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

[SuperDuper]

When using themes do you have to give attribution? I know for free themes you usually do, but I'm not sure about themes you paid for.

EDIT: posted this in the wrong thread. how do I delete?

 

[Niptuck MD]

Influence (Yourself & Others)
- How to Win Friends & Influence People
- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
- The 48 Laws of Power
- The Art of War
- Leader Effectiveness Training
- Get Selected for Special Forces
- The Mystery Method
- Thick Face Black Heart
- A Guide to Rational Living
- Tribes
- Get Anyone to do Anything
- Predictably Irrational
- Cashvertising
- Breakthrough Advertising
- Magical Words that Sell

NLP
- The User's Manual for the Brain Volume I & II
- Mind Lines: Magical Lines to Transform Minds
- Anything by Richard Bandler
- EVERYTHING by Milton Erickson (His focus is actually hypnosis)

Personality Typing
- Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self Discovery
- The Wisdom of the Enneagram
- Personality Selling (Mixes NLP, Hypnosis & Personality Typing)

These are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Probably means they had the most impact on my life.

As for courses, I'm about halfway through the online NLP Practitioner course at iNLP Center. Its $450 and comes with certification at the end (great for empty certificate fields... hint hint.) The material is top notch and utilizes text, audio & video. It's self-paced and easy to understand.

It also has "Stealth Missions" which are assignments you carry out in the real world and report back in the classroom. This way you get direct experience if you've got the kahones to try it.

If any military spouses are reading this, be sure to email iNLP and tell them to get signed up with MYCAA military spouse scholarship program. Its $4,000 of free money. All they have to do is send their accreditation and their curriculum to the MYCAA staff.

@SinisterLex
you recommend that NLP course sir?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Niptuck MD]

Not for copywriting. Won't do you any good until you're good with copy.

There's only two places you can learn NLP copywriting that I'm aware of and one of them is through me.

good to know thanks @SinisterLex

 

[Ziad]

This thread is definitely gold!

 

[SYK]

@SinisterLex Are any of your mentees budding email copywriters? I'm in need of some assistance.

 

[GuestUser4aMPs1]

Confused. This an actual thing?

@SinisterLex Invented It

 

[startinup]

I'll post a follow up in this thread if it works out for me. If it does, I'll talk about more of the steps that I used to get this first job.

Follow up time...

I didn't get that job, but I am currently working on 2 and in active candidacy for 1. Things are going pretty well, focussing on providing value to clients.

---

One thing I'm wondering is:

How do you filter out clients that are slow to respond? And if you have a slow client already, how do you end it with them in the best possible way without it negatively affecting your feedback?

I know that you want to get the client to say no to you, instead of you saying no to them.

Is something like the below good?

ex.
"Hey I have been swamped with work and am raising my rates to (insert #) to keep up with demand, are you still interested in working together?"

Or is something else better?

 

[thehighlander]

I just checked out Upwork.com for some technical consulting work. The budgets that people propose are ridiculously low. Do they have any clue about the real time required or going rates for developers? Is the site based off of the idea of leveraging people in countries where $2/hr is a good programming wage?

I don't get how this site could benefit workers in the US.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[thehighlander]

Most clients don't have a clue about what goes into the work they're asking for.

If you accept the rates as they are, you won't make much. But that's true of any business.

That's why negotiation was invented.

I think freelance sites were invented to connect people all across the world.

That said, they do draw a lot of cheap labor, and also a lot of startup entrepreneurs.

I'm skeptical of how good a client will be if they have no idea how much they're asking for costs. I mean, do car dealerships pay attention to anyone who walks on to the lot and says "do you have any new cars for $10?" I suppose they could be educated or perhaps they're just dreamers with no budget. I'll put some realistic budgets (with explanations) in my bids and see how it goes.

 

[The Merry Mystic]

When I'm ready to boost my rates, I'll ask my current clients if we can bill at the new rate, but for the same amount of work. As in:

Let's say it takes you two hours to write an article. At $6/hour that means $12/article.

