Lex DeVille's: How to Make $1,000 a Week with no Degree, no Feedback, & no Portfolio.

[KennyJA]

Day after I searched I was hired already.

Though the competition hurt my pride a little, I think oDesk will provide me the experience and attitude to build new skills I can sell later.

 

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[JaxAttacks]

Hey all,
A client wants me to write his emails for his email marketing campaign. He wants a quote and I have NO IDEA what I should charge for that. Please help!

 

[KennyJA]

Hey all,
A client wants me to write his emails for his email marketing campaign. He wants a quote and I have NO IDEA what I should charge for that. Please help!

You need to know how many are in the e-mail list. If it's high charge a fair price for that. If it's low charge a fair price for that.

If he's not up to disclosing the numbers, which I'm 90% sure he wont be then it can get tricky. He might lowball you into giving quality work for a low pay check.

Do you have an hourly rate? Go by that as the base.

 

[JaxAttacks]

Thanks for the answer, Kenny. He's wanting a fixed price not hourly. It's hard to know what a fair price is with lack of info (like you said) and lack of experience.

 

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[SlowlaneJay]

Thanks for the answer, Kenny. He's wanting a fixed price not hourly. It's hard to know what a fair price is with lack of info (like you said) and lack of experience.

I'm doing an autoresponder series right now for $50/email.

The highest I tried charging was $100/email and lost the client. $50/email has worked consistently for me.

AWAI has an article (actually quite a good one) that suggests $100/email is a good place to start:
"$100 per email is a moderate price to charge, especially for beginners. But a more advanced autoresponder copywriter… can easily command a higher price."

But honestly, if I were the client, I wouldn't pay someone $100 per. Especially if they weren't a proven email marketer.

Charge what you think you're worth. Can you bring 10X value for the cost? If you charge $50/email, can you provide $5000 worth of value?

Also, @KennyJA, why does the email list matter? It's never once occurred to me to charge based on the email list size. Your goal is conversion— no matter how big the list. Why not charge based on how well your words convert, instead of how many people it will reach?

 

[KennyJA]

why does the email list matter? It's never once occurred to me to charge based on the email list size. Your goal is conversion— no matter how big the list. Why not charge based on how well your words convert, instead of how many people it will reach?

Unless you have foresight of how many people you are going to convert...

You might want to use other measurements to fix your price.

He's wanting a fixed price not hourly.

I'm saying your hourly price is how much value you think you're worth at least. There was one guy in a picture in this thread that charged 80 dollars, I don't know who would contact him and ask for a lower price knowing how much money he thinks he's worth...Charge for who you are, which means anything you do is worth that amount, not for what you do, exactly. I'm not saying charge exorbitant prices but the money you think is equivalent to the value you bring.

 

[DaRK9]

Unless you have foresight of how many people you are going to convert...

You might want to use other measurements to fix your price.

What does that have to do with anything? No one charges writing per lead, which is what you are implying in a backhanded way.

 

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[KennyJA]

What does that have to do with anything?

You would know if you paid attention to the last few posts. I'm guessing you did because you enter into the argument here:

No one charges writing per lead, which is what you are implying in a backhanded way.

Anyway.

If you want to write excellent e-mails for pocket change, ok then. Copywriters have the potential to earn a good pay depending who their employer is, but forget about it. I'm not in this forum to really waste time arguing with profile avatars.

 

[DaRK9]

Copywriters have the potential to earn a good pay depending who their employer is, but forget about it. I'm not in this forum to really waste time arguing with profile avatars.

Oh, like a 7k a month retainer for SEO PPC and copywriting? I charge what I'm worth and that will go up. I would never ask business metrics before giving a number. It looks shady and it's money chasing.

 

[Stephanie Simon]

Hey Guys,

I've been following this thread VERY closely and just joined Fastlane Forum yesterday. I'm brand spankin' new and am looking to build a career in freelance copywriting. I took pages of notes of the awesome feedback you guys left on here (in case you're wondering how long reading through 18 pages of AMAZING threads takes w/ notes: approx. 5 hours. TOTALLY WORTH IT, haha). I went ahead and took the most valuable advice which seemed to be STOP READING and JUST GO APPLY, and built my UpWork profile yesterday and was able to send out 2 applications.

I finished The Boron Letters this morning and practice writing more copy by sending out 3 other applications.

