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ZF Lee

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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...
 
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ZF Lee

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Jul 27, 2016
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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.

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.
 

ZF Lee

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Eek, time to update this dusty thread.

Lots of things going on:
-Successfully re-tooled my Upwork profile, as Lex's Udemy course ordered.
Took some lengthy weeks, what with grappling with COVID and college.

But got it done finally, and was shocked to land more jobs than I ever did in the last few months.

A lesson learned: Target clients from YOUR HOME COUNTRY. Apparently, Malaysia isn't dead for business. Folks from there still hire haha.

Another lesson learned:
Have some side hobbies to support your skillset. In my case, I was able to get a job writing crypto emails because I told the client I could read financial statements and charts- some of it which still carries over into the crypto.

I also knew enough of financial writing, to write a sample advertorial that he liked.

And yeah, keep swipe emails for inspiration and sense of congruence.


Some interesting jobs...a crypto email newsletter...cold emails...stuff I've never got around to doing before, but is possible to dig into.

Was expecting COVID to take my head, but apparently the world still turns.

-Joined Lex's Minions group on Discord for more freelance-orientated discussions, and its a blast! Glad to find many Fastlaners there, but still, here's ground base.

-Opened a PeoplePerHour profile to expand a front, but got repulsed by the sheer lack of niched/interesting jobs.

-Might be looking to make a website for clients and an email list (first is simple to start, second will have to look into several avenues I won't mind buying a solid course on), but I can retool my Quora page into a copywriter lead channel as well. Will take some time...

Now it seems that this 'hustle' will have to take on more business-like legs.

I'll just ramp up on client work, and we'll see where this takes us to.
 

ZF Lee

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Eek, time to update this dusty thread.

Lots of things going on:
-Successfully re-tooled my Upwork profile, as Lex's Udemy course ordered.
Took some lengthy weeks, what with grappling with COVID and college.

But got it done finally, and was shocked to land more jobs than I ever did in the last few months.

A lesson learned: Target clients from YOUR HOME COUNTRY. Apparently, Malaysia isn't dead for business. Folks from there still hire haha.

Another lesson learned:
Have some side hobbies to support your skillset. In my case, I was able to get a job writing crypto emails because I told the client I could read financial statements and charts- some of it which still carries over into the crypto.

I also knew enough of financial writing, to write a sample advertorial that he liked.

And yeah, keep swipe emails for inspiration and sense of congruence.


Some interesting jobs...a crypto email newsletter...cold emails...stuff I've never got around to doing before, but is possible to dig into.

Was expecting COVID to take my head, but apparently the world still turns.

-Joined Lex's Minions group on Discord for more freelance-orientated discussions, and its a blast! Glad to find many Fastlaners there, but still, here's ground base.

-Opened a PeoplePerHour profile to expand a front, but got repulsed by the sheer lack of niched/interesting jobs.

-Might be looking to make a website for clients and an email list (first is simple to start, second will have to look into several avenues I won't mind buying a solid course on), but I can retool my Quora page into a copywriter lead channel as well. Will take some time...

Now it seems that this 'hustle' will have to take on more business-like legs.

I'll just ramp up on client work, and we'll see where this takes us to.
Landed my first monthly retainer client (since my Upwork profile update).
Hit an income level AS MUCH as my allowance from parents.
A few steps to go...

Got paid an initial deposit, but probably I should have offered a hire retainer rate, plus spread out milestone payments further across the month.

That's for next month to discuss, if all goes well.

This client is giving me a shit-ton of work though. Digital marketing agency.
Has me writing copy for national brands I never thought I'd write copy for.
And on some stiff deadlines too.

Even if this gig fizzles out, I will have TRUCKLOADS to add to my portfolio.
My client is interested in trying out a commissions-based model though.
I said I'm open to it.

Had to also start rejecting Upwork invites asking for full-time freelancers, but I might like to take up part-time projects after the last of my university projects clear up...

Now my only issues are:
a. Learning how to research and write faster (so I have more time for other things)
b. Optimize my retainer/payment packages well enough
 
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ZF Lee

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Landed my first monthly retainer client (since my Upwork profile update).
Hit an income level AS MUCH as my allowance from parents.
A few steps to go...