Ask your client if you can write 5 articles for $60. But instead of billing 10HR@$6, bill 1HR@$60.

This way you'll have a public track record of your new rate.​

If you're having trouble getting your client to agree to this, offer a discount. In the above example, that would mean you do 6 articles for $60 (12HR@$5).

I've done this several times, the clients don't seem to mind.

You can also do this with a fixed price gig. If you're hired for a fixed rate, ask them if you can do an hourly gig but for a fixed number of hours. So if they want to pay you a $120 flat fee, ask if you can split it into two hours at $60 each.

Again, clients usually have no issue with this.

Great idea

 

[GoodluckChuck]

Haha don't get me started on online courses. That's a whole nother realm of passive income people are missing out on.

Costs like $500 to get a 1080p cam, good mic, and lighting. Add a sprinkle of knowledge, a dash of personality and you're in business.

A bit of marketing combined with problem solving and the result is a course that sells.

But you gotta be willing to risk $500. I did.

I found the seed...

 

[Five Star]

I can tell you people on this site have picked up $15k/mo clients through Upwork.

Really? That's impressive.

Personally in the 'famine' stage of the cycle so to hear this is motivating. I've managed to win some $1000 projects, and a few $125/ hr jobs with limited hours. Having problems finding recurring work, even though my clients are all very happy.

Any specific advice for finding and wining 'top dollar clients'?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[freelancedev]

Thank you so much for this thread and your other threads on this topic Lex, you've provided a lot of value to this forum over the past could of years. Your threads have provided great inspiration to me personally, and I know I likely speak for a lot of people in saying thank you for all you have done.

I am wondering how you would start if you had learned about upwork today and were willing to do anything to make it work?

I know that you have had excellent success with copywriting, not just when you started in 2015 but recently also when you deleted your profile and then created a new one, so there is no doubt that you can still be successful as a copywriter on the platform, but would you be more inclined to look at the upwork skills index for skills that would be learnable and in great demand at the moment?

I've seen mentions of niching down into something more specific if going the copywriting route, is this necessary now?

I'm also wondering whether one would gain from watching your youtube video series on how to get hired in addition to following your 15 day challenge thread? I'm trying to find the all important balance between learning and doing.

 

[freelancedev]

Well, it depends on if I have the same skillset or not. If I didn't know shit about writing, I probably wouldn't go that route because I wouldn't make money. Same goes for any other skill. You have to find something you can do well enough to be competent at or else you won't get very far.

Over the last few months Upwork hasn't been accepting copywriters because there's too many on the platform. So you have to get a foot in the door with a different skill. If I didn't have a technical skill I'd probably gravitate toward being a virtual assistant because those who speak English tend to earn minimum $20 per hour.

That's an easy way in the door and a fast way to get to work with top-tier clients who've already built solid businesses. You can learn from their systems and processes while getting paid well enough to support your own Fastlane ideas.

My YouTube videos are completely different from my 15 Days to Freedom thread which specifically focuses on copy. My YouTube has focused more on the freelance side, especially the 4 day course in my signature below.

Thanks very much for the response Lex.

My concern with copywriting would be whether I would be competent enough to provide real value to a company, although I do have some online marketing and copywriting experience (to a respectable extent with banner ads where I have been able to a/b test conversion rates of headlines), and also some SEO experience.

I am happy to start "from the bottom" providing value to businesses in any way I can (even at $20 per hour that is still a raise on my J.O.B income), but I also don't want to sell myself short due to a lack of confidence. Would you say it is also difficult to get hired as a VA since the barrier to entry is basically nothing?

Would you recommend learning a technical skill to move into after getting some good reviews from being a VA?

I feel like I am probably overthinking the whole thing here quite a bit...

 

[Five Star]

Make sense?

