ZF's progress thread

[ZF Lee]

In the Randoms thread, I shared how I absolutely hate Mandarin because of a few racist asses, my rough family background (relatives on CNY and all)...

I realised if I wanted to reach out to certain people...especially for very 'personal reasons'...I NEED to learn the language. Reclaim what should be mine. 天哪...如果这个华人不知道讲华文...

So instead of posting declarations threads with nothing to back it up...I actually started work a few weeks ago:

1. I took a train to a Chinese church where NO ONE KNEW ME AT ALL.
Came in early, got welcomed by some parishioners...and started introducing myself.
Where I worked...how old I was...did I drive...5-15 min chatter.
I also asked them back the same.

Surprisingly no one started mocking me for my English background.

One lady even commented I COULD speak Mandarin...I just needed more of it.

Miraculously, I could get in about 60-70% of their sermon of the day...a simple salvation message by a lobster fisherman-turned-missions worker.

I plan to visit that church regularly to practice my Mandarin on the fly...and who knows, make a few new friends?

2. I started browsing the language subreddits and other course review blogs to see my options for learning Mandarin.

The Mandarin Blueprint suggested mnemonics to help memorise Mandarin characters before you upgraded to compound words.

I bought their MB Challenge product for a low $7 to try it out.

Although I'm still skeptical on how they make you create stories for each character, I kept with it and am on Day 12-13 of their Challenge now. The stories do add one level of thinking when it comes to active recall...but enough Traverse flashcard test-times, and you'll eventually reach a round where you can recall the character or word quickly...and you mentally tear off the mnemonic and its in your memory for good. Like a butterfly escaping a cocoon.

From using MB, I realised I actually couldn't use educational products that made me learn Mandarin like a PURE Westerner from scratch. It's not the fault of the product...it's simply my own background.

The MB characters had some which I was laughing at...I was wondering why 'simple' characters would need a full blown story behind them as prompted by the system.

But then I realised not everyone was starting out at my level. THEY needed the stories more than I did.

I did learn Mandarin from kindergarten after all using the typical rote-memory system (with canings and tears and coloured books), only to have it all halt by the age of 8 or 9. I still had 'some' Mandarin in my head.

What I needed was some resources that used Mandarin I already knew...and have them connect me to new stuffs.

I'm looking at the HanBook app subscription, Chairman's Bao and HelloTalk (for more speaking practice)

3.I tried learning by immersion by doing a few days' worth of listening to tons of Mandarin songs, short movie clips and even Bible recitals in Mandarin...but a lot of it felt like Greek.

Yet I realised that maybe in a way, these medias may function the same way as mnemonics...they give you a story or context to 'anchor' the characters by. Can they do the job faster than man-made course gimmicks? Possible...but only if the mind is primed well enough?

I think maybe just absorbing the medias actually may not be a bad thing.

For example, among the first I listened to and read-- was Psalms 23 in Mandarin.

Verse 4 'Your rod and your staff'...translates to '你的杖，你的竿'

竿 stood out for me because one of the radicals '干'...gan (almost sounds the same as the original)...stands for 'dry'. I first picked up '干' from the Mandarin Blueprint Challenge. And one of the purposes of a shepherd's staff is to let him lean on it, if the ground is not dry for sitting...you get the idea.


==========

For my bread-and-butter work, I finally caved and signed up for my FIRST paid copywriting course with a mentoring element...with Tom Meitner.

Found him from wandering Google-land. He surprisingly did not go very heavy on the online marketing presence (except for Twitter and some blog posts) like most other online gurus...and has 15 years in the industry and counting.

The good thing is that his annual subscription charges a fraction of what most gurus teach...and I could pay it with my own freelance earnings. I didn't need to go into debt or destroy my savings for it.

Freelancing is never Fastlane. But I think some parts of the CENTS can be strengthened, one way or another. Of course, how the payout goes compared to a pure business varies...

Studied his course these few days, and saw his strength lay in cold outreach, something which I am honestly not very good in. The stuff he suggested was not out-of-this-world...just enough to take and run with. I like how it does not require you to create your own website and bells and whistles. You just go out and 'rack the shotgun' and see who flinges for you.

Yet I can't believe what took me so long to get to this level...

In a few days, I'll be attending my first weekly call with him. See how it goes...

 

[Geist]

UPDATES.

Not much, I'm afraid...

Decided not to pursue the earlier product idea. It had demand, but it would be tied to the demand of several other products, which feels like a huge commandment of control violation.

I picked up the Wallstreet Playboy's book on Efficiency, and was pleasantly surprised to find it had some good ideas that UNSCRIPTED brushed over. Namely on demand.

In a nutshell, all products have demand. But which has the best outcome? Or do you have the ability to capture it? Or is the demand subject to disruption by government or tech?

I also picked up Competing Against Luck. It's funny that when you are doing something, the right books come out to help you, not when you are sitting in a basement, wantrapreneuring away. For now, I haven't finished the book, but I can say that it is a more thorough treatise of the Commandment of Need.

It's funny that after such a long time, I hadn't really specified my goals well enough. Not even revenue or profit or leads. That's also an error I did for freelancing. I just thought 'Use this to gain experience and gain capital.' But I had little thought for to what end of capital and experience? How much capital? RM5000? Experience? Enough to pull in some programmers or more smarter people to tackle the fields you don't have time to learn? Enough to write a proposal or create a workable product to help with that?

But good thing I didn't lose much money to find that out.

Decided to redevelop my freelancing skills from scratch, after subscribing to Brennan Dunn's set of emails, after a tip from reddit (its a negative site alright, but has some good nuggets once in a while).

So I drew my earnings so far from Upwork escrow and set to private (if I continue with my regular practices, I might actually be hurting potential clients) after my gigs ended.

Amounts to few hundred ringgit...pretty dismal, as I could have earned a similar payout by working at a cafe as a dish washer. But the plus benefit is that I learned how communications and project management run about in service businesses, something a cafe dish washer might not learn that well.

From my experience as well, I realised that I had been saying terribly, wrong things about business all those years ago.

Terribly wrong things.

I remember saying on this forum like a parrot rubbish like, "Just outsource shit." Not really.

Guys like Sinister and even Fox have been talking about getting deeper into the value game by niche or tailoring to specific fields (e.g website for boring industries). I realised it was not different than a regular engineer speciallising in product manufacturing or HVAC, or a chemical engineer dealing with either petroleum or factory lubricants. The fields as a whole are universes by themselves. So, I should use my mistakes, patch them up, and then I would truly know how to pick and use freelancers in the future.

I used to hate the thought of waiting for many years in a job to gain experience before setting out to do a business, which was a notion pushed by folks around me.

But the folks may be right. Or wrong.

You won't know how to deal with shitty people until you have worked as their peer. Somewhat like how a teacher knows the antics of her naughtiest students, because she was one of them.

You won't know about how supply chain management works, until you have worked in the inner levels of a biz. I have mentioned that little quote from my marketing lecture in an earlier thread on how supply management, be it in goods and services, actually affects marketing as a whole!

Having started from copywriting as an area of interest, I'm ashamed to say that I overlooked the shipping and distribution of goods as a determinant of marketing. I paid too much attention to the emotional and psychological pull of marketing, which is pretty close to a bro-marketing tendency.

I'm thinking I might start a biz relevant to supply chain. But that's another story (more homework for me too)

Now to non-business stuff....

For university studies, I had to take marketing and biz law subjects, as well as an elective social entrepreneurship management course and business data modelling. The first three subjects were very text-orientated, and took awful loads of time for assignments.