Got paid an initial deposit, but probably I should have offered a hire retainer rate, plus spread out milestone payments further across the month.

That's for next month to discuss, if all goes well.

This client is giving me a shit-ton of work though. Digital marketing agency.
Has me writing copy for national brands I never thought I'd write copy for.
And on some stiff deadlines too.

Even if this gig fizzles out, I will have TRUCKLOADS to add to my portfolio.
My client is interested in trying out a commissions-based model though.
I said I'm open to it.

Had to also start rejecting Upwork invites asking for full-time freelancers, but I might like to take up part-time projects after the last of my university projects clear up...

Now my only issues are:
a. Learning how to research and write faster (so I have more time for other things)
b. Optimize my retainer/payment packages well enough
While this same client has tons of interesting work, apparently out of the blue, he expects me to work full-time on his team!

I had to say no to it.
Repeat projects are a freelancer's wet dream, but full-time to one client isn't for me.

I offered him 3 service packages, with specific types of project scopes and available time slots and 'rush projects'...the higher the price, the more goodies and time he could expect from me.

While the service packages would definitely not allow him as much free rein to ask for deliverables or a free-flow of consult time from me, at least they'll ensure I have enough mojo to get him quality works.

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.

I probably should have been more upfront on my time boundaries and work scope though. He was asking me to do other non-copywriting work like Linkedin profile posting and Facebook group posting.

Since I have been spending lots of time here, that wasn't a problem with me, and got his posts a bunch of comments and engagement...which I could probably snapshot and parade around on my portfolio.

Actually, I wouldn't have done this, if I didn't face SO MANY difficulties with team projects for my college Data Mining unit, which often clashed with my freelance work.

When the data mining got too tough, two members just alternated between disappearing into the woods or putting up work shoddier than stale sweetmeat.

Tonight, I'm just gasping at the PowerPoint slides they've made for our upcoming video presentation. Grown future data scientists-to-be who CAN'T EVEN CRAFT A STRAIGHT STORY BASED ON A REPORT THAT WAS ALREADY WRITTEN.

Guess that's because me and another member (bless her) did 70% of the pre-processing hell.
Not them. And you can't write on something you weren't willing to have a part of.

And I couldn't even rest easy after each data session... I had to rush back and write copy on the fly for the client.

If it weren't for HOURS and MONTHS pouring over and re-writing Ben Settle emails to train my copy muscle, I'd be burnt out in full by now.

I'm not even going to put out all stops to polish the slides to full, even though I can.
I'll just make sure it has the bare info and structure needed, and that's that.

I'm bitterly disappointed in future college grads.

On the bright side though, Upwork invites are racing in. I had to reject many of them, but I invited them to call me again 1-2 weeks later if they still wanted to work with me.

EDIT:
I'm finding that I'm running out of hours.
And the usual pathway of upselling clients/building goodwill with value has its limits.

I'm considering a'client-less' model after reading this:
I don't think I'll purchase that course today, but I might experiment on that, once I get cleared with that prominent client (and the remnants of my evil college assignments) for good.
 
Last edited:

Odysseus M Jones

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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

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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 :hilarious::devil:
 
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ZF Lee

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Interesting stuff with a freelance client...

Hired me for email copy, but out of the blue, got me to do social media posting.

So I have to work with his other graphic designers and other folks.

But I didn't know frack about social media. I had quarantined myself from Fakebook for a long time.
And content marketing is a lot different from copywriting, despite some similarities.

How did I pick up social media fundamentals?
1. Found MeetEdgar's Social Brilliant course

2. Learned from Social Brilliant NOT to chase virality, but consistent and relevance- not too different from Seinfield emails!

3. Realised that there's different types of social media posts to do, besides offers:
- inspirational quotes
-life stories
-FAQ
-pain-points teasing
-trolling tolls
-reposts (but not always)
-article shares

And so on.

What might be MORE important is to plan a content calender first.

4. Picked a few role models with VERY interesting content to mirror from.
One of my best models to look at is Dollar Shave Club. Very good graphics design and punchy messages. Once in a while, they give me good ideas for content for health markets!

