Miles Outside My Comfort Zone Now!

There are times when I get talked into (I should probably say “when I fail to talk myself out of”) taking on a copy or content writing project that scares the bejesus out of me. I’m right smack in the middle of one right now. And I really do want to do it. I want to hit it out of the ball park when I do it, too.

It’s just that I’ve never tackled this particular niche before except to edit or enhance preexisting copy.

So here’s the story.

I have an amazing, amazing  Medicare/health insurance provider who guided me through the shoals and breakwaters the year I became eligible for Medicare. Her name is Katheryn Evans, and she’s the founder of Strategic Sound Solutions in Puyallup. She’s a medical, health, and life insurance broker.

I met Katheryn two and a half years ago when I knew I was going to need to start researching and choosing a Medicare program before I turned 65. She came to one of my business networking meetings.

Katheryn’s presentation was so well-thought out–without being routine or rote–and her character and integrity were so much in evidence that I knew immediately I’d found my Medicare maven. She was patient, relational, and very easy to understand.

One of the things she said then that sticks with me to this day is this: “I’m the kind of person who asks questions. Lots and lots of questions. I even ask the questions that other people might think are dumb, because if I don’t know the answers, I figure someone else wants to know the same thing but is too embarrassed to ask. So I ask. And believe me, asking dumb questions has delivered surprising insights! When I’m asked to explain the ins and outs of various insurance products, I can do it. I can pinpoint why one option might better serve a client than another, based on the questions I ask them as we develop a working relationship. And I  hate jargon. I understand insurance jargon, but I don’t foist it off on my clients. I never want to see my clients’ eyes glaze over. I want them to completely understand what they’re looking at to make sure that any limitations or exclusions are well understood.”

See? Don’t you just love her already? If so, and you’re in the Tacoma area, give her a call at 253 861-2959 or (253) 229-3999. (And to answer the question you may be thinking right now, no, I’m not being compensated for this endorsement.) Katheryn is accepting additional clients.

Which is why she needs a responsive, relational, plain-talking website. And why she asked me to write the copy for it when I drove in to see her for an update on my policies to see if there’s one better for me as a result of the medical changes I’ve experienced over the last year and a half. (There isn’t–the plans I’m on are still perfect for me.)

I gotta tell you, I sorta freaked inside when she asked. I’ve made it a practice to avoid writing insurance websites for this long, and I probably will avoid them again after I write Kathryn’s!

I loathe visiting insurance websites!  Most of them have me diving off as soon as I arrive. They’re impersonal, sterile, confusing, and all of them seem to have been written by the same uninspired (and uninspiring) writer. They make me nervous, too. I’m forever asking, “Where is the human being behind this anemic, antiseptic facade?!”

So I told Kathryn, after doing a little research on sites that offer similar products and services, that I was probably not the best writer for her site. But I went ahead and wrote my versions of what a landing page and a home page should convey if they have any hope of riveting a visitor in place long enough for them to decide to pick up their phone and call to make an appointment to visit in person and learn more.

I had very low expectations, since she had pointed me to several of the sites that she thought I could “mirror”.  After looking at them, I mentally prepared myself for the likelihood that she would agree that she needed another writer. I even started looking for someone who has written high-converting insurance sites and could do a good job for her.

Well, she loved my copy. Loved it! And I’m glad. And we’re moving ahead.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not still scared.

I felt the same way the first (and only!) time I was talked into agreeing to write a website for a local attorney. I did my best to talk him out of hiring me. I told him, “Law and insurance sites are not my thing. There are all these advertising rules you have to abide by, and I’m not familiar with them.” He said, “I am. And I can pass what you create through the right channels to make sure you didn’t violate any of them. Not a problem!”  He continued, “I love your writing style. It’s what I want. I want to start to build a relationship online. I want people to feel welcome, warmly greeted, respected, and appreciated for putting their trust in me. Your copy does that. And you know me well enough to ‘channel’ me. I give you complete authority to write by the seat of your pants. No rules, no micro-managing.” He gave me the topics, the search engine terms, and away I went.

And he loved it.  And it passed the vetting process.

And because I adore Katheryn and how well she takes care of me (and every other client of hers that I know or have ever heard about) I want to be her copy writing hero. She’s in the middle of Medicare open enrollment right now so she, too, has given me complete authority to write by the seat of my pants.  And she will have whatever I write vetted to make sure I don’t violate any of the insurance industry’s advertising protocols.

So here we go. When I get it done and her webmaster makes it live, I’ll point you to it so you can meet her and see what I did for her.  I hope you love it as much as she does. I hope the rest of what I do keeps her equally happy. Those are the marching orders I’ve given myself…

Hope I can live up to them!