I'd friend as many of these people as possible, and when they needed a writer, I was the guy they'd call. Then I'd reply to their post with a link to the video.Ī lot of other people in those groups would watch these videos and see my feedback. I started filming Loom videos of me going through their copy and giving them suggestions. Other times people would ask for feedback on their ads and emails, so I'd essentially give people free public consults. Sometimes people would post about a project they needed help with or a job opening. I found most of my early clients in various Facebook groups. It wasn't until I shifted to targeting business owners who expressed a need for copywriting help that I started to get traction. The few people who did respond weren't serious. I did that at first and got almost no response. When I started copywriting full time, I tried everything to get clientsĪ lot of people recommended cold-emailing. My rationale was: Imagine if I had my best 40 hours of the week to focus on the business instead of my worst 40 hours.Ī week later, I walked into the principal's office and handed him my resignation letter. I had clients - including one on retainer for about eight months at that point - and I had confidence, a portfolio, and a network. Unless you turn it around and start showing me something, I'm not going to renew your contract." The first thing he said to me was "Chris, I feel like your head and heart aren't in this. In 2017, at the halfway point in my fourth year of teaching (my second year at my second teaching job), I met with my principal for a midyear evaluation. I subscribed to several other marketing and copywriting memberships and communities - including Ryan Lee and John Carlton - so I could learn from different teachers. I also invested in ongoing coaching with Rogers so I could continue to grow and learn. One of my biggest expenses was a five-week coaching program called Real Free Life by Kevin Rogers that cost $5,000. I pumped most of the money I made from copywriting back into training, coaching, and business development. By 2016, I'd made around $52,000 from client work - almost as much as my day job. On Saturdays and Sundays I'd log anywhere from four to eight hours of extra work. I'd work on my side gig on my lunch break and after I'd get home at 4 p.m. My new job was teaching eighth-grade special-education math at a middle school in my hometown. So I told myself I'd work my ass off every single night and weekend to build my copywriting side hustle to the point where it could support me. I wish I had a cool "burn the lifeboats" story, but I tucked my tail between my legs and found another teaching job.Ĭould I have sprinted and gotten enough clients to replace my lost income? Maybe, but my girlfriend (now wife) and I were shopping for our first home. I had two options: I could try to find another job, or go into freelance copywriting full time. I made about $7,000 in project fees that year. I was crushed, but my copywriting business had started to take off. Toward the end of my second year of teaching, I was let go. I put in about four to five hours a day on my business, on average, and spend the other part of my day helping my wife take care of our two young boys. In the past 12 months I've made $974,000 in top-line revenue - collected before expenses and taxes - from my copywriting business, and I have clients in more than 30 countries. I couldn't believe someone paid me to write something for them. The project took me a good three weeks, but I didn't care. It paid $300, and I wrote a bunch of emails, five website pages, a product insert (an ad that rides along with whatever item you've purchased), and a couple other small deliverables. Eventually I landed my first-ever writing gig. Then I started putting myself out there to try to get clients. I went on Amazon and bought a dozen books on copywriting, including " Scientific Advertising" and " The Ultimate Sales Letter." I also started reading blog posts and consuming content from top copywriters including André Chaperon, Frank Kern, and Russell Brunson, and I invested in online courses such as CopyHour and Copy Chief. So I bet that if I spent enough time learning, I could figure out how to assemble a piece of writing that someone would pay me for. It often indicates a user profile.Īround that time, I learned about copywriting and that people would pay you to write ads for them, whether in an email, on a sales page, or in a video. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.
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