5. Did a few on canvas + stock images, and my client's picked 3 out of a bunch. They should be released within this week.
 

ZF Lee

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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:

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...
 

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Great thread! Somehow I had never seen this until now. Love reading about your progress!
 
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Great thread! Somehow I had never seen this until now. Love reading about your progress!
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.
 

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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:

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.
 
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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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HOW TO FIRE A SHITTY CLIENT
(a case study in progress)

1. Text the client:

"Hi XXX, you got time around 2-3PM for a quick call?
I've got something urgent to bring up to you..."

2. Listen to his response:

'Alright, but can you text me first?'
(which he has been doing more and more, since the last few weeks, instead of directly talking to me as usual...a red flag already. He's been handing it over to 2-3 business assistants, which makes decision-making much slower and difficult)

3. Respond with a specific time.

"Yup, will text you around 2-3PM."

4. Prep Action Steps:
  • Lay a fall-cushion for him by thanking and complimenting him
  • Break the news to him that I'll only be able to respond ONCE A WEEK, due to personal obligations (which is unthinkable for him)
  • Suggest that either he agree with that, or pay SIX-THOUSAND for me to continue with work, or we part ways before next month's plans pile up
  • Refund him half his starter fee, since there's already some deliverables I cleared up for him
  • Tell him I'll log out from Drives, Trello etc by Saturday 12PM
  • Compliment and thank him and if I can, send him some doctored portfolio pieces he's OK for me to put on my freelance profile
  • I'll send him a decent Upwork review (will highlight 50% pros and 50% cons)
5.Cut off boggle-heads

Right after I texted the client, HIS ASSISTANT texted me:

'Hi, when can I call you to discuss XXX?'

Which is ill, as I'm gonna let go my client soon. Why get held back by any further work obligations?

'Well, how about call me around 5PM (after I'd let go of my client)?
The other team folks have asked me to help with social media revisions, plus I've got that video script to finish up "

(which were true...but the social media revisions only took 5 mins to finish, and the video script was done, sitting comfortably in their Trello SINCE TWO DAYS AGO)

Assistant: "Well...alright."

Done.

6. Next Steps to be done
Send the 'Dear John' note around 2-3PM. Follow the steps.

To be Continued...
 

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( continuation from last Post#104)
7. Follow-up if shitty client doesn't respond.
It has been a day since I gave him the two options. No reply.
Even the Google Drives and team Trello is dead as doornails...

I'll follow-up with him tomorrow, and will most probably give a deadline.

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.

As for my Dubai prospect, we finished the second call today.

Discussed about working arrangements, pricing and our upcoming test gig.

Before this second call, I sent her a list of questions that we would cover as the 'meat-and-potatoes', so that we would cover what we really need to cover, and not waste too much time talking crap haha.

Something like providing the agenda before an official association meeting.

I told her that some of these questions would be revisited for our copywriting research phase.

That blew her away! She complimented me for being really organised.
She told me I didn't need to do it, since she had briefs and other frameworks up.

She told me she was thinking of a monthly retainer.
I encouraged her to adopt a project-basis approach, and told her it would allow us to fix project scopes more efficiently.

To my surprise, she was open to it!
She agreed to have me send her a list of my project prices.

I will also add on a brief breakdown of my onboarding (how we will run from first idea to project start) & offboarding processes (how we will run from pre-draft, to revisions and to final drafts).

She seems to have these protocols set already, but she welcomed them whole-heartedly.

This is a VERY SHARP contrast to that shitty client earlier, who simply set deadlines and stuff on the fly, or let somebody else take over and build-up on massive delays!!!! How hard is it for clients (and freelancers) to send some clear checklists and have an A-Z process in place, to make everyone happy???



(To be continued...)


EDIT 1:
After we finish the test project successfully and start working together for real, I'll send the Dubai
prospect a snapshot of available slots for booking calls, spanning 3-weeks or 1-month ahead.

Not many copywriters do it, but this could give my clients better expectations on when they can reach out to me, and get good responses.

EDIT 2:
8. Don't wait for the weekend to finish the fire

I sent out the first letting-go notice to the shitty client around Thursday.
Friday, Sat and Sunday (today) are gone...and today I sent him a follow-up, asking for the call again.
Even suggested a specific time (2PM tomorrow- I know he has stuff to do in the morning)

He just murmured, 'Go bring this up with my assistant...'

