1631 – Your Words Working for You with Bolt from the Blue’s Rachel Allen

0:28Hey there, thoughtful listener. million in revenue. Just head to upmyinfluence.com and watch my free class on how to create endless high-ticket sales appointments. You can even chat with me live and I'll see and reply to your messages. Also, don't forget, the thoughtful entrepreneur is always looking for guests. Go to upmyinfluence.com and click on podcast. We'd love to have you.

0:58with us right now rachel allen rachel you are the founder ceo of bolt from the blue copywriting your website is bolt from the blue copywriting.com rachel thank you for being here thank you so much for having me josh i'm really excited to chat yeah so so tell me what bolt from the blue like what you do who you work with and and uh obviously it's copywriting but we'll get into a little bit more specifics in a moment. Absolutely. Well, we're a full service copywriting agency, which means we do everything from the high level branding conversations all the way right down to like, can you please post on Instagram because I don't want to.

1:31But the way I sum it up for people is we make words make money. Well, sure. So I would imagine, you know, naturally, I'm going to go to this topic really quickly here about how AI and ChatGPT and other tools have impacted the work that you do. what I, well, I'll just, I'll listen to your answer. You know, I've had so many clients coming to me and asking me about that. And, you know, I've had some very people who are very sure of themselves telling me, oh, copywriting's dead. It's going to be gone in two years. ChatGPT is going to take it over. And I'm like, buddy, this is my fourth internet apocalypse.

2:05I have done this so many times and we're still here and still kicking. So I think that the misconceptions about ChatGPT come from a misunderstanding about what it really does and what it's really great at is novelty. It's designed to find combinations of words that are most likely to go together, which is really cool, but that's never going to be a substitute for actual human creativity and strategic work. And so that's the way that I see it impacting the industry is it's fantastic for brainstorming. You're going to see it doing a lot of the stuff that they used to do with people on Fiverr. A lot of the stuff that I actually started out doing when I was like content mills were a thing way back in the day.

2:38I think that's going to get taken over, but I think the real work is still obviously going to be human focused. Yeah. And, and talk, what, what explain to someone who doesn't really understand what you're talking about, what you mean by that? Yeah. So what I mean by human, what I mean by human focused or what I'm talking about with the work that. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. The limitations of chat GPT. Someone says, no, no, no. I thought the chat GPT does everything. Can you kind of maybe explain a little bit about the limitations. You know, I, and I'll just, you know, I'll kind of preface that.

3:10I just got like an email pitch for someone that wanted to be on the podcast. It was, it was weird reading it. I'm like, something just doesn't sound right. Like it was, it had a lot of facts about me to kind of show, oh, I know all about you, but it didn't, it's still, it didn't sound like a person. It just had this, you know, it's like if you're watching, like let's say you're watching a video of someone and they're not making eye contact with you or they're looking just slightly off from where your eyes are. Like if you're chatting with them in person, like you don't initially notice it, but then it starts like something's, I'm smelling something's obvious.

3:56Something is different here. Yeah. No, you're exactly right. And I think that's, that's why I'm not worried about it because I get those emails as well. And I've had, like I said, clients talking to me about it and they're like, this, like, it sounds like it should be a human, but there's just something about it. That's off. And so, yeah, no, I recently got one myself, but it was like, you know, hello, Rachel, I hope I find you full of entrepreneurial enthusiasm. And I'm like, really? Has anybody ever actually sat down and written that email? You can just, you can tell that it's technically correct words, but it doesn't have the same feeling like you're sitting down and talking to somebody.

4:29So yeah, I mean, it's a good replacement for some pretty lazy marketing. But if you're wanting the real stuff that actually has the juice and the fidelity to it, that just always comes from a human. And so one way I explain it to people a lot is that it's very good at accuracy. So it can tell you lots of different things about you when it's not having its own little hallucinations and issues. But there's a difference between accuracy and fidelity. So for instance, I can know so many demographic facts about you, Josh, but that's not the same as knowing you like your best friends know you. So I don't have that like fidelity relationship.

5:01And that's what ChatCPP does. It's really great with accuracy. Can't touch fidelity. Yeah. And I mean, a creeper, you know, could know a lot of things about you. That's not connection. And again, I don't want to come across like we're being overly arrogant because I think AI will continue to improve. And I think that there's likely places where we could say, okay, you know, this is absolutely where we should let us, let's just double down on, you know, having AI tools help us to create this, this, this, this, and this, you know, but, but Rachel, the work that you do is when copy really, really, really needs to perform.

