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MAKING A SIX-FIGURE INCOME AS A
COPYWRITER
By October 2000, I was making a six-figure income as a professional
copywriter. Not bad for a guy who was broke a couple years before, huh? I wrote copy for a lot of best-selling authors, speakers, and various
small businesses.
I learned a ton about marketing and business because I got a first-hand look inside many successful (and not so successful) businesses.
When you’re writing sales copy for
clients, it naturally leads to consulting.
They’ll often ask you, “How should I
mail these letters? Who do I mail
them to? How do I follow up?”
Giving them a sales letter without a
strategy is like giving them a computer
without telling them how to use it. But I
felt like an imposter. Although I was a
damn good copywriter, I was no
master of business success. In fact,
unbeknown to my clients, I was a
master of business failures.
So I got obsessed and started studying
as much as I could about business,
sales, leadership, management, and
finance. In addition, I had the privilege
of learning from my clients and my
mentors. Eventually I got a grip on
what I was doing, and I began
consulting with different entrepreneurs successfully.
As a copywriter, my sales letters had
generated tens of millions of dollars in
revenue for my clients. I made them
rich and happy. (People seem to
develop warm feelings for you when
you make lots of money for them!)
Business just kept coming and money was rolling in. Things were good. Well, sort of…
But by 2003, I hit a plateau. I had no idea how I could increase my income without working harder.
Here I was running a successful
consulting and copy writing business.
New clients were finding me—and old
clients were hiring me repeatedly.
I raised my fees substantially, but it
still didn’t seem to “scare people away.”
MONEYISM #71: Never, ever get paid based on hours worked.
But by 2003, I hit a plateau. I had no idea how I could increase my income without working harder. I realized I was simply a high-paid slave swapping hours for dollars. At first, it was fun, even thrilling, but it didn’t take long for me to feel trapped inside this so-called
successful business. I wanted out.
One day I was approached by a webmaster, who told me, “Mr., you
should get a website.”
“I don’t know, ” I replied. “I’m getting
enough clients just from word of mouth. What do I need a website for?”
“Maybe you can sell a product on the Internet or something.”
I wondered, “Hmm…what would I sell?”
Then I got an idea. What if I
put some of the most important lessons I had learned up to that point
about marketing and psychology into book form? What if I sold that on
the Internet?
I pounded out a book called Forbidden Psychological Tactics. It contained
twenty-seven psychological tactics that marketers and companies use to
motivate and persuade people to open
their wallets and buy.
I made one hundred copies at five
dollars a pop and started selling them
for $19.95 plus shipping and handling
on the Internet. I was basically making
fifteen dollars per copy.
At the time, I had no idea how to set up
a website or anything like that, so I paid
the web guy five hundred bucks to set it
up for me. On the site I had my phone
number so people could call me and
place an order, or they could send
cheques to my address. I couldn’t
accept credit cards or anything like that.
Looking back, I can’t believe how stupid
I was, making it so damn difficult for customers to buy from me. If you have
a website, people want to buy and they
want to buy now. If you want to
maximize your sales, you have to take
credit cards. Here I was making people jump through hoops.
HOW I MADE MY FIRST SALE ON THE
INTERNET
Anyway, about twenty days later, I got a
cheque in the mail from some one from California ordering my book! I couldn’t
believe it. I picked up the phone and
called the guy. He said, “Yeah, I saw
your web page. I thought your book
looks interesting. Send me a copy.”
“Wow, this is amazing,” I thought. So I
started going on to different forums
and talking about my book. And BOOM,
I got more cheques and more calls
from people wanting to order my book.
Orders were coming in from all over the
world. The second order was from
Dallas, Texas, the third from Toronto,
Ontario, there was even one from
Australia. They sent me cheques and
money orders, yet I had never talked to
them or met with them face to face. I
just deposited the cheques and shipped
the books to them. No fuss, no muss.
Within three months, I had sold one
hundred copies of Forbidden
Psychological Tactics. My entire
inventory was gone, and I had made
$1,500 in profits.
Now you might say, “Mr., it’s $1,500
bucks. What’s the big fxxking deal?”
You don’t understand; I knew that if
I could make $1,500 doing it part
time, if I devoted more energy to it,
I could double that or MORE. This
could be huge.
MONEYISM #72: Make your first sale online before worrying about getting rich.