WTF? Who's paying me in the first place? She? Or him?
Now that's the biggest red flag I have ever seen.
I'm now wondering how many black-and-white terms and disqualifiers I'll need to put up on my Upwork profile update later...
 
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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'):

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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Nothing much to update here except for some recent posts I wrote on my situation in other threads:
Very disappointed at this year’s Chinese New Year.

No, I’m not disappointed by the lockdowns, limited movement (only 2 pax a table at restaurants, no interstate travel).

I’m more disappointed at my family.

Without giving away too many details, I’ve had to see my own parents talk shit over fighting housing committee politics vs moving out, my mum and sibling making a f*cked up ruckus over a simple thing as just setting up a Messenger call for the cross-family reunion and their blatant refusal to talk things over and make amends.

Not the first time it happened on CNY.

The last few CNYs were filled with f*cking arguments as well...breakups, emotional outbursts, pushing under the carpet...

And guess who suffers lots from it all?
Me.

As much as I see the call to ‘move away from toxic family (even parents and siblings)’ arise from every corner, I decided to do what I could to keep family together.

Tried talking to each family member individually to get their point of view.

Tried getting everyone together to share their thoughts and solutions.

Reflected, admitted my own share of fault (if any) and said my sorries.

And then urged everyone to do the same and to seek peace and openness.

But all they want to do is to sweep shit under carpets, go along with their own selfish agendas (eg sleep, toxic mindsets, money, ego and a whole lot other crap), blame, fight, mind games, lip service...

And this comes from my own family...
Parents, siblings and even a few ‘closer’ aunts and uncles.

Just now I couldn’t take it anymore after trying in vain to get people to talk, and just stormed off to my room.
And I just wonder...why celebrate CNY if you don’t know how to f*cking cherish and put aside your agendas or selfish shit in your brains?!


As I hastily wiped my silent tears, I had some suicidal thoughts..feeling so alone even in a place I should be calling home.

Then I remembered Lex talking about ‘get enough matches to burn bridges’.

I thought, ‘What else do I have? What resources can I work with?’

I’m going to look for a room to rent out far away from family...I may just have to find other family-figures who will appreciate me better.

I already have a Men’s Fellowship group in Kuala Lumpur (I only see them on Zoom calls these days). When the lockdowns lift end of this month, I’ll go all in to help out the men. At least they have more respect and gratitude for me.

I’ll also need to have more financial resources stocked up since I’ll be on my own...so I have to cut down more experimental projects like my stock trading, which I started last year December...which I feel very sad about because I did quite OK, and even the hard work analyzing stocks and TA is fun.

Which reminds me of this thread:

This made me sadder, as I realize a rising trend of not just friends...entire families being destroyed as perfectly good folks are forced to get far away from shitty loved ones.

I can understand saving your sanity by getting away from toxic, uncooperative people....but how about your roots, people you stayed with since you were born? How much cutting-off will continue until one is left without an identity?

I guess that’s up to one’s tolerance and emotional bank account.

As families weaken and people go their own ways, let’s say that’s the beginning of the end.
Truly...I am very disappointed with CNY, my family and the general attitude of family.

UPDATE FOR 29/3/21-3/4/21 (Mon to Sat)
I'm sorry to say that I'll have to suspend my habits tracking till further notice.

For now, here's the summary of my current progress:

(1) Waking up around 8-9AM daily
Woke up late on Mon, Wed, Fri (10.15 AM+)


(2) Sleeping at 11pm-12.30am
Slept late on Mon and Thurs (1 AM+)


(3) Daily Market Research
Habit is still suspended as I'm studying Daniel Throsell's Market Detective course.

If any copywriter is reading this, save your money and buy the damn course!

It has EVERYTHING on market research...how to survey your client as a starting point, how to dig through the garbage on Reddit, how to organize your brief (instead of the endless lists the Udemy copywriting courses seem to encourage mindlessly), how to draw out a Big Idea or Mechanism from the brief...

