hard to break into, but I’m a writer…and I am a darn good writer… some days, anyway.

So, I have been on a journey of learning. I want to think and talk more about being wealthy and, more particularly, think as God wants me to think about wealth, prosperity, and generosity.

I believe the only way to step up a little higher is to offer my skills to people who run a business profitably, way beyond just paying the expenses—to those who understand the power of outreach, community, and prosperity.

After all, Heaven’s streets are solid gold, not asphalt and gravel.

But back to the carwash guy. Maybe I’m wrong and he has all the business he needs, and that’s why there wasn’t a reply. He doesn’t need my business. That could be it.

Love,

Sharon