Imagine this happened to your 28-year old kid...

[Fotis]

Howdy all,

I have been spinning my wheels for the past 4 months.

Since The Millionaire Fastlane was the first book that turned my life 180 degrees back in 2014, I decided to post here. Sometimes the most obvious solutions can be given by people other than ourselves. And this is what I hope to achieve here.

(I will give you the long version first and the abbreviated one later in the post.)

Here's what it's all about.

Since 2014, I left my job as a trainer in a gym, moved out of my mom's house and rented a house. I found a couple personal training clients, wrote online training programs and sold 3-4 e-books online.

Life was good.

Not Fastlane good, but good enough to wake up smiling instead of crying like when I worked in the gym.

On 2015, we had the...

Economic crisis in Greece. ​

A couple of my personal training clients stopped. The online training programs gig dried up.

I tried writing fiction books on Amazon. Bleh progress. I missed the good days where people read 10% of your book and you got paid good money.

During that time, I discovered copywriting.

I started @SinisterLex copywriting course. On day 7 of the course, I send a message to a prolific personal trainer in Dubai. I had turned the features of his gym into benefits for the client.

Hey man, I am doing this copywriting thing and turned your description into "omg I need to join this gym". Nothing to sell, it was an exercise and I thought you would like it.

Holy cow. This is amazing. Would you be interested to write for me, paid?

This was the first time I realized the power of copywriting. It didn't work out with the guy, but I was hooked.

I joined Fiverr and started offering copywriting services.

On the first month, I earned around $400. Peanuts for some guys, but nice money for someone in Greece.

I kept growing my account. In the meantime, my writing on my Greek blog had improved. I got new clients and even fan mail. I also scored a new personal training client that was willing to train 6 times per week. I made my rent and bills all thanks to her (Thanks Maria!)

Until summer 2016, my life was...

Awesome!​

I earned enough to thrive, to support financially my mom and wake up without a worry in the world.

Then...

The client I told you about? She had to stop training with me. She got hired on an island and it's not in her plans to come back.

The Fiverr gigs? They dried up. I still don't know why. I think it has to do with some competitors offering the same services at a much lower price. I had lots of potential clients approach, I invested a lot of time going back and forth and they never bought my gigs. In a fit of rage, I deleted my account.

Thankfully, I had an investor mindset and I kept investing in my education.

I joined a copywriting training program. The guy who runs it is well known and has lots of job opportunities coming to him.

So, on October 2016 he send out an e-mail about a 7-figure online marketer who was looking for a copywriter. I applied, got the job and ever since I have been working for the guy.

But...
​

It's still a job. I was reminded how miserable I am when working for others.

It's the whole "trade hours for money" thing all over again.

I hate it.

In the meantime, I lost my passion for Fitness. I am not sure why but it's true. Writing programs, training people, furthering my Fitness knowledge is just "OK" nowadays. It might have to do with how serious my clients are about their results. Or it might be 100% about a mistake I make but I am too blind to see.

On the other hand, I have a passion for marketing and copywriting. But other than writing on my blog and for my client, I am not sure what's the next step. I have contacted people looking for copywriters or using sales pages. They either don't respond or they want a native speaker.

I don't mind working for someone in order to hone my skills. The guy I am working for is a kickass copywriter himself. it's one of the rare occations where your boss is not an ignorant jerk...but a guy who has walked the talk.

I have tried researching markets in order to find problems to solve. I am at the beginning stages so I still haven't found anything to make me go "eureka."

Ideally, I want to find a project where I will believe somewhere inside me, that it has potential.

Until then, my day to day life is wake up, work, take a break, work, sleep, repeat.

Let me recap:

• Personal trainer who has lost his passion for fitness
• Copywriter who loves the craft of copywriting and marketing, but is unsure how to take the next step
• Searches for something that will rev up his enthusiasm and make him work hard again

Suggestions/comments/donations/insults are more than welcome.

Thank you,

Fotis

 

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[jlwilliams]

I think you are on the right path for you.

You have found that you like copy and that you are good at it. Huge.

You have a job that isn't satisfying. That's also great. I say it's great because it pays you,so the wolves are not at your door, and you dislike it enough to not get lazy and stay there.

Sorry to hear you are at a low point. You have been down before. You got up before. You will get up again.

When it talk to people I haven't seen in a while and ask how things are going, what are they doing... you know what most people say? They say they are up to the "same old same old." Ask what's new they say "nothing." I always say that I'm sorry to hear it. You are doing better than them. You are feeling some pain, and that's so much better than feeling nothing.

Keep pushing. Better is out there.