Also sign up for Daniel Throsell's emails.
His Parallel Welcome email Sequence is one of a kind...very long, but probably one of the most engaging.
Throughout his welcome email sequence, he rewards you for reading every email with a fun story, and even slips in some affiliate links for other copywriters or gurus within the stories.

Unfortunately, because the course is very good, I was unable to read-and-apply simultaneously i.e. write copy while looking at the course material that typical action-getters here do. There was a lot to digest and lots of demo videos...so I had to delay my Upwork copywriting work for a bit...which means I wouldn't be writing proposals for Upwork to get jobs for a bit...

After all, I do not want to offer copywriting services that are FLAWED. I need to correct my processes, and then I can sell confidently and truly help businesses to give them the sales copy they desperately need.

Unfortunately, since I wasn't making money in the short-term, my parents started hounding me to get a job (since I'm technically graduated).

"Just go work at X place/X uncle's business/Subway/whatever just to get the experience. Forget about the money."

"Freelancing isn't a job. You are just seeing people through a screen . That isn't real-world contact."


I kept quiet as much as I could because I didn't want to stir the pot. But if I could, I'd rebutt back:

"What do you mean money doesn't matter?! It MATTERS because it's the yardstick of value!
If I get paid too little, it means my labor wasn't that important to them...and I must raise my value!

Skills like copywriting, web design, accounting, consultancy have better pay scales because they give much better value and ROI for a business- more than a McDonalds' worker!

And what the f*ck do you mean 'freelancing isn't real-world contact'?!

I've had to discuss new deals with shitty clients, remake onboarding processes over and over, have countless revision rounds or interviews, cajole team members to submit their part of the work, throw in soft compliments now and then to psychologically reward or punish clients for certain actions...this isn't real-world contact?????

Also, you never heard of work-from-home? Unless you are building houses or cooking as a hawker, you would most likely be stuck behind a screen! Not ideal, but what to do? Many employers or clients are doing this!"


Maybe my parents bring it up because they care.
But I cannot help but wonder whether they just want me to be like everyone else in the SCRIPTED status quo.

To be fair, it is also my fault as well.
I stopped Upwork mid of last year because I was feeling burned-out, and my last college semester had more stupid group members and studying to deal with.

But these were actually EXCUSES.

Being burned out might very well have showed me more where to improve, and I could have googled better to find better resources like the Market Detective course. I should never have stopped my Upwork work...

Still, I cannot believe I still haven't moved out yet, even after I wrote that post on the Random Rants thread...

I already earmarked where I want to move to, but the stupid thing is that the government has banned interstate travel unless I have a work permit or taken a vaccine (the rollout is still slow, and I don't want to take it because I can't choose my brand!)

I'll think of something...but my first priority is to learn enough of the Market Detective course, and apply it quickly to my Upwork jobs. That's why I have to suspend the Habits Tracker for some time...my activities are gonna be quite imbalanced.


(4) Mandarin/Cantonese learning
Done on all days except Friday.
Regretfully I haven't gotten the Chinese textbook I stated I wanted earlier.
So little time...all I could do was just watch more Mandarin Peppa Pig videos and jot down new words and phrases on a Word doc.


(5)Bible Reading
Done on all days except Friday


(6)Daily Exercises
Done on all days. Still stuck at push-ups and some stretching exercises though.

(7) Supplements (1X daily)
Taken on all days
I noticed I'm writing more again on TFLF even though I have things to do...guess that's because I don't have many whom I can truly talk with offline...
 

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Saw quite a number of posts pop up on TFLF from folks struggling to build up skills for freelancing, finding actual clients, etc. I sensed a lot of confusion and uncertainty...what can we expect when most of us have been taught since young to follow orders and not to build our own things from scratch?

Guess I'll just share a recent interesting job...

A week ago, I got a call from a member of one of the church business groups I follow.

I'll call him 'Peter' for now.
I've attended quite a number of meetings and even speakers' dinners with him, so we weren't total strangers.
I've told him about my side freelance work, and even mentioned a few jobs I've done before during casual talk...

Peter told me he had a writing job for me.
He needed a Method Statement done up for a drilling project he's helping out with.
Much of the drilling work was well certified already, but since the drilling would cut across a railway, they needed clearance from the railway authorities. Part of the paperwork required a Method Statement.