I did learn many things from them, which have cleared up some of the mist of not knowing jack shit about business. But in the next sem, I'll just pick data related courses. It's just formulas, Excel and RCode, which can be done very quickly with Chegg and a thousand other materials online that I found. That way, the time steal can be cut significantly.

My girl just became the president of her environmental engineering club. Really proud of her. She'll get to do more things in her university. I've never had any doubts on what she could do. Saw her going on trips to visit sanitation facilities and such. But knowing how some of these industries are really like, having a lot of hard labour and all, I felt very scared at the same time for her. A Kak-sized entrepreneural and acquisitions play might be needed to make it big in some of these stiff industries. Guess I need to learn that side up eventually.

A Malaysian PHD guy from Quora basically summed up my fears on this issue with this phrase- 'the labour trap'. It is a problem that plagues my country, and to an extent, other nations. Probably a cause or symptom of the 'small business trap', it is an occurence where the biz sticks to cheap labour, as opposed to tech, for reduce production costs. In the short term, it does saves up more profits, but you could burn the workers out and more costs are incurred, even if you fire and hire aggressively. Bloody inefficient.

She hasn't discussed much with me on entrepreneurship, although I update her with my stuff regularly, only preferring to be more personal. "Don't blame the community." she said when I was ranting again on some crap about the tough world we live in. I guess that she is trying her best to do something about things, in her own way, as well.

That way, I feel less alone, even when she's studying far away.




If she's reading this here, I want to say....please work hard. I'm here for you, if you need it. I've always wanted a beautiful hardworking girl like you that pushes on. Please don't worry about BGR relationships and fitting in with your peers. Your best bet of breaking out and be free is to excel at our work, scale it and commit to help good people. Do it, and you can be happier and freer.

Before I get more mushy...I'll end here. Back to work. I think I wrote the last sentences for Fastlane dads/ BFs to tell to similar-minded partners.

Thanks for the book recommendations! Hard to find decent book recommendations that aren’t just slowlane crap, especially since the books you mentioned expand on the actually focusing on value and satisfying needs. I’ve added the two titles to my book list.

It’s commendable that you actually decided to go out there and talk with actual entrepreneurs and seek out constructive criticism before deciding to pivot to another business idea that would be more valuable. Most people just daydream and take no action on it.

Interesting that you mention the labour trap. I CONSTANTLY notice businesses being inefficient by refusing to automate and implement technology for basic crap and instead getting employees to do it, even successful entrepreneurs can fall into the trap of short term thinking.

I’m liking the start of your process journey so far, I’ll be checking back here and reading it more.

 

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[ZF Lee]

Hard to find decent book recommendations that aren’t just slowlane crap, especially since the books you mentioned expand on the actually focusing on value and satisfying needs. I’ve added the two titles to my book list.

The folks behind Efficiency have moved on to BowTiedBull, which discusses more on ecommerce and crypto now.

BowTied Bull | Substack

The #1 Paid Crypto Substack. No non-sense writing style covering: 1) Crypto, 2) Tech Stocks, 3) WiFi money and 4) Real Estate. Written by anon Ex-Wall St and Tech Individuals. SPONSOR FREE. Click to read BowTied Bull, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

bowtiedbull.io

They have some free articles to start with.

Mind that they didn't exactly shit on 9-5. 'Efficiency' spent some chapters on identifying your key strengths (physical, math, etc) from young, so you could build a great career around it first, which will eventually fund your REAL escape-- a business that is of course, ideally Fastlane. Heck, they even suggested job-hunting based on the R&D budget of public-listed companies (to gauge how much you'd be paid).

If we weren't too hard on time, I would take this route.

It’s commendable that you actually decided to go out there and talk with actual entrepreneurs and seek out constructive criticism before deciding to pivot to another business idea that would be more valuable.

Sometimes they stretch their stories too far...but the more time you spend on the industry, the more you know how to gauge if its actually legit. More of an art than a science.

 

[Geist]

The folks behind Efficiency have moved on to BowTiedBull, which discusses more on ecommerce and crypto now.

BowTied Bull | Substack

The #1 Paid Crypto Substack. No non-sense writing style covering: 1) Crypto, 2) Tech Stocks, 3) WiFi money and 4) Real Estate. Written by anon Ex-Wall St and Tech Individuals. SPONSOR FREE. Click to read BowTied Bull, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

bowtiedbull.io

They have some free articles to start with.

Mind that they didn't exactly shit on 9-5. 'Efficiency' spent some chapters on identifying your key strengths (physical, math, etc) from young, so you could build a great career around it first, which will eventually fund your REAL escape-- a business that is of course, ideally Fastlane. Heck, they even suggested job-hunting based on the R&D budget of public-listed companies (to gauge how much you'd be paid).

If we weren't too hard on time, I would take this route.


Sometimes they stretch their stories too far...but the more time you spend on the industry, the more you know how to gauge if its actually legit. More of an art than a science.

Sounds very similar to what MJ mentions in some of his videos about develpping skills and a job to serve as funding for a fastlane business. Usually I only hear people either shitting on the 9-5 (which is very fair) or worshipping it. I definitely lean way more towards shitting.

And yeah, it’s definitely a skill to acquire when it comes to being able to accurately assess other people’s criticisms since some people will be just immediately and irrationally dismissive and negative of anything that goes against the SCRIPT.

 

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[Geist]

Actually...reading that part when I was still close to that girl...makes me sad.

Recently I tried to patch things up with her because I KNOW I have more things than before to help us all get out of the SCRIPT. I'm too forgiving I guess. Too loving?

I won't elaborate here what happened. How I went to meet with her despite many difficulties. But she not only gave me the cold shoulder-- but also sent her (second) BF out to confront me. What hurt me most was that she refused to go herself to come deal with the issue at hand.

I've attended school with her for years...and shared many good and bad things with her.

And somehow something...turned her around.

I ...don't want to blame her. Treat her like an enemy. I've never belittled her and I've always invited her to talk or meet up even during college break times. Yet I realise that many times I was doing a one-sided effort.

I just blame the SCRIPT for this.

I sat down with a young adult leader from church on this...and he said some people 'simply grow and leave'. And it 'wasn't my season yet' for a relationship.

Thinking about his words made me remember why I actually distanced myself from the faith in the first years after reaching TMF ...namely on 'seasons'. I don't believe we are that helpless and have to be at the mercy of fate-- even if we want to have better, happier lives. I believe we can create good businesses and relationships if we want. The only problem is that of course...not everyone thinks like us.

Even though she doesn't love me...I told myself, 'I will NOT stop loving others.'

So these few months, I have been stepping on catching up with family. Even went with my dad to a casino (although normally I'd balk at gambling). I also try to respond to WhatsApp messages from the mens fellowship and other folks in my life as soon as I can. Share a bit more. Even donate and sponsor some charities silently (biggest I ever did was dump four-figures to sponsor health products for an ailing family after my mentor shared some...more on this later)

I don't know where this is all going to lead to.

But as MJ always say...throw enough action into the world...and something happens.


Recently I got my first ever referral WITHOUT Upwork...he referred me to a buddy to do a ton of emails for lead gen.

I still feel my copywriting skills, especially for email, are not exactly A-rank.

But they did help book some calls, and the folks like it...so I guess you just run with what works and keep everyone in touch.

In the meantime...my mentor figure who works in stem cells (and showed me how to trade stocks in cruel Bursa) found a great product that is WAY CHEAPER than the normal injections. Thing is...it's sold on a direct sales model.

