@Andy Black touché, touché . Before making this post, I was going to give you all the reasons why I couldn't help other people. But then realized before sending the reply, "WTF am I doing?" So... I decided to take action instead.
This is what I've learned from advice given by Andy through PM.
Hopefully someone can get some value from it!
So I read this thread a while back and 1 month ago thought "ok, why not learn some copy since its what "
everyone is saying you should learn". (I already had interest in copywriting, because I love psychology and wanted to provide value to people while developing a new skill. And why not also make some money along the way!)
I learned some copy by reading quite a few books and copying sales letters. Great, I'm on my way to becoming a success! Ehh... kinda.
Firstly, before you even write a
single-word on your overview for a freelance site, your mindset has to be in-line to what your main
goal is--
PROVIDING VALUE!
I'm a very "up in the head" type person and... selling myself is difficult, since I'm very much into my own thoughts!
When I first read this thread, a lot of the points given,
flew over my head. But when I actually started to get into freelancing, I suddenly knew it was going to a lot harder then I first thought.
Thanks
@SinisterLex for all your advice in this thread and many others!
Do I have a job yet NO, BUT KNOW my mindset is congruent, so I can come from a place of helping them, instead of
what can I get.
Lets begin...
GET OUT OF YOUR OWN HEAD!
About 2 weeks ago, I finally completed my first profile for Upwork and felt good about myself.
WOOHOO!
But something felt off about it... so I decided to PM Andy Black to get some feedback. To my surprise, he actually replied and gave some of his nuggets of wisdom:
"Be an example though of what you're preaching.
Keep it short. Remove 50% of the copy, review it, then remove another 50%.
Above all, make it about THEM.
A tip: try starting the copy with "Looking for ...?"
Work out what that ... is.
Then explain how you can help them get ...."
Awesome advice!
So I followed his advice (or I thought) and fixed my profile, but it turned out pretty much the same in the end. Sent him a follow up update... no reply.
My mindset wasn't congruent at the time so how could I've understood what he had meant .
Thought that maybe, if I left it alone for a day or so, I could come back to it with a different
perspective... nope, didn't happen.
I didn't even touch the overview again, for like 6-7 days!
It had been about 7 days and I only applied to 2 jobs. Too my surprise... not a single interview from either!
So I went into a self-destructive mode:
"I'm not good enough"
"I can't do this"
"I'm not gonna make my new years resolution"
"I don't understand copywriting"
"I need to read more books and copy more sales letters"
So on and so forth--You get the idea... I hope.
Within-the-mist of the constant self-sabotage, I decided to just calm down, and be objective as possible.
Beating yourself up isn't going to get you anywhere, anytime soon.
I then realized, I should complete my SEO Fundamentals course on Lynda and get the certificate. And I did... NOW, I at least have something to add to my profile--
even though it has nothing to do with copywriting, I was happy.
I was finally taking action. Instead of staying in my own head.
Another realization came, I should fix my Linkedin profile, start connecting with other people and provide value to them. Something I also had been holding off.
Oh yeah! Need to start doing this .
Boom! Now we're getting somewhere!
Fixed my Linkedin Profile and decided
"ok, lets look at this Upwork Profile one more time."
The difference this time was that, I erased everything that was there before and started fresh.
Starting with the words "Looking for...", everything else fell into place. I had already seen many jobs for copywriting, so I new most of things they were looking for.
Taking small steps towards your goals matter more then leaping to the big ones. Rome wasn't built in one day. It was built upon a Vision, an Idea, and a Process. Small steps pave the way.
How Much You Think You Know vs. How Much You Actually Know
Fixed up my new profile and decided to update Andy about it... again.
He actually replied back and congratulated me for finally understanding what he had meant. Wanting to know if he could've explained it better
(he explained it well. It was my fault for not understanding myself to how I could approach it.), gave me a very insightful question ...
"How would you explain it to your past self?"
This was a teaching lesson in-it-of-its-self. I guess he had it planned out from the start. Who knows...
I answered the question and told him "I'll help other people once I get good at Upwork".
He mentions how I should use my knowledge of what I've learned so far (before and after), to help other people NOW, then later.
So this is my answer to "How would you explain it to your past self":
1. Forget everything you think you need to explain
Don't ramble on and on, get straight to point right away.
If you're a native english speaker, use your overview to prove that.
Instead of saying it outright "I'm a native english speaker".
It just adds fluff, unless it is of significant importance like "I'm a non-native english speaker" and so on..
2. Prove within your body, the statements you make within your body--"Be what you preach".
You say you make unique headlines, but your headline in the beginning wasn't unique-Make it so it is unique!
You say you can help them, but your body is talking 30% about them and 70% about you.
You say you can persuade them, but your words are contradicting your own statements, your using big words and so on. Read over everything OUT LOUD, again n' again and keep simplifying until it reads smooth as silk.
3. Explain what you are capable of in a way that benefits them
(May take sometime to understand... ok, a lot of time to understand .)
90% about them, 10% about you is your goal (Use more you then I).
Put yourself in your clients shoes and vision what you would be looking for, if you were to hire someone for your position (look through jobs and see what clients are looking for the most and meet everyone of those requirements.)
4. Understand WTF your actually trying to accomplish.
Being so into "how much you think you know" then "how much you actually know" makes a big difference.
First one leads to mental masturbation, the latter leads to taking action. Don't think I need to explain any further.
Conclusion
Point to all this...
Understanding yourself, so you could approach situations better, and take the necessary steps forward, toward your goals--is the main idea.
Well, big thanks to Andy for all his input and for pushing me to make this post haha (mentally pushing)... I really wasn't in all seriousness...
If anyone has read this to the end, hopefully you got something out of it.