I thought to myself, 'What's a Method Statement?'

I have written copy, articles, white papers before. But never construction documentations.

So I just googled 'Method Statement'.

And found LOTS of existing Method Statements floating around. Basically, they outline exact procedures, safety plans, risk assessments, tool specs and construction drawings somewhat like a business plan does.

While there were different types of Method Statements like tenders, construction and safety statements, I saw from Peter's requirements that his intended Statement would be a combo of sorts...I would have to discuss procedures, specs and safety plans.

Peter sent me the reports to compile into the method statement, but not all at once.
Some came after later site visits or liaison with contractors.

Here's how I wrote a Method Statement for drilling WITHOUT prior knowledge of the industry:
1. Know the basics of the process and general raw materials/tools/risks.

Watched 2 YouTube videos on the drilling process (horizontal directional drilling or HDD).

2. Googled for Method Statements on HDD that I could read to see how they structure things.
Most from Southeast Asia were crap...too basic, and did not outline unique procedures or tool models (eg for their pipe, drill unit or drill fluid clay composition)

I think I only found 2 good ones to model from... a paper for a sea defence wall in the Netherlands and another for an Australian company (which actually served as more of a brochure than a Statement).

3. Set expectations and follow-up with updates for client
Told Peter I would submit pre-drafts by X PM.
Told him that since the company on his other side would need to look at the document, I would help them out by filling in some general risk assessment tables, HDD procedures and safety plans. For unique specs (eg speed of the boring drill), I would just leave clear blanks for them to fill in within the paragraphs.

That way, if they didn't already have elaborate plans, the stuff I wrote could help them out.
I knew most small businesses probably didn't have that detailed of plans or writing, and their existing documentations might very well be as bland and basic as Fiverr freelance crap.

Peter was delighted and he did well to also fix regular calls at 10AM now and then (they only lasted for a few mins usually, just some review of new materials he sent via email)

From there, the arrangement were simple.

I worked in the afternoon on the pre-drafts, updated Peter via WhatsApp with a list of updates I added, attached comments in the document to walk him through, and sent pre-drafts on that set evening time.



Now, you might be asking,
'How do you know WHAT to write for the drilling procedures, safety plans and so on?'

Well, research.

I noticed that HDD scenarios would differ according to the environment.
Some drilling papers I read touched on petroleum...that means the risks and plans would centre around avoiding fires, sudden mud breakouts and water leakage (if it were done in sea rea)

But my case was just a simple one done on land, cutting through road and railway.
So the only things to worry about were just working at night, hitting utility cables or railway connections.

I took several existing plans and safety assessments from existing Statements or academic journals (I was surprised colleges do have such docs) and cobbled them together as fitting.

Peter didn't ask me to remove them so far, so I guess that went well.

Yesterday, he sent me the soil reports to include in the Statement.
Instead of just tossing them into the doc like most writers would, I took the time to look at them.

And noticed something amiss...

I said to Peter, 'Why are these documents based on soil contractors for 2016-2017 projects that are not even in the area? And these aren't soil reports on the railway...these are just general letters of approval from inspectors. Are they really relevant for the soil report section...or are they for the Certificates section for credibility purposes?'

I could imagine his eyes widening as he replied over WhatsApp, 'We are now hiring a new agency for the soil report. Looks like the project will have to go a bit longer until end of the month (as we wait for better docs to come from them)"

I said, "That's alright, if that is what is needed to wrap up well. Time-wise, you can pay me first at least with a partial payment."

Note that I hadn't asked for a partial payment first because it didn't make sense...the amount wasn't at least 4-figs. I know some writers practice a 10-20% initial deposit or payment all across the board, but I found the former approach more reasonable.

He replied, 'Nah, I'll just pay you the whole amount tomorrow. If there's more major changes later, I'll pay you additional. And when the document gets approved by the railway, I'll pay you a winning fee."

"That's great! Thanks Peter."




Takeaways:
1. To learn how to create something from scratch (not just a Method Statement), start by reading or using what already exists. Check out their strengths and weaknesses, and change them up to fit your unique markets'/clients' situation.

