Owner: Becoming a great copywriter URL:http://goodtogreatcopy.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 05:00:15 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: My Journey To Become a World Class Copywriter Site statistics:Click here
Day 17 - Success or Failure? It Depends on How You View It 2007-03-15 01:45:00 I spent my morning listening to a call we recorded last night. I listened to it 3 times for a total of 3.5 hours. There were so many lessons, concepts and values to absorb.One of the most vital lessons I learned was about perspective. We can choose to interpret an experience in any way. It is up to us and how we want to see things. Even when something appears to be a failure there is a positive side. There is a way to turn it into success. All you have to do is flip your perspective. And there is a lesson to learn.In our recording I heard a story about how earning $15,000 for a week's work was perceived as a failure. Wow! I'd take $15,000 for a month's work!!! But when the expected outcome of that experience was closer to several million it is easy to see how anyone could only see failure.I was also listening to a recording of Bill Harris and Lisa Nichols (from The Secret). Bill was talking about an experience he had back in the 1970s. He inherited about $7500 and invested it in the Read more:Success
, Depends
Day 16 - Lessons Learned 2007-03-14 02:38:00 Another day, another learning experience..well many actually! I am learning to better understand people based on what they show me through their words.There is a group I have emailed to regularly about my progress as an apprentice copywriter. Some of those members have opted out of the list, some have responded positively to my daily stories and some have simply ignored me.One person asked to get into the program and they then moved through the first step. The second step was assigned and they didn't want to do it. They saw it as a waste of time and pointless...their email to me said as much. It was said in much more vulgar terms but that was their message to me.After some discussion, I was able to see and interpret this person's response. They see everything as "someone trying to sell them something". They have a problem with promotion and sales. It would be difficult for this person to become a copywriter. Copywriting sells. That's it's purpose. And as a copywriter you must belie Read more:Lessons
, Learned
, Lessons Learned
Day 15 - It's Coming Together 2007-03-13 05:39:00 As much as I enjoy the weekend, it was good to get back to things today.Here's what I did:wrote a lot of copy for the promo tools areawrote an intro JV letterhandwritingblogIt doesn't like much does it? You should check out the site (www.ZeroToProfitASAP.com) and see all the promo tools. There's a lot in there!!! It took almost the entire afternoon but it was fun. I swiped a lot of the copy and just edited a few words to fit our site. It was sooooo easy!!!It's interesting to observe myself in all of this. Despite that it feels so easy my mind still fits me sometimes. I have very real physical symptoms as I move forward. I've begun to recognize them so I know when I'm moving to another level and moving out of my comfort zone. I sometimes sweat. At times I feel queasy and my stomach churns nervously. I even get the shakes. It's incredible that our minds have that much power.So instead of getting frustrated or upset with myself, I just remember that my mind is powerful and now I'
Day 14 - The Spa 2007-03-12 04:10:00 I had a blissful Sunday afternoon! I visited Woodhouse Day Spa for an hour-long aromatherapy deep tissue massage. It was everything I needed! And it was all thanks to me, courtesy of my play jar. It was lovely. I am quite sleepy now actually.After the massage I had money left over in my play jar. When you dip into the play jar, you have to blow it all at once. So I had to take myself out to lunch. Tough work huh?! :) I picked up my favorite sushi. After I bought it I had a quarter left over. Like I said when you dip into the play jar, you have to spend it all. So I drove to a few places to look for something to buy for a quarter. Eventually I found a lollipop and bought it. Woo hoo! My day was complete.Other things I did today:send out email to Listdotcom.com databasesend out email to other databaseblog entryhandwritingrecorded audio for squeeze pageTomorrow morning I begin the copy for our joint venture program! We've got some great ideas flowing. I can't wait to see the results.Sta
