It's Mailbox Monday!  That means it's time to answer YOUR questions!

It’s Mailbox Monday! That means it’s time to answer YOUR questions!

Welcome to another week! Let’s get started right — by answering YOUR questions!

For those of you new to the list, here’s what you get every day of every week here at Breakthrough Marketing Secrets…

– Mailbox Monday: I answer your questions (submit to [email protected], or just hit reply!)…

– Copy Tuesday: All things copywriting — the skill and the biz…

– Web Wednesday: Anything internet-related, to help you grow your business…

– Strategy Thursday: Step back to get your head straight for maximum profits…

– Grab Bag Friday: Whatever I darn tootin’ feel like, ya hear?!

So, seeing as how it’s Monday, I’m a gonna answer yer questions… Well, specifically Drew’s question… But it can be YOURS in a coming week if you just send it on through to [email protected].

First, a couple quick updates…

Reminder: After a handful of folks told me they’d be on airplanes, unable to dial in without paying a fortune because of being overseas, and a few other fairly reasonable excuses, I decided to share the recording of Friday’s Teleseminar. It was 90-minute of fast-paced Copywriting Q&A, answering everything from the best ways to get clients, to one of my favorite resources to writing incredibly powerful sales copy from very early in my career.

You can listen to the recording here. But only via streaming. And only until Friday. Because I have ulterior motives, and want to keep the recording semi-private (while giving YOU, my dear reader, the opportunity to get it now)…

Oh yeah, and if you were on the live teleseminar (there were a bunch of you), or if you listen to the recording right now, you should send me an email and let me know what you thought of it. What was the most valuable piece of advice YOU got?

Second update: Yesterday, my second oldest turned three. We had a wonderful party, with wonderful family, neighbors, and friends. When I think about that, and I think about you and all my other loyal readers, I feel so blessed. I’m very thankful for my life and all the incredible, passionate, warm, loving, exciting, driven, caring people around me.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you!

Okay, let’s get down to business…

Here’s the question I got in the mailbox from Drew…

Hi Roy,

If I may ask, are you able to divulge what your #1 tip for young copywriters is? And by this, I mean the most (or one of the most) important things to keep in mind when growing your business?

Brian Kurtz and I had an email conversation, and he told me his was “specialize” — niche-wise, of course. Same thing Bob Bly told me.

Your opinion on this? If you’re willing. Really appreciate it Roy.

All the best,

Drew

 

So… What’s my #1 tip for aspiring copywriters?

I’ll tell you in a minute, but first…

I want to acknowledge both Brian Kurtz and Bob Bly’s answer, and say it was a good one.

I think at some point pretty early in your career, you want to develop at least one specialty. This is an area where you know how to do the projects, write the copy, and especially you know the customers and the market as well as if they were YOU.

There’s a HUGE reason for doing this. Actually, a couple.

First, it makes it easy to market. It’s a whole lot easier if you have a potential client base of 50 or 100 or even 1,000 companies you might work with. Easier to reach all of them. Easier on your pocketbook. Easier on your sanity and level of exertion required. It’s also easier to close the sale, because they think, “Oh, she already knows my business. I don’t have to take her from zero to hero just to make this project successful.” Becoming known in one market makes it infinitely easier to get clients.

Second, it also makes it easier to write copy that sells. You know the pain points and hot buttons of the market. You know comparable and competitive products and services out there. You know what folks are going to respond to. You know what folks have seen in the market recently. The longer you’re in an industry, the easier it is to both stand out and speak to the core drivers of buying behavior. And you’ll only get that through specialization.

Also, I really like Brian and Bob. Regular readers may know Brian is a recent client of mine. If you’ve known me for longer than that, you may also know I’ve done work with Bob Bly — I wrote a book with him on the world’s most advanced marketing testing method.

But here’s the thing… I wasn’t about to short-change Drew and tell him, “What they said…”

I also wasn’t about to parrot a bunch of advice you’ll find out there for getting started as a copywriter…

I’m not going to tell you that you need to have a website first… After all, what would you put on it?