Makes perfect Sense Lex

Thanks very much for elaborating. It confirms I'm on the right track but just need to stay focused and be persistent. That's how I've landed my bigger clients in the past - just no $15k per month ones......YET!

Keep adding value.....looks like you've gathered quite the following

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[freelancedev]

This ^

Just get started. Leave the overthinking for how you'll scale whatever you do instead of focusing on all the obstacles you may or may not face down every path.

Sorry to bother you again Lex, I have spent today watching your four part series on youtube and actually logging into my upwork profile for the first time in a while.

I realised that I have two five star reviews on the platform, one which is $800 billed @ 40$ per hour, and the other which was a fixed rate $20 gig, both of these were SEO related jobs. The thing is, both of these reviews are fake. Rightly or wrongly, around the time that I created my Upwork profile I had worked with a mentor who had advised that the quickest way to get five star reviews was from friends and family.

Obviously this means I have already overcome a big obstacle that many getting started on upwork face, getting accepted for their first job.

I have been considering my options around what sort of area I would be best off concentrating on. Because I already have experience/knowledge in SEO, as well as five star reviews and a profile geared towards SEO, I think SEO COULD be something I could do on upwork.

My main concern with SEO is that it is a complicated beast and has been for years, but now even more so than in 2015 when I created this upwork profile. I have kept up to date with a lot of the changes going on in theory but I do not have a great deal of practical experience with newer SEO practices.

There are jobs on there for SEO that I could competently do, but I am concerned about whether these jobs will translate into clear value for my clients. SEO these days can take months and months to convert into what clients are actually looking for (rankings and consequential sales). There are many things under the SEO umberella (backlinking, on page SEO, keyword research, auditing) and I thought about potentially focusing on one aspect. I'm just worried that none of these skills (although very important parts of the SEO process) will translate into immediate value for potential clients.

I have experience in a broad array of other online marketing domains like facebook ads, PPC etc. and had considered just focusing on adwords. I am really not sure whether to do any of this after finding all this out from logging into my old upwork account or just stick with your advice and apply for VA jobs?

 

[Owlman]

Yep! That's the one. That's the exact email clients trash. It's also the kind of resume / application employers trash.

I looked at the other copywriter's profiles that applied to the same gigs as me. Almost all of them, even the big guys, had profiles talking about their passion for copywriting, and how many years of experience they have. They talk about how they've trained under every guru under the sun, and taken all the top courses, and have a degree in copywriting.

Then I get the job with my 2 weeks of experience and a few notes on Cashvertising...

Man, anyone on this forum should thank god they found it. How can you not make money here? It's literally not possible. You have to do nothing, and never listen to anything to not walk away with something.

Bro this is gold. Am from a third world, my grammar is terrible. But I get a lot of gig and this is how I do it. Seriously I should hate you for shearing this.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[baguvix]

Great thread, thanks for a big value. Do you think I could offer copywriting skill if I dont have 100% fluent english skill?

 

[Phillip Anderson]

So, if I were to offer SEO but have no experience, would I send a bunch of you-focused applications and if I get (a) clients(s), learn as I go? A commenter on my other post suggested I offer to help existing companies in order to build a portfolio so I can get experience and then get paid, but this thread says you can do so without experience. Is it possible?

 

[kefapy]

Let me give this a try.....

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[poepe]

Lex here is copywriting and building a great skill for later, where he WILL sell his own shit.

He's already looking at building lead pages and other stuff based on experience he's had in copywriting for a particular niche from an Odesk client which he would never have thought of before.

I remember that 5 year conversation haha

Me "Lex where do you want to be in 5 years time"

Lex "I want a successful ecommerce business or to be a life coach" <--- Thats right I cant remeber 100% Lex?

Me "WTF are you dicking around on this website that is full of sidewalkers and is making no income?"

The rest is history, Lex if you remember the conversation better can you say it more eloquently

Could I have a conversation too?
Might provide the paradigm shift