every copywriter’s worst nightmare

One of the most common questions I get from people is:

"How do I come up with story ideas for my emails?"

And look, I get it.

The burden of coming up with a fresh idea each day can be a real struggle.

Some days, the well just feels dry.

Even for me.

But we can both take some comfort that this is a problem marketers and copywriters have grappled with since the dawn of time.

Case in point:

I’m in the middle of my yearly Mad Men rewatch, and there’s an episode in Season 3 that depicts this timeless struggle beautifully.

It goes like this:

A copywriter named Kinsey is drinking working late at the office because he's on deadline.

He’s gotta present an idea for Western Union the next day, but he’s got nothing.

There’s no one else there.

But he hears someone rustling around outside his office...

So he goes to investigate.

Turns out it's the maintenance guy.

Kinsey starts chatting with him when, all of a sudden, he stops talking and gets a dumb look on his face.

Why?

Because a brilliant idea has just struck him like a lightning bolt.

So, he promptly goes back to his office, collapses onto the couch with a sigh of relief…

And passes out on the couch with a big smile on his face.

The next morning, his secretary finds him asleep and wakes him up.

He begins to tell her about his great idea… only to discover in horror that he never wrote it down.

It's GONE!

Of course, he starts freaking out.

Because he knows it's never coming back.

In fact, he’s forced to tell Don Draper (his boss) that the dog ate his homework…

And watch his colleague Peggy swoop in and save the day.

I can’t tell you how many times this has happened to me.

(Well, minus the drinking at the office part lol)

But the point I’m getting at is:

Ideas are like fairy dust.

They’re fickle, fleeting, prone to flight…

And if you don't capture them the moment they arrive, they have an annoying tendency to vanish without a trace.

This is why I'm constantly jotting things down.

Whether it’s sending myself a DM on Slack or WhatsApp…

Or filing it away in Evernote…

It’s all fair game.

Random observations, weird moments, snippets of conversations, frustrations, little wins…

Most of it never amounts to anything.

But every once in a while, one of those half-baked notes turns into an offer, ad, or email that makes me a lot of money.

So if you’ve ever struggled with writer’s block or been stuck staring at a blank page…

Wondering what the heck you’re going to write about it…

Consider this a fresh reminder to write down everything.

No matter how silly or half-baked it may seem.

Because if you never build the habit…

You’ll never capture the winners when they show up unannounced.

That’s all I got for ya today, though.

Enjoy your weekend :)

Jim Hamilton

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