2. Keep the client up-to-date.
Fix regular call times, update times, revision dates, whatever.
If he has to ask after you too many times or call you desperately, you failed in that.
Something that Lex Deville taught very concisely in his Udemy course.

3. Danny Marguiles, an Upwork guru, talked about the importance of being a Consigliere (a Mafia boss' steward), instead of being just a mere serviceman.

It isn't enough to just write sales copy, build websites or design art for a client, take the money and leave.
Any F*ck can do that.
There's difficult things to accomplish for the client to set you apart...they can be spotting errors within the client's materials that could save their bigger projects, recommending better content or additional research.

4. The small good things like setting regular follow-ups, good work, compliments for good client responses can build up to some positive surprises.

I didn’t ask for full immediate payment, and honestly I would have asked for a lower price than RM300.

Yet, he stuck to it, so I agreed. For my setting, the deal was pretty OK.

That being said, I spotted Method Statement templates being sold for around $1500-2000.

I think for B2B avenues like construction and maybe law, there’s some money in prepping paperwork...professionals are usually too busy with other things to bother about clearances.

Again, if I had a tad more experience in the field (eg a construction degree or even some laboring experience), I would definitely charge a starter price at least 10% more.


5. You can get clients by networking in offline groups, and these relations can be a lot HIGHER quality than online or Upwork leads.

I already mentioned that I spent time with Peter at church meetings.
Prior time spent with him already warmed this lead well enough.

The funny thing was on the day before he gave me the job, I was talking to him how I didn't want to fake interstate travel permits to cross back to Kuala Lumpur city because I didn't want to live by fraud.

So I guess Peter saw this boy had some morals? Someone he could trust with a job he might not have full experience to begin with? I wonder...

Of course, offline networking takes time.
I didn't actively go pestering him or others to give me jobs.
But I did talk about my writing work casually and took time to listen to their biz...just being there and showing I'm approachable and not a sleazy Belfort.
 
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Alright, here's what happened so far:

1. Suddenly Upwork blew me up with more copywriting jobs than the last year...
Some email work from Singapore...some Pilates sales copy mixed with marketing gurus emails...well,
the workpile blurs over.

There's plenty of lessons to write on for each and every project.

But I'd go on forever haha. I do remember many gurus are starting to use Loom to record their work (eg videos on writing funnel copy if they teach sales funnel creation)--and their recordings could double as products/bonuses by themselves. I should start making a habit to do just that?

This time I starting bringing out modest systems of sorts.

We are talking things like client surveys, Wave invoices...basic frameworks that I never really started out with from Day 1.

But the work piled up and I started tiring...

I would just fall asleep in the afternoon and delay quite some deadlines.

And regardless of how many walks or supplements I tried-- I just needed rest.

Which I actually HATE with all my heart.

Yes, I HATE REST.
I just can't fathom good hours ticking by...time I can spend having fun or getting things done.

A client of mine tells me he keeps his work time to as little as 3 hours.
It seems that it's actually how long the human mind can stand deep work non-stop?

We have really weak minds then, if that is true...

Time for me to hire copywriting roles out?

I felt that I'm still learning the craft and haven't hit the jackpot of mastery yet.
And hiring might very well turn into hand-holding of the freelancers lol, considering how SHIT most copywriting education is these days.


2. I noticed I'm eating out more often.
Given my work-- I just did not have time to cook as usual.

So let's say the bills took a hit.
I remember I tried the r/MealPrepSunday thing...but that also required upfront cooking efforts.

And when you are working on stuff, cooking definitely will be the least of your thoughts.

So I'm considering just living on raw fruits, veges, sandwiches, cold preps with the occasional outside dining...but the folks close to me say its crazy.

I don't know...either I eat lean like that...or I hire personal chefs or pig out on Grabfood and drain my money...

I think I can understand better why men generally suck at cooking.
It's not that they weren't willing to learn-- their early years of working hard to survive simply did not leave them
enough time to pick it up.



3. 'Committing the guard' to networking
Somewhere along the line-- when you are working on key relationships-- you will have a few MAJOR events to take up more responsibility than usual. And often these push on the relationships (and lessons) in greater spurts.

