Portland, Oregon is one of the world’s most bike-friendly cities.

Apparently, it even earned the prestigious honor of being a “platinum” bike-friendly community.

This is the highest award a city can achieve … in relation to biking at least.

This in mind, I decided it was finally time for me to pick up my first “real” bike.

Now … I’ve had a couple of bikes before while I’ve lived here.

But one was a used Peugeot from the 1980’s.

Still a great bike, but clunky and heavy.

And the other was a beautiful, orange, fixed-gear bike that rode better in my mind than it did on the hilly Portland streets.

Needless to say, my new bike is a gravel model with 21 speeds and is — so far — a joy to ride.

Which is why I found myself barreling down the Eastbank along the river yesterday afternoon.

It was the first sunny day we’ve had in weeks, and I knew I had to take advantage of it.

After about 5 miles weaving through other bike traffic, pedestrians, and dogs, I decide to head back home.

I put off some freelance work when I had covid last week and it was finally time to crank it out.

I’m riding back when my pocket vibrates.

*PING*

It’s a text from my wife.

“Hey, come join me and Aggie at the dog park on your way home!”

Perfect, I think to myself.

I’ve been wanting an excuse to see if Aggie could run alongside me while I bike … without pulling me OFF the bike.

Maybe you can see where this is going.

Anyways, I show up to the dog park and see my wife and Aggie sitting in a dirt patch.

We play for a bit, and then I grab Aggie’s leash and walk her over to the street to test my idea out.

Things are fine at first.

Aggie keeps pace very easily — and is incredibly excited to be running with me.

We get about a block ahead of my wife when I decide to turn back around.

This was my mistake.

Because I forgot how excited Aggie gets when she sees either myself or my wife, and has the opportunity to run to one of us.

And so … as I begin to pedal back, Aggie sees her and immediately yanks on my bike handle.

I pull hard to the left.

Aggie runs even faster …

I pull hard to the left again.

Aggie’s speed keeps picking up.

I pull hard to the left a third time … and with the grace of a raccoon falling from a tree limb, I tumble off to the side of the bike and land squarely on my ass.

Damn it.

But this scenario — however frustrating — paints a perfect picture of very common copywriting problem.

It’s the issue of coming up with “angles” to test.

Oftentimes, sorting through angles for your copy can feel a lot like an excited puppy pulling your handlebars repeatedly hard to the left.

You can’t stay focused.

You can’t get from point A to point B.

And you run the risk of crashing entirely.

So how can you fix it?

My advice is simple.

Choose the clearest and most pressing “angle” to test in your copy first.

Center the entirety of your copy around that angle.

And use the comments sections of Reddit, Amazon, YouTube, and your client’s own reviews and research to make sure your angle is hitting the right pain points.

If there are multiple pain points driving multiple angles, write those down too — but focus on the one people mention the most first.

Keeping things focused on the major paint point allows you to validate your idea through testing.

If it doesn’t prove out, you can move on to the next paint point or angle.

But don’t let choosing an angle distract you anymore.

Choose one, run with it, keep it focused, and test it until it proves to be unsuccessful.

Because otherwise, you’re just gonna get pulled in every direction and never write a winning piece of copy.

David Patrick

P.S. — I have a *very* special offer running right now for copywriters who sign up to my email list. I won’t tell you what it is here … but you’ve probably never seen anything like it.

It’ll help you become a better copywriter in just 20 minutes, and you don’t even have to pay me for it if you don’t want to. Get the deets at by signing up below.