5:45It sounds like that's kind of where you come in. Yeah. We work with a lot of people who are going through business transitions or perhaps, you know, they may have been, they may be serial entrepreneurs and they're starting a new business and they really want to get it right. This like right from the start, this time, they don't want to build the airplane on the way down. And we also work with, you know, like I've talked to people of some of the biggest and smallest names in entrepreneurship. And so with those small businesses, it really matters to them that that sales page converge or that this course sells or that their life's work gets to be out there in a bigger way.

6:13So yeah, we do come in when it really has to work. And I think that's the difference again, you have to have, there's so many factors, there's so much complexity involved in a work like that, that you can't just hand it off to an algorithm and hope that it can engage with all of the different elements that are at play. If I were to hire a copywriter, what would be some red flags that, yeah, no, this is, or maybe things, you know, stupid stuff that amateur copywriters do that might serve as red flags. So for those of us listening to, you know, participating in this conversation here might say, ooh, yeah, no, Rachel warned me about this.

6:52What have you observed? Oh, my favorite is if you'll find people and they make you fill out a really, really detailed form where basically they make you write the copy for them and then they go in and just like polish it a little bit. You know, no, you can't replace an interview. That's why all of our work actually starts with a one-to-one interview with me. You know, I have a team who does some writing for me as well and I do the occasional writing myself, but it's always talking with me to get to know the person deeply. So if they're unwilling to do FaceTime, If they're making you jump through a whole bunch of hoops where you're like, man, I could just like kind of write this myself.

7:23I've filled it out by now. And if they are always on the latest buzzwords, right? So if you'll go back and you can look at their content and maybe like seven months ago, they were a TikTok influencer. And now they're a conversion copywriter. And now they're about whatever. And you're just like, come on, man. Like we were talking before the interview. Hacks have a short half-life. If you're just going to do hack after hack after hack, you're going to find yourself hustling for years. And that is exhausting. Yeah. Oh, don't forget they were an NFT bro. and of course, a chat GPT bro now. And they're really, they were SEO specialists at one time.

7:53Yeah. Yeah. Oh, and Facebook ads. I don't want to embarrass or make anyone feel bad. If that was you, you can get into a lane. It's fine. Yeah. So Rachel, what is the, what is when you begin working with a client, what is that kind of discovery and onboarding process like so that you can get to a point where you can comfortably do your work? So we have some initial contact with the client via email or whatever medium they come to us with. And we just kind of chat for a little bit, you know, like person to person to figure out like, is, do we actually want to work together? Are we the right fit for you?

8:26Because I don't want to waste your time. If you're not, I want to send you off to, you know, my network of copywriters that I can refer you to. And then if it is a good fit and, you know, we're like, you know what, let's give it a try. Then we sit down for an initial chat. It normally lasts, I don't know, 30 minutes to an hour where we really just talk about like where you're going with your business. What is happening on the strategic level, the 10 ,000 view level? Because people, your copy has to perform as an asset. You can't just do it in a vacuum and be like, oh, look, I've got some great words.

8:51Fantastic. If they're not working with the overall strategic arc of your business, then you're wasting your money and your time. So we do a lot of talk about that. I get a sense of what's happened with their business and why this matters to them, because that's what gives it the spark and the heart. And that's what draws people in. And then I also talk about their past experience with copywriters, because a lot of people come to us and they've gone through maybe one or two rounds before, and they've had a good experience or like really, really bad one. And I'm like, look, I want to answer all of your questions.

9:18I want you to understand clearly what we're doing here. And I want you to feel great about our work at every step of the way. So we talk through it all. And then most of it, where does, is your work primarily just appearing on websites, front pages? Like, where do you see your work being used? Oh, we have all kinds of different things. So we've got full web designs. We also do content infrastructure where we design the strategy that a client might go through. So for instance, we'll look at all the possible places a person can enter your business. So every newsletter sign up, every download you may have, and then all of the endpoints, so all the services they could buy.

9:58And then we make sure that there's a clear track from every entry point to every endpoint, because a lot of people create all of these kinds of things. And then the clients get in the middle and they drop off and nobody knows and dah, dah, dah. And you can put so much work, you know, you can pour ad dollars and work into getting people in and you do great work, but there's this like mess in the middle. So we do a lot of that as well, just helping people have a clear path. But then we also write, I mean, social media, we do nurture campaigns, we do email campaigns, sales pages, pretty much everything word related.