Before you scream 'Amway' and run...hear me out:

1. My mentor figure is the STOCKIST for the product-- at least for the country in the time being.
When MJ speaks on 'owning the pyramid or being close to the top' ...it's as close as it gets.

2.He doesn't need the damn money. He's already semi-retired from his own companies and investments.

3.He has actual domain experience in stem cells. In all our coffee chats, he would point out everything that is wrong with most stem cell treatments...how we are all actually MADE of it...why cholesterol isn't as horrible as it seems...and more.

So I'm not just dealing with a 'sell and pump' guy. He's passionate about this.

Still, he HAS tried other direct sales products earlier in his younger days...which funded his later self-owned businesses. Back then you had no Upwork for side hustles...and the only corporate job you had was to be a banking clerk.

The ONE danger he has ever experienced was when the direct sales company gets bought out by a competitor and cannibalized.

4. This product is so far only sold in two ASEAN countries...but my mentor has been slowly selling them to his network in US, Singapore, Australia and UK ever since it got FDA approval. So the competition of same sellers isn't crowded yet, if you are willing to think globally.

5. The product works. They actually had to withhold some testimonials, especially by cancer patient users...because they recovered too damn fast than what you'd normally expect.

Since the product already was a hit on TikTok, I went to check the top sellers that my mentor mentioned...and I saw they lacked many, many marketing skews. I'm talking simple stuff like having some way to capture email addresses. They did well because in their local areas...the village chiefs got hold of the product...and the entire community followed after.

I've already got some experience running Instagram content for financial offers.

But not exactly much time to hammer the doors physically to sell this.

So what I have been doing is running a Tiktok account to spy on other creators and other similar parallels. @mikecarlooch's posts on TikTok have been a great start especially on the process part.

Working on this till sometimes I find myself dozed off in my room with the lights on-- in addition to my current email copy work.

My plan is to roll out a steady viewership...gather some names into email or Telegram chat where I can use my current email skills to nurture...and then talk to my mentor on our next meetup.

I don't like TikTok or short form video. I'm as passion-less as it gets. Maybe it's a good thing?

Hey, everyone deals with bad relationships. It’s good to have looked back and at least seeing the mistakes of being one-sided with your efforts.

That is pretty sad that she wasn’t willing to meet in person at all, still it’s probably for the best since it will help you move on (even if it led to an awkward confrontation with her boyfriend)

I really don’t know much about stem cells, but if you’re confident that your mentor really is passionatr and purposeful about this, and you also trust him, I don’t see much of a threat of a pump and dump here. Just be wary of the lack of control you may have if he’s the runner of the show and you just tag along.

I’m the same when it comes to hatinh short form content, sometimes I find myself on youtube shorts and I IMMEDIATELY feel the consequences on my attention span and dopamine receptors. Never ends well.

 

[ZF Lee]

Usually I only hear people either shitting on the 9-5 (which is very fair) or worshipping it. I definitely lean way more towards shitting.

Most of us pick up biz ideas or systems from jobs...because we really don't know much to start with.

Especially the young kids who are fresh outta high school or college.

Hey, everyone deals with bad relationships. It’s good to have looked back and at least seeing the mistakes of being one-sided with your efforts.

That is pretty sad that she wasn’t willing to meet in person at all, still it’s probably for the best since it will help you move on (even if it led to an awkward confrontation with her boyfriend)

Some wounds never really heal.

I’m the same when it comes to hatinh short form content, sometimes I find myself on youtube shorts and I IMMEDIATELY feel the consequences on my attention span and dopamine receptors. Never ends well.

Making short-form content can be a lot faster and efficient than writing entire long sales pages though...the process just has to be nailed down.

 

[ZF Lee]

keep going bro @ZF Lee keep on truckin' you are getting there.

Thanks.
Odd....the Upwork clients don't seem to be responding as quickly as they used to.
This is just for some more capital....but I'm just wondering about that.

 

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[ZF Lee]

Here am I worrying on how to test Facebook ads in a more progressive manner, to the point of stagnation, until I ran into my answer while doing some proposal sample work for Upwork...

The potential client was looking for someone to do a Canva case study to prove the results of his social media company to clients.

So I went to look for existing social media case studies to make Canva infographs on.....

AND FOUND THIS motherfcker

Facebook Ads Case Study: The Million Dollar Indiegogo Campaign

So yeah...if you run out of ideas...go do freelancing? Work a job?

EDIT: Making an infographic from scratch is like trying to push a pig through the eye of a needle....

 

[ZF Lee]

Yikes...upcoming entrepreneural meetup in KL is the biggest I have gone to yet.

They are having a special Christmas event though. Have to pay RM15 for food and stuff. OK price.

Still got the jingles. A bit nervous walking into room full of strangers.

Let me look through the steps:
1. Identify interesting members/regulars (it can be their background, industry, regular life tales, humility, etc.). Might be 2-4 I guess. My hunch is that they will be more towards extroverts, as introverts don't share about themselves until you prod them.

2. Know them better (how did they become regulars, their pains, favourites, concerns, etc.)

3. Get contacts, follow up

Meetup is at 7.30pm. Got to go about....now.

On the freelance retraining, the free eMarketing ebook is very comprehensive compared to most guru crap, but I started glazing over after an hour. I'll supplement it will some MailCheat(Chimp) vids on Youtube. Found a bunch of vids that had encouraging reviews.

Don't think I can finish the Kennedy book in time. I'll have to push it off for now....

 

[ZF Lee]

I'll keep it short.

1. Got into an argument with my parents over some stupid issue. Usually we can learn from our mistakes and conflicts, but this just wasn't one of those.

I packed my stuff and went back to my university accoms in KL.

There's almost no one there, so I can work in peace.

Need some time off from them, even though it will be the end of the year soon. Very disappointed that my own flesh and blood cut me to pieces.

2. Decided to make the push. Researched and formed at least 3 potential client profiles/avatars that I will be writing sales proposals to. One is based on my past experience, and the other two based on upcoming fields/ industry/ specific problems that are relatively new to me.

Wrote and edited for hours, with Masterson's Great Leads next to me for reference.

I had always preferred to read the whole thing first, and then do. Now I see I have no time to waste at all. There is no rule that says you can't look and do as you go, as least in the beginning.

I also found this gem during an online search for John Carlton's stuff. Here is it. I recognised some insights from Eugene Schwartz and Sugarman, but its nicer to have the gems in tidy little article instead of an entire treatise.

Welcome to Gary’s Arsenal (The Bullet Archive) –

Will work on other client profiles, if needed, and will work to finish my Upwork profile by tomorrow.

EDIT: On Point 1, that argument with my parents made me realise how dependent I am on them, financially and emotionally. I wondered if that was the same with my girl.

Replace parents with boss, company, government or whatever else.

My girl and I really need our own sources of financial and emotional support, so that if we can choose to walk away from anything and not suffer, we'll be able to do it.

Frightens me, yet enlightens me at the same time.

I might have to consider the threat of dropping studies, moving out to a cheaper place, besides getting up the speed with my freelancing returns. It's not what I want, but that is a threat I shouldn't put away. On moving out, this would need lots of research on my part for a good place. There are threads here on 'living rent free', and I am wondering if there's a Malaysian-equivalent, since we don't have the loans or certain paperwork here that the threads outlay. I guess it'll be up to me to explore and broker a new path to share with you guys!

Look to the best, but prepare for the worst.

EDIT 2:Will be following up on that KL/PJ entrepreneur meetup group (the last one with the wine club demo that I talked about). They are screening a movie next meeting. Should be fun...

 

[ZF Lee]

OK, should be done with the profile and other stuff in a few minutes.

