Elena (El) Connelly -

Business Owner - 23WiseWords

CLICK image to travel through to El’s homepage

For this week’s Friday founders spotlight we go a little deeper with Sales Copy expert Elena Connolly. As the owner of 23wisewords, I decided to call her up and find out what her secret sauce is.

As soon as you meet El, as she prefers to be called - it’s less formal - you are welcomed with both professional wisdom and warmth. El is the real deal. She is organised, professional and savvy in this fascinating text realm. Plus being really fun to hang out with - not to mention a mum to two young wonderful boys and a loving wife.

The difference between average words and strategic and psychology loaded copy, is the difference to ultimately get you more sales. She has a remarkable way with words that truly captured the brand’s mission

Having met in Sydney roughly a decade ago, She moved her business halfway around the world last year and is planning global domination with her new course launching at the start of next month.

Roll tape…..

El, how do you title yourself?

I’m a business owner. I do everything, every facet. I market myself, I find my clients, I do my accounts. To me , a CEO (which is next!) mindset is when you start to scale, moving from the ‘doing’ to holding the vision.

What ignited your want to start your own thing?

There was never a definite desire to start my own thing. I struggled with the inflexibility of employment and hated being told when to work in society’s archaic structure of 9-5, Monday- Friday. I didn't want to have to ask to take Friday afternoon off!

So when did you jump?

During maternity leave I saw my chance to see if I could make it work. I still had my backup job if it didn't, so it didn’t feel like a massive risk.

I previously considered myself a content writer. But after a few months I realised that by incorporating psychology into my writing, I could make it 'copy' which is much more sales-focused.

I hate the phrase I stumbled into it!... It sounds so cliche but it's kind of what happened.

So tell me about your style of copywriting and what makes you awesome?

Firstly, I teach business owners the science behind powerful copywriting through my course. When you have this skill for your business, you can really go far. Secondly I also write sales copy, like sales pages and email sequences for coaches - helping them convert words into sales!

My style is different because I bring in lots of behavioural psychology, which is my passion and degree!

Through sales psychology we can make people feel how we can solve their problem, not just tell them. By understanding why people might make the decisions they make, we can use subtle persuasion principles and decision triggers within the copy, to help them along the way. I am yet to find another copywriter doing it in this way.

Round it up in soundbite

A famous quote by copywriter Eugene Schwartz is “Copy is not written, it is assembled”. I agree with that, you can learn the science behind it, it’s not a dark art and it's not as hard as you think.

How do you do ALL this and be a mother and wife?

Haha, I am very organised. I plan, I prioritise, I block out time in my calendar. The whole of Tuesday is business strategising. I track my goals and achievements. I do things that move the needle!
What has also been really helpful and important is to create ‘white space’ in my diary. Allowing myself time to slow down and give myself some space.

A big shift was how good it felt to get up and physically move around and how my body movements affect my mind. I incorporate power poses into my daily routine. It’s weird to remember something you always know deep down, that your body is part of you and this connection between body and mind helps me feel confident.

What do you do when things get busy(hairy)?

Younger Elena would have worked extra at weekends. Or from wanting to please clients, offering a short deadline and giving myself more stress.

Now, being more confident with clients I communicate clearer and feel more comfortable giving myself the time to get things done with space to let the copy breathe and come back to you (which I do about 5 times before I send a draft).

So, If you were to back 5-10 years what would you give advice? And to younger founders, business owners out there.

I wouldn't have done it differently. You definitely have to go through the process, otherwise you don't build the knowledge bank and experience to have the confidence to say, I know what I am talking about.

I would never have created what I did without all the hours and experience. I am now in a place where I can really tell you how it is!

How do we support women in business?

Not sure how well this will go down, but from my network I see so many women setting up their business and being supported. In fact, I think men are on the back foot in some ways when it comes to community, comradery and support. They don't have the networks and memberships that are female only, like so many on social media platforms

I understand women want a safe space, though I feel they are cutting off many others (men) who would support their business also.

I think the quantum leaps we’ve made towards flexibility is a great thing for women, although there are definitely still not enough women in high leadership, CEO roles.

So what about this course you are launching this week?

Its called Website Word Workshop…

… and I have taken all my knowledge and experience and put it into a 4 week course. Teaching best practice on writing great website copy with all the psychology goodness baked in.

3 big outcomes for previous participants:

> people get their website copy done (finally)!

> They report that they sound and ‘feels’ like a real business owner with their new copy.

> This skills are transferable: they can be applied to emails, sales, welcome series and loads of other copy based applications

What's the best bit about this course?

There is a bit I teach which helps people through blank-page or ‘writer-block’.

I call it the ‘clever TRIC’ method about getting your research together and in place before you start. TRIC stands for Testimonials, Reviews, Interviews and Captions, when you’ve got this… you are well on your way to great writing. It's graspable, powerful and a secret in the copywriting industry.

And those course detail?

It's online, launches soon on the 1st march and created drip-feed style, people dont need to worry about being overwhelmed! I have designed it as a 4-week, 5 module, step-by-step process (wk1: cleverTRIC; wk2 Homepage; wk3: About page; wk4: How I Work page) with real life examples of websites, varied learning methods, downloadable and weekly calls with me.

…and shout out any course offer?

In the course are TWO great bonuses, from two amazing experts:

Website designer who makes amazing design website templates and her tips. So you can do something with your copy when it’s ready.
Content marketing expert who runs a membership with templates (swipe files) to help with email sequences, tip on how to do content, etc. All great stuff.

How much is the course?

Course is 597$ which an option to pay in 2 instalments. Easy.

What's next for you and business?

After this course, I’d like to develop a site for content writers, Virtual Assistants (VAs) and marketers. Teaching them the similar skills around psychological copy so they can use it for their clients.

I would love to create a community of experts for whom I could vouch for the high quality skills and abilities. Then set up a job-board framework to connect these experts to specific clients requirements, matching the right people together.

Anything else you want to add?

Just that I would love business owners (male and female!) to become more copy-confident and feel less daunted by writing for their business. In today’s digital world, if you own a business and want to market, you will have to write, so if you can learn some basic skills that make it quicker and easier for you - why not do it!

A big thing I have learnt recently, something I got through you, is this idea of ‘surrender’. If you’d asked me 10 years ago what life would look like now, I wouldn’t have said this. You can get very bogged down in ‘having a plan’ but I think you can have goals and motivations, while surrendering to the process of exactly how you’ll get there. It takes work to shift to that mindset.