Approximately 30 minutes ago, I received 2 offers back to back. They had very complimentary feedback in regards to my cover letters:

First Offer: "Thank you for applying. The way you said your last client would describe you...is exactly what I am looking for. I want someone can entertain, as well as, inform. Looking forward to seeing your re-write. Thanks!"

Second Offer: "Hi Stephanie - I admire your response and would like to talk to you and likely get started ASAP. My associate and I are working now in case you get this and would like to talk this afternoon/evening before the week gets crazy.
Your posting was so good that I decided to extend the offer to hire and hope we can talk soon.
Please let me know the best way to reach you but I will go click "hire now" "

I followed the tips and suggestions from this thread to a 'T' and it yielded fantastic results. This isn't to brag but to address the concern that perhaps there is too much competition and that maybe this stuff doesn't apply anymore.

Well, it still works and there is plenty of Upwork love to go around! I can be a testament to that. Hopefully, this inspires Newbies who are the fence to just go for it!

Thanks so much Lex and all the other main contributors to the thread for your valuable information and for helping make this happy girl get paid.

Love,
Steph

 

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[randomnumber314]

Interesting thread. I think I caught it in its early days.

Entrepreneurs tend to be problem solvers, I'm wonder if anyone has used that skillset in their approach to freelancing. If so, how what types of jobs did you look for? If not, how would you recommend those going down this path use the ability to problem solve as a marketable skill?

Great thread for pushing action. I'm going to follow everyone's progress.

 

[The-J]

Update on my $1,000 week:

This is a lot of work. LOL. I don't have the time to apply for more jobs but once these jobs are done, I'm jacking up my rate.

I'm happy to do it, but I can't help but have a nagging anxiety that the person might not like my work and promptly ask for a refund, hurting my reputation on these sites and making my work count for nothing.

How to get over this?

And don't say 'only choose jobs you know you can overdeliver on'. That doesn't get rid of the anxiety for me.

 

[NuclearPuma]

If I didn't have a 9 to 5 I'd try this free lancing stuff out. Looks like I could work up to a higher hourly wage than my salaried job, but I want to get away from the time for money exchange and start selling products and ideas.

My biggest hurdle is disciple and procrastination. Still finding my why, who, passion, discipline to get me moving on the ideas I have.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

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[masterneme]

Update on my $1,000 week:

This is a lot of work. LOL. I don't have the time to apply for more jobs but once these jobs are done, I'm jacking up my rate.

I'm happy to do it, but I can't help but have a nagging anxiety that the person might not like my work and promptly ask for a refund, hurting my reputation on these sites and making my work count for nothing.

How to get over this?

And don't say 'only choose jobs you know you can overdeliver on'. That doesn't get rid of the anxiety for me.

You'll have "anxiety" every time you push your comfort zone, think about it as an act of curiosity or an experiment and do it to see what happens.

 

[The Grind]

Has anyone here taken the AWAI copywriting course?

Lots of reviews saying its a waste of money.

I follow their email newsletter, the course seems good.

Anyone taken a course with them? Or a quality course that helped you learn a lot about copy?

 

[David Fiddler]

Has anyone here taken the AWAI copywriting course?

Lots of reviews saying its a waste of money.

I follow their email newsletter, the course seems good.

Anyone taken a course with them? Or a quality course that helped you learn a lot about copy?

Same here, I was also looking at John Carlton's Simple Writing System, but it's quite outside of what I'd be comfortable spending right now. Also read mixed reviews (based on who your "teacher" is as they assign one for every 10 person or so).

 

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[Benjiben]

Hey guys,

I've been following this thread for 3 weeks now and I've finished reading Boron letters and Ca$hvertising.
I made an account on Odesk and was wondering if everyone here can critique my overview:

HELLO!

Name's Ben Wong and I specialize in helping you bring in more traffic or sales- Copywriting.

-Able to edit copies or simply produce GREAT Copies

-Types fast so we you can see results Faster

-Only reward me if you're satisfied with what you get.

I feel like it should have more words and details in it but I think keeping it short and concise would be better. Please do help me on this, Thanks!

 

[masterneme]

I've read good reviews about AWAI courses.

A personal recomendation is http://www.amazon.com/dp/1887741003/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20 or anything from Ted Nicholas.

Now I have the opportunity to talk about this man because it's probably the best copywriter in the world.