 

[MidwestLandlord]

In the meantime, I lost my passion for Fitness. I am not sure why but it's true. Writing programs, training people, furthering my Fitness knowledge is just "OK" nowadays.

Re-read the section of TMF about "doing what you love"

I bet you'll see that section in a whole new light.

Do what you love, and you'll end up hating it...

In the meantime, you've already proven to yourself that you can be successful. So learn from any mistakes you made, adjust your plan, and keep moving forward.

Read @jpanarra 's inspirational thread here: Progress Thread - Deaf and Daft, getting my first sale

Notice how he was frustrated and such, kept pushing forward, and then bam!....success!

And if you're into copywriting, read everything @SinisterLex has ever wrote on this forum.

 

[Sadik]

Question.

You say you "love" the craft of copywriting and marketing. Can you prove that you do?

Here's one way to prove it. Create something for copywriting / marketing without any thought of making a single dime out of it. Yes, work your a$$ off, create an absolutely beautiful 3 part video course, or an awesome well researched, well written, eBook on copy writing / marketing and give either away for free.

Wait it gets better. No one even wants free these days. Not only do you create the awesome thing above, also spend money out of what you earn from your job, and buy ads and market the awesome free thing you made.

And no, it's not over yet. Now you have to give one more thing. Your time. Join forums / communities like these and give out advise / help as many people as you can without asking for anything or even mentioning that you are the creator of the said awesome thing above if not asked.

If you can get there, ask yourself, Do I still love copywriting / marketing? If you do love, none of the above will feel like work and you WILL do it. If you only think that you love it, well you will give up as soon as you begin. You might discover that you love sleeping more than copywriting. Or that you love the new season of Game of thrones more than copywriting. And you don't do anything.

But here's the punch line. If you do actually love it, and you actually do the above, you will end up making more money than you can even imagine possible right now.

 

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[jpanarra]

Re-read the section of TMF about "doing what you love"

I bet you'll see that section in a whole new light.

Do what you love, and you'll end up hating it...

In the meantime, you've already proven to yourself that you can be successful. So learn from any mistakes you made, adjust your plan, and keep moving forward.

Read @jpanarra 's inspirational thread here: Progress Thread - Deaf and Daft, getting my first sale

Notice how he was frustrated and such, kept pushing forward, and then bam!....success!

And if you're into copywriting, read everything @SinisterLex has ever wrote on this forum.

Thanks for the mention! I still feel like I'm still a rookie in all of this, but I learned a lot here so there's tons of content you can learn from and then TAKE ACTION on it.

Like everyone else I tried to start a business with something I was passionate about a few years ago, that crashed and burned so hard that I owed money that I'm still paying for today. (Hopefully, will be paid off this month ) I've tried blogs, books, only to find out that I don't have the patience to stay on one project writing something that I was passionate about.

What i've noticed on this forum is the people that take action, whether they succeed or fail, but the fact that they explain their experiences and what they struggle with. People will flock to you and give you pointers and tips or even better a real sense of direction.

The direction I found for myself was on Fox's thread about selling websites for 15K+ a month, here . This might not be up your alley but theres tons of good stuff in there about persistance and patience along with getting sales with high profile clients.

Like @MidwestLandlord said, for copywriting @SinisterLex is your best bet, I would suggest you start with this thread of his for copywriting and mindset shift.

Don't forget to prove your actions and follow up with your insights and where you think you went wrong. People will have no problem telling you their opnions on here, just make sure that you give back to the community and share your insights and experience all while providing value. I'm sure you'll be able to get back on that horse and kill it!

 

[Fotis]

Thanks for your comments guys, I really appreciate them.

One day after I posted this, I did an exercise.

It was on a video by Kevin Rogers, a top-level copywriter and ex-comedian. He said
something that stuck with me ever since:

If you are not sure what you want in life, find first what you DON'T want to do.

It's simple but powerful at the same time. I wrote four things on a whiteboard, things that
I don't want to do going forward. I read them daily.

I also decided to stop hating myself for not having achieved the level of success I wanted.
I decided to do the necessary client work and not stress over anything else. I invest the rest
of my time honing my skills and learning more about marketing and copywriting.

My mother saw me last week and said:

I am not sure what happened but I think you look happier than ever.

Coincidence?

Dunno.

I also decided to create an info product for my fitness blog. I am not sure if there's a market
right now for it. But it's something I would give my younger self if he wanted to lose weight and
it will shut up the self-limiting beliefs inside my head.

Finally, I will try to be more active in the community. Even if nobody uses my advice or considers
my suggestions, I would have exercised my writing and this can only be a plus.