Exhaustion - Day 13 2007-03-11 03:11:00 Well today was going to be a slow day for me. It was really my day off but it didn't work out that way.Instead I got to write a 30 word ad that will be seen by some world-class gurus! It was very exciting..when it was done. Getting it done though? A bit frustrating! I hadn't written a 30 word ad before. I know it sounds easy..it's only 30 words right? How tough could that be? I'll tell you - very tough. And it was difficult for one reason: I hadn't done it before. As you do things you learn the easy way to do them. But I usually don't figure out the easy way the first few times I take on an activity. ;)Well eventually I got it..after many, many revisions. I was proud of the final product! I know we'll get some great results.And that's all the work I did aside from my usual handwriting and blog entry. Now I'm signing off to clean my house, eat some dinner and watch movies! Enjoy your day.Til tomorrow... Read more:Exhaustion
One More Thing - Day 12 2007-03-10 04:58:00 One more thing before I shut down my computer for the day. I just finished the ad below. It took me about a day to write and revise. I think it's great!Check it out:Headline: If you're making less than $300 an hour, you're not doing this.Dear {first_name}:Have you always wanted to make money the easy way? Do you believe with the right guidance you will succeed?If you have the desire and the will to succeed you can make your efforts pay off big.There's a simple way to do it..copywriting.Good copywriters get rich when they create wealth for businesses. So you can see why good copywriters are in high demand!So how do you get started? How can you become a great copywriter?The fastest way is to study with someone successful. Learn how they did it and avoid the mistakes. Easy right?!It is! There are lots of programs out there that cancharge anywhere from $100 to $1,000 a month. For your money, you usually get some study guides and a few tips but not a lot of personal guidance.You'll fin Read more:Thing
Baby I'm a Star! Day Twelve 2007-03-10 04:04:00 Today was quite a success. I spent about 2.5 hours of my morning recording an audio clip for our site. Check it out here.Isn't that terrific?! I had so much fun doing it! I've already started sending that link out to my family and friends. It's amazing to think of how far I've come in only 6 weeks. Incredible! I'm so happy with myself.And I'm so happy with the site! We're making a lot of progress and I'm so excited to see what's going to happen. It's going to be great I know it!The rest of my day was spent revising copy for a new ad we're sending out. We're looking for more apprentices. I'd like to have a few copies of me to help with all my tasks.I also managed a few other minor administrative tasks and tonight I have to wrap up our apprentice ad, my handwriting and this blog.I'm a bit tired so that's all I've got for today!Til tomorrow... Read more:Twelve
It's Getting Easier - Day 11 2007-03-09 08:22:00 Remember how I spent 6 hours doing the wrong task yesterday? Remember how frustrated I was? Today was much better. I did however still spend a lot of time doing the right task but doing it wrong...well not wrong, I did it the hard way!We're recording an audio clip for the site (www.ZeroToProfitASAP.com). And my task was to read the page and record it. Sounds easy right? Not when the text takes up 37 pages. So I spent 4 hours recording the page.As I did, I continued to think..there must be an easier way to do this, there has to be! It just took too darn long to read through all of that text (2 hours at a crack). But I did one complete run through and recorded it. It wasn't great but I had one rehearsal under my belt.We discussed what to do next. Much to my chagrin, during our discussion I realized I should've recapped the copy and bulleted out the highlights. Basically it we needed about 4 minutes of audio. 4 hours vs. 4 minutes - which would you prefer?! I prefer the 4 minutes!!!I j
