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

[Lex DeVille]

I'm having a little bit more trouble than I thought.

The interviews I had didn't pan out. Which is fine, but one thing IS bothering me.

The guy I did the work for didn't give me any feedback. I gave him feedback and he hasn't been on Upwork since. A bit frustrating, as more and more jobs are requiring a feedback score. I thought that having a job under my belt would make things easier but with no feedback I'm still at Step 1... or even Step 0 because people see 1 job with no feedback and possibly see risk.

I'm gonna use my remaining connects, make an individual cover letter (no templates) for each person, and see how well that turns out. What I need is feedback. That's the real validation.

Did you ask for feedback?

I've never received feedback without asking.

Usually I mention that I'm leaving 5 star feedback because I enjoyed working for them. Then I ask if they'll leave feedback for me so other clients know I'm a legitimate freelancer that delivers high-quality work. This works especially well if you get them to agree that they like your work prior to asking for feedback since they feel compelled to be consistent with the statement they already made.

 

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[SlowlaneJay]

The guy I did the work for didn't give me any feedback

Did you ask for feedback?

I've never received feedback without asking.

Usually I mention that I'm leaving 5 star feedback because I enjoyed working for them. Then I ask if they'll leave feedback for me so other clients know I'm a legitimate freelancer that delivers high-quality work. This works especially well if you get them to agree that they like your work prior to asking for feedback since they feel compelled to be consistent with the statement they already made.

I like to say something along the lines of, "Feel free to close out the contract whenever you're ready so I can head over and leave you some well-deserved, 5 star feedback."

I like the, "well-deserved" adjective. Makes the client feel important and encourages them to reciprocate.

—

In other news, thanks to you, @SinisterLex, I left Canada on Monday and am now living in Thailand. This freelancing thing is just awesome. Yes, it only works if you work it— there's a lot of sweat involved to get off the ground. But it's all worth it, and you've been a huge inspiration to me on this journey.

So a huge thank you to you for being such an all-around awesome guy.

Cheers,
J.

 

[DaRK9]

oDesk was a great start, but I am 9001% done with the cheap people on there.

I prefer real life clients much more.

Pick up the phone.

 

[The-J]

Did you ask for feedback?

I've never received feedback without asking.

Yup. I'll ask again, though.

 

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[JaxAttacks]

P.S. For you writers, this job board usually has great gigs. http://jobs.problogger.net/

I love this board, a lot of great job postings. Sometimes you really have to sift through them to find the gold though.

 

[BigBrianC]

Do you think it was too high?

What if instead of lowering to please him, you explained how your service pays for itself?

I never lower mine.

If a client asks for less I just explain that when his profits increase, my service pays for itself. If he's still not on board, I remind him of the money back guarantee and that there's virtually no risk. If he's still not on board... then I may have to explain that I can't go any lower because I have clients already paying my rates and a lower amount simply isn't worth my time. I'll tell him if he can't afford it, then I completely understand and won't have any hard feelings. Then I ask him to suggest a way to make it beneficial for both of us.

You could also offer to do the first project at a lower rate and then increase the amount if he likes your work. Just make sure you let him know this up front.

Please note that I don't say these things like I write them here. Good communication takes time and practice to learn. Until you get good at it you may lose a few clients. But at least you'll learn what doesn't work. When you learn to communicate really well, then you won't have to hope to secure the job, because you'll know other jobs will follow regardless of the outcome of this one.

Always operate from a position of power.

Genius advice. Thanks alot.

 

[BigBrianC]

@DaRK9

Do you just call/email along the lines "I'm a freelance copy writer, etc. etc."? What's typically your opening approach to starting/creating contact?

 

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[Lex DeVille]

You guys need to hurry up and start making money so you can have some real fun.

Look at all these magic wands that just showed up from China haha.





Expecto Patronum!

 

[DaRK9]

@DaRK9

Do you just call/email along the lines "I'm a freelance copy writer, etc. etc."? What's typically your opening approach to starting/creating contact?

I start with a solid local reference. Then ask if they know anyone who would need my services. They don't need to actually refer me, I just get the name and call saying I'm a marketing consultant (freelancer only works online, offline it sounds tacky) and X said you might be looking to increase sales and customer retention.

Very few say no, I'm not looking to increase sales. This is with a solid reference. I have two big references, a Dentist and a restaurant owner.

