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Day 62
Day 63
Day 65
Day 66Day 65
(1 hour) Profile edits from Lex’s Tips
(10 minutes) Edit and rewrite web copy for the page
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Day 67Day 66
(40 minutes) Learning copy + Profile edits from Lex’s Tips
(30 minutes) Learn more copy
(1 hour) 1 Upwork Proposal
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Day 68Day 67
(1:30 hours) 1 Upwork Proposal
Principles followed-
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- Care for their existence, and they’ll care for your pockets.
- Each sentence- Give, give, give instead of ask ask ask.
- Each sentence- provide value- Have a positive effect on them and REALLY help them achieve their goals.
- For pro results, iterate from the pros. Know what they need done.
- Bottle up greatness as you write. You know that excited feeling you have when you have so much to give.
- Talk to them with AIDA
- Run it through Grammarly and google docs for spelling and grammar errors.
- Tell them exactly what you will do, how will you do it and the time it will take IN the cover letter. From @Sadik
Day 70Day 69
(10 minutes) Read the One Thing
(10 minutes) Review Session- See what worked and what didn’t. Save it.
(40 minutes) Write first lines
When I asked them why they picked me for the job, they said I did more research than anyone else (Logic) and because I said, "I'd love to work with you" (Emotion).
I now understand the statement that people buy emotionally, and justify logically. Probably XD
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Day 71Day 70
(3 hours) Do job on personalised first lines (Finish it)
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Day 76
Day 77Day 76
(20 minutes) Write in the two remaining products. Generate 6 keywords each for the product categories.
(20 minutes) Add in additional details and restructure the sentences
(20 minutes) Add terms and SEO from competitor sites.
Each checkmark represents 20 minutes worked in reality.
Now unto specifics because I skipped a few days, let me give the breakdown of the beast I wrestle against currently.
Just a few days ago I posted valuable content on copywriting on Linkedin (Copywriting Kourse go check it out!). And was scouted by a good friend of mine who hired me to write some product descriptions.
This advice was from Andy ...
To become known for xyz...
1. Post content on xyz
2. Help someone with xyz.
3. Be seen helping someone with xyz.
Which is what got me scouted.
Even though it didn't fit with my grander goals of 1k monthly, I decided to help out since he was a great friend.
I thought this would be easy peasy lemon squeezy, even though I'd never done it before.
Boy was I wrong XD
Turns out writing product descriptions isn't just weaving features to benefits, but optimising content for search engines.
For all the creative writing I was putting out, it was useless. He wanted the brand to rank, he wanted an enhanced description.
That's when I went beast mode (I had to use this XD)! Used google's keyword planner and google's suggestions for the products to generate 6 keywords for each one. And used this guide to hopefully rank them- Writing Articles for SEO | Wiley
I sent it to him, and he preferred the current version much better, *knowledge*!
To me, if ever I was going to commit this 1000K goal, I would rather do it at an agency so I learn from my mistakes from other pros.
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bettermarketing.pub
Day 78Day 77
(30 minutes) Product description writing
(20 minutes) Landing page writing for Amazon seller
(20 minutes) Read Upwork Guides
Totally recommend this Upwork guide to making 1K a month (Coming from someone who hasn't made that yet XD) -
30-Day Action Plan to Make $1,000 as a Freelance Writer
How to beat overwhelm and take action on your dreams
It provides a condensed action plan I'm following right now that helped give me the push to add my portfolio on my profile. Who knows? It could be the tipping point for that deal you've been looking for.
One crucial thing I learned is to begin with the end in mind. If you don't start with that, well, where really are you going.
What I wish to do is wrap up one or two of the above projects, and then use the heightened experience to jump to bigger projects that support my goal.
Side note-View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngRACHwK6l4&t=616s
I just love Mikael so much. It's inspiring to see someone address a need so well you have the sharks just begging to be a part of that! XD
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Day 81Day 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.
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Day 86Day 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
Day 87Day 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.
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Day 90
NEED PHASE- FLOPPING HARD
Thanks for the knock Andy.
Day 15-19Day 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
Day 20-24
It means nothing. Just an alternative log out xd
Huh, like ask why they didn't hire you in the proposal? That seems like an interesting approach.