Why do I say that?

Ted Nicholas was the "guru" of today's "gurus", he taught Gary Halbert, Dan Kennedy and many other well known marketers, has sold almost 8$ Billion (with B) worth of products and he's worth about 300$ million.

So, do you want to learn from marketers and copywriters who target marketers and copywriters or do you want to learn from a man that makes millions selling tons of products and services to real people?

 

[tnzk]

Hey Guys,

I've been following this thread VERY closely and just joined Fastlane Forum yesterday. I'm brand spankin' new and am looking to build a career in freelance copywriting. I took pages of notes of the awesome feedback you guys left on here (in case you're wondering how long reading through 18 pages of AMAZING threads takes w/ notes: approx. 5 hours. TOTALLY WORTH IT, haha). I went ahead and took the most valuable advice which seemed to be STOP READING and JUST GO APPLY, and built my UpWork profile yesterday and was able to send out 2 applications.

I finished The Boron Letters this morning and practice writing more copy by sending out 3 other applications.

Approximately 30 minutes ago, I received 2 offers back to back. They had very complimentary feedback in regards to my cover letters:

First Offer: "Thank you for applying. The way you said your last client would describe you...is exactly what I am looking for. I want someone can entertain, as well as, inform. Looking forward to seeing your re-write. Thanks!"

Second Offer: "Hi Stephanie - I admire your response and would like to talk to you and likely get started ASAP. My associate and I are working now in case you get this and would like to talk this afternoon/evening before the week gets crazy.
Your posting was so good that I decided to extend the offer to hire and hope we can talk soon.
Please let me know the best way to reach you but I will go click "hire now" "

I followed the tips and suggestions from this thread to a 'T' and it yielded fantastic results. This isn't to brag but to address the concern that perhaps there is too much competition and that maybe this stuff doesn't apply anymore.

Well, it still works and there is plenty of Upwork love to go around! I can be a testament to that. Hopefully, this inspires Newbies who are the fence to just go for it!

Thanks so much Lex and all the other main contributors to the thread for your valuable information and for helping make this happy girl get paid.

Love,
Steph

You mean you just joined yesterday and you got work right away from following this thread's advice? Insanely awesome. Also, read The Millionaire Fastlane if you haven't already. It'll give you the "big picture" to your career in whatever you want to do.

I have a question directed to the thread at large:

Should I join in this $1000 mini-revolution? Copywriting/design/whatever isn't really what I want to do in the long term. MJ would call this indentured time that I'm trading away. I'd rather put my time and effort right now into fiction writing and building a publishing company to generate fastlane profits in the long term. I will not be living comfortably for about nine months. I would love to make $1000 a week (that's $1500 NZD, a very comfortable life style in New Zealand), and I have no doubt I can smash that target on upwork or odesk in no time because my writing skills are second to none.

I understand people will automatically say "It's all about what you want to do", but I want to know what you guys know from experience. Has anyone betted on the long term? Did you wish you did some short term work? Or has any one been stuck in short term work and wished they had time to build up long term goals? Would love peoples' insights!

 

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[SlowlaneJay]

You mean you just joined yesterday and you got work right away from following this thread's advice? Insanely awesome. Also, read The Millionaire Fastlane if you haven't already. It'll give you the "big picture" to your career in whatever you want to do.

I have a question directed to the thread at large:

Should I join in this $1000 mini-revolution? Copywriting/design/whatever isn't really what I want to do in the long term. MJ would call this indentured time that I'm trading away. I'd rather put my time and effort right now into fiction writing and building a publishing company to generate fastlane profits in the long term. I will not be living comfortably for about nine months. I would love to make $1000 a week (that's $1500 NZD, a very comfortable life style in New Zealand), and I have no doubt I can smash that target on upwork or odesk in no time because my writing skills are second to none.

I understand people will automatically say "It's all about what you want to do", but I want to know what you guys know from experience. Has anyone betted on the long term? Did you wish you did some short term work? Or has any one been stuck in short term work and wished they had time to build up long term goals? Would love peoples' insights!

I hate to be a Donald Downer here, but the $1000 a week thing is not easy. I may be wrong, but I don't think anyone in this thread is actually making $1000 a week from Upwork jobs alone (aside from Lex).