I was so frustrated - Day Ten 2007-03-08 04:59:00 Today started off relatively well. We had our usual morning conference call and I set about my most vital task of the day: writing a solo ad to bring in more apprentices.At least that's what I thought my task was. I spent 1.5 hours planning each step of the task (and learning all about our new toy: Central Desktop. It's a virtual office space where teams share their files, their tasks, etc. It's fun! So I taught myself a few new things on it during my planning portion of the day).For three hours after my planning, I worked on the ad. I grabbed a swipe file about apprenticeshop programs for copywriters (didn't find much of anything good). I wrote, rewrote, read outloud, reread and recorded myself reading the ad. I was all set..a bit tired but it was at least to the point we could begin the real revisions.When we got on the conference call at 6pm and we discovered I had spent an entire day working on the wrong project. We needed a solo ad for our Information Marketing Bootcamp (ZeroT
Day Nine - Some Days It Comes Easy 2007-03-07 04:25:00 After the struggle I had just to get my head on right yesterday, today was a comparative walk in the park. Most things came easily and with little effort..save for one.I signed up for my own adCenter account. I was going to run my own campaign and we were going to test it against our original campaign. We wanted to see what keywords the spiders would approve in our new landing page copy versus what a person approved. It will help us improve the process for our affiliates.Something must have happened while I was adding my own account because we lost our keywords in the original campaign. One minute they were there, the next they were gone!I was quite upset because I thought I had caused it. Lost keywords meant lost money. I tried to find the keywords file on my own but couldn't. Our next step was to call Microsoft adCenter and find out what had happened. Our usual contact wasn't available and the woman I spoke with wasn't much help. She did her best to empathize but couldn't offer
Day 8 - Mountains to Climb 2007-03-06 05:36:00 There is something to be said for working on the weekends. It keeps me in the right mindframe. I could tell I had taken some down time over the weekend. I had a harder-than-usual time with concepts and getting my head right today.But eventually I did. I spent most of the day tweaking our landing page to incorporate our rejected keywords. The more keywords we have the better our chances of having our ads pass. Once the ads pass we can bring in affiliates and start seeing money.I do feel how I am not allowing money but sometimes I don't know how to change that. When I feel that way I just listen to a few calls and relax my mind. I do get frustrated with myself but I try to remember that as hard as it seems to change my mind, the harder it will be to ever go back! The mind is an incredibly powerful tool..our most valuable asset. And mine is strong. I'm just reprogramming it now.And I'm going to add a few folks to my team. I'm barely keeping my head above water and it's only going to Read more:Climb
Sunday - Day Seven 2007-03-05 04:59:00 One week! Woo hoo! I've been doing the happy dance almost daily it seems. And that makes me happy...hence the name of the dance!Today was another light day. I reorganized the folder and did my handwriting assignment. I also uploaded a few days of handwriting that I hadn't submitted previously. Tonight I have some documentation I'm going to write.And I will write my 10 additional ads by 10am tomorrow along with instructions for affiliates to use the ads. I'm just going to get something started and we'll fine tune the copy from there. It's key to simply start and get the ball rolling. It just grows from there. Because nothing has to be perfect we write the copy, tweak it and revamp what is necessary and get it up. Our responses tell us if the copy works or doesn't so it's best to get something out there and get those responses. We can't read minds so we take the easy route and simply respond to our responses. I like it! It's a weight off of my shoulders to know what I write doe Read more:Sunday
, Seven
A Day of Rest 2007-03-03 23:31:00 It's a Saturday and I've decided to only do a few things today. I'm tired and in need of a day to play. :) My hand is starting to tingle and my wrist is aching from too much time at the computer. My body wants to rest!So today I emailed our database (3 referrals so far - YAY!), divided up my emergency fund jar and documented the procedure for emailing a database. I wrote my five words again. As I reviewed my emails I realized I haven't posted about 3 days worth of the writing assignment. Off to Kinko's tomorrow to scan those assignments and post them! And that's that.Tomorrow I'll have better access to our FTP site so I can organize my folders. I will write more ads and document other procedures along with the usual handwriting and blog entry.So cheerio and enjoy your Saturday.Til tomorrow!
