Attempting to Build A Productocracy [Niche > Problem > Pre-sell > Solution]

[Edgar King]

Day 40
TORNADO
Wow! We're about to cross the halfway mark of this, nice!

No there was no actual tornado let me explain.

(30 minutes) Collect feedback for actions done (Email, Upwork job post, Linkedin)

(20 minutes) Read 20 pages of cashvertising and practice it in the real world (Hacking into a foundational desire)

I was moving along my day when they took the light and my computer battery died early...in the middle of writing one of the best proposals I've ever written *faceslap*

Pain. Next time I'm charging my computer in anticipation for a blackout.

If that wasn't enough, my school's Microsoft Word license finally decided to resurrect from the grave it's expiration after my battery died... meaning that all my processes and the feedback written in them (Tables and measurements) couldn't be accessed. Ctrl+c wasn't going to do it.

Pain. Going to use Libre Office from now on. Who knew there was a free well written word processor out there? Mind blown. This would have been so helpful to know in secondary school.

Going to have to transfer all the info into that.

On another note, I conducted an exciting Upwork experiment.

The previous day I decided I wanted to play client and see just what kind of proposals got submitted and what made a great proposal.

My findings were exciting. This is what real feedback is all about. I'll share that hopefully tomorrow since LibreOffice is still downloading and it'll take some time for a transfer.

On another note, I realised that feedback are facts. Don't make the mistake of taking your opinion as a fact (Assumptions) or you'll be operating on toxic chocolate.

Note- Have about 6 interviews recorded (Local). Cool for a weekly post but it would just take so long for me to get to 30 Internationally (About 7 months?!), not even considering 100. We press on though. If I can't commit to this, how can I commit to other projects. Until the data says nay, this is a bad idea I press on. I believe MJ wrote a comment on that sometime ago.

P.S. I'm afraid that if I focus locally, they might not be able to pay for the solution. The current earnings in our country is about $2000 a year (assumption) and that's on the good side. Though the companies might be able to pay for it. I don't want to even try this in a broke market XD and waste so much time. If I focus on the US though things might be different (For consultants rather than companies).

What are your thoughts? Should I focus locally (Consultants or companies) or internationally (Consultants or companies)?

And do I need to aim for the owners/CEO's or is ok to target the consultants/employees at these companies?

EDIT: Yelp might help with this. But you also need to find companies that want to improve and grow so using reviews as a discerning factor.

Log out...

Day 41
(30 minutes) Transfer processes to libre office
(15 minutes) Problem solving session
(15 minutes) Collect feedback for actions done (Email, Upwork job post, Linkedin, ask Alex why he was interested)
(20 minutes) Edit and post an interview
(1 hour) Research, write and proofread a blog article
(30 minutes) Shoot for 2 personalised messages today to consultants/specialists/experts (that post) for strategies, tactics, tips, tools and data and marketing strategies after engaging their content. Personalised.
(20 minutes) Read 20 pages of cashvertising and practice it in the real world (Hacking into a foundational desire)
(30 minutes) Send in 1 Upwork proposals

My battery's about to die so I'll end it here. And the most bizarre thing about today? I found a specialist who was doing exactly what I WAS DOING (Or more like I was a poor imitation of her methods XD). Interviewing and collating very similar content to what I was doing.

In any case, it provides a visual guide of what I should aim to do.

 

[Edgar King]

Day 42

(1:30 hour) Send in 3 Upwork proposals
(30 minutes) Shoot for 2 messages today to consultants/specialists/experts (that post online) for strategies, tactics, tips, tools and data and marketing strategies after engaging their content. | Use normal mail where necessary.
(30 minutes) Research, write and proofread a blog article
(20 minutes) Read 20 pages of cashvertising and practice it in the real world (Cues of persuasion liking, comparison, consistency and commitment, scarcity, reciprocation, authority)

Today I realised something. In order to move forward I must increase my intrinsic value.

Mr Stoic helped me with understanding my problems. Right now, that would be getting clients to write copy for. After that, it would be getting responses from the people I ask for interviews.

I plan to write my problems daily from now on in full verbose everyday, to see how I can break it down and solve.

I haven't forgotten the goal of the challenge though XD !

I'm so behind. At this rate, I'll need to get $25 a day for the next 45 days ($175) to even consider passing the $1k mark.

Starting from today, I'm going to to my best to achieving this. I've contacted good friends and family for referrals to start writing for them, for free. Using this portfolio I should be able to apply to even more positions and take it from there.

As for the interviews, I may have struck a gold mine. In the lands of the specialists I forgot to check youtube where they publish about of their lives and where other thought leaders lurk in the comment section, with this I can start reaching more specialists there to interview. They're bound to respond (Hopefully XD).

Everyday, grow my intrinsic value to affect even more people in greater influence.That's what I hope to do.

Log out...

Day 43

(1:20 hour) Send in 6 Upwork proposals
(30 minutes) Shoot for 10 messages today to consultants/specialists/experts (that post) for strategies, tactics, tips, tools and data and marketing strategies after engaging their content.
(20 minutes) Read 20 pages of cashvertising and practice it in the real world (Hacking into a foundational desire)
(30 minutes) Write blog article

Two things I realised today. Email subject matter can change everything and keep it simple.

 

[Edgar King]

Day 48
(20 minutes) Read 20 pages of cashvertising and practiced it in the real world (Hacking into a foundational desire)

(20 minutes) Write blog article

(30 minutes) Linkedin Processes and Upwork Processes

Black out today so couldn't do much.

Log out...

Day 49
In that blackout yesterday, it made me think of a lot of things.

(30 minutes) Send in 3 Upwork proposals


(20 minutes) Write blog article


(20 minutes) Read 20 pages of cashvertising and practiced it in the real world


I was money chasing. Pain. On my mind was the constant reminder of the $1k challenge I had set for myself at the beginning of this program, and the more my actions led to no results, the more I was chasing the cat.

I didn't even realise it before. So after that day I decided, to forget the 1K goal and replaced it with this...

Make 100 people smile by giving them value.

That's what I want to focus on for the remainder of this challenge.

I've lost all my Upwork connects (No responses).
Had nobody registered for an interview.

But when I made the switch.

I connected a real estate agent who needed a website.

To someone who makes these websites. This is the first time I can say, I've offered value like that, and I'm proud of that.

From this same person who I helped, he told me he reached out to others and they said they were all busy. This tells me I need to make the offer worthwhile to the interviewees.

He also recommended me someone who would be great to interview. I've reached out to that person on his behalf, and will hopefully have someone to interview for next week.

In my last Upwork proposals, I received one response out of three. I haven't received a response in over a week probably.


My friend says it's a glitch Upwork even sent something like this. Well, it's a response and I'm glad I got any response so now I know I need to improve my profile and proposal.

This is now a big part of my current vision.

At least that's what it looks like to me XD

Log out...

 

[Edgar King]

Day 53
(2 hours) Refining website copy for client

Went out today just to relax with friends. Really helped relieve me mentally. Now unto the action...

I'm Lagging on the interviews XD. I Should have released one Wednesday, so I have to really hustle for one tomorrow *cry*.

Working on the client's website copy for the home page. Refining it makes it to look a lot better and I'm starting to be more proud of it.

He wants quality over time. I told him it's only fair to charge more for the next page since I'm taking hours to do it over $4. He agreed.

Log out...

Day 54

(1 hour) Email 5 consultants for an interview
(3 hours) Edit web copy for client

Haha, just when I thought I was done the client pulled me back in. I had to learn how to design a web page to add copy too so level up!

There's an old saying, "You get qualified by performing the role." So I'm just learning along the way.

The client looked over my copy and sentenced it to the copy underworld,

"There is one thing missing in this copy. No pain points."

No pains= No sales!

Which means useless copy! XD

I quickly poured over the net to find pain points on forums, socials and other competitor sites that sell the same product (Should have started here).

I Created a list of them all and plan to sprinkle them in the text. Sell benefits, one should never forget that.

it's good to overdeliver, I've never seen it go wrong. it's my first official copy job after all as well. I have some conflicts wether I should charge $75 for each of the next pages.

