every copywriter has gone through this unskippable cutscene at least once in their career.
you know what i’m talking about…
the one where you open up your laptop, ready to spit some fire, only to have no idea what to say, how to say it, or what the first sentence should even be.
it’s almost as bad as stubbing your toe.
except a blank google doc leaves you with a lot more mental torment.
because after the first couple minutes of quiet, you get frustrated with yourself for not being able to come up with ideas.
and then you wonder how all the best copywriters come up with ideas so easily.
and then you wonder if you’re even “cut out” to be a copywriter.
whatever that means…
let’s just say it can spiral pretty quick.
this happened too many times when i was starting out, and it has got to be one of the most frustrating things EVER.
so i knew that in order to truly become a copywriter, i had to figure out a way to slay this dragon once and for all.
and slay it i did…
because now i can happily say that i never deal with this problem.
anytime i open a fresh google doc, my brain is already pre-loaded with ideas ready to be shared with the world.
pulled this out of my snapchat memories to show you:
that sword that you see me eliminating the evil writer’s block dragon with is a simple framework that i use for every email, VSL, ad, or sales page i write.
and before you say anything. no, it’s not ADA…
it’s not PAS…
it’s not some ai prompt i got from a nick saraev ig reel…
it’s three simple words.
(and they rhyme!)
i present to you:
the spill, chill, and distill framework.
inspired by my dawg kj rainey and joe sugarman, it has not failed me once since i started using it.
i’ll probably use it for the rest of my life.
here’s how it works:
spill.
i realized a big part of why i couldn’t get words on the page was because i spent too much time thinking about how to write the perfect first line.
any idea that came to mind would get tossed because i’d find some reason for it not to work.
and even though some ideas were worse than others, every idea is copy to work with.
so the solution to filling the page is to shut your brain off.
stop thinking, and just brain dump anything and everything that comes to mind about the topic you’re writing about.
forget punctuation, grammar, leave those back with your 2nd grade english teacher.
if you spelled the word them like T-E-H-M, so what?
keep going, forget it, it’s in the dust
you want to just spew out as much raw emotion as you possibly can without paying attention to anything else, because that’s where the real gold is hiding.
when you’re not hyper-focused on what you’re writing, your brain can run wild and pull out some sick sick copy.
sometimes it’ll take 30 seconds, sometimes it’ll take 5 minutes, sometimes it’ll take 30 minutes
but whatever you do, DONT STOP IT.
let it flow for as long as it feels right.
when you’re done you’ll know.
next, chill.
now that you’re not looking at a blank doc anymore, stop writing.
call up your english teacher and spend the next 30 seconds dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s, and correcting any words you misspelled.
then get up from your desk, go outside, go gym, go for a walk, play pickleball, read a book, have lunch, whatever it is.
as long as it’s something completely unrelated to the copy that you just wrote.
this is CRITICAL because when you get away from the work, you’re able to tap back into the real world
which usually will give you new perspectives and ideas that you can bring into your copy when you go back.
ideally you want to spend at least an hour away to really let your brain breathe and make some new connections.
and now for the final phase, where the magic happens:
distill.
so it’s been an hour, you’re back at your desk…
your mind’s feeling fresher than those individually wrapped mints they give out at restaurants…
and now you’re able to look at the copy from a bird’s eye view.
this is where you can pay better attention to the words that you actually wrote, and see how you can improve it.
look to
cut out unnecessary fluff
add in more copy to expand on a point
rearrange sentences to make the flow better
after 15 minutes you should have a much, much better second draft.
if it’s long form copy like a sales page it’s better to run chill + distill a couple times over, cuz those need more luv…
but that’s it - this is my secret, and i rip it every time i write.
it’s been a huge part behind generating over $1m with my copy so far, and it works best if you’re trying to actually learn the skill of copywriting.
so if you want to truly get better and not let claude write everything for you, give it a try and let me know how it works for ya
peace,
gabe