I’m also not even going to tell you that you need an LLC, or an S-Corporation, or any company at all… You can always sell your services as a sole proprietor and figure out the tax and incorporation thing once you get rolling…

I’m not going to give you a list of the 10 books you need to read, or the programs you must listen to…

I’m not going to tell you to go meet a bunch of people…

I’m not going to tell you to get a certain computer, or some software, or an office, or letterhead, or any of that junk…

THIS is the #1 thing I’m realizing that nearly every aspiring copywriter needs to DO…

Which also means it’s my #1 piece of advice!

Get clients.

Stupid simple idea. Profound difference it will make.

You need to get a client. And when you’re doing working on your first project with them, you need to get another project from them, or another client. And another, and another.

Even if you’re doing it part time.

Even if you don’t feel like you have enough experience yet. (If this is a concern, know you’ll NEVER feel like you’re good enough.)

No matter what else you do, you also have to be getting projects, getting clients, getting work. Selling yourself. And delivering on what you sell.

Let me address the #1 concern that comes from this…

YES, you will fail. Often. And sometimes miserably.

Then, you’ll pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try again.

And then you’ll fail again.

And then you’ll pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try again.

Along the way, you’ll use each try, each project, as a learning experience. Learning what you need, in the heat of the moment, to make that project as successful as possible. And learning in your rear view mirror from both your successes and your failures, what you can do or not do to have more of the wins, and less of the losses.

This is the school of hard knocks.

And by definition, it’s gonna require some hard knocks.

But to get ‘em, you gotta go to school.

And in this biz, going to school means getting clients.

Even if it means doing your first project pro-bono.

Or using my irresistible offer letter and only getting paid if you succeed.

Whatever you gotta do to get your first experience out of the way, do it. And then your second, and your third.

You will NEVER be a successful copywriter until you get that first project…

You must get off your duff and show up for the game.

And keep showing up.

And keep showing up.

This quote from a letter Woody Allen once wrote is spot-on, when applied to copywriting (or almost anything):

“My observation was that once a person actually completed a play or a novel, he was well on his way to getting it produced or published, as opposed to a vast majority of people who tell me their ambition is to write, but who strike out on the very first level and indeed never write the play or book. In the midst of the conversation, as I’m now trying to recall, I did say that 80 percent of success is showing up.”

Yep.

Now what happens…

If you’ve already gotten your first client…

If you feel like you’ve been going in your copywriting career for a while, but not going where you want to go, as fast as you want to go…

Consider the fact that you may need to force yourself to approach another kind of “first client.”

Usually, the quality of clients is the biggest thing that holds a decent copywriter back. In terms of income, results generated, ability to grow as a writer and get better at what you do, the works…

Because client quality counts for so much. It counts for quality of feedback you’ll receive. The ability to use what you’ve written in a maximally-profitable way. The type and quality of marketing used around your copy. And so much more…

So if you feel like you should be doing better in your copywriting career but you aren’t yet…

Maybe you should get your FIRST BETTER CLIENT. Think about the small group of clients that represent a big leap forward from where you are now. And take specific action to get first one of those as a client, then another, then another. (I actually outlined my process for getting ideal clients — the same one David Ogilvy used — in the teleseminar. Be sure you listen to the recordings by Friday, August 15th.)

If you focus on getting your first client, then your second, and then better and better clients for the rest of your career…

There’s no telling how far and how high you can go.

Of course, you’ll also want to make sure you deliver. And in terms of effective direct response copy, the single-best decision you can make today is to join me in Nebraska in November, for my Advanced Direct Response Copywriting Workshop. You’ll get my complete system “installed” into YOUR writing process, over the course of 3 days.

And right now, you save $900 with the “early, early bird” discount. This too expires Friday — so act now!

Click here to discover the copywriting skills that will take you to the next level.

Yours for bigger breakthroughs,

Roy Furr

Editor, Breakthrough Marketing Secrets