But in the grand scheme of things, I'm sure it matters none.

Log out...

 

[Edgar King]

Day 54

(1 hour) Email 5 consultants for an interview
(3 hours) Edit web copy for client

Haha, just when I thought I was done the client pulled me back in. I had to learn how to design a web page to add copy too so level up!

There's an old saying, "You get qualified by performing the role." So I'm just learning along the way.

The client looked over my copy and sentenced it to the copy underworld,

"There is one thing missing in this copy. No pain points."

No pains= No sales!

Which means useless copy! XD

I quickly poured over the net to find pain points on forums, socials and other competitor sites that sell the same product (Should have started here).

I Created a list of them all and plan to sprinkle them in the text. Sell benefits, one should never forget that.

it's good to overdeliver, I've never seen it go wrong. it's my first official copy job after all as well. I have some conflicts wether I should charge $75 for each of the next pages.

But in the grand scheme of things, I'm sure it matters none.

Log out...

Day 55
Flow

(20 minutes) Connect with 20 consultants for an interview

(3 hour) Copy suggestions for site

It took some time, but now I and the client are in sync.

Hopefully we can finish tomorrow or the day after.

He finally grasped I knew next to nothing about designing a website XD or I didn't quite capture what he wanted me to do exactly on that turf.

Now that he's doing all the design. I can focus on writing copy that *hopefully gets results from him. He just asks for suggestions now.

A lot happened. But we're over the storm. Whatever happens from here on out, if I'm going out, I want to do it with him smiling at the end (A bad review for my second job won't be pretty XD).

I want to give them awesome work, get a glowing testimonial and move on with the experience earned. I think It would be best for the both of us.

PLEASE

If you've never freelanced in copy before...

You and your client need to sit down and get 100% clear on the key elements of the piece that you’ll be creating. Because not doing this, has seriously delayed finishing this project.

You need to be clear on the benefit to the consumer, who the target audience is, what they want and need, what your client’s goal is for the project, what they want the target audience to do, where the target audience has been in the customer journey before this, where they’re going afterward, what their objections to taking the action might be, how those objections can be overcome, what information the target audience needs about your client… And so on.

You need to be clear on the scope of the project—EXACTLY what it entails. (Got this from a source somewhere).

If not, you're throwing darts in the dark, so you and the client won't even know what's a bullseye.

P.S. Lol, today was the day when I should have had all the solutions for the interviews. Little did he know then this would be more than a month project.

 

[Andy Black]

Day 75
Break
Log out...

Hi @Edgar King

Tips with progress threads:

Maybe you pick up a nugget reading a book, come up with a solution from wrestling with a problem, or even just wonder aloud between various choices.

Think about the “consumers” of your progress thread and see if you can help, inspire, or entertain them.

By giving something to your readers/audience/consumers you’ll get something back (engagement, feedback, support).

This is very similar to business right? So see if you can make it work with a progress thread?

Here’s my latest progress thread if you want to see what I mean:

• EXECUTION - Let's Chat Sales

 

[Edgar King]

Who cares IF it is "entertaining enough". You're thinking about the wrong person in this equation. The person who counts is the customer -- not you. If this is really what you really want --you have this all backwards. Do something. Start. Add value. Give -- don't even thinking about taking. Throw yourself 100% in. Act rather than talk. Make something. Sell something. Are you listening?????

When I said that, what I meant was I hoped the adventure would be interesting and insightful, not for me, but for the forum members that would read about it in the future.

"Throw yourself 100% into giving and adding value, forget taking completely."

I'll take this in.

Right now, I'm in copywriting to generate some cashflow for a future fast lane business, so the time to sell something other than my skills will come.

Also yeah that page was before when I was so confused and knew zero about what I was doing XD

Thanks much!

 

[Edgar King]

Day 79
AGREED
(25 minutes) Write in landing page for Amazon client
(40 minutes) Work with Shopify client

The client got back to me and was happy with the terms. He's happy , I'm happy, we're all happy. Such deals are the best. I did a bit of free work by mistake though, I'll just take it as a bonus to him.

With this I'll be able to learn about e-commerce (Shopify- Which I really know nothing about...is that a tomato? I'm kidding XD) for a future product launch. Youtube will probably be my best friend in the coming days or months.

He gave me some awesome resources other Shopify owners out there may not know about like-
-Ecommerce fastlane
-roadmap to 50k

While I was celebrating and dancing like a fish that the deal went through (I'm still in disbelief that this actually worked and feel like I'm dreaming- I'd hate to jinx it) Lex warned me NOT to relax XD, and keep on the ball. He's right, I need to focus on really taking the client's business to the next level.

Log out...

Day 80

(50 minutes) Write in landing page for Amazon client
(10 minutes) Upwork deal

I've been hooked on Shark Tank lately and I've noticed those deals the sharks are just begging to be a part of and are making so many sales usually offer a product that reduces friction. (Saw this on the forum as well, but I forgot where it was exactly)

"What’s a product/service that you use/have used or process/set of activities (That repeats itself quite often) that you could make more frictionless? Easier? Simpler? Faster?"

For example, a civic engineer saw that he and his buddies go out to buy coffee quite often on the job. But the coffee shop was so far so... portable coffee makers.

Parents wanting to make their favourite soup asked themselves, "How do we freeze our favourite soup so that it's easy to enjoy again later?" > Souper Cubes.

These products provide value as they help their customers reach their objectives.

When it spreads by word of mouth, you have a Productocracy on your hands.

Log out...

 

[Edgar King]

Day 82
(20 minutes) Get Upwork time tracker working
(20 minutes) Refine landing page
(10 minutes) Read the One Thing
(13 minutes) Product creation learning

Haven't gone through all of it, but this is a good watch on how to take a product from ideation to a physical object-

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAkzpufECpA

The best products are apparently iterations of ones that already exist.

Log out...

Day 83
(5 minutes) Strategy session
(30 minutes) Landing page - Refine landing page
(1:20 hours) Shopify Construction - Requirements

Today, I earned more in a day than I've ever earned in my life.

45 COOKIES! LOL! Now to some people on here, that might be chicken change, but to me it means that my actions have finally been validated.

How limited your vision can be. I've learned that what you think is not possible, might just be an excuse for inaction.

You can do it! So start today!

If your imagination captureth, so can your reality.

Log out...

 

[Edgar King]

Day 83
(5 minutes) Strategy session
(30 minutes) Landing page - Refine landing page
(1:20 hours) Shopify Construction - Requirements

Today, I earned more in a day than I've ever earned in my life.

45 COOKIES! LOL! Now to some people on here, that might be chicken change, but to me it means that my actions have finally been validated.

How limited your vision can be. I've learned that what you think is not possible, might just be an excuse for inaction.

You can do it! So start today!

If your imagination captureth, so can your reality.

Log out...

Day 84
(5 minutes) Strategy session
(20 minutes) Article writing
(5 minutes) Amazon Landing page - Refine landing page
(1 hour) Shopify Construction

If you're ever looking to design a website for a client you need to create a prototype first the both of you can agree on. it can even be a wireframe.

For that I recommend (And a lot of people online also recommend) Mockplus, Sketch, and Adobe XD in that order.

Log out...

 

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[Edgar King]

Day 84
(5 minutes) Strategy session
(20 minutes) Article writing
(5 minutes) Amazon Landing page - Refine landing page
(1 hour) Shopify Construction

If you're ever looking to design a website for a client you need to create a prototype first the both of you can agree on. it can even be a wireframe.

For that I recommend (And a lot of people online also recommend) Mockplus, Sketch, and Adobe XD in that order.

Log out...

Day 85

(5 minutes) Coaching questions book
(35 minutes) Wedding Article writing
(1 hour) Shopify Construction

The Secret Upwork Sauce - A Winning Proposal Guide

Just wanted to post this guide here that helped me secure a job on Upwork ...

This is for the personalised writing job that I previously got hired for.

When I asked the client why he hired my out of about 10 other people with the guidelines I'll list below, he said it was because I researched on his job post the best out of anyone else (Logic), and that he was sold the moment I showed genuine interest to help him out in his business (Emotion).