I got a hint from the outsourcing spokesperson himself, Tim Ferriss. Visited his blog for a while as I had a hunch that a considerable amount of clients would grab some of his frameworks and are less likely to modify them greatly.

In one of his articles, he wrote to the outsourcers (not VAs), warning them that some of them might feel touchy about having the VAs handle their personal stuff. This would cause them to have less time for important stuff.

In other words, resistance. I need to help clients cut it down so that I can help them.

In this case, I'll make the decision to make a quick video tomorrow for the Upwork profile with my webcam. At my accomodations, the study area will be empty, so I can use it all by my own!

Video should be around 1-2 min long. Will include a screen recording on my computer on how I roughly do the bread and butter of things. I've never seen the other VAs do it, so it should help me stand out.

I've done screen record stuff before, but this time, I need one without the watermark and less laggy. No Bandicam messes.

 

[ZF Lee]

Get OBS studio, completely free. or Loom for an easy-to-use Chrome plugin. In case you haven't found an option yet.

Thanks! Will look into it.

Mean while, for the video, I've been watching a few videos to get some ideas on how to present myself. The ones on Upwork are a bit dull and don't appeal to me even on the selling point.

From the top of my head, here are a few:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfw03p-5S-Q

Dollar Shave club series of ads. The TV ones are concise, full of relevance to the retail customers.

Since I am a one-man freelancer, this vid from my own country somehow has some good points. It is actually of an outspoken politician who is using the video to campaign against a government accused of money laundering. Very educational, humorous and down-to-earth, a fresh difference from the regular propaganda most political parties might do. And yes, the video worked spectacularly, winning the election last year.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5loVK9dM3kE

 

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[ZF Lee]

Upwork profile launched! It was my longest piece of copy yet. Didn't leave anything out, such as common resistance and how I add value.

Decided to take Carlton's POV that longer copy works well as it caters to the most interested of prospects.

2 proposals launched! Working on more as we speak.

More Portfolio and sample pieces launched! (Took up stuff like HubSpot and Trello)

Will hold back the video production until I see how the write-ups are received. Don't think I'll get any responses until weekend. Might open up other freelance platforms too in the meantime, now that I have some time...

Or work on the main Fastlane biz?

UPDATE: Ran into a lot of boo-boo.

Dan Pena said, 'If this was a real war, all of you would be dead."

Thank goodness this isn't a business deal where I commit $100k in capital...

Ran into non-reply and saw battles I wouldn't be able to win.

My proposed service offer was email management.

I would help folks who had 1000s of emails a day to categorize them, cut off the spam, break down the important stuff into a nice tidy report and just ship off the 1% that mattered to the client.

It is a valid service, but most of the VAs on Upwork do not have this as a stand-alone service. They pair it with executive tasks like bookkeeping and marketing, not unlike a traditional secretary.

While that could be a good value skew to think of, I feel that I would be stretched thin going that angle.

I was thinking of using email management jobs to transition to email copywriting eventually, as I would be exposed the the emails of my clients' industry. But I guess i'll have to think of another way.

Also, the revenue issue springs up. I'm in favour of having a mix of fixed and hourly gigs. However, VAs are strapped to purely hourly, implying a huge dependence on 1-2 clients.

The clients would naturally require you to be full-time standby, or at most, 8 hours a day. Looking at some of the rates, something tells me it ain't gonna be worth it. Could smell the income cap pretty low.

I'm not the one to like one-off gigs or client hopping, but sure as hell would I not want to rely on one golden goose for dough.

I reread the Sinister thread, as well as @UnrealCreative's write-up on freelancing.

Realised that some of my proposals didn't even need samples or all the copywriting elaboration stuff.

I thought about the first few clients I had roped in.

At that time, I hadn't gotten deep into copywriting or salesletter writing stuff. So naturally, I wrote like I would usually did as if I were discussing stuff with a human being. Actually won the folks over. In fact, John Carlton actually recommends that if you are good at selling with your speech, record yourself and transcribe and edit to product a great piece of sellable copy.

I should do the latter.

Maybe my thinking of making an Upwork video has something to do about it.

I bitch-slapped myself and went back to work (after a Chinese tea ceremony for a cousin's wedding this morning, and yesterday's night pre-wedding craze where I saw an uncle get drunk and danced like a rabbit before lumbering over to my dad for a hug)

 

[ZF Lee]

While entertaining clients, on the side, I went to do all I could to exercise my copywriting.

I found this gem from a feature interview at Copyhackers

https://copyhackers.com/2018/03/writing-headlines/
The Headline Project - Pretty Fly Copywriting

Imagine writing 100 Headlines a day for 100 Days...

The Sinister 15-Day challenge only makes you write like....5 Headlines?

100 Headlines would have you running out of copy templates, and will knock your brains hahaha.

Decided to try it out since I was desperate to improve.

I have already done 2 day's worth of headlines. Figured out that if I did a grand announcement and didn't follow up, shame on me.

I dunno if these headlines will convert in the market, but again, its an exercise to identify new ways of communicating value from multiple angles.

I would pretty much like to post all 200 Headlines here ( Day 1& 2), but I won't since it'll be overkill.

EXCERPT FROM MY 100 HEADLINES
DAY 1: Copy for My school

• The HAPPY revelation about getting your FIRST Badge
• From Cutthroat Bully to Champion Bass Drummer in 2 years
• What aspiring engineers can learn from Painting Mickey Mouse
• Knock off 10% off your hefty fees by asking this ONE original question
• Win over a CEO with Wesley’s ONE ordinary question
• 10 Silent Steps to Fail Your way to 10 Bright As
• How to Transform Your Life without Academic Excellence
• 4 Harsh Truths about YOUR teachers that might raise your grades by 50%
• Even Ms Goh was shocked when she saw her failed dreams come true…
• Angry that you haven’t caught these 19 Wesleyan study strategies?
• How 2 Quiet Boys Shocked 20 Schools into Submission by Reading ONLY THESE 2 Books
• 7As in PMR? It's still not enough, admits Chief Examiner...
• Here’s ONE sharp truth Oxford doesn't reveal to O-levels until exams…
• How To Achieve True Christian Manliness With This Simple Prayer
  
• Kind Senior Reveals: How We Saved 10 Bullies from Shameful Expulsion
  
• Put your cane down. There’s a better way…in 2 days!

DAY 2: Dollar Shave Club
They've got plenty of Instagram posts and blog material to look at for twists and ad adjustments.

• Rusty Ripoff Razors at Rocketing Prices? It Reeks!
• 7 Fresh Flavours of Soap to Help Clear Your Shower Thoughts
• 5 Days From Grizzly Bear to Groomed Boss in Manhattan
• Will These 5 Undies Slip-Ups Undermine Your Valentines?
• To Comb Or Not to Comb, That is the Question!
• 4 Important Ingredients in Your Shaving Strips that May Be Better Than Today’s Breakfast
• Your Ex Hurt You? Here’s Why Our Blades Don’t
• Why Bathing Suits Shouldn’t be All About Eye Candy
• How to Shave Better Than Your Barber with only $1 and 5-mins
• Sorry that Your Razors Blew $1000 Last Month? We Too!
• Tired of Lame Dad Jokes? How About Lame Shaves?
• Rid the Roll and the Rabbit for Only $20 a Month

DAY 3: Adventist line of Organic and Healthy Bread- COMING SOON

P.S Note though that I didn't write them in one sitting. I wrote some, went away, went to dinner, wrote 2 or 3 there, went back, wrote a bit more...

I might consider opening another fresh thread just for the 100 Headlines a day.