Day 50-54Day 45-49
Below I will also write about how you may find NEEDS in the marketplace with a physical product you can find in your supermarket (or anywhere else).
Monday
(15 minutes) 100% complete Upwork proposal and uploading 3 copywriting samples
(20 minutes) Setting up Paypal account for affiliate program. Paypal was being naughty
(10 minutes) Craiglist ad. Signed up to a job board after they got back to me that the current roles were filled. Recommended to sign up to their job board though.
(30 minutes) Learning how to set up a listing for Facebook Marketplace.
Tuesday
(40 minutes) Writing up product listing to sell on facebook marketplace
(30 minutes) Copywriting course
(20 minutes) Copywriting course | Set up facebook marketplace listing for plant
(20 minutes)Copywriting course | Set up facebook marketplace listing for plant
(10 minutes) Copywriting course | Upwork sent 3 proposals
(30 minutes) Applying to jobs on Upwork (1)
Wednesday
(50 minutes) Sending an (2) Upwork proposal with the crystal ball technique
(1:30 hour) Learning how to write better copy
I learnt my most successful acceptances on Upwork involved having the specific relevant experience and/or samples (proof this specific job can be done).
So for every proposal I send from now on, I'm going to strive to send either mvp samples from now on or show how my experience supports the success of the job.
Paypal is now online after a prolonged battle.
Thursday
(30 minutes) Learning Upwork is-A method
(35 minutes) Sent 3 Upwork proposals using this method
Friday
(1 hour) Created a social media post for a friend
(1 hour) product research done, Indirect customer research coming up
(1:30) Writing up RIOA for plant product
(1:30) Learning how to actually write copy (What to write)
Finding Needs
On that note, it's amazing what you'll find when you research niche and problem specific places (reddit, youtube, amazon, forums etc) where your target market hangs out. And it's easier than you think.
What do I mean? I simply copied the data from these places (for Bonsai houseplants) raw into a pains (about 31 comments) and desires (about 15 comments) column. Something like this...
View attachment 43050
Once, you simply comb through this "indirect voice of customer data" to extract patterns (not specifics), and rank them by scale x magnitude, you get...
View attachment 43051
View attachment 43052
This is what the market wants and has pains with. From my research, no other products on the market actually solve these pains in an obvious way, so I'd imagine there's a skew you could take advantage of.
Oh your leaves are turning yellow due to a lack of sunlight? That's ok, our Bonsais come with pre built lamps that give it lots of indirect sunlight.
Oh your leaves are falling off due to improper watering? Well the Bonsai pot comes with an inbuilt water sensor that tells you when it's time to water it.
Oh you're scared the soil isn't appropriate for your Bonsai? Well, we ship it with fertiliser and use 60% aggregate soil best for growing plants.
If you did only two of the above, I'd imagine you'd have two distinct value skews for your product or service. How much so can this be applied to more complex products? This was literally a simple product I found in someplace like Wilkos. So perhaps, if you're stuck for products to sell, just walk in to your supermarket, grab a product you like with good margins, and just start researching it for what prospects on the market already want that's not fulfilled elsewhere. And when you're ready, take the dive and solve their problems.
P.S. Taking it a step further. what makes this even more amazing is making something especially for your ideal customer. I combed through the idea finding the one reader that would benefit most from the product and loved the idea of "low maintenance plants" (one of the desires above) and then built up their profile.
View attachment 43053
Low maintenance being a bonsai that's almost hands off. If we made a specific product just for them, they'd probably rave about us to their friends! Could you imagine a low maintenance bonsai for this audience (what they want) that comes with an an automatic watering system? I'd imagine they'd tell their friends all about it that want the same thing.
Then, we'd be stepping into the realms of a brand, as Ryan Moran states, "where we serve just one type of person on the marketplace".
Starbucks, Apple, etc Brands serve only a subset of the market, leading their customers to fall in love with. Brands are businesses that customers tell all their friends about it because they're just that much more special to them.
There are people who love Fords, but not Lamborghinis.
There are people who love Lamborghinis, but not Fords.
But nobody loves the Ford-Lambo (if that exists).
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. Need to work on my closing(?)
Day 60-64Day 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.
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Day 65-68
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school.copyhackers.com
Day 75-79
Ah dude XD I've been trudging in the battle field here haha. Appreciate it though!
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