10:26We do it. Yeah. Is Bolt from the blue, are you primarily just done for you copywriting or do you do any other things included with that? We do done for you copywriting. We do consulting and branding development. And then we also do the content infrastructure type stuff as well as the more strategic development. So let's say maybe you're making a brand pivot or let's say, you know, God forbid you've had something bad happen and you're getting blasted on Twitter and you need somebody to help you figure out how to respond to that. We can come in and do that. And then we also, I also do fractional CMO work in other businesses where I come in and like, maybe you need a fractional CMO because you're about to go into launch or you have a new department coming in or you're expanding and you just need somebody to come in and make sure it's done right for three to six months and then out.

11:10So I do a lot of that as well, which is super fun. Yeah. And then, you know, I guess if someone, Rachel is, you know, maybe they need a copywriter and they're like, well, I got to, I have a friend who owns, you know, he's a copywriter, you know, I've hired on Upwork before. Or how would you differentiate, you know, we shared maybe a couple of thoughts earlier, but how would you differentiate Bolt from the Blue from any other copywriter? Maybe that's related to industries you've worked in or your experience or specialties, but, you know, it's difficult, you know, in that buying process to make sure that we have someone that's going to be a really good fit for us.

11:47So who listening to us ought to really be leaning forward and clicking on the show notes in your podcast app, click around, find it. click on that direct link and go to boltfromthebluecopywriting.com. But who especially should be taking action right now? If you are heading up either a small to medium business or a department within one of those businesses, we are pretty industry agnostic. I often say we've worked with clients ranging from accountants to astrologers, which sounds like a joke, but it's true. But if you're doing something that you genuinely care about, it's not just a moneymaker.

12:22It's not just an ATM for you that work. I can do it. It's kind of boring. But if you're doing something you genuinely care about, and you have an absolute commitment to honoring the humanity, both within yourself and within your clients and customers, that's who we work best with, because that's what underlies every single thing we do. We often say, and on the socials and blogs, human is the only move left. And it's true because that's what's working. And that's what has always worked no matter what technological formats and changes come along. So if that resonates with you and you would like to get some human-centered copywriting, I would be happy to oblige.

12:52Yeah. At your website, boltfromthebluecopywriting.com, what resources would, or maybe there's something on your social or, you know, just like if someone's like, well, I'm not sure if I'm ready for a conversation just yet, but I'd love to spend more time getting to know Rachel. Where can they get to know Rachel? all? Yeah, well, we've got, I've got a blog because I'm old school like that. So we have that. I also do a free workshop series. So I teach two free workshops every month on various subjects. They're usually really tactical stuff. So if you want to come and learn how to write a bio, if you want to learn about positioning, which nobody ever talks about in sales, but of course, it's incredibly important.

13:28We also do email stuff. So that's a great way to come. It's usually just a little 90 minute workshop, drop in, see the replay if you can't make it live. And that's a great way to get to know me and actually get some live feedback and work with me before we actually hop on the call and have a chat. Yeah. So again, boltfromthebluecopywriting.com. Who have you worked with and would have been some, maybe some use cases or, you know, if you think about clients you've worked with in the past, or you've been like, you know, that was pretty successful. Anything come to mind? Yeah. Well, we've worked, I'm trying to think of some of the big name heavy hitters.

14:00We worked with the Good Life Project and Jonathan Fields for quite some time, and I love doing work with him. We've also done work with Todd Herman, Liz Scully of Rethink central and evil coach has also been one of my very, very favorites. And as far as success stories, the one I always pull out because it just sounds so fantastic is we have a client who runs the UK's only carbon neutral salon and it's called mimosa beauty. It's in Essex. And we made them$20 ,000 of bookings in a day with a three email series. So that was pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. All right. Good deal. Bolt from the blue copywriting.com.

14:32Rachel Allen, you're the founder and CEO. It's been a great conversation. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. It was fun.

14:43Thanks for listening to the Thoughtful Entrepreneur Show. If you are a thoughtful business owner or professional who would like to be on this daily program, please visit upmyinfluence.com slash guest. If you're a listener, I'd love to shout out your business to our whole audience for free. You can do that by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or join our listener Facebook group. Just search for The Thoughtful Entrepreneur in Facebook. I'd love even if you just stopped by to say hi. I'd love to meet you. We believe that every person has a message that can positively impact the world. We love our community who listens and shares our program every day.

15:28Together, we are empowering one another as thoughtful entrepreneurs. Hit subscribe so that tomorrow morning, that's right, seven days a week, you are going to be inspired and motivated to succeed. I promise to bring positivity and inspiration to you for around 15 minutes each day. Thanks for listening and thank you for being a part of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur Movement.