It's ok if it doesn't work 100% of the time, what matters is that you're in the top 1% of those who submit a proposal (Assuming you can do the job). And the guide isn't the end all be all, so use it and improve on it as you see fit.

P.S. If you can't download it, you're a guest user and you need to sign up to the forum and introduce yourself

P.S.S. This was the same way I got my start on here, so just sign up already, introduce yourself and tell us your plans to achieve your dreams XD

 

[sap_LA]

Day 86
(35 minutes) Article writing 2 sections
(1 hour) Shopify Construction - Constructing wireframes

It's pretty fun working to create something you're proud off. Maybe I should do a career switch to web development armed with knowledge of copy XD

One strategy I recommend to make sure you satisfy your clients that has worked for me is the green light strategy.

This involves doing a little bit of the work and sending it for review to get feedback.

For example, say you're writing a couple of articles. It's advised to draw up some outlines first right? Now, for a first time client you've never worked for before it might be pretty bonkers to just do the work from start to finish WITHOUT sending the outlines.

Not only do you risk having to do it ALL FROM SCRATCH, but you also risk the client being unhappy with your work.

Whatever work you do, find some way to get some feedback. 'Grow your beanstalk in the right direction. So you and your client are both happy.

P.S. if you think the client might be highly unresponsive, ask for some examples of what they want.

Log out...

This is good advice! I do a lot of graphics development for industrial control systems.

One of the things I learned quickly was that you can spend 2x the amount of time it should take to make a graphic display if you try to perfect it. Instead get the functionality hammered out, say 80% there and fire off a screenshot to the customer. Typically they modify it a lot, which speed a the process along a lot and reduces hours spent only to have it torn apart after first seeing the display for the first time. As a bonus they feel like they have ownership in the process and it puts a positive spin on it and relieves anxiety about the newness of the display itself.

 

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[Edgar King]

Day 87
(1:10 hour) Shopify Construction - Send prototype, build prototype for pages

3 Simple Daily Actions To Supercharge Your Life

Got these tidbits of wisdom from Lex. These should act as your guide.

1. Help one person a day | Provide value to one person a day
2. Do 1 action that scares you everyday
3. For 30 minutes each day, embrace doing things you really want to do deep down.

For me...
1. Someone reached out to our Uni group to ask for help in settling a couples private accommodation. Everyone was mostly afraid of doing it so almost no one responded...

And so was I XD So I communicated in secret to let them know great websites to find one appropriate for their needs.

2. Honestly... I don't think I did this XD But I like to think 2 & 3 can be a substitute for each other

3. I went out to meet with my friends (Virtually). Though I originally went out for a jog. I'd been putting it off for a while and it helped to soothe my mind.

Best of luck on your adventures fellow comrade.

Log out...

Day 88
(5 minutes) Blue Oceans Strategy book
(35 minutes) Article writing
(1:20 hour) Shopify Construction - Send prototype, build prototype for pages

When Should I Give Up?

Oh boy, the clock's ticking!

One way I've found to be effective in finding a person's problems is by asking:

"What's been on your to do list for a while now?"

They'll tell you, and then you can step in and help them out (Value).

I just went back to one of my previous posts on the thread and saw this exact statement...

I'm so behind. At this rate, I'll need to get $25 a day for the next 45 days ($175) to even consider passing the $1k mark.

I've learned that when you fail, when you're defeated you gain XP. You're growing.

I submitted so many Upwork proposals in the beginning that weren't responded to and granted, to this day I'm still trying to perfect the process. But qualitatively, I believe the response rates are a whole lot better and that's due to just trudging on and doing my best to improve the process.

Let your motto be, "Watch me get crushed!" And launch a frontal attack on the fierce bosses that hold the keys to your dream life. Even if you loose, you'll grow by the magnitude of the defeat to come out a whole lot stronger.

I remember MJ saying something like this...

The only time you're allowed to give up is:
A) When you make your first sale
B) When a large sample proves you should readjust or stop.

Do actions that lead to sales, and go crush it!

 

[Edgar King]

1-15 day goal:
Find a proven problem with a proven market with proven products to solve the proven problem. (Service [Faster Launch but] or product [Higher scale but higher initial cost]). Preferably, a problem I've already solved to save time in solution creation.

--Adventure--
Day 1
Tasks
Wrote down 30 important activities/problems people do.

Results
I'll be able to use these to find my fastlane idea and execute on it.

Notes
This was much easier than I thought, and really interesting. It feels like i've gone far past what I've ever gone before in this area, I've written down over 30 problems/activities that are all equally fastlane, I just need to filter the list down based on some criteria and make them work. Looking forward to it!

Day 2
Tasks
Planned out a systematic way to find problems using the Hormozi method and what I've gathered from the fastlane forum. We're aiming for a productocracy here.

Results
A spreadsheet of all the important checks of a problem to solve and the manner to go about it.

Notes
Starting is always the hard part. So I just mindlessly move myself to start the timer, works like a charm!

I've got a pretty good checklist that can be used to validate problems I find from the activities.

Day 3
Task
Wrote down in total, 45 tasks and activities people do, and broke them down to important tasks, and tasks that cause pain and the level of this pain.

Results
A list of tasks filtered by pain levels and importance of activity.

Day 4
Task
Separated these 45 tasks and activities people do and checked if they had massive pain and wether they were in growing markets.

Results
A list of tasks filtered by pain levels, importance of activity, wether the activity has scale X magnitude and if the market was growing.

Time spent
2 hours (counting the next day together with this).

Weekly Review
This week was spent on planning the whole trip ahead. Of course, filtering down over 30 items to pick the best one will take some time.

On an overview, I first write down the activity, wether it's important to be done, the level of pain in doing it, ran this through the Hormozi method, checked if I'm passionate about it, if it's niche, if it's a recurring problem, if others have complained about it, to improve on available solutions and gain a USP and a slew of other things to create an offer that stands out and will grow by word of mouth.

One such activity written down is

"I generate business idea as a high skill expert to get productocracy".

I've seen some skilled freelancers/consultants who have trouble making the transition from freelancing to business. And not just any business, a real productocracy. How do they take themselves from zero to need to idea to validated idea with word of mouth sales?

Case in point people like this- QUESTION - Coming up with ideas or a niche for a business

I bet they're millions more just like him that have it hard to do this and do it successfully.

But, with the crux of the problem being I haven't done this yet, it would make sense to actually use the method on someone in my target market (get some reviews as well and validate the need) and get some validation from them to show I have a working method for it to help others with.

Another potential activity is

"I achieve a goal without planning"

This inherently has a (Very) low probability of success. Which leads most people to implement a roadmap to get to their goals and increase their chances of success.But even then, these plans might not be the best written and so lead to them being unable to fulfil their goals since they are not SMART goals. Most people also hate physically writing, so there ought to be digital solutions like this out there. My plan could be to spin this for web designers, copywriters or business owners (Just the fields I've been involved with) to incorporate a niche element as well.


"I write and send Upwork proposal for X (e.g. video editor, VA)"

This is an activity that has a (Very) low probability of success. I've seen Upwork proposal courses that go for over a thousand dollars but only for copywriters. I'm also experienced in both markets (Copywriting and video editing) so I might have an inherent advantage in targeting such a market. Perhaps I could also offer Upwork profile services as well to stand out. The point being I'm looking for the possible points of failure

All of these are great opportunities, but they must be tested and validated. Money talks after all.

 

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[Andy Black]

NEED PHASE- FLOPPING HARD
Day 6-9

This week I hit up over 10 people I thought had a specific problem, but no dice, they hinted they wouldn't pay for the service and I saved myself hundreds of dollars and time possibly in the "run ads to landing page" phase.

I did get an offer for a commission only sales job from one of the people I hit up, although he laughed at my pitch and commended the "hustle".

I then posted the idea on reddit for the niche, but it's not a real problem based on the responses etc so I've dumped that idea.

I gave up on that, and just followed Andy's advice. My best bet to find a problem that needs solving is...

A) Going to a relevant space by skill, location, demographic etc I relate too and am interested in and just seeing the problems and complaints people have, and solve those. I did this today and I'm then again reminded that value is just giving someone a helping hand when they so desperately stretch out for help.

