I’ve been exploring a potential career as a copywriter, and have hit a non-trivial obstacle: the Idea of Money.
My entire life until my 30s, I was not interested in money. I generally thought the following: “The things I really like (and in which I am interested) do not seem to make people much money. Therefore, I am not interested in money.”
That, of course, caught up to me the more I suffered through life. It is very expensive to be poor. (Try living as a renter without a glamorous job, or getting good health care without working for a big company or government organization.)
I did not realize that money was a symbolic system used to attribute value to goods and services. Or, rather, I realized it but I thought it was arbitrary. I was wrong. We pay money when the thing we want is worth more than the money. The money is a tool to get us something or somewhere better than before. Even when we think that we’re over-paying, when we choose to overpay (as I did for my Liberal Arts degree at a state University) we’re still saying “I would rather have the good or service than have the money.”
I often hear people rail against capitalism, and I don’t quite understand it. It’s unclear whether they’re saying “the government (and, thus, the people) should own the means of production,” or if they’re saying “money is not an adequate means of representing value.” The two are very different things. There are certainly other types of value. psycho-emotional, spiritual, aesthetic, etc. I’ve never read Das Kapital (1867), and I’ve certainly never read Hegel (to whom I understand Marx was quite indebted, theoretically). Nevertheless, I believe I’m fairly intelligent and sensible, and I do think about these things.
I’ve often thought it would be good to begin to attribute greater monetary value to certain services. I once heard a story from a llama farmer about the price of beasts. He said two rich farmers would sell a llama to one another at a high price to get the higher price listed in a catalog/newsletter. Listing the higher price in the catalog would inflate the price of llamas trade-wide.
I don’t think it sounds like a good idea to artificially inflate prices in a market. But massage therapists, yoga instructors, reiki teachers, mentors, therapists, and other people in the caring services might consider raising their prices (while expanding and enhancing their marketing) and see what happens. If the value of the service is truly beneficial, and the marketing is done right, I don’t see why they couldn’t enhance their life by bringing in higher-paying clients.
That’s where I step in as a copywriter. The snag I’ve hit is that I’m now confronted with two options: should I look at industries with lower margins and help them market and grow, or should I instead look at the big money markets out there and help them grow?
My ethical sense is with the former, but I need to be realistic and auto-poietic. If I can assist smaller personal businesses with their marketing, I too can grow organically. I don’t need to do it forever — it can be a seed-planting endeavor for me as I participate in the development of a tide to rise all boats.
At any rate, as I work to find a writing niche where I can specialize in an industry, these questions are highly relevant. And, when one looks at the enormous increase in online sex-work during and post-COVID (as well as striking phenomena such as deliberate “over-employment” in multiple work-from-home jobs), these questions are absolutely relevant to who we are as a culture, and how we define our values.
I’ve set a goal for myself to hit a $100,000 year within the next five years. It’s an ambitious, but potentially realistic goal. It will not happen through a day job and copywriting alone — it will involve developing supplementary modes of passive income. I’m certain I’m overlooking lots of important things, and in five years I will regret some of my naivité. C’est la Vie.
In the meanwhile, please feel free to comment and critique my thinking! I am deeply grateful for your attendance here, and long to dialogue.
Agapically,
Aaron