Day Five 2007-03-03 07:07:00 Hello again.I have yet to come up with a catchy headline. I'm a bit spent by the time I write these entries but that's just an excuse. I'll think about it before I go to sleep and I'll wake up with fresh ideas and creative energies.Today was another day of adventure! Here is what I accomplished:rewrote the headline and intro for SiteHunt.com created a swipe file for that headline and intro blurbwrote 10 ads for MSN AdCenterfollowed up on several press releases (currently they are on hold)logged 10 new referrals from yesterday's email (those 10 referrals more than doubled my total referrals to date!! YAY!!!)conference callcompensation (must still be documented)started reorganizing main copywriting folderhandwriting assignmentblog entryAnd there's so much I haven't done yet! Barbara Hemphill's organization techniques have to be studied (so I can better organize my files)Step by step procedures have to be written for oodles of tasks from press releases to ad affiliatesPay myself f
Day Four 2007-03-02 06:07:00 I'm thinking I need to come up with a better headline for each day..something more enticing than Day #X. That's kinda boring isn't it? I'll fix it tomorrow.Remember how exhausted I was yesterday? I was amazed to find I was perky and alert this morning...even before my usual 2 cups of coffee. Today was yet another amazing day with remarkable breakthroughs and insights. I won't go into great detail on that side of things (you'll just have to wait for the course! How's that for a pre-plug?!) but I will give you the low-down on my tasks.Here's how I spent my day:sent out an email to 5,000 people. downloaded Filezilla (very useful - I can now upload documents and they can be shared by the team. As a result, things will be more organized and won't be laying around in my Inbox folder. They will be archived however...always have back-ups and preferably back-ups of your backups). wrote questions and templates for 5 press releasesfinished 2 of those press releases (waiting on input fro
Day Three 2007-03-01 04:05:00 For some reason I am exhausted today. Not sure why but I'm wiped out. I spent the majority of my day writing a press release. That seemed to take a lot out of me. I also revised two bonus boxes and jotted notes to fix two other pieces of copy.We're in Day 3 of our $30,000 in 30 days push. I'm doing my best to stay on top of my tasks and keep things moving. I don't want to hold up the process!But how exciting would that be?! $30,000 in 30 days??! It would be the most incredible thing I've ever been a part of. I think the apprenticeship program is the most incredible thing I've been a part of so far. I believe each day will be more and more amazing. And I hold on to that belief and it gets me through the exhaustion, the fear and the occasional (and ever decreasing) doubts.I also did my Prosperity Jars. I took my recent bonus and gave 55% to my necessities. I gave 10% to my financial freedom fund, 10% to my play jar, 10% to my education, 5% to my long-term savings (just one CD righ Read more:Three
Day Two 2007-02-28 00:18:00 Each day is a new experience. And each day I feel that "uncomfortable" feeling til I push through. Action alleviates so much of that feeling. But every day it is up to me to continue that action. And today I continued.Today I had a few tasks to accomplish. I sent out an email with a new headline; I'm still awaiting the results. I also revised an upsell (it's the "Do you want fries with that?" technique), an upsell on a downsell (when someone declines your first offer you downsell them the same product minus a few bonuses or other perks. When they accept the downsell, you offer an upsell. Hence it's called the upsell on a downsell) and an autoresponder email (emails that automatically go out to your database).I've spent most of the days listening and relistening to calls. There's a lot of copy going into this project and I have to track it and write anything we don't have yet. It has been a battle to get up to speed on what everyone else had done to this point. It does get easier
Day One 2007-02-26 20:57:00 Today is the first day in the next phase of my copywriting apprenticeship program. I've spent the last 5 weeks doing assignments, writing and rewriting (and rewriting again!) and generally pushing myself.It's definitely been an eye-opener for me and at times it's been uncomfortable. And that's a good thing. It means I'm doing things I haven't been doing before. And the things I've been doing before haven't worked very well.My comfort zone is crap quite frankly. I haven't gotten very far career-wise and my finances show it. I'm so tired of barely getting by and not enjoying the lifestyle I had always imagined for myself.I didn't think it was possible before and I'm having to push through barriers now. I know it's out there, I know I can achieve it and now I'm working towards it.So today I got up, checked my email and made some notes about what I need to accomplish today. I called Mark and he gave me suggestions to change some copy. I changed it and sent it my personal list Read more:Day One
Day 18 - Whew! 2007-03-16 00:24:00 Wow what a day. I'm still wrapping my brain around all the new concepts, foreign thoughts and quantums I was exposed to today.I'm going to have to tell you more in the future..they are still zig-zagging around in my brain and haven't settled into coherent thoughts or structures. I'd like to say I'll explain them tomorrow or the next day but I won't guarantee that. More than likely you will see them unfold in me and in my life and I'll explain as they do.They could all form and transform me by tomorrow. Who knows? Come back and find out with me!Til tomorrow...