Through this approach I came across like 2 needs. Some people need this thing called "skimming" for their walls, and another person was looking for early morning yoga lessons, like 6 am early. Of course, I've never done these things so my limiting belief is that I can not pursue them, especially the skimming one because I might get sued for doing a bad job XD

Maybe for those kind of jobs, I just need to try them myself and make it work at least once.

B) Going on Amazon to find complaints, based on offer vehicles I've already found in a niche. By offer vehicles I mean products/services that achieve the same thing and fall under the same umbrella/category like baby toys for example.

I'd then need to actually use one of these offers so I can relate to the target market myself as I feel the previous idea flopped because I didn't actually use the offer vehicle and so my analysis of the problem was purely hypothetical, especially since it wasn't backed up by other people's complaints.

I've found problems to solve, I think I'm now in the process of finding the right one to solve. But my guidelines for the one I want to work on is...

1. Remote: One I can work on remotely/from home (at least in the beginning). My #1 reason being that it's so cold out there XD and my second reason being that I don't think it's safe to enter people's homes personally (don't want to make my parents worry) as someone of my age.

2. External Results: The service/product of the business should have results in the outside world regardless of the state of the client. A third party should be able to "see" these results.

3. Relatability: Must be a business that I'm motivated to solve, possibly by just being in a cool space, I have the problem, or I've had the problem before. I want to see the business make a real impact in other peoples lives while at the same time be really motivated to do it.

4. Scale. Must be a business I can see having scale in the long run. I could help other people with copywriting, but I've never seen anyone scale that, except for a course, there's definitely a way.

My next line of action is to help and find a need with these criteria to solve, or upgrade an existing product/service with these guidelines.

Just at the top of my head, things like copywriting, gardening, software, email marketing, etc I need to dive head first into those spaces and find what people are complaining about and just roll with one. Or pick from the offer vehicles I've found, buy and use one, and then find specific problems others are complaining about and solve for that.

Starting something is 10X better than nothing and I need to work with something before or on day 15 to construct the offer theoretically (the copy).

EDIT: Found 5 more needs.

TL;DR
Me need to find complaints/help requests of the people I support in solving OOgah Boogah

Log out...

What if you just found someone to do Facebook Ads or Google Ads for? You're analytical, and people spending money on ads have already shown they're willing to spend money. Or web design like folks doing @Fox's programme do?

Pick some service, ideally B2B and that you can do online, and get started. Don't worry about scaling. ("Overthinking is the art of solving problems you don't have.")

 

[Andy Black]

Thanks for the knock Andy.

I've actually earned in the copywriting niche (Not like 10K a month, just a good amount), and with good effort could find more people to do this for (work more on what I already know) which they've been proven to spend money here. So copywriting would actually be a good fit for this.

But I am concerned about scaling? The whole point of this part of the thread is to find a business need I can provide a service/product for that I can detach my time from, perhaps there is something I'm missing?

Maybe what I should focus on is actually getting to that goal of 10K a month with copywriting? But I'm concerned if I don't start early enough I'll miss the advantage of not having bills to pay in the meantime and being weighed more in time and mental drain by a job.

And I'm in Uni as a computer science, so I presumed most computer scientists earn upwards of 80K a year (just my assumptions) so it wouldn't be wise to get to 10K a month copywriting when it could be spent pursuing a business. Just my thoughts on the matter.

Provide a service. Charge a recurring subscription. Make it so it’s low maintenance. Tada, you have the makings of a scalable business.

Can you build your high ground and grow what you know? Maybe combine your copywriting skills with your IT and research skills and provide a recurring service to businesses? Create and rent landing pages, or email marketing funnels, or … ?

Maybe this might help:

• MINDSET - "Build Your High Ground" & "Grow What You Know"

I agree with @WJK … you’re trying to think before you act. You’re trained that way as a student (of an engineering discipline no less).

Take action, *then* think about what you’ve learned.

This might help:

• MINDSET - Launch & Learn

 

[WJK]

Day 10-14
Mind Destruction. Mind Reset.
After reading what Andy and WJK said about Action, I spent one whole day to reflect on...

Goal -> Action -> Fault -> Learn

Pain. As someone who loves to create meticulous plans and then go for it, this was a scary thought. But as WJK said, no one can see beyond the horizon, things change, plans change, and the only thing that will get us closer to our goal is *drumrolll* action.

If I was going to act, and act in a way to get to my goal 10X faster, I had to create a mind space where I had no worries, unnecessary thoughts, or backlog thoughts that kept me in the same place.

I needed to recognise the phantom fears ahead of me were nothing but that, phantoms.

I took the goal and broke it down to ONE action word. Sell.

I just needed to sell. And I needed to spend my time doing just that.

Action

I took to Upwork to set up a product descriptions writing project for those in a specific e-commerce niche. I'd defined the price(10X the one of the others in the market by the way), the deliverables and some other items, and even had a pretty good Job success score on the platform to back it up (It was 59% before, but I kept pushing thankfully and it's in a much better spot now), but came to a grinding halt when Upwork asked for a gallery to show prospects proof of work. And that's when it hit me...

FAULT

Not only did I NOT have any portfolio pieces to show I'd written product descriptions, I hadn't defined a process to write more product descriptions and a process to take the client through, even when I knew I had to hit a home run for this first client so they loved my services so much they'd order again or they'd go tell their friends and then I could raise the prices even more. And if I was going to be charging these prices, I had to create a solid offer I was confident in and a process to work through to produce those results (And that was for them to sell more than they already do with their store)

Learn
So one option moving forward was to create a process to write product descriptions, test it on a dummy product, then actually get results for someone with that process, and then sell at the price that's 10X what one of the other offers on the market are.

Action
So I went to work, I just needed to find people to sell to. I reached out to people who needed product descriptions in the e-commerce niche on Craiglist, Classified ads and even reddit (My post was downvoted to oblivion, due to my negligence in posting my services on a job board *face slap*).

Returned 0 results. Hmm, ok we need to find people who need my specific services in the specific niche. After asking in Lex's copywriting discord (go join if you're a copywriter by the way, they'll help you) where to post my services, I was advised to post it on the Fastlane forum since there were tons of Ecommerce owners here who needed that kind of services so that's an option. Get results here, then move to Upwork to show these results and use it as the basis for the sell.

But first, I had to craft an offer that really solved the problems in my niche so my clients felt as though they were paying cents for dollars, and I'll do this by looking at the negative reviews and praises of those in the niche to make a million dollar offer. I might not have the results to sell in the pitch, but in addition with the dummy portfolio pieces, I'm hoping the extra problems solved is what will push them to buy.

Huge gratitude to @Andy Black @WJK, switching modes of thinking is not an easy thing, and helping others to do so, not so much either, but I'm glad you did. Not saying I've got it down perfectly, but hey, gotta start somewhere Thank you.

1. Find someone who needs some writing -- your writing.
2. Write up a FEW different ways to say it.
3. Give it to them, whether they pay you or not.
4. Try some A -B tests to see which version works the best.
5. Analyze the results.
6. Enter results into your journal.
7. Amend your writing to reflect your results.
8. Next... repeat #1

When you have enough successes, you will build a following who will LOVE to pay you for your time. Your job is to get experience and your foot in the door. You must have a track record to show people. If you were sitting here with me, I would ask to see your prior wins. I'd want a show and tell presentation. Do you have anything to show right now? If not -- see #1on my instruction list and just do it.

If you want to get paid to learn, then GET A JOB with a paycheck. That's the reason that people like us get jobs. They pay us to learn a new skill.

Even IF you go get that job, it's the same old truth -- practice, practice, practice -- at least 10,000 hours of concentrated work. Spend every waking moment writing, writing, writing. And then write some more. While you eat your cereal in the mornings, write an ad for the milk company that supplied your milk. What graphics would you use? What colors? What font for the print? How about the layout of your ad? Write and do an ad for the cereal company that manufactured your cereal. How about the same for the furniture company who sold the table you are eating on. And the company that makes the spoon that you are using to dip your cereal. Could you do a joint campaign for all of them? You get the idea...

