Check below for the link to my interview with John McIntyre on the Email Marketing Podcast…
In the copywriting world, there’s this “dream” of a six-figure lifestyle business that allows you to…
— Control your schedule, working (and stopping) when you want…
— Work anywhere, from home, the beach, wherever…
— And earn as much as you want, based on how much you’re willing to work…
All while escaping the heavy hand of hard-to-please bosses and the 9-to-5 grind…
And you know what? That really does sound appealing. And if you get to be a good copywriter (don’t even have to be great) that really is a possibility for you.
A six-figure income, control over your schedule, the ability to work from anywhere in the world, and pretty much a blue-sky income opportunity are available.
But the reality is that even if you earn royalties, and work with some pretty good clients, this is a capped opportunity.
It’s possible to become a millionaire as a freelance copywriter. But $100 million? Probably not. A billion? Extremely doubtful.
And yet, your skills CAN put you on that path. I’ve met folks who’ve started as copywriters and gone on to build personal net worths well into the tens of millions of dollars, and there are rare ones whose personal wealth are in the hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars. And there’s a HUGE difference between these folks and your average copywriter.
So today I’m going to give you a quick rundown of an observation I’ve made about the world’s richest copywriters — and what they do differently, that NOBODY else I’ve seen is telling copywriters to go do…
And then I’m going to give you a link to a podcast where I was interviewed, where I discuss this (and other valuable copywriting insights) in much deeper detail.
The first thing you need to do if you want to make a ton of money as a copywriter is to throw out the notion of The Writer’s Life…
With plenty of love and appreciation for my friends at AWAI, The Writer’s Life is a path to The Writer’s Life — not untold riches. Yes, you can make a great living — no, you’re probably not going to get filthy rich. (They don’t really pitch it that way, either.)
I’ve met enough copywriters doing both — The Writer’s Life and becoming filthy rich — that I recognize that they’re pretty much mutually exclusive.
You can make a ton of money from your copywriting skills OR you can have a lifestyle in line with The Writer’s Life.
One’s not necessarily better than the other — just recognize that they’re different.
Instead, you need to adopt the mindset of an entrepreneur, business owner, or (especially) a PARTNER in a business…
Because, in short, that’s what you have to be if you want to make a ton of money as a copywriter.
You have to have an ownership stake in a business, and help build it.
This can be a business YOU start and run, OR you can negotiate a stake in the company in exchange for being the marketing person. You invest your time and expertise to get sweat equity.
And frankly, for most copywriters, I recommend the partnership path, over taking on a whole business yourself…
This is important, because most writers (myself included) are a little inept when it comes to the day-to-day of running a business…
There’s a lot of other stuff, outside of writing and marketing, that goes into keeping a business going and growing. Especially so when you start dealing with staff and payroll and HR and bookkeeping and all that jazz…
But the marketing mind (and the copywriter) have a very important role in business. We get customers, and make sales. Without that role being filled, none of the other stuff matters in business.
And so you have to recognize what you bring to the table — what your strengths are. Do those, and say no to the other responsibilities. The best way to do this is to get involved from the beginning as the “marketing partner.”
I was recently interviewed on by John McIntyre on the Email Marketing Podcast…
We dove into this partnership approach, and I gave a TON of case studies, including my personal mentors, colleagues, and folks you’ll definitely know if you’ve been around the direct marketing world for a while.
We also discussed valuable insights on how even novice copywriters can write winning sales letters…
One of the most important things you need to do, starting today, if you want to become unbeatable at this marketing game…
My secret trick for making really high-dollar sales where my colleagues failed…
And all sorts of other fun stuff…
Click here to listen to the 42-minute podcast now!
(Transcript also available.)
I met John McIntyre at Titans of Direct Response, and he’s the real-deal. His podcast archives are also filled with a TON of great guests who I feel honored to be featured alongside.
Enjoy!
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr
Editor, Breakthrough Marketing Secrets
