Moo Marketing turned the big four! And how did I celebrate? By not realising. I was too busy wandering the cobbled streets of Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, stuffing my face with rooftop tapas, counting cows outside Ale-Hop*, and sipping Verdejo like a sun-worshipping Essex expat cliche.
Turns out, four years of Moo Marketing is 26 years in cow years. I mean WTAF?
To mark the occasion, here are four things I’ve learned. All loosely inspired by the chaos of a four-year-old birthday party circa 19XX.
Uno: The kid who screams the loudest isn’t the busiest
At a birthday party, the kid who brags the most isn’t the one having the most fun. As a new kid, or Moo, on the block, it is easy to feel you’re trying to get Oasis tickets. Clients seem like an actual oasis in the desert, and the marketplace seems copywriter-crowded. Focusing on building genuine connections was key. Like any four-year-old, it’s important to make friends. I’m blessed to have made friends on LinkedIn who are doing the same things. And clients have become friends too.
Dos: The never-ending game of Pass the Parcel
In copywriting, there’s always that one project that gets passed around to every single stakeholder, with each handoff adding an extra adjective. Or sentence. Whose idea was it for everyone to get a turn? Like in pass the parcel, you’re waiting for the music to stop and the final article to be in your hands. Then you can finally submit your invoice for the never-ending project. And eat. Eat out. Eat out. To get out. Of the house…
Tres: Find your version of Sleeping Lions
Like every toddler, you need a nap. Find your version of the sleeping lion—essentially, get a life away from your desk. It took me a while to realise just because I worked for myself, that I wasn’t under some kind of Tate house arrest. I could leave without permission. My brief fling with a morning gym session was far too energetic to last more than a single Monday. Afternoon yoga and pilates classes turned out to be the perfect solution—rare are the exercises that let you lie down and get to nap. Initially, I struggled with desk guilt—time is money, after all. As my retired classmates planned post-Pilates coffee, I could only ponder how many cat-cows until I had to rush home to join a new client teams call.
Cuatro: Ice cream: the sweet reward for surviving the chaos
After tackling imposing deadlines and managing everyone’s expectations, nothing beats a well-deserved treat. A bit like a scoop of ice cream and jelly at a party, it took me a while to find my version of a sweet reward. It’s the perfect way to celebrate victories and soothe the stresses of self-employment. And thank goodness for Google Docs—possibly the best invention since the iPad.
Now, where’s that Verdejo again? (*si lo sabes lo sabes)
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