Day 19 - A Day Off 2007-03-17 23:53:00 Happy St. Patty's Day! I'm taking the day off to enjoy local festivities and spend time with friends and their families. My evening will also include playing catch in the backyard with my friend's German Shepherd.Enjoy your Saturday!!Til tomorrow...
Day 19 - Leisurely Sunday 2007-03-19 02:58:00 Today has been a slow and leisurely Sunday
for me. I enjoy sleeping in and slowly awakening on the weekends. This morning was idyllic in that respect.Today my main tasks have been the handwriting sample, this blog entry, watch The Apprentice and to read Speed Wealth by T Harv Eker. I haven't finished Speed Wealth but when I am, you'll be the first I will share my thoughts with! He has invaluable principles, tips and rules to making $1 million in any business in less than 3 years. I'm eager to learn them all!!Til tomorrow...
Day 20 - Monday is Fun Day! 2007-03-20 05:16:00 A lot of people call Monday
s moan days. They moan that they have to go back to work. Not me!But if you look back at most of my Monday posts they have described how exhausting and difficult those days were for me. And even though I knew it was simply a matter of mental perspective, it was still tough for me to find that groove again.Not today! Today was much better than any other Monday I've had since becoming an apprentice.Most Mondays I feel nervous, anxious and agitated...but not today! I woke up excited for the day to start, eager to wrap up my tasks and jump on the next projects. It was a refreshing and welcome change for a Monday!That being said I still hit a block late this afternoon. I was tackling a task (one that is going to make me money I might add) and I went about it the hard way. I knew it too. I felt drained shortly into the project but I couldn't step outside myself to see the easy way. So I labored on for awhile and eventually got assistance to get back on track. At
Day 21 - Is Hard Work Really Better? 2007-03-21 01:35:00 Today was another easy day...part of me still thinks it was too easy. And then I wonder why I think that. When did someone instill in me that harder is better? I'm going to toss that file out of my brain. No, I'm not GOING to toss...I AM tossing it!I grew up under my father's wing and he works hard. I'm sure that's where my notions come from. He works very hard...much the same as the average American. For him it has paid off well but the same isn't true of everyone. There are hundreds of people struggling to make ends meet. Thousands of people who are two or three missed paychecks away from bankruptcy. I see it every day when those people walk through my downstairs and into my roommate's law office to discuss their bankruptcy options. It's a startling thought and I feel for them.So I choose to be more, to do more and to live more. I want wonderful things without having to go to a cubicle each morning and count the minutes til I can go home. I will work effectively and efficient
Day 25 - Talk To Me 2007-03-22 17:06:00 Hey everyone,I've added some new features to the blog. Check them out...they are on your right side of the screen. Let me know what you think! You can add a comment or send me an email on the forms below. You can click the comments link..or send me an email with the envelope icon. Choose one and send me a note. Thanks all!