As you waltz through your day, notice what features are important in every item that you touch, use, or see. What would you use to write an ad and create a marketing campaign? Writing is only the tip of the iceberg.

Study the ads around you. Why do they work? Where and how do they fall flat? What parts are winners? What media segments are they using? Are they using several different types of advertising platforms to get their point across? Look up their stats and study that data. Compare one to another and figure out why the data falls that way. Could you do it better? Prove it by rewriting their ads and storyboards for a campaign.

Since you love the be in the weeds, use that style of seeing the world to your advantage.

 

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[Edgar King]

1. Find someone who needs some writing -- your writing.
2. Write up a FEW different ways to say it.
3. Give it to them, whether they pay you or not.
4. Try some A -B tests to see which version works the best.
5. Analyze the results.
6. Enter results into your journal.
7. Amend your writing to reflect your results.
8. Next... repeat #1

When you have enough successes, you will build a following who will LOVE to pay you for your time. Your job is to get experience and your foot in the door. You must have a track record to show people. If you were sitting here with me, I would ask to see your prior wins. I'd want a show and tell presentation. Do you have anything to show right now? If not -- see #1on my instruction list and just do it.

If you want to get paid to learn, then GET A JOB with a paycheck. That's the reason that people like us get jobs. They pay us to learn a new skill.

Even IF you go get that job, it's the same old truth -- practice, practice, practice -- at least 10,000 hours of concentrated work. Spend every waking moment writing, writing, writing. And then write some more. While you eat your cereal in the mornings, write an ad for the milk company that supplied your milk. What graphics would you use? What colors? What font for the print? How about the layout of your ad? Write and do an ad for the cereal company that manufactured your cereal. How about the same for the furniture company who sold the table you are eating on. And the company that makes the spoon that you are using to dip your cereal. Could you do a joint campaign for all of them? You get the idea...

As you waltz through your day, notice what features are important in every item that you touch, use, or see. What would you use to write an ad and create a marketing campaign? Writing is only the tip of the iceberg.

Study the ads around you. Why do they work? Where and how do they fall flat? What parts are winners? What media segments are they using? Are they using several different types of advertising platforms to get their point across? Look up their stats and study that data. Compare one to another and figure out why the data falls that way. Could you do it better? Prove it by rewriting their ads and storyboards for a campaign.

Since you love the be in the weeds, use that style of seeing the world to your advantage.

Thanks much!

So just to clarify, I have been commissioned to write articles, sales pages, and product descriptions (wrote I didn't before, but checked that I have), just not for the niche I'm targeting, in addition to writing articles a lot in school. This project is just me switching into a specific niche. Not that it really matters, just want to provide some context.

"1. Find someone who needs some writing -- your writing.
2. Write up a FEW different ways to say it.
3. Give it to them, whether they pay you or not.
4. Try some A -B tests to see which version works the best.
5. Analyze the results.
6. Enter results into your journal.
7. Amend your writing to reflect your results.
8. Next... repeat #1

In this case, I'd go on to find those who need product descriptions in my niche, write up a few different versions for the business owners and send it to them by email. If they test it, love it, they'll get back to me with the results they got. I then save these results that I got for future clients pitching and repeat this process until I get paid clients. Actually, this would get me to helping others in the market almost immediately, so I'll try this out then!

 

[Edgar King]

Day 25-29
Crafting a valuable offer

This week was spent refining my copywriting process (Attention grabbing headlines, principles of converting copy) and writing product descriptions to send to another company.

I also rewrote my Upwork profile and revamped it for SEO. But after further research, realised it isn't SEO optimised and the copy itself needs to be revamped with my findings.

As I solve more and more problems associated with product descriptions, the fulfilment cost (time) increases, worth it!

I want to overdeliver so well they tell their friends and I get referrals, and so I can possibly outsource where possible in the future. But that's step 42, let's focus on step 2 and 3.

Next week, I plan to...

1. Finish and send off the product descriptions to the company in my niche.
2. Finish refining my copywriting process to solve problems. Then...
2.5 Write another product description for another company in my niche. OR
3. Re-revamp my Upwork proposal and apply to relevant jobs. OR
4. Help an e-commerce owner and their Amazon store by contacting them to rewrite their page.

With the main goal to use what I gave them to get better results. Then I can use that as proof of service.

Day 30-34
Top 5 Lessons I Learned From Copywriting Pros

But before that, just a quick recap of where I am.

This week was spent writing the product descriptions for company B which I'll send off next week. The goal I'm working towards is for them to use the descriptions on their Amazon page, get results, validate my copywriting skills, and get increased sales.

And compared to the product descriptions I did for company A, this one has pictures with a logo and is already formatted to be pre pasted on Amazon.

In other news,

I learnt from Alex Hormozi, that the only thing that can speed up time is knowledge. So with that in mind, I reasoned the best way to get better at copywriting was to get feedback from anyone on the copy.

So I went over to the toughest (but actually quite lovely) copywriting crowd I knew and asked for critique.

And oh boy, did they rip my copy anew.

Long story short, here are the top 5 lessons I learnt to write better copy (at least for product descriptions).

1. Storytelling: After your headline, your copy should start with a story. Be clear what you’re selling, what can it do for me? why should I care? How can it help me? Who are you selling to? What makes it unique, or better than other products? Is it cheaper? Harder? Lighter? Heavier? This story, should be a real life scenario of the problem/zero —Offer-> solution/hero (+ inherent value upgrade/distinct value skew).

*Very important*
2. Write to solve problems. Get in the reader’s mind state and write as if the potential buyer's house is on fire, so they need their problems solved right now. Provide details only about solving a potential buyer's real life problem(s) based on their real life experiences with your offer
(This means you have to research about their problems and how the offer solved them).

3. Use simple language: Write short, concise sentences with no ambiguity. Leave out anything that isn't necessary for your message. Writing to sound nice, shouldn't come at the expense of getting the problems solved across.

4. Writing flow: Make it quick and easy to understand the benefits and features of your copy. If it reads hard, it probably is hard. Find a writing tool that shows you when your writing goes above 3rd grade English unnecessarily.

5. Vagueness: Be clear and direct in explaining benefits and features so there is zero ambiguity. Answer who, what, where, when, why.

BONUS
6. Sound human: Let the copy read as if you're talking to an old friend over a drink.

Pineapple...

 

[Edgar King]

Day 30-34
Top 5 Lessons I Learned From Copywriting Pros

But before that, just a quick recap of where I am.

This week was spent writing the product descriptions for company B which I'll send off next week. The goal I'm working towards is for them to use the descriptions on their Amazon page, get results, validate my copywriting skills, and get increased sales.

And compared to the product descriptions I did for company A, this one has pictures with a logo and is already formatted to be pre pasted on Amazon.

In other news,

I learnt from Alex Hormozi, that the only thing that can speed up time is knowledge. So with that in mind, I reasoned the best way to get better at copywriting was to get feedback from anyone on the copy.

So I went over to the toughest (but actually quite lovely) copywriting crowd I knew and asked for critique.

And oh boy, did they rip my copy anew.

Long story short, here are the top 5 lessons I learnt to write better copy (at least for product descriptions).

1. Storytelling: After your headline, your copy should start with a story. Be clear what you’re selling, what can it do for me? why should I care? How can it help me? Who are you selling to? What makes it unique, or better than other products? Is it cheaper? Harder? Lighter? Heavier? This story, should be a real life scenario of the problem/zero —Offer-> solution/hero (+ inherent value upgrade/distinct value skew).

*Very important*
2. Write to solve problems. Get in the reader’s mind state and write as if the potential buyer's house is on fire, so they need their problems solved right now. Provide details only about solving a potential buyer's real life problem(s) based on their real life experiences with your offer
(This means you have to research about their problems and how the offer solved them).

3. Use simple language: Write short, concise sentences with no ambiguity. Leave out anything that isn't necessary for your message. Writing to sound nice, shouldn't come at the expense of getting the problems solved across.

4. Writing flow: Make it quick and easy to understand the benefits and features of your copy. If it reads hard, it probably is hard. Find a writing tool that shows you when your writing goes above 3rd grade English unnecessarily.