I'm wondering if I could put my headlines project on my Upwork portfolio, but do clients like to see just a list of headlines?

EDIT: I'll be going back to my original idea to look into copywriting for health and education. I spotted a few competing copywriters for that niche on Upwork, and their earning tabs were quite sizable. I'll adjust my 100 Headlines practice to lean towards products from these two fields.

I'm going to have to study the Atomic Habits book. Very comprehensive for a self-development book, besides Miracle Morning. The first few pages made me realise that I haven't approached the habits thing strictly. If I want to be a regular copywriter, the daily habits to build my skill up must be in place.

 

[ZF Lee]

For some reasons, I fell asleep at 4 pm yesterday...only to wake up around 9-10 pm.

I couldn't sleep the whole night, so I just went to read Atomic Habits.

.....all I can say is I discovered that I f*cked up. Many of the achievements I did in my past were done pretty inefficiently. I was selling myself short in many ways due to poor formation of habits.

I'll go into details later once I finish the book.

Meanwhile, I'm continuing my 100 Headlines into the cleaning industry. Couldn't find any good local cleaning companies to write headlines on, as most companies (my university included) have in-house folks, so I'll just write headlines based on benefits I'd want to see. I've seen lots of shit related to the cleaning business, including maids that steal stuff and maids that trash the house mops and brooms.

 

[ZF Lee]

In light of my sudden need to to a bit of web design, I remembered a Reddit book recommend on the area:

Evil By Design written by Chris Nodder.

Basically it seems to be a book on web design surrounding the 7 Deadly Sins. Sounds like he would support copywriting as a companion to the web technicals, as copy also relies on human weaknesses.

Will give it a read, and see what different changes I might come up with for my prospect's website. With a little more knowledge, my idea on improving her website might become something different.

Act, Assess, Adjust

EDIT: F*ck! The book's 300 pages long. I'll just have to pick the chapter most relevant to my present gig to start applying...

 

[ZF Lee]

Nope, I'm not gonna hack into it. I'll just right-click, click Inspect element and just play around with the HTML/CSS ...with another browser opened up to peek at a YouTube tutorial video

If I don't like the results, I'll just refresh the page and it returns to default.

If I'm done, I'll just screen capture and sent it to her.

Here's a very detailed and useful article on using the Inspect Element tool to do stuff like change fonts, colours and position of the websites for a demo.

Inspect Element: How to Temporarily Edit Any Webpage

For you Wordpress/ HTML newbies!

And here's a good site for you to check on website colour codes to put into the Styles tab.

HTML Color Codes

Just find your colour, and check the code.

Before making a website, IMO, it might be good to draw the layout first. Do some revisions. Then only the actual work. Then you have an idea on what to do on the screen besides being clueless in the moment, and end up doing shitty stuff on the computer like YouTube. Something I picked from Chad Mureta's app stuff. (Is Chad still having his lifestyle biz app courses?)

Also, I finished reading my prospect's ebook, and I want to toss MJ's thread on non-fiction writing at her...

Or perhaps I'm a picky reader, especially for self-development.

EDIT: Here's another article for detecting what theme the Wordpress site is using, if you are doing Inspect snapshots and you'd like to keep the old theme on. Pretty nifty to have a tool that analyses the site quickly.

How to Find Which WordPress Theme a Site is Using

 

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[ZF Lee]

I've been following this progress thread for the past 7 months(and thousands of words). After all this time, you're still unclear of what you're selling, who's problem you're solving, or how you plan to solve it.

After hours of rewriting fake article headlines for products you have no intentions of selling, dont you think you've done that enough? It seems you're caught in a constant loop of information overload and its killing your actual execution.

Take some advice from @Andy Black

"You already know enough"

Not everything has to be complicated - especially not when you're first starting out. Keep it simple, agile and adapt based off market responses.

The headlines is only an exercise. Something to train the muscle.

And its not what I do 100% of the time! I have clients to meet and do work lol! Sometimes I spread it by 20 a day.

I know there is more to copywriting than headlines.

Just to clarify, I'm still ramping up on my freelance copywriting to get some steady cash before I can throw actual cash at a business. Where I am now, in terms of the client value, I do not need to produce Eugene Schwartz material, but I do need to improve their old copy. And that can be done in many ways.

And this isn't my Fastlane BTW.

Once again, its to ensure I have some dough for the times when the biz later needs a cash glut. Savings can only go so far.

And I am testing local prospects, plus Chinese businesses. I've sent a few emails to the Chinese, but no replies. Here, they seem to do everything by Whatsapp, so its all about getting their phone numbers.

I'll rack up on meetups, and change email set-up, which include how I write it and all.

For the business side, I'm currently narrowing meeting folks on some hints of market needs. I'm not saying anything for now, but I can see why @458 said to spend more time to look around an industry.

Now for the long writing....

I've mentioned in an earlier post that I had some family issues.

It's hard to keep a cool front outside, when deep inside, you realise that the ones closest to you not only don't support your actions fully, but also stir up more arguments on their own.

Sure, I have found many Fastlane-minded people around.

But they aren't family.

Or maybe I need to open my mind more on relationships.

I guess this spilled over into my progress thread, where I just needed to share thoughts.
Writing stuff became a sort of therapy to handle my mind after a long day of listening to family.

But thanks for your concerns. I can be better than this.

 

[ZF Lee]

My reply to ZCP on another thread...

Done today!

After my client gave some feedback on how some of my past emails needed 100% focus on ONE BIG IDEA or EXAMPLE, I got to work.

I saw my swipe file of emails pilling up, as well as my own email account...

1. Picked some emails of similar themes and desired angle...
2. And 'cannibalized' them.
3. Removed the non-relevant content...
4. And replaced them with my client's industry-specific messages and content.

I figured out that other copywriters would organize their copywriting a lot more better than I do.

On a few emails, I saw certain patterns like:

First sentence: Big Idea

2nd sentence: Explanation

3rd sentence: Short example

4th sentence: Affirmative statement

A lot more patterns I saw though. Not just this one.

Sure enough, the resulting emails sounded a lot more better and convincing than my earlier ranty emails.

Transformed into 2-page punchy messages that hit home.

Actually done it in ONE hour.

Not even a few hours...

Will see if my client will like it.

 

[ZF Lee]

I want to read some other white papers on the oil and gas industry, but the websites always want your company email and stuff, which would be bothersome. Maybe Google scholar might cough some out, and even then materials from Scholar tend to be substandard Grade-D works.

I'll see if there's any great articles on doing white papers, besides the usual fluff, and I'll post a few here.

Also, I need to make sure I don't procrastinate, fall ill or have any stupid shit happen to me.
Last time I actually missed a few of that same client's queries on the Upwork chat, due to an illness, so he got so worried that he wanted to put me on a live call.

Luckily, I recovered quickly enough to quickly log in, reassure him and deliver his finished work in tow.
Now he's asking me to send in regular drafts, up to the main deadline date, so that none of us is left hanging in the empty.

Got exams in the next two weeks, but I haven't heard of people doing freelancing or working jobs during exam season!
Should be interesting how it goes.

The white paper job was a tough nut to crack....but that's a later story.

Now...out of the blue, my client tells me he can't download the PowerPoint files from Upwork to edit and stuff.

I'm shocked and livid. WTF? How the hell is business gonna run?

So I quickly move to Google Drive sharings, while sending a notice to the Upwork support team.
Hopefully Upwork can resolve this quickly.

I saw a similar 2017 case reported in the Upwork forums, but the team said it was just a bug.
But it worries me. What if the client has a tight deadline for his own project?