Day 24 - The Best Assignments Ever! 2007-03-22 03:27:00 Every day I have fun tasks like writing this blog. I enjoy everything I do but today I had the enviable tasks of writing my life story one year from now and test driving my new car.When you believe you create your own life you allow yourself the ability to create anything you desire. So why not write the best story you can imagine? Make your life the most amazing and wonderful tale ever told.One of my tasks was to write my life as I see it one year from today. I wrote a three page detailed description of each event in a day of my life. I wrote a fantastic day! I have a talented team of copywriters working for me, a wonderful home with a lovely garden in the back, a significant other who treats me like the queen I am, a happy little dog to keep my company every day, my favorite BMW and the ranch of my dreams tucked away in the Colorado mountains. It was perfect as it should be!My other fun task was to test drive the car I want. You've read about my prosperity jars. One of the jars is t
Day 19 - Team Building 2007-03-17 03:36:00 Today...like everday... was interesting. My morning ritual is to write a list of the things I plan to accomplish that day. Somedays that list changes in the morning, somedays it changes in the afternoon and somedays it doesn't change at all. Today the list changed completely thanks to our first team conference call. our first team building exercise!The call was intense as foreign tasks usually are but it was a lot of fun too. Our calls will become weekly events which is terrific. It's great to know what everyone is doing and to learn about the facets of our project(s).I also think it's interesting that I feel a stronger team/colleague connection now then I have before. It's even more fascinating that people still ask me "are you going to get a real job?" I know they don't intend to sound insulting but that is my initial reaction. And then I take a moment, step back and realize they have a certain idea of what a "job" is and my idea is quite different. I don't want a job. I don't Read more:Building
, Team Building
Day 26 - Beating Myself Up 2007-03-24 02:19:00 I'm so utterly exhausted with my repeated incidents of self-abuse! Mentally I beat myself up every chance I get..or rather I used to. I'm aware of it now and I'm changing that. It's just too darn tiring and unfulfilling. It just isn't worth it. That file is being tossed in the trash bin!!Thanks..I just wanted to get that off my chest. It's been rolling around in my head all day!Today is Friday and we've decided Fridays are training days. It's nice to have the calls on Friday and let them sink in over the weekend.We were scheduled to have 3 training calls but we only had one. And that's ok, we'll just reschedule and move forward. I think 3 would've been too many and we would've worked ourselves far too hard.Other than our one team meeting I did a few other things...sent email to Listdotcom.comgot the ball rolling on a new web page for our apprentice programrequested edits to some of the other web pages wrote draft for an emaillistened to our team call for todaydownloaded sev
Day 25 - A Celebration 2007-03-22 17:26:00 In all the excitment of my fantastic tasks yesterday I forgot to add this very interesting discovery.I'm in my 53rd day of my apprenticeship...my program runs for 90 days. I realized my last 2 days fall during my trip to Mexico at the end of April. I signed up for this trip back in January..about 2 weeks before I became an apprentice. What a way to celebrate right?! I've made some amazing changes in my life and they should be celebrated. I should be celebrated so I'm going to by spending 7 beautiful days on the white sandy beaches of Cozumel.It might sound like the timing of this trip is a coincedence but it isn't. Even though I hadn't become an apprentice when I booked this trip, my mind knew what was coming and it knew this would be the best way to pat myself on the back. Think about that for a little while.It ties into the task I was telling you about yesterday..writing your life's story. A trip to Cozumel and days of snorkeling and scuba diving is definitely the way I would'
Day 27 - Mind Games 2007-03-25 01:40:00 Today I saw a pattern I have: turning away just before success.The last day or two I've been worrying about money (another pattern I have) and wondering how I'm going to pay some bills that are due in the next few weeks.There's a pretty obvious answer to that concern...generate some income from ZTPA.com and our current members. It's the easiest solution. But it wasn't my first thought..it actually took a few minutes before I realized that was the obvious resolution. And it isn't because I don't believe in what we are doing - I definitely do. I am just learning to believe in myself as a copywriter. It's been a long time since I've felt confident, strong and secure in myself. I'm getting there though, I definitely am. So because I lack that belief I turn away from success just before I get there. I won't turn away this time. I will persevere...I will push through.Since it's Saturday I only did a little bit of work. I clarified some things on the web page we need to build for Read more:Games
The Apprentice 2007-03-26 05:59:00 As a regular follower of my blog you know Sunday night is The Apprentice
..required viewing as an apprentice.I've watched regularly for the past month and have learned valuable lessons from every show. The last two weeks I've learned one simple rule: you are only as good as your team.The last two Sundays Mr. Trump has fired two remarkable individuals because their teams faltered. These two people were the project leaders; they were responsible for their teams and their team's projects.It shows you how important it is when choosing to add someone to your team...that's why our apprentices go through the 90 day program just as I am. I wouldn't have it any other way! Those 90 days will make or break anyone. It's already broken plenty of people. I am optimistic we will attract some successful candidates though! They are out there and soon they'll be onboard with us.Stick around and you'll experience their success too!Til tomorrow...
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