5. Vagueness: Be clear and direct in explaining benefits and features so there is zero ambiguity. Answer who, what, where, when, why.

BONUS
6. Sound human: Let the copy read as if you're talking to an old friend over a drink.

Pineapple...

Day 35-39
Monday
After sending in the product descriptions to company B, and watching bits and pieces of a copywriting course, I did a strategy revision.

These companies might not even care about my copy, because it hasn't shown any proof it's worked. So I need to show that it works, even if at a small scale, regardless of niche.

Tuesday
I did another strategy revision and went back to my old threads. I want to roll with this framework...

Big Why-SMART goal-plan.

For me, the why was simple.

Pain: Be the great person I want to be.

Gain: Help my parents and my family so they can relax and take it easy. Travel to exotic places whenever I want, if I want. And work on whatever, whenever I want, if I want.

Revamping my SMART goal, it would be (for now)...

Make $10,000 in 3 months from today (Roughly day 135 of this challenge).

Which with milestones would be $833 a week. At, 2 hours a day for 5 days, I'd need to make $90 per hour. If I want to achieve that, I need to act based on favourable maths and use an appropriate vehicle to get there.

Since, I have the why and the goal down. I need to formulate a plan or an outline based on people who've succeeded this goal or vision.

Then, I can act, fail, and adjust based on this goal, else I'm just hitting in the dark. The faster I run through that cycle, the faster I could probably reach this goal.

Likewise, I have to think of appropriate vehicles to achieve this with. One such vehicle is affiliate marketing. With affiliate marketing, I'll be able to not only prove my copywriting skills and get results, but also clients who may come to ask for help if I'm successful with it.

Wednesday
Didn't realise all the above until now. But did some reading on web design and sent 1 high effort Upwork proposal, of course no dice.

Thursday
(5 minutes) Study ad week copywriting
(10 minutes) Learn what affiliate marketing is with a general roadmap
(35 minutes) Learning the ropes of running a successful affiliate marketing campaign | Start selling the product

The main goal being to raise capital and train my copywriting skills.

Friday
I heard someone say, when you're at zero, it's because of you. It's because you're in scarcity mode, and thinking about yourself.

So with their advice, I went ahead to 10 people in my network to thank them, explained why I thanked them, and offered to help them whenever they needed. I wanted to switch my mindset to give mode, instead of take mode.

And sent one high effort Upwork proposal.

I discussed with my friend what to do about such closed feedback systems. Systems that don't tell you why you failed, like Upwork. Nobody will reach back out to discuss why they didn't hire you, but you can keep trying with slightly better angles is what I learned until you're eventually a success. Kind of like what Thomas Edison did, he kept acting to fail with different angles until one worked.

Orange...

 

[Raja]

Orange

?

 

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[WJK]

Day 40-44
Monday
Applied to 3 affiliate marketing programs and even got a lead for a copy client, but lost them since I replied late due to Facebook notifs being switched off or not having the proper samples to show when they asked for them. Going to write more polished samples to show clients after I've finished the copywriting course.

Tuesday
Scheduled a meeting with an affiliate manager, sent an Upwork proposal and in the process of learning the fundamentals of copywriting from a direct response agency owner. My thoughts in booking for the affiliate meeting are that it's going to totally tank, since I don't have a website to show them. But I wanted to act first, before coming to fantasy conclusions.

Wednesday
Got into the meeting with the business/affiliate manager of the company to be an affiliate for the company. Success?! Even though I thought I was going to crash and fail. Yay.

Learning fundamentals of copywriting- the 5 stages of awareness and the rule of one in copywriting so I can confidently say, I can write something that can get people more sales. I realise I just need to put my copy to the test, perhaps I can help run ads to their website with this. Ooof, it requires Paypal. Or buy and sell something on Facebook marketplace, perhaps exotic plants? There's a store close to me.

Thursday
(30 minutes)- Learning the different methods on how to sell marketing/copy services to local businesses
(40 minutes) Podcast on how someone went from 0 to $75K on upwork to craft a plan
(20 minutes) Learning the fundamentals of good copy
(10 minutes) Learning the fundamentals of good copy
(1:20 hour) Learning the fundamentals of good copy

Friday
Affiliate link obtained from the business.
(1 hour 20 minutes) Learning the fundamentals of good copy (it's a one off video from the direct response agency).

Emailed a local restaurant from Yelp with tips to improve their web copy. No response. Next time, I'm going to 'do' the work as a sample and send it, to the decision maker instead. If it's rejected, I'll just save it.

Going to strive to adopt a dive first approach before learning, since I realise that's the fastest way to make progress.

Log out...

Keep swinging at that prize. If you get discouraged and quit the game, you have a 100% of failing.

 

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[Edgar King]

Day 50-54
Monday
(1:30 hour) Sending Upwork proposal
I mistakenly deleted the proposal, so I had to start again.

Tuesday
A response, yay.
(1 hour) Drafting personalised first line emails for Upwork client

Wednesday
(20 minutes) Learning how to actually provide more value in the delivery
(1 hour) learning more copy
(30 minutes) Pitched

The client got back to me to run a test project. But they hired someone else for the job in the end, I probably need to understand how to overdeliver and provide more value in my delivery.

(30 minutes) Applied to a Facebook job my friend recommended

Thursday
(2 hours) Learning copy - direct response course complete.
The client from Facebook actually got back, but it must have slipped from my hands since he started talking about his country and basically ghosted me . Need to work on my closing(?)

Learnt that in your copy, you need to make sure it answers these questions for your prospects subconsciously at least and you're already off to a good start.

1. Is this relevant to me?
2. Is this new information I've never heard of before?
3. Is this beneficial to me?
4. How will I get the benefits?
5. Is there proof of these benefits being delivered?

The more questions answered the better.

Something like this, from Lex DeVille for instance (Just my perspective)...

Bad = "I have 10 years experience designing webpages. I have a Masters degree in web design. Hire me."

Good = "Sounds like you need a design that increases site traffic (relevant, beneficial). Cool, I can build an eye-popping site that makes customer navigation simple (how I get the benefits), and increases traffic 50% guaranteed (new information). Oh, and I have 10 years of experience (proof) and a Masters to back it up.

Friday
I realise if I want to climb the mountain, I need to start at the bottom. It doesn't matter where I start, what matters is that I start climbing.

(1:15 hour) Have a plant listing up on the facebook marketplace
(20 minutes) Learning how to 10x value
(15 + 30 + 5 minutes) Sending a proposal to a carpet job on Upwork
(30 + 30 minutes) Second upwork job proposal
(2 hours) Landing page Upwork job with (attempted) MVP 10x solution sent.

30 views on the listing and 1 save. I've slashed the price in half, hopefully that gets a prospect to message me.

Moving forward, I'm going to start targeting low and "easy" Upwork jobs to build testimonials and what not. Entry/intermediate jobs, less than 5 proposals, etc. And work on my fulfilment and closing.

Log out...

Day 55-59
Free Client And You Focus

Monday
(10 minutes) Strategy revision
(20 minutes) Analysing the components of winning proposals.
(20 minutes) Analysing the components of winning proposals.
(20 minutes) Analysing the components of winning proposals.
(20 minutes)Sending a winning proposal.

Little by little, step by step, aiming for >=1% improvements every week.

Tuesday
(1:10 hour) Going over how to create winning Upwork proposals.

Interestingly, I remember writing a help post to improve someones headline on Reddit for their newsletter business about a month ago. I didn’t think much about it and left it at that.

Well…

A month later from that day a similar client who has a newsletter business reached out to me to help them look over their landing page! I was stoked, and I'm hoping I can really wow them. I think it’s because I solved a similar problem for them in the past that they wanted my input.

Wednesday
(2 hour) Making a landing page for their newsletter.
They say the role of copy is to connect our prospects dominant desires to our product.

With that in mind, I’ve gone through their product and their audience to find out what they really care about to show our product can get them there.