》Next》 Click
MAKING A SIX-FIGURE INCOME AS A
COPYWRITER
By October 2000, I was making a six-figure income as a professional
copywriter. Not bad for a guy who was broke a couple years before, huh? I wrote copy for a lot of best-selling authors, speakers, and various
small businesses.
I learned a ton about marketing and business because I got a first-hand look inside many successful (and not so successful) businesses.
When you’re writing sales copy for
clients, it naturally leads to consulting.
They’ll often ask you, “How should I
mail these letters? Who do I mail
them to? How do I follow up?”
Giving them a sales letter without a
strategy is like giving them a computer
without telling them how to use it. But I
felt like an imposter. Although I was a
damn good copywriter, I was no
master of business success. In fact,
unbeknown to my clients, I was a
master of business failures.
So I got obsessed and started studying
as much as I could about business,
sales, leadership, management, and
finance. In addition, I had the privilege
of learning from my clients and my
mentors. Eventually I got a grip on
what I was doing, and I began
consulting with different entrepreneurs successfully.
As a copywriter, my sales letters had
generated tens of millions of dollars in
revenue for my clients. I made them
rich and happy. (People seem to
develop warm feelings for you when
you make lots of money for them!)
Business just kept coming and money was rolling in. Things were good. Well, sort of…
But by 2003, I hit a plateau. I had no idea how I could increase my income without working harder.
Here I was running a successful
consulting and copy writing business.
New clients were finding me—and old
clients were hiring me repeatedly.
I raised my fees substantially, but it
still didn’t seem to “scare people away.”
MONEYISM #71: Never, ever get paid based on hours worked.
But by 2003, I hit a plateau. I had no idea how I could increase my income without working harder. I realized I was simply a high-paid slave swapping hours for dollars. At first, it was fun, even thrilling, but it didn’t take long for me to feel trapped inside this so-called
successful business. I wanted out.
One day I was approached by a webmaster, who told me, “Mr., you
should get a website.”
“I don’t know, ” I replied. “I’m getting
enough clients just from word of mouth. What do I need a website for?”
“Maybe you can sell a product on the Internet or something.”
I wondered, “Hmm…what would I sell?”
Then I got an idea. What if I
put some of the most important lessons I had learned up to that point
about marketing and psychology into book form? What if I sold that on
the Internet?
I pounded out a book called Forbidden Psychological Tactics. It contained
twenty-seven psychological tactics that marketers and companies use to
motivate and persuade people to open
their wallets and buy.
I made one hundred copies at five
dollars a pop and started selling them
for $19.95 plus shipping and handling
on the Internet. I was basically making
fifteen dollars per copy.
At the time, I had no idea how to set up
a website or anything like that, so I paid
the web guy five hundred bucks to set it
up for me. On the site I had my phone
number so people could call me and
place an order, or they could send
cheques to my address. I couldn’t
accept credit cards or anything like that.
Looking back, I can’t believe how stupid
I was, making it so damn difficult for customers to buy from me. If you have
a website, people want to buy and they
want to buy now. If you want to
maximize your sales, you have to take
credit cards. Here I was making people jump through hoops.
HOW I MADE MY FIRST SALE ON THE
INTERNET
Anyway, about twenty days later, I got a
cheque in the mail from some one from California ordering my book! I couldn’t
believe it. I picked up the phone and
called the guy. He said, “Yeah, I saw
your web page. I thought your book
looks interesting. Send me a copy.”
“Wow, this is amazing,” I thought. So I
started going on to different forums
and talking about my book. And BOOM,
I got more cheques and more calls
from people wanting to order my book.
Orders were coming in from all over the
world. The second order was from
Dallas, Texas, the third from Toronto,
Ontario, there was even one from
Australia. They sent me cheques and
money orders, yet I had never talked to
them or met with them face to face. I
just deposited the cheques and shipped
the books to them. No fuss, no muss.
Within three months, I had sold one
hundred copies of Forbidden
Psychological Tactics. My entire
inventory was gone, and I had made
$1,500 in profits.
Now you might say, “Mr., it’s $1,500
bucks. What’s the big fxxking deal?”
You don’t understand; I knew that if
I could make $1,500 doing it part
time, if I devoted more energy to it,
I could double that or MORE. This
could be huge.
MONEYISM #72: Make your first sale online before worrying about getting rich.
》Next》 Click
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