 

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[ZF Lee]

Update...

LESSONS FROM THE WHITE PAPER PROJECT(s)
1. Raise the damn prices up to $500 or so (if the white paper goes without INSIDERS interviews) because it takes a damned long time to research everything.

High returns have to come with high price.

Even just 'simple' research like looking through government archives, industry reports and scientific journals is bloody tedious.

I'm tempted to do an entire 1-hour vid of myself doing a white paper section from start to finish just for prospects to see...but nah, might be too costly.

2. Before the project starts, set out a blueprint of how you will arrange the sections for the client to see, and place a fixed deadline for each section's completion.

If possible, get the client to promise that he'll look over and give his feedback at a fixed deadline as well. (which I didn't do, so the project dragged on a bit)

3. For one concept that you aren't sure of, read 4-5 articles on it to crosscheck multiple points of view, or see if additional info for the context can be found.

For a white paper, the research process is probably 3-4X as much as that for regular copywriting.

Now for my general copywriting...

Here's a new practice I'm conducting to polish up my copywriting skills after I found my research skills need more polishing after consulting an online course or two:

1. Take a few emails from the greats like Ben Settle and others, and break them down.
See if they follow the AIDA or PAS formula, identify hooks, objection killers and so on.

Perhaps I might google some key phrases to see if they turn up on customer review sites and forums, to spot if the email writers actually trail those sites.

And perhaps those customer sites could send me to more links and places where the market discussions are going on.

Then I take the concepts and try to write a similar email for a different industry with a similar problem.

2. Go visit other customer review sites on my own and grab at least 5 new insights or comments with potential 'ammunition' to write copy around, as long as its related to the product.

Presently, my best sites for looking at what the market is thinking are Amazon reviews, niche forums (got to get the keywords right to find them) and of course, Reddit.
Facebook groups suck though. Full of scammers, parrots and crickets.

I have compiled my findings in an Excel file, and also wrote some notes on potential headlines or copy phrases I can use for the future.

In a way, its a swipe file of sorts, but not to compile other's sales letters.
More of a swipe file of 'market speak'.

That way, I should be able to follow the saying 'Copy is assembled, not written'.
I would be able to write copy that is not based on bingo-banging by my own instincts.

I regret not paying attention to my last copywriting client who actually showed me an ENTIRE EXCEL FILE filled to the brim with their winning hooks, angles and notes. Could have implemented their stuff immediately, but I just continued my old methods until months later.

Some stupid guy I am.

This means I will be forced by default to only collect intel based on a select few markets, instead of everything under the sun, like most general copywriters do.

I finally finished up my Upwork specialised profile write-ups, after looking through the Warrior Forum posts (spotted a good thread on folks' complaints on hiring copywriters), as well as feedback by Upwork clients (looked as far as 15 pages, because some of the feedback gets repititive).

Then I took the key phrases of pain points by the customers, and then slotted them in my copy.

Will see how this works out. Upwork doesn't registers changes until maybe a day or two later.

Also, I'm thinking of trying to send out VIDEO RECORDINGS, tailored made, to each
Upwork prospect. Would be go to differentiate myself, by having them see my face.

I tried it out first with one of the Fastlaners who called me up, and I think there's a shit ton of improvements to make in the video area...

 

[ZF Lee]

WARNING. LONG STORY AHEAD

Alright, at first I was reluctant to share this because I hadn't seen the results I truly wanted.

But I saw a few threads here at risk of action-fake, so I thought some balance is needed...

Anyways...

I went to a seminar. Paid, in the thousands.
I didn't shell out a buck, and it was only because my mum fell into the sales pitch psychology at a free seminar and bought an extra seat for me without consulting me first.

(I'll rant about that some other time)

So, I just went, even though I could have just refused and demanded for a refund.

The seminar was an Entrepreneur MasterClass, at least taught by an ex-Internet marketer who went on to do other different businesses and partnerships (he disclosed that the seminars were just his hobby).

The first 2 out of 3 days pretty much could be learned from TFLF or doing, but he brought in a few of his students, who had pretty well-known brands themselves, to share their experiences ala Progress Thread styles.

The main speaker said in the first day:
'When you all go out for lunch, go have lunch with someone you never met before. Go network.'

Rings like @Kak's challenge thread on meeting 1 new person per day.
(I'd like to do it, but I can say goodbye to studying time for university, given that I'll be travelling out of SCIPRTED academia to the meetups)

On the 2nd day, I went with my mum to a nearby cafe for lunch.

Damn. Full-house.

Then a 40-50-year-old couple invited us to sit at their table.

They wore the seminar participant tags as well.

Throughout the meal, we introduced ourselves, discussed light topics, blablabla…

The next day, we ran into them as well in another café for lunch!

So we sat down, and ordered food.

We talked again.

Turns out, the wife is a Herbalife seller, while the husband (let's call him Joe) is the general manager of a mall (yeah, the actual building where people go shopping).

I listen to my mum mull over the conversation, and then I hear the hubbie mention he is facing some kind of issue with the mall he helps manages.

‘What issue?’ I ask.

‘I need to sell mall space to some educators for expansion of their international school. But the problem is that their purchase of the space won’t get through unless their investors give them money.’

‘Why won’t their investors give them the money?’ I asked.

Joe explained, ‘Well, they are educators. And even worse, they are Americans. They just talk, talk, talk and don’t really understand what investors are truly looking for- financial data. And anyway, the educators don’t know where to get the financial estimates from.’

My mind floated back to my past white paper projects, where I tired myself out scanning through market databases and economic journals for the info.

‘Well…let’s see how I can help?’ I offered.

I took out my notebook, and started probing the guy for info.

Joe was open to share more details.

I popped lots of questions, as one leads to another….

‘How long has the school been in session?’

‘Segments? Primary and secondary school? Great!’

‘Oh, they had past investors? Do they have old pitch decks from that past…huh? They didn’t send in any formal proposals or pitch slides?’

‘Foreign teachers they bring in? OK, from where? What are they good at?’

‘Who’s the founders? What are their names, passions?’

And so on…

After that, I told Joe, the general manager, that I could help him with what I knew about assembling some data together for a quick biz proposal or slides.

Technically, I wasn’t helping him directly.

I would be servicing the educators who needed the investor money, to go buy the mall space from the hubbie’s superiors, to expand their international school.

He thanked me, handed me his biz card and contact, and I said I would send him an informal blueprint of the task the next day. And if it all went well, he would forward my contact to the educators.

And I had a waiting prospect!

Or at worst, just another networking point, and some exercising on value-providing.

If the educators got the investor money, and bought the mall space from John's superiors...

The deal of the new expansion of the international school would be a potential RM15 million deal.

15 million BUCKS (number-to-number)

I have never heard of a freelancer getting close to a 15-million buck deal...

I dunno whether the deal will come through, or what’s the price point for my services will be.

I don’t even have a working Linkedin account. And my Upwork account is still in renovation (I'm changing the copy for the profile write-up again).

I have no business cards, no business name, no endorsing certification.

In fact, all I told John about my abilities was just this:

- I freelance in writing
- I did some white papers involving a little bit of financial data
(as if even putting together CAGR rates was even decent financial data to begin with)

That's all. 2 sentences on what I did in business, so far.

And yet, I got an opening.

Here's the thing though...

I dunno if the paid seminar I went to was the 'thing' that led me to such an occasion.
But I don't think so.

I could have just kept quiet while the adults talked and talked, and just 'be a kid'.

And just shoved my head into lunch, like a pig lol.