If you're going to hit that number, you'll need to devote a lot of time to it. I'm doing it seven days a week and I'm not at a consistent $1000/wk yet. So if you're going to do this, get that number out of your head and think about what you're taking on here. To put it into forum terms, think about the process, not the event.

Because sure, your writing may be second to one (me). But writing's easy.

What's not easy, is consistently finding people who want your help.

Some weeks, Upwork is dry— jobs go up and 34 writers apply within an hour. Other weeks, a client goes AWOL and doesn't review your draft. Other weeks, a client drops the project and decides it's no longer necessary. Other weeks, you just don't feel like writing another f*cking cover letter.

I guess all I'm saying here T, is that if your goal is to build a publishing company, you may want to focus on that. You can definitely supplement your lifestyle by freelancing if you'd like. But to do it right (and make decent money), you need to treat this like a real project. Because your writing won't actually make you any money… your work ethic will.

 

[The Grind]

Update on my $1,000 week:

This is a lot of work. LOL. I don't have the time to apply for more jobs but once these jobs are done, I'm jacking up my rate.

I'm happy to do it, but I can't help but have a nagging anxiety that the person might not like my work and promptly ask for a refund, hurting my reputation on these sites and making my work count for nothing.

How to get over this?

And don't say 'only choose jobs you know you can overdeliver on'. That doesn't get rid of the anxiety for me.

That's your ego.

Destroying your ego is not something you can do overnight,

I hate to be a Donald Downer here, but the $1000 a week thing is not easy. I may be wrong, but I don't think anyone in this thread is actually making $1000 a week from Upwork jobs alone (aside from Lex).

If you're going to hit that number, you'll need to devote a lot of time to it. I'm doing it seven days a week and I'm not at a consistent $1000/wk yet. So if you're going to do this, get that number out of your head and think about what you're taking on here. To put it into forum terms, think about the process, not the event.

Because sure, your writing may be second to one (me). But writing's easy.

What's not easy, is consistently finding people who want your help.

Some weeks, Upwork is dry— jobs go up and 34 writers apply within an hour. Other weeks, a client goes AWOL and doesn't review your draft. Other weeks, a client drops the project and decides it's no longer necessary. Other weeks, you just don't feel like writing another f*cking cover letter.

I guess all I'm saying here T, is that if your goal is to build a publishing company, you may want to focus on that. You can definitely supplement your lifestyle by freelancing if you'd like. But to do it right (and make decent money), you need to treat this like a real project. Because your writing won't actually make you any money… your work ethic will.

Hmm interesting, how long have you been doing it 7 days a week?

I would imagine you would have found a couple clients that want long term work from you, no?

 

[SlowlaneJay]

Hmm interesting, how long have you been doing it 7 days a week?

I would imagine you would have found a couple clients that want long term work from you, no?

Since April. And yes, but even with consistent work, clients take breaks. Sometimes they go on holiday, often they take the weekend off, or — the most likely scenario — they just don't have any work that week.

But even still. The numbers of it are hard to manage. To hit $1000 you need to book 25 hours of $50/hr work. Every. Single. Week.

For most clients (especially on Upwork), $50/hr is serious cash. It's not easy to find these high-value clients. And it gets more difficult if they decide to spend time with their family, go on vacation, or sleep in on Sunday instead of assigning you new work

 

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[The Grind]

Since April. And yes, but even with consistent work, clients take breaks. Sometimes they go on holiday, often they take the weekend off, or — the most likely scenario — they just don't have any work that week.

But even still. The numbers of it are hard to manage. To hit $1000 you need to book 25 hours of $50/hr work. Every. Single. Week.

For most clients (especially on Upwork), $50/hr is serious cash. It's not easy to find these high-value clients. And it gets more difficult if they decide to spend time with their family, go on vacation, or sleep in on Sunday instead of assigning you new work

Interesting, well Kudos to you for putting in so much effort 7 days a week.

 

[David Fiddler]

I would love to make $1000 a week... and I have no doubt I can smash that target on upwork or odesk in no time because my writing skills are second to none.

So what's stopping you?

 

[Lex DeVille]

When I started this thread it wasn't to show how much money someone can make by writing copy. It also wasn't with any intent to give anyone a step by step fastlane plan. It was only to show that when you take action with intent to create value then wheels turn and things happen. Sometimes those things are favorable and sometimes they aren't. But until you start you won't know.

It's really not that hard to make this kind of money on Upwork but you gotta think outside the box.

