Copywriting Winner or Loser

Like all businesses some of us win and some of us lose.

Copywriting is no different and becoming a copywriter is no different.

Let me share a copywriting story with you.

Winner or loser - you decide.

This was a mentee of mine. I have changed the details very slightly to protect the guy I am writing about.

Meet Dave The New Copywriter.

Dave is a very typical copywriting mentee of mine. Had a job, fed up with his job. Gets paid a wage, it’s never enough. Works long hours, wants to work less.

That’s Dave.

He found me through my book - The Accidental Copywriter.

When he began training with me he’d already read a ton of stuff about how to become a copywriter. He’d read the stuff about how to make a killing writing copy, how to get rich writing copy and copywriting is the best paid job in the world.

So we got started.

His copy was amazing. His ethic in writing was perfect. His dedication to knowing more was exactly what he needed. Homework, daily writing and more during his copywriting mentor period were just perfect.

So we finally finished copywriting mentor and yet - he struggled.

Why?

Doing It His Way

Dave had decided in his own head that he would try a lot of new things he hadn’t tried before. He wanted to stick to sending out a handful of sales letters. He had told himself he didn’t want to speak to anyone face to face. He had also told himself that if he sent just five direct mailers to leads they should respond.

So he sent his letters and sat and waited. No one replied. So he sent his letters again with a new cover letter on top. He sat and waited and no one responded. He repeated the same process once more and guess what - someone left a message on his voicemail.

Dave then called me almost freaking out. His words were a little like this, “ Alan this guy wants me to call him. As you know I don't want to speak to anyone so how do I get him to book me, pay me and let me get started without talking to him?”

Dave’s Problem

Have you started to see Dave’s problem here?

His problem was this.

He had done everything he had been told to do during his mentor program and as far as writing copy went he was doing a great job. But when it came to marketing or promoting himself he ignored my advice and tried a ton of things that frankly were never going to work in a million years. And they didn’t work for him at all.

Dave lost time. Dave lost potential clients. Dave lost his ability. To transition into copywriting fast. Dave also lost the ability to simply do exactly as I told him. Doing what I told him was the one thing that would make him push through faster.

After his mentoring had passed the last conversation we had was he hadn’t yet signed a client. I asked him what he was doing. He explained he was trying some new things he’d read in some random email by some random guru.

Dave Today - The Copywriter

The story does have a decent and recent ending.

Dave popped up on my Facebook as someone I might know. I checked out his profile and then followed the links. It now looks like Dave is doing really well with his copywriting, consulting and speaking.

It took time and that is fine but it could have been much faster for him.

Some of us would call that a failure. Especially in this world online where there is so much talk of getting rich as a copywriter.

Yet the biggest mistakes I see with most new copywriters is the reluctance to learn marketing, to copy successful marketing and to create a real plan of marketing so higher visibility can achieved.

That really brings us back to the question; Is copywriting one of the highest-paid skills in the world? The answer is yes if you are smart about getting seen, getting noticed and copying success until you can create your own pathways.

Your Copywriting Mentor, Alan