Thursday
Working on the newsletter landing page.
(20 minutes) Product research
(20 minutes) Competitor research
(20 minutes) Market research
(20 minutes) Market research
(20 minutes) Market research
(20 minutes) Market research
(20 minutes) RIOA (one reader, one benefit, one offer, one action)

What I learned from this is you shouldn’t be a hammer in search of a nail. Find a nail, hammer it down, and only then will people ask you to hammer their nails down.

Friday
I sent off a proposal to a friend for critique which I thought was pretty good.

Turns out it was ME focused. What? How? I thought.

Well, let's say this circle represents Me and my stuff (e.g. samples)- .O., and this circle represents the client and their needs (e.g. problems) - xOx.

When you look over the proposal (100%), this is how it was divided-
.O. - 90%
xOx - 10%
I thought I was giving the client what they wanted, but I was wrong. I should have focused on the client and how their problems will be solved.

In interacting with all people and in entrepreneurship, I want to focus more on the You and operate more from that plane. I've heard when you do, you can't not make cookies haha.

Here's a video from Lex I found about that-

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kXfPtYD7bU&t=2s


One way I'm trying to incorporate that is to keep my mind open for problems or desires in my environment for other people. And when I hear a complaint or something they wanted but couldn't get, I start solving in my head (at least that's where I want it to be).

I used to struggle in finding and seeing needs but just by using this approach, I saw two potential problems in a single day from my friend's snapchat stories.

1. One really wanted to skateboard but had no one to teach her.
2. One really wanted a designed t-shirt but couldn't because it was too expensive.

I tried to move from the Me circle/o to the You circle/o and found myself on a site called, Teesprings where they allow you to make a t-shirt with a design for a price. I then asked her what's the maximum price she'd be willing to pay for a designed t shirt she wanted, and that I wanted to ship one to her, to which she replied about 7.99 euros. We'll see how it goes haha.

Log out...

 

[Edgar King]

Day 65-68

(30 minutes) Sent a proposal to my school cafeteria to make a better food recommendation system. There's a very low chance they'll get back to me.

(30 minutes) Helped a startup entrepreneur with landing page suggestions.

(30 minutes) Applied to a job for my university. Funding will be secured .

The rest of the week was spent in a similar fashion going through this copywriting course from copyhackers-

Sign In - Copyhackers School

school.copyhackers.com

I've picked up a few things like how to structure your copy in this way as well as adding a few of my ideas from the other copywriting course I went through...

1. Promise- Here you sell your audience on the big benefit of whatever you'll give to them.
2. Picture- You agitate the problem or how well much better their life will look like with the benefit.
3. Objections- You handle objections and reasons not to take up your offer and get the benefits.
4. Proof/testimonials- Don't tell them you have cookies, let them have a sample of it.
5. Offer- lay out your offer and its deliverables in a way that shows how the main benefit will be achieved.
6. Push- Tell them to act and why they should care.

Log out...

Day 69-74
This week, was when I made a big mindset shift, and that is to strive to provide value unto the other party is satisfied, preferably with no expectation of anything in return. Love it.

And where you hear someone calling out for help, go help them out! It took a long time to get to this stage, but if this was all I learned on this journey, I can gladly say it's been worth it!

I finished going through this free copy hacker course- Copyhackers School

Oh look, another copywriting resource - How to Teach Yourself Copywriting (on a Shoestring Budget)

And this one too- How I made money in high school by convincing companies to pay me big bucks for copywriting

At this point, I probably know a lot more about copywriting in theory than the average writer, and yet I've got empty pockets and a dandy smile to show for it, incredible.

I reached out to a web developer who worked for the federal government to help with their Upwork proposal. They didn't get the job, so I need to relearn Upwork profiles, proposals and portfolios and really nail it right all in this week.

In the meantime, I got a job interview as an international ambassador at my university. I hope I can bring in the right students that'll be a perfect match for them and the school. We'll see how it goes.

And I started a channel to just make videos to help others who are in the same shoes as me by recommendation of this video-

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awnn-bqV_Tw


Fun stuff.

See you later!

Log out...

 

[Edgar King]

Day 109-113
This week I got the new scooter and I love it!

The last one was too short for me but the size of this one is just perfect and the handles are secured in addition to there being a sort of handle holder which I'm using to hold my extension pole at the moment (EuroSkate if you're interested).

No logo made yet, but created and sent an invoice to the CR company, no response yet. Google calendar may be suitable for the scheduling of the cleaning but I'm using google sheets to manage the client and prospect list. I also got a really long extension pole for those stubbornly high windows that I'd have to climb to reach, but that's just to be used in special cases.

I used to travel with a bucket on the scooter but to increase portability, I dropped it off in place of a pressure spray bottle. I feel like a butterfly. I also gave a barber shop owner a gift (Rainbow Lei) for recommending me to a store across the street, unintentionally, I may have discovered a new marketing channel, in that he was explaining to his buddies how he got it and in this way, they too may be interested in window cleaning for their homes.

I also went out to seek out what should have been a starving crowd today. I did earn one customer who said I should come Monday for 15 creams, but it's for next week, so this week nothing was earned as it was also spent waiting for the scooter to arrive.

Now that I'm more experienced with the fulfilment of the service, I feel I should look to enter the stream of where prospects look for new window cleaners and serve the "starving crowd" to increase sales in a more efficient way.

Log out...

Day 114-Day 118
Website offer
I realise most prospects for the cleaning fell into 2 categories-

Fulfilled
Already had a window cleaner.
Unaware
Didn't need it or cleaned their windows themselves.

So I need to position my services in front of the solution aware audience and play the game with the right people (e.g. the managers in charge who can make decisions for paying for window cleaning). It's a game with the managers (not just any employee or supervisor). I'll have to find a way to join the flow when they're looking for a cleaner e.g. on social media or google. For now however, I feel just door to door marketing can work just as well.

Although one of the businesses I wanted to service already had a window cleaner, I talked to him and about his needs as a business owner. After learning I was a computer science major he asked if I could create a website for him. I'm not familiar with Wordpress (But have used Shopify before to create a website for a lovely client), but I said yes to the opportunity for now.

This video I believe, is sufficient to get going for now -

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDdCVVCi2TM&t=714s


He's also looking for someone to manage his social media, but I'm not particularly interested in that field as it's not in my interests but I'll forward it to a friend who I know can deliver on it. He's been wanting to expand to TikTok after all.

I've learnt if I don't feel and understand the value behind a service/product I probably shouldn't partake in fulfilling it for others. It's not that the offer lacks value for others, it's just I think I won't be able to sell it as well as someone who is.

I've looked into prices for a website and believe I've given him a relatively good deal. And I've sent him a proposal so we'll see how it goes.

Log out...

 

[Edgar King]

Day 114-Day 118
Website offer
I realise most prospects for the cleaning fell into 2 categories-

Fulfilled
Already had a window cleaner.
Unaware
Didn't need it or cleaned their windows themselves.

So I need to position my services in front of the solution aware audience and play the game with the right people (e.g. the managers in charge who can make decisions for paying for window cleaning). It's a game with the managers (not just any employee or supervisor). I'll have to find a way to join the flow when they're looking for a cleaner e.g. on social media or google. For now however, I feel just door to door marketing can work just as well.

Although one of the businesses I wanted to service already had a window cleaner, I talked to him and about his needs as a business owner. After learning I was a computer science major he asked if I could create a website for him. I'm not familiar with Wordpress (But have used Shopify before to create a website for a lovely client), but I said yes to the opportunity for now.

This video I believe, is sufficient to get going for now -

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDdCVVCi2TM&t=714s


He's also looking for someone to manage his social media, but I'm not particularly interested in that field as it's not in my interests but I'll forward it to a friend who I know can deliver on it. He's been wanting to expand to TikTok after all.

I've learnt if I don't feel and understand the value behind a service/product I probably shouldn't partake in fulfilling it for others. It's not that the offer lacks value for others, it's just I think I won't be able to sell it as well as someone who is.

I've looked into prices for a website and believe I've given him a relatively good deal. And I've sent him a proposal so we'll see how it goes.

Log out...

Day 119-123
I travelled the week before last week with my family for the summer and therefore couldn't continue prospecting for window cleaning clients physically so I decided to use the period to reflect.