First of all what are your goals?

If you want copywriting to be fastlane then you have different actions to take than if you're just writing to make some money.

If your goal is to make $1000 a week then your actions will also be different than the fastlane path.

If $50 an hour takes too long then you have to create more value to reach the 1000 mark faster.

FYI I mostly don't work on hourly gigs now. I delivered for several clients and then set up more favorable lump sum terms. But this meets only my personal goals and isn't what you should do for 1000 a week.

The point I'm making is that I don't try the same thing every time. I just look for ways to create value and solve problems for each potential client. Once they hire you once, then they become a paying customer and paying customers are a lot easier to sell stuff to, including yourself to their friends as a referral.

So start with your personal goals and think of new ways you can use copywriting to achieve them.

Sorry if this looks odd. I'm writing from my phone in the middle of nowhere!

 

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[tnzk]

I hate to be a Donald Downer here, but the $1000 a week thing is not easy. I may be wrong, but I don't think anyone in this thread is actually making $1000 a week from Upwork jobs alone (aside from Lex).

If you're going to hit that number, you'll need to devote a lot of time to it. I'm doing it seven days a week and I'm not at a consistent $1000/wk yet. So if you're going to do this, get that number out of your head and think about what you're taking on here. To put it into forum terms, think about the process, not the event.

Because sure, your writing may be second to one (me). But writing's easy.

What's not easy, is consistently finding people who want your help.

Some weeks, Upwork is dry— jobs go up and 34 writers apply within an hour. Other weeks, a client goes AWOL and doesn't review your draft. Other weeks, a client drops the project and decides it's no longer necessary. Other weeks, you just don't feel like writing another f*cking cover letter.

I guess all I'm saying here T, is that if your goal is to build a publishing company, you may want to focus on that. You can definitely supplement your lifestyle by freelancing if you'd like. But to do it right (and make decent money), you need to treat this like a real project. Because your writing won't actually make you any money… your work ethic will.

It's not a downer, it's what I needed to hear.

I'd probably not want to supplement at this point in time though, because it would be akin to a polygamy, and I think most here more or less agree monogamy is key.

People in this thread seem to find the most success being monogamous to online freelancing. I suppose I just needed some clarity, which you provided. Thanks Jay!

 

[tnzk]

When I started this thread it wasn't to show how much money someone can make by writing copy. It also wasn't with any intent to give anyone a step by step fastlane plan. It was only to show that when you take action with intent to create value then wheels turn and things happen. Sometimes those things are favorable and sometimes they aren't. But until you start you won't know.

It's really not that hard to make this kind of money on Upwork but you gotta think outside the box.

First of all what are your goals?

If you want copywriting to be fastlane then you have different actions to take than if you're just writing to make some money.

If your goal is to make $1000 a week then your actions will also be different than the fastlane path.

If $50 an hour takes too long then you have to create more value to reach the 1000 mark faster.

FYI I mostly don't work on hourly gigs now. I delivered for several clients and then set up more favorable lump sum terms. But this meets only my personal goals and isn't what you should do for 1000 a week.

The point I'm making is that I don't try the same thing every time. I just look for ways to create value and solve problems for each potential client. Once they hire you once, then they become a paying customer and paying customers are a lot easier to sell stuff to, including yourself to their friends as a referral.

So start with your personal goals and think of new ways you can use copywriting to achieve them.

Sorry if this looks odd. I'm writing from my phone in the middle of nowhere!

There's the key: I don't want copywriting to be my fastlane. If the goal was to show action and intent create value and make things happen, further reinforces I shouldn't get into the copywriting business at this time. Instead you're telling me I should go ahead with fictional writing/publishing through action and intent =P. Hopefully I create value with that sooner rather than later!

 

[masterneme]

Hey, I think nobody mentioned that Elance is closing down.

 

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[maggiesumagang]

Hi Guys,

I’m looking for a copywriter in Upwork who has no feedback yet. I already have a good reputation as a client in Upwork and would like to hire the services of a copywriter at a low price. In exchange, I will give this copywriter a 5-star, lengthy feedback in Upwork, to help in jumpstarting his/her career.

For anyone interested, please send me a private message. Thanks,

 

[business_man]

This is great thread. Lex you coughs me with this when I needed most. Thank you. Really inspired. + I got fresh new ideas.