 

[BigBrianC]

I start with a solid local reference. Then ask if they know anyone who would need my services. They don't need to actually refer me, I just get the name and call saying I'm a marketing consultant (freelancer only works online, offline it sounds tacky) and X said you might be looking to increase sales and customer retention.

Very few say no, I'm not looking to increase sales. This is with a solid reference. I have two big references, a Dentist and a restaurant owner.

Awesome! I may have to start this method, especially once I move to college (Easier to get to businesses, everything's downtown, lots of locally owned, etc.

 

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[SlowlaneJay]

Great, you-focused profile to inspire you (not mine):
https://www.upwork.com/users/~013f41db450488b2c4

 

[monsterkill]

This thread got me fascinated with copy. I've read cashvertising, great book. I pretty much understand concepts of being you focused, headlines, copy tricks and stuff but I still struggle with actual body copy content. I mean I've always been a poor writer and struggled to create any longer text. If I have no pattern to fill in, my mind gets empty. Maybe I'm missing something.

 

[Lex DeVille]

This thread got me fascinated with copy. I've read cashvertising, great book. I pretty much understand concepts of being you focused, headlines, copy tricks and stuff but I still struggle with actual body copy content. I mean I've always been a poor writer and struggled to create any longer text. If I have no pattern to fill in, my mind gets empty. Maybe I'm missing something.

It seems like you get lost without structure. Is that the case?

If so, you may benefit by outlining the body copy first. Typically the first thing I figure out is the logical order of information. So, I start by creating the sub-headings for each section of body copy, and then figure out where to put each one. Sometimes I'll write a whole paragraph and realize it should come before the previous paragraph, not after. When I figure out the logical order of the sections first, then it's a lot easier to keep focused instead of getting scattered by randomness.

If you start with an outline you'll have structure. Once you get the sub-headings down, then you can make bullet points about the things you want to touch on in each section. After that it's just a matter of filling in the blanks with solid copy and appropriate use of techniques as needed.

 

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[monsterkill]

It seems like you get lost without structure. Is that the case?

Yes, but mainly I have a hard time expanding on those bullet points and transforming them into one consistent structure with catchy descriptions, stories and such. It's like I'm lacking pure writing skills. Have a good heading and sub-heading and don't know where to go from there, how to move, how to write paragraphs.

For example you created universal, genious piece for freelancers:

Sounds like you need (description of what one needs). Cool, I can (description of benefits). Oh, and I have (description of education) to back it up.

If I had more such patterns I could write copy lightning fast. Are there books that could help? If you create one, just with specific patterns to fill, I'll throw money at you.

 

[Disciple]

You guys need to hurry up and start making money so you can have some real fun.

Look at all these magic wands that just showed up from China haha.



View attachment 9827

Expecto Patronum!

View attachment 9826

What are those?

 

[Lex DeVille]

What are those?

A whole bunch of glass dildos.

 

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[David Fiddler]

This 100% job satisfaction thing really pays off, got around 5 offers on the weekend and on 3 of those I got to actually work on.

A whole bunch of glass dildos.

Lol I resisted the urge to call out your magic wands for being dildos secretly. Seems like you really niched it down.

 

[The-J]

I don't think that guy is going to come back and give me feedback, even after I asked. Oh well. I was the one who closed out the contract so next time, I will get the other guy to do it + ask for feedback.

All part of the process. Can't forget my goal for doing this: to shift the mindset to helping people with their needs and loving them despite everything.

 

[Disciple]

So, I got the gig! Woo. Didn't even have to do a real trial, and they just sent the offer anyway.

I am really not liking the actual doing of this gig, but oh well. More experience for me. I'll be upping my hourly rate after this one, depending on how this one goes. Provided I get more feedback, and they tell me that they enjoy the work I did, I will simply take that as "Worth every dollar," and go on my way.

That said, the way that they worded the first message makes me believe that not only do they just give a quick glance over your profile, but they spend a bit more time on just the cover letter and your feedback score.

 

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[SlowlaneJay]

I've found that I keep wanting to ask for feedback on my copy. This forum isn't really the place for that though, it's more about the process and the struggle.

I'd like to start a Skype group with other writers on here. Somewhere we can chat about our work without derailing the forum's purpose. It would be outside of Google's indexing too; nice to know your clients can't accidentally find you talking about them

I think a group like this would help us all become better writers. What do you think?