I then used the following week to refine my why-goal-plan, tried to write down the value skews of the cleaning industry in the hopes of choosing a USP (and then utilising a blue ocean strategy), offered to help the apartment owner we're staying at for their needs (of which, they already had Plumbers, electricians, cleaners, gardeners.), and looked for a job to fund future Fastlane ventures.

I also learned that focus might be directly proportional to impact, which could be exponential. And saw this video by Andrew Kirby on finding and fulfilling business needs.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MipRmAY7rs


In it, he explains that all value and sales is, is taking people from where they are to where they want to be and letting them know that your solution is the vehicle to get them there. It's similar to @IceCreamKid thread where he interviewed people in his industry to find a pattern of problems, which I did before for SEO and PPC experts, but discontinued due to having little to none industry experience.

Understanding the pains of these people without experiencing the situation for myself was to me, like describing the colour red to someone who'd never seen it before.

But, I'd reckon I have a little bit more of industry experience now with window cleaning. My hope is to follow the video's instructions for the following weeks to find problems they face and fix them to start something that fulfils their needs.

For a time, I felt a little more demotivated and undetermined, but when I reflected on why I was doing this again (financial freedom), it made me more motivated to start the upcoming weeks strongly, hopefully, it can stay that way.


Log out...

 

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[Edgar King]

Day 190-Day 196
Marketing and scale.

Right now I'm marketing organically on Tiktok (not launched there yet) by posting 2 tiktoks a day. It was slow at first and looking at 0 followers was quite discouraging, but after the 1st follower trickled in the feedback loop was set in motion haha.

Also spent time optimising the website copy for a sale. Added a free chapter download to act as a "lead magnet".

Now, I know the next step is to scale with something like paid ads as well. I think Reddit/Facebook is a good start.

Log out...

Day 197-209

Marketing
The strategy for posting on TikTok was to provide value to my target market in the form of education (nurture) and entertainment (reach), while adding trending music to the post two times a day. It's been about 21 days and the account has about 200 followers.

Surprisingly, the video showing the book as an ad got way more engagement (likes, saves and comments) than any other long form "value-adding" video I'd made at the time of posting.

Website
Last time I checked, it was 100 visits and 4 abandoned carts. I realised the copy wasn't as right as I thought. I'm using the video (another W copywriting recommend by Mike.) here and it looks a lot better - SIDE HUSTLE - COPYWRITING now.

Book
Each day any problems and solutions that comes up while applying the material, I add to the book in the hopes to increase the value.

Testing
At the moment, I'm reaching out to prospects to read the book for feedback before the "launch" on the TikTok account. Prospects I did send the book too, ended up not even reading it, even though they showed interest in it. By acting and assessing , here's why I think that happened:

. I didn't show how/mechansim works to provide the benefit.
. And didn't offer enough proof of the benefit in copy.

More so than that, I was focusing on the bottleneck of the problem and not the big bad problem (e.g. get your sink running vs get the pipe on 5th avenue fixed). Upon a re-research of my target market, I think I've found the real desire that they want, which I kind of missed the mark on in for my marketing. We'll see how it goes...

Log out...

 

[Funky Monkey]

Basically, to gain traction I just posted about everyday a marketing piece that appealed to my target audience. Main Desire + Bridge + Offer (Free chapters in bio) + Trending music.

Yeah from 0-5k followers you want to be having about 30ish% posting from your account and the other 70% replying or adding comments and such to where your traffic is [ex. If you talk about money you would post a few tweets on your main page and then you might post valuable replys onto accounts like Alex Hormozi]

I've put so much into learning the ecosystem to turn back now I feel would be a bit premature.

Seems almost like a sunk cost fallacy but then again often the greatest rewards are when you push through the trough. Your judgement. I would take a look into "Traction" by Gabriel W. and test out the bullseye framework might help in the decision.

Keep up the good work

 

[WJK]

Yeah from 0-5k followers you want to be having about 30ish% posting from your account and the other 70% replying or adding comments and such to where your traffic is [ex. If you talk about money you would post a few tweets on your main page and then you might post valuable replys onto accounts like Alex Hormozi]


Seems almost like a sunk cost fallacy but then again often the greatest rewards are when you push through the trough. Your judgement. I would take a look into "Traction" by Gabriel W. and test out the bullseye framework might help in the decision.

Keep up the good work

I agree with the "sunk cost fallacy" idea. Yes, you must keep marketing as you move on. But moving must be the operative game plan.

I've left a lot of stuff on the table as things have progressed for me over the years. I'm doing some deep spring cleaning at home and here in my office right now. It goes way beyond my physical surroundings. I'm assessing where I am compared to where I was when I made these decisions and took certain directions in business and my life. I'm in a totally different place these days. I believe that you MUST make room for new things -- out with the old and make room for the new. Life hates a vacuum and that space will be filled in no time flat!

 

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[Edgar King]

Day 421-428
First reddit DM book sale, Offer revamp - solve problems

As entrepreneurs, our products are like bridges. They get a prospect from point A to point B, and if it's the best path they might even be willing to pay for it.

For example, where do you go for informal advice? Reddit. Where do you go for expert advice? Quora.

[You surf the internet] to get [expert advice] without [having to worry about it being verified] as a [college student]

[Activity] to [result] without [problem] as a [identity].

They're both doughnuts, but glazed differently for different people.

In terms of this, I think I built my bridge a few angles off. So, the past few weeks(months?) I've been posting about the bridge on my Tiktok and reddit DMS to my target market. Effectively, to find ways to solve the problems of imagining using the bridge and actually using it (Marketing and product development).

On the marketing side, I normally post the bridge in a Tiktok post. People come in with feedback and because the post is a preview of my bridge as a whole and parts of it, this improves the product as a whole. On my website, this can be reflected as an increase in downloads etc.

On the offer side, I post this bridge to my target market in reddit DMS to get qualitative feedback and see what can be improved about it. Today, the continuous iterations got me "lucky" and someone was enthused to get the book and I made a sale, so yay! It's also the first time I've been able to sell to basically a stranger with a reddit DM. Now to be fair, he was already looking for these kinds of books. He's seen the table of contents and he seems very happy with how thorough it is for his needs.

I'm sure as long as we keep moving forward, the pieces of the puzzle will fall into place, and we'll move forward. We'll see how it goes.

Log out...

Day 429-435
Second reddit DM book sale, first reddit DM buyer - Audio book, Paperback sale, Offer revamp - solve problems

"I would like to read a book on the story of your life. A biography."

"Ehhh?"

It was a new Monday when I started posting about my offer to my target audience in the form of reddit DMS. The focus was to gauge interest and see where I needed to improve the perceived and actual value of the bridge. After messaging a prospect that I felt my book could really help and introducing him to my offer, he decided he'd buy a copy of the book. I would have been happy with just that but then he asked...

"Do you have any other books like about your life?" I was flattered. But then I thought, that perhaps a book detailing how I went about solving the problem could be a valuable teaching experience in the future.

The first reddit DM buyer came back and he seems ecstatic about the relatability and explainability of the piece. He's really passionate about voice acting and wishes to practice with parts of the book and he really wants an audible version of it as well even recommending a really talented voice actor I could employ the talents off. In the future, I should look into factors that go into getting voice overs for books for the best reader experience for my target audience (Of which I doubt I can right now due to fund constraints).

We got a paperback sale! With this, I believe this almost a record for the month! I've been improving the main offer copy that's like the first 5 paragraphs of copy with the reddit DMS. My assumption is that since this is the solution to a real problem, if you knew the solution was within reach, you'd be happy about it. I believe it's about improving the offer to fulfil that. I've also been "revamping" the book's sections - If I can't post a section like it is on Tiktok, I can spice it up which should improve readability.

I'm still posting on Tiktok to see where the bridge can be improved. My comment section can be filled with feedback on that. So I try to do some micro improvements here and there and measure the results in terms of site visits and engagement. I think having a way to see the relation between micro actions and micro results helps a lot. For me, seeing squares space analytics of buy, download etc and how is linked to website copy allows me to roll back changes that can affect those measurements. We'll see how it goes.

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