Now, looks like I'll have to dig into the private school market in Malaysia, and come up with a basic suggested business proposal blueprint for John to look at, and see what he thinks of it...

EDIT: Thank God for HubSpot. They have some decent templates and samples for proposals and stuff that I can branch out from. Would enable me to focus more on the research process...

Turns out that contact was a dead-end...but never mind.

Had a lot more repeat clients later, but they started to show lots of problems like being very late or picky on job scope.

Lex's Difficult Clients course popped up timely, and looking thru the videos and materials, it should be a good tool to deploy.

Speaking of good, I joined @458's habit tracker challenge, and found very quickly that the reason behind bad progress was bad habits...not just business habits, but personal ones!

So clean your room before you go out to date, eh?

Keeping up on the tracker did cost me some time and unearned profits from freelancing overall, but I'm glad that I've recovered a better sense of direction and even upped some skills in the process.

Here's the latest update:

Update for 9/12 (Mon) to 15/12 (Sun)

GOALS
-cook at least THREE times a week- MET, but I should extend my mealprep to cover more than 2-3 days

-Take supplements TWO times a day- MET except Mon, Tues and Sat

-sleep at least 6 hrs a night- MET, with 4 days at least turning in for the night at 10pm-12am...a lot more earlier and optimum

Overslept on Friday though...

-one email/sales copy breakdown- MET, except Wed

-walk more than 1000 steps- MET

-go to gym at least 2 times a week- NOT MET, only treadmill on Tuesday

-Prayer journal/ Bible reading or sharing 3 times in the week
-> NOT MET...only on Tues and Wed

Networking
Met new: 0
Follow-up: 1

Online course progress
-now on Lex's Difficult Clients course...the Preparation section is pretty much PMP stuff, which I had ignored in my freelancing game to my folly. So, a lot more homework watching vids and drafting docs from sample examples from the course at the same time...

Upwork gigs
Somehow proposals conversions/referrals are flat...people celebrating Christmas I guess.

Spoiler: Some personal details...and how this habit tracker HELPED

I had heard my girl was meeting a boy in her faraway college...but I didn't think much, as long she knew her limits.

Then, out of a blue, that guy CALLS ME, asking me to 'stop contacting her'.

I said that it was up to her to read my messages or not, or get my calls.

Then I told him in no uncertain terms that my girl was there to study, not fool around. And that he was better off keeping merely a business relationship.

My girl stepped in quick to stop a brewing argument...and she asked me to give things a break for now.

I was sad...but I said alright. I told her to be careful, and then left the chat.

Tonight, I went back to my work, to update the tracker, do my copywriting, entertain Christmas calls from my networkings...and then I realised it wasn't the end of the world!

My girl might come back...or she may not.

But there was work and improvements to be done, even though I'll stick to my promise to her to master the Fastlane.

I realised a few of my habits, like prayer and Bible reading, had been built up a lot more consistently, even though they sometimes missed the weekly goal. I used to NEVER do them, but now, I saw so much I have missed in understanding the Word.

And that helped me to talk with that guy as calmly and diplomatic as possible.

Also, for my email copywriting, I'm still stuck doing Seinfield format emails.
But I noticed I was cranking out their stories and offers much more quicker...and I could find quick pain points to talk about in the markets of the subject concern.

This tracker works, and I'll continue with it!
Reminds me of how Altucher told his readers to build up on physical, spiritual, emotional and networking health- to act as a buffer against the sudden losses.

Thanks @458! Owe you one.

EDIT: Following what I wrote in the spoilers tag, I'll repost this on my own progress thread...that shit's getting empty and dusty lol. And this feels very much like an important personal milestone.

 

[Odysseus M Jones]

At first, he said he could only decide at the end of the month.
When I encouraged him to get it done by Wednesday, he then agreed to make his decision by Friday.
That's a delay...but guess that's what I could do.

Friday has been & gone buddy, spill the beans.

 

[ZF Lee]

Friday has been & gone buddy, spill the beans.

Oh, he asked me to pause for a while.
Apparently he’s noticed his HR structure needs TONS of improvements, and is working on that now.

He said he’s still interested to work with me though, so I’ll wait and see.

So, one lesson/pain point I see here is that you can’t totally depend on freelancers/temps/employees for the secret sauce of your brand, especially if you are offering services.

Strategic delegation is needed.

You can hire for great talent, but ultimately, you steer the ship and combine the outputs together.

Earlier, my client ran into some mess dealing with his online team...which makes me wonder if traditional offline workplaces aren’t so bad after all. He got the deliverables resolved, but he got a fever after that batch. I wonder if that wasn’t from him burning out.

In the meantime, I’m working on getting more Upwork jobs (for some reasons, my success score dropped to 85% even though I hadn’t had a bad review in ages), and also on a side email marketing project.

P.S Thanks for the ‘likes’ spree. If we still had the Rep Bank and MJ’s Fastlane store, I’d go on a shopping rampage

 

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[ZF Lee]

Interesting convo today...

That client called me up today for an evening feedback session.
For context, I'm helping her to write copy for her digital marketing agency clients- so they are outsourcing work to me lol.

First, she said the agency clients liked my taglines and general copy, from my past projects this week.
Then, she said they didn't like my grammar, and how the copy turned out in the end.

The other copywriter on the call with us (who works with me to translate into Malay) started blabbering about how she needed X information, Y hours to complete task, etc.

Then my client asked us if we did any research.

I just waited until she finished talking, and then told the client:

1. I told her I DO have eyes on the industry, and even competitor emails or sales copy (I even named 2 BRANDS whose email copy AND customer avatar are very similar to theirs).

2. I did not find any problems giving good grammar.
Nowhere in my revisions requests was I asked to amend spelling errors or syntax.
And I have Grammarly on guard.

3. The only things I was told to revise, was to remove lots of things which were actually simple personalization sentences- such as 'Was your work-day tougher than KL traffic?'

And it was THEIR FEEDBACK that directed me to REMOVE them.

So I followed accordingly...and now they are pointing fingers at me for doing what THEY TOLD ME to do so lol.

I told my client that I would do my best to follow their scope and pointers while putting new stuff to the table...but that's so much I can do.

4. I also reminded her I could only work at this current capacity until end of September due to more complex projects on my plate (I had told her weeks before)...but that I'm considering flying off by August's end as my projects were getting 'more urgent'
(I'm basically telling her "Fire me if you wish, if ya don't like me. I got my own biz to do.")

She thanked me, and said that was fine, bla bla bla, clients are just like that, just do research...

Then she asked me to do some Facebook chatbots copy tomorrow.

I asked her to send me the brief, so I can finish them tonight, just in time for Saturday.
I still haven't gotten it...only got one photo of their old chatbot thru WhatsApp.

I've been through a chatbot sequence to buy an online course before, so I KNOW roughly how to put one together.

Maybe she'll send me the full brief tomorrow, so I wrote a short draft first, and will be going to bed soon. Here's a good article on chatbot copy:

The 20 Best Chatbot Examples in 2022

Discover these quick and creative chatbot examples to drive more revenue for businesses. Find out how top brands are seeing customer success with chatbots.

manychat.com

On the bright side, I just got my 30% deposit from her, for the monthly retainer that lasts until end of August.

So either I'll have enough happy time to work till September's end for them, or I'll see myself out by August. Which is no big deal. I had to decline SIX Upwork requests in the last 2 weeks, and one was a repeat prospect.

And there's my clientless email project on the horizon.

For freelancing though...@theag was right.

What a drag...Might as well I write copy for my own products, instead of others...

Thanks.
Wait for the end of the week! I'll probably work on firing my first difficult client by then.
Will update on that...