Cheers,

Fotis

 

[Sadik]

Hey @Fotis

Negative self talk is an epidemic. We all do it. Even the most successful people do it. The way to defeat self limiting talk and self limiting beliefs is to become aware when you are doing it. You may not be able to stop the negative self talk, but you will know what's going on and will learn to "ride it out".

This post is getting too "fluffy" for my liking, but here's one more thought. Motivation comes in sprints. Some days we feel like we can do absolutely anything, on others everything seems gloomy. What I try to do is recognize the good day early on, and take as many actions as I can without wasting any time on thinking, "what if I fail". Almost all of my work has been produced in this manner, when I have taken action on a day when it feels good.

And all the Best!

 

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[Daniel Burt]

Howdy all,

I have been spinning my wheels for the past 4 months.

Since The Millionaire Fastlane was the first book that turned my life 180 degrees back in 2014, I decided to post here. Sometimes the most obvious solutions can be given by people other than ourselves. And this is what I hope to achieve here.

(I will give you the long version first and the abbreviated one later in the post.)

Here's what it's all about.

Since 2014, I left my job as a trainer in a gym, moved out of my mom's house and rented a house. I found a couple personal training clients, wrote online training programs and sold 3-4 e-books online.

Life was good.

Not Fastlane good, but good enough to wake up smiling instead of crying like when I worked in the gym.

On 2015, we had the...

Economic crisis in Greece. ​

A couple of my personal training clients stopped. The online training programs gig dried up.

I tried writing fiction books on Amazon. Bleh progress. I missed the good days where people read 10% of your book and you got paid good money.

During that time, I discovered copywriting.

I started @SinisterLex copywriting course. On day 7 of the course, I send a message to a prolific personal trainer in Dubai. I had turned the features of his gym into benefits for the client.

Hey man, I am doing this copywriting thing and turned your description into "omg I need to join this gym". Nothing to sell, it was an exercise and I thought you would like it.

Holy cow. This is amazing. Would you be interested to write for me, paid?

This was the first time I realized the power of copywriting. It didn't work out with the guy, but I was hooked.

I joined Fiverr and started offering copywriting services.

On the first month, I earned around $400. Peanuts for some guys, but nice money for someone in Greece.

I kept growing my account. In the meantime, my writing on my Greek blog had improved. I got new clients and even fan mail. I also scored a new personal training client that was willing to train 6 times per week. I made my rent and bills all thanks to her (Thanks Maria!)

Until summer 2016, my life was...

Awesome!​

I earned enough to thrive, to support financially my mom and wake up without a worry in the world.

Then...

The client I told you about? She had to stop training with me. She got hired on an island and it's not in her plans to come back.

The Fiverr gigs? They dried up. I still don't know why. I think it has to do with some competitors offering the same services at a much lower price. I had lots of potential clients approach, I invested a lot of time going back and forth and they never bought my gigs. In a fit of rage, I deleted my account.

Thankfully, I had an investor mindset and I kept investing in my education.

I joined a copywriting training program. The guy who runs it is well known and has lots of job opportunities coming to him.

So, on October 2016 he send out an e-mail about a 7-figure online marketer who was looking for a copywriter. I applied, got the job and ever since I have been working for the guy.

But...
​

It's still a job. I was reminded how miserable I am when working for others.

It's the whole "trade hours for money" thing all over again.

I hate it.

In the meantime, I lost my passion for Fitness. I am not sure why but it's true. Writing programs, training people, furthering my Fitness knowledge is just "OK" nowadays. It might have to do with how serious my clients are about their results. Or it might be 100% about a mistake I make but I am too blind to see.

On the other hand, I have a passion for marketing and copywriting. But other than writing on my blog and for my client, I am not sure what's the next step. I have contacted people looking for copywriters or using sales pages. They either don't respond or they want a native speaker.

I don't mind working for someone in order to hone my skills. The guy I am working for is a kickass copywriter himself. it's one of the rare occations where your boss is not an ignorant jerk...but a guy who has walked the talk.

I have tried researching markets in order to find problems to solve. I am at the beginning stages so I still haven't found anything to make me go "eureka."

Ideally, I want to find a project where I will believe somewhere inside me, that it has potential.

Until then, my day to day life is wake up, work, take a break, work, sleep, repeat.

Let me recap:

• Personal trainer who has lost his passion for fitness
• Copywriter who loves the craft of copywriting and marketing, but is unsure how to take the next step
• Searches for something that will rev up his enthusiasm and make him work hard again

Suggestions/comments/donations/insults are more than welcome.

Thank you,

Fotis

Hello Fotis,

Are you based in Dubai?

 

[Scot]

Hello Fotis,

Are you based in Dubai?

Click on their profiles and check if they’re still active.