Anyone interested in connecting?

 

[BigBrianC]

Woo, just got my first client!

 

[Disciple]

I've found that I keep wanting to ask for feedback on my copy. This forum isn't really the place for that though, it's more about the process and the struggle.

I'd like to start a Skype group with other writers on here. Somewhere we can chat about our work without derailing the forum's purpose. It would be outside of Google's indexing too; nice to know your clients can't accidentally find you talking about them

I think a group like this would help us all become better writers. What do you think?

Anyone interested in connecting?

While it sounds fine to me, I would require a new Skype address.

Though, to be honest, the deeper I delve into freelancing, the less time I have right now. I don't know how much time I'd have to spend in there. What with not only the work from Upwork, but also my fiction writing.

 

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[SlowlaneJay]

While it sounds fine to me, I would require a new Skype address.

Though, to be honest, the deeper I delve into freelancing, the less time I have right now. I don't know how much time I'd have to spend in there. What with not only the work from Upwork, but also my fiction writing.

Haha I hear that! I think I'll actually create a separate thread to avoid derailing this one— sorry, Lex

EDIT> thread is here: Copywriting Skype Group

 

[jon.a]

I just read this yesterday. Why yesterday? Because I wasn't interested in earning $1000 when this thread started (I'm still not).

Anyway, great value added both here and there!

 

[The-J]

Got another job. This one is more of a long term thing for a very low rate. The dude even said that he'd give feedback. I need to hold him to it this time.

Starting out is really rough, man LOL... but I can't forget that the goal isn't just $1k/week, it's $1k+/day from the skills developed/mindset shift by doing this stuff.

 

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[BigBrianC]

I'm expecting the first couple of jobs to be the hardest ones to get. Luckily, this client has said he has a couple other things I could work on that could go on my portfolio if I do well on this project.

 

[Thomas1980]

Got another job. This one is more of a long term thing for a very low rate. The dude even said that he'd give feedback. I need to hold him to it this time.

Starting out is really rough, man LOL... but I can't forget that the goal isn't just $1k/week, it's $1k+/day from the skills developed/mindset shift by doing this stuff.

Are you starting out taking any job to try and get feedback or are you targeting the niche you're in?

Keep grinding man, it'll eventually pay off. That's what i'm doing.

 

[The-J]

Are you starting out taking any job to try and get feedback or are you targeting the niche you're in?

Any job. I don't have much of a choice. I need a good feedback rating, a 100% job success rate... it's to make sure I get bumped up in the search engine rankings.

My first gig was doing an Amazon product listing. This gig is articles. I've applied to many different jobs, all with 'you-centric' applications.

I use the cover letter to practice copy.

 

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[MediocrityNoMore]

I'm still only early in reading this thread, but just wanted to share my 2 major experiences from it already...

Firstly, I'm 3/4 of the way through 'How to win friends and influence people', that is an amazing book!! if you haven't read it stop everything you are doing and grab a copy.

Secondly, after reading the first page, I jumped on over to my freelancer account, and using the advice given by @SinisterLex I applied for a job using a servants attitude, it was all about what I could do for the client, and provided more value by asking questions about other aspects of the PPC campaign they were running and a few tips on how I set things up. The job was pretty low paying, and only covered a small part of a campaign.
I also included my skype id if the client wanted to hit me up and talk about it further.

Within an hour I had a request and we got talking, an hour later I had added his whole PPC campaign to my MCC to take a look at it, I gave suggestions of what could be done to improve it drastically, and pretty much told him how I would go about doing it. The conversation had started with the guy saying he could do with some input, and ended with him asking me to quote to fully manage the campaign.

Their Ad spend is 14K per week! so I quoted at 3k per month to optimise and increase his ROI, in my experience most big ad companies charge around 10% of ad spend, so a quote of $5k per month wouldn't have been unrealistic.

He is going to come back to me when he has talked it over with the company owner later this week, but he seems happy enough with the info I have given him, and very responsive.

It would be great if it bears fruit and I land this customer, if not it doesn't matter, the point is I now have the confidence using the info provided in this amazing thread to go out there and get these jobs. Fantastic post Lex, I know you are gonna do extremely well in the future, thank you!

 

[edward222]

I can see many opportunities by just reading this thread.
Very lucky to be part of this forum.