I made a mistake and broke too many red flag rules, but even then, there's a F*cking ton of lessons to learn not just on copywriting, but on building a team. Some lessons are better experienced than done on a course.

A Dubai prospect (whom I declined the first time, due to a busy schedule) invited me for a call tomorrow evening. Info products market. One of my favourite markets.

While I'm happy that it could mean another excuse to ditch the other shitty client (as I might quickly replace that lost cashflow), I remind myself that this client wants long-term collab.

If she agrees to adhere strictly to milestone payments, project-based work and set times for communication, and fixed decision-maker and fixed revision rounds...that will be fine.

Otherwise, I'll say no very, very quickly.
I don't need TWO nightmare clients.

EDIT: I remember mentioning something about refunding deposits and stuff...
REMEMBER to specify in your contract agreements whether the deposit/milestone/partial payment is REFUNDABLE.

Some copywriters on Reddit say they take a non-refundable 50% first.
Some say the deposit is refundable, while a retainer is non-refundable.
Or some small milestone payments can't be refundable to client, while bigger milestones can have some refundable percentage.

So no straight rules here.
Depends on how sure you are of your copywriting chops-that you can fix harsher terms.

So even if either of the client or you decides to bug out, you'd know who can keep or get back the money, and still get something back.

 

[ZF Lee]

A Dubai prospect (whom I declined the first time, due to a busy schedule) invited me for a call tomorrow evening. Info products market. One of my favourite markets.

While I'm happy that it could mean another excuse to ditch the other shitty client (as I might quickly replace that lost cashflow), I remind myself that this client wants long-term collab.

If she agrees to adhere strictly to milestone payments, project-based work and set times for communication, and fixed decision-maker and fixed revision rounds...that will be fine.

Otherwise, I'll say no very, very quickly.
I don't need TWO nightmare clients.

News from the interview...

Talked for quite a bit until the Dubai prospect said we had to continue tomorrow!
I asked her about the usual stuff-her market, her USP, whether she's already established or not (market sophistication)

When she said she was looking for a long-term copywriter, I encouraged her to do it by project and milestone-based, instead of a full-on monthly retainer.

I then illustrated my case with my experience dealing with the other shitty client.
How there was f*cked up communication, decision-making process changing left and right, and hard to agree on scope.

She actually listened to all that, and even asked for more details! (a good flag?)

Then she explained how she would have orderly copywriting briefs, set times for client calls, draft and revision rounds and best of all, set decision makers-only her and her business partner!

Sounds like a freelancer's wet dream, but it's not in the money yet...and we need to go through the paid test gig stage.

If it all goes well, I'll try to get her test gig going by Saturday, and fire the other shitty client at the same day.

Now to think of it, the Dubai prospect was eager to listen to me rant a little, because she was a passionate type. He job post was very extensive-and her business's USP was also passion-driven mixed with practicality.

So I guess when it comes to telling stories, you got to know who the person is, to tell the RIGHT story HE/SHE WILL APPRECIATE.

Mind that I didn't really plan for that. I just wanted to be honest with her, and show her I had some blood in the copywriting biz.



Speaking of that other shitty client...he had his business assistant send me a GOOGLE DOCS form to ask me for my personal details and bank account to pay out salaries...when he should already know I only take payments on Upwork (ALSO STATED CLEARLY IN MY LAST INVOICE).

Either he forget to tell the assistant, or I'm being treated like a grind worker.

F*ck that. I'll 'fire' him by telling him I'll only be able to respond to his queries once a week only-which he won't be able to keep up with naturally. Just like the Lex course recommended.

BTW, I got my hands on the RMBC Method...and what it taught me about copywriting shook me up.

If anyone tells you copywriting is about wordsmithing...they are wrong.
It's about markets, markets, markets.
Way more shit-ton of research needed...and the assembling of the actual copy gets quicker.

Note: If a copywriting course doesn't have a good research component, don't join it.

 

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[ZF Lee]

UPDATES

-Winded down my freelancing (although I still have a few enquiries from WhatsApp and some Upwork offers still pouring in)

-Tinkered around with my email projects...and then...

I took up stock trading.

Well, here's the story of how I got into it...
Close to end of last year, my dad recommended a few decent stocks (semiconductor) to buy, so I put a few grand in them. Sold them for a nice 20% profit and bought them back when they dropped back to my old entry price.

Then for some reasons, my dad kept talking about investing in the stock market...so I went in deeper.
He had done quite well in stocks, but only because he had INSIDERS in his industries of interest like semicon and tech.

I thought to myself, 'What if there was more to stock trading than just tips and INSIDERS stuff?'

I had just finished my majors in Finance and Business Analytics (arranging for the virtual graduation is a shitshow this month), so I did learn some basic ratio analysis, target price calculations and whatnot...but after finding a local investing forum (i3 investor) and reading a book from one of the local investor greats, I realised fundamental analysis was not enough.

I need to learn some technical analysis (TA) to spot for timing, trends, danger-zones.

So I read Rayner Teo's stuff (he gives A LOT of stuff free on his website and YouTube), and realised that my finance degree was basically robbing me by not teaching me TA.

Apparently the financial folks believe too much in EMH (Efficient Market Hypothesis), assuming that TA is garbage because it does not adhere to EMH...but what is EMH these days, when INSIDERS and market-makers pump and dump illogically...

I also went to read this book by a local investor called Koon Yew Yin (who used to be the founder of several construction companies, but had some controversy for 'taking investor wannabees to Holland'):

Complete Book: Invest Like Koon Yew Yin – Learn How A Philanthropist Amasses A Huge Fortune From Investments In Malaysia Stock Market – KYY

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koonyewyin.com

In the book, he explained how the Malaysian market was not like the US markets...not only were the counters highly cyclical, but business moats were easier to breach and market sizes weren't that huge compared to the likes of Disney and Amazon...hence buy-and-hold would totally fail in Malaysia.

Plus, Koon explained that directors or other INSIDERS could buy or sell shares like crazy to make extra cash or trap blind folks who bought at too-high prices.

Hence, his methods involved a combination of approaches...buying in tranches, watching the candlestick, strategic taking of profits or adding shares on pullbacks, leading to eventual exit when the uptrend dies down.

With what I read, I expanded my trades:
1. Bought some COVID-related shares (e.g. glove companies, vaccine distributor counters)

2. Bought some recovery plays (eg airline, utilities, IT and electronic services)

Each of these trades have some real interesting stories...

Unfortunately, I should have waited much longer until Christmas to buy them, because the fund managers started cleaning up their portfolios, thus driving down prices.

So I could have gotten them at bargain prices. But well...at least I learned something.

Currently, in my country, its the semicon and tech industry that are having their boom-time, so I just recently took some 20-25% profits off my counters there, and let the rest roll while keeping an eye on the ATR. Whch was nice...

While its has been quite the distraction from more active Fastlane stuff, what with all the chart reading, research and whatnot, I've come to realise that there was much, much more to the Paycheck Pot. I cannot burn years on a fastlane business, only to have the millions and then realise, 'Shit, I don't know how to put my money to work'.

I might as well learn some stock skills now (although I might agree with Kak and just throw money at metals and Bitcoin haha)

So, even as I shake myself off the stock market stupour, I'll be tidying up my portfolio to have a smaller pick of counters and keep one eye on it.

Now...
I'm thinking of writing more detailed analysis of my stock buys, sells, successes and fails though here on TFLF, although they'll be more on Malaysian stocks. No stock trading course to sell....just sharing what I experienced and could have done better.

Could I do that?

 

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