Living the Writer's Life: Charles George
Using a Positive Attitude to Achieve Anything You Can Imagine!
By Mindy McHorse

“The Laptop Lifestyle.” Charles and his son, Thomas, work on a writing project together.

It’s a special thing when you come across a writer whose emails are like a ray of sunshine in your inbox. That’s what it’s like to talk with Charles George. His passion will inspire you to soak in everything this writer’s life has to offer. Here are some of Charles’ thoughts on using newsletters to connect with clients, positive thinking, and the importance of focusing on family.

What’s your background, and how did you get started in copywriting?

I have a bachelor of science degree with a concentration in direct marketing from Christopher Newport University. I was never really into writing until my first direct-marketing class in college.

I was fortunate that the entire marketing curriculum focused on direct response. When I graduated, I started doing direct-mail campaigns for local businesses. That is where I began writing copy to drive response. Today, I love persuasive writing, and I write almost every day.

What kinds of clients and projects do you enjoy working on the most?

Charles and Dr. Lisa Spiller,
Distinguished Professor of
Marketing, spoke with the
Christopher Newport University
Student Marketing Association
in Newport News,
Virginia.

I work primarily with entrepreneurial authors, course creators, and content and book publishers in the B2B space. Plus, I work with a couple of nonprofits.

I focus primarily on email. Newsletters are one of the most valuable tools for building trust, staying in touch, and moving subscribers through the customer journey.

The thing I love about newsletters is the scalability. It doesn’t require any more time to write whether the list is 10 people, 1,000, or 100,000 subscribers. But the impact and revenue that the newsletter can generate can be significant as the list grows.

What do you see as the biggest challenge for writers to succeed today?

For new writers, often, it is confidence. It’s not a lack of opportunity. Opportunities are endless today. Copywriting is like developing any new skill; the more you practice, the better you get. Plus, mentors speed up the learning curve. It’s about investing in yourself and knowing that as you develop new skills, you will have these skills for the rest of your life.

This is why I love the Barefoot Writer and AWAI. AWAI offers a wide variety of opportunities to learn from leading copywriters and connect with other writers.

One last thing: New writers can start a blog or an e-newsletter. Start practicing by writing and sharing it with people you know. You can share the blog posts and newsletter links on social media and start engaging people. Confidence builds confidence. Most importantly, start, have fun, and enjoy the journey.

What do you love most about your writer’s life?

What I love most is that I am only limited by my imagination, ideas, thoughts, skills, and abilities. I can accomplish and achieve whatever my heart desires. I can work with clients, whom I love, and help people in a variety of ways. Plus, there are so many ways to earn money with writing today. It’s a fabulous time to be alive.

I’ve been writing copy and implementing direct-marketing campaigns for 20 years. I love direct marketing and writing copy!

If you could go back and do anything in your career differently, what would it be?

First, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all handbook on how we should live life, but that makes life fun and interesting. We get to choose and create the life we want. In The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale, he shares that we become what we think about.

We all make mistakes.

Things don’t go our way all the time, but if we are learning and growing, there is no failure. We are growing and winning. Sometimes our biggest disappointments lead to our biggest successes.

When not working, what excites you the most?

Family always comes first.

One passion project of mine was my son, Thomas, was born with congenital heart disease. When he was 3 years old, he needed a third heart surgery. (He had two heart surgeries before he was a year old.) Three weeks after this heart surgery, he died from complications. I was devastated.

One of the best ways to heal is by serving others in similar situations. So, I helped several nonprofits that serve families with critically and chronically ill children. I used my copywriting and marketing skills to build their online audiences to drive revenue and donations. Now these nonprofits can serve even more families with medically challenged children.

Charles's Living The Writer's Life story was originally published in Barefoot Writer. To learn more about how you can start living your dream writer's life too, click here.

What help do you need to move forward with your version of the writer’s life? Let us know in the comments below so we can help guide you in the right direction.