My church's Men's Fellowship invited me to help in their FIRST ever camp.

So there I was...a 20+ year old kid in a meeting full of 30-60+ year old folks.
I would be helping out with tech support and camp games.

One thing I liked was that every department of the camp (logistics, games, accounting, spirituality) was that
each was given lots of autonomy.

Every fortnight meeting had the department leaders updating everyone on what was going on...suggest some plans...get feedback and some resources...and then work on them till next meeting...

And many times we helped one another out-- even though it wasn't 'our' assigned duty.

For example, I would attend multiple services across the weekends to man the registration booth for the camp.
Hold a huge placard to promote the camp haha...like some shop salesperson.

I'd never done that kind of sales gig before...so the first time round, my knees was shaking as I tried to chat up folks and talk to them about the ministry and the camp.

But the other men I worked with were GOOD...they just knew how to strike up a convo with folks...and then segue into talking more about the mens' ministry and camp. Not everyone had joined a mens' fellowship after all. And for some reasons, these days the church had A LOT of newcomers...

So I often listened to how they chatted-- and realised it was the simple things like asking for their name...how long they joined church...what cells/fellowships were they currently in...what was making them smile/busy at that moment...

So far we booked 41 out of the 60 targeted places for the Camp :)

And according to a church coordinator we work with--that number was pretty good. We had bigger, more matured men's; fellowships across town only rope in 30 pax for their own camp! We aren't competing--but it's actually REALLY hard to get folks to sign up to anything these days-- church or not.

For planning camp games, I realised I hadn't done that kind of work for YEARS.

So I broke it all down to:
1. Game materials (I will have to budget and get claims for)
2. Time spent on game
3. Game aim
4. Game instructions & rules
5. Special scenarios (in case the game gets boring or we have a tie to break)
6. Backup games

So I spent quite some time writing plans for those and presenting them to the camp committee.
Both indoors and outdoors games...

End of this week we'll start indoor game tryouts.
I invited as many of the folks to try them out-- so I can find gaps to improve on before we played them
at the camp itself. Tomorrow I'll visit some places to start picking breakfast for them.

For once, I rented the meeting room at my flat to get it done.

I have NEVER used my place's facilities since forever (and I don't think my neighbours ever did so--too busy working at their 9-5 jobs haha)...so this time should put them to good use.

Of course I had to talk with the flat's management...get some paperwork done...

I guess my point is here that the deeper you wanna build connections (for me and my mens' fellowship, in this case)-- you need to put in MORE time and effort.

And it simply isn't enough to just 'show up'.

You have to start thinking how to put things in black and white-- and have some processes of sorts.

And you do have to schedule one-on-one meetings with individual folks.

What I liked was that the men in the fellowship somehow found time to plan lunches to discuss not just work in general...but also other stuff of life. We are talking extremely busy businessmen and contractors going out together.

And in such one-to-one sessions, you learn A LOT on how each fella thinks...how they work...their past history that shaped them as the person they are today. It all comes out--you don't have to ask some trick questions to prod them. I guess everyone is kinda lonely at heart-- and is just waiting for folks to just spend time with them. Something like this Forum...

I'm actually GLAD I can contribute and volunteer here.

When I talked about it to a friend, he simply snorted, 'I don't help out with these things any longer. I'll only join meetings if they can help ME make money..."

Money is important. But making relationships just for money's sake?
I find that rather bitter and lonely...

And looking back at it all, I don't regret going the extra mile to hook up with far more matured folks or social groups-- even if I do have to step up to help.

Few years back, if you told me I was gonna lead games for a grown mens' camp...I would laugh and ask if you had some secret tips for getting rich faster...
 
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ZF Lee

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Too much to update...somehow still working in freelance copy.

Had a Singaporean client ask me if I wanna charge a commissions instead of a retainer for some email work. That means for every paid lead they won from the email, I get a cut.

I had never done a commissions payment model before although I know such a model exists, based on what I read from Kim Krause's stuff. I just asked him to send me his rates first.

But his email projects have recently launched. We already have some sales data from the current email drips...but maybe it makes more sense to stick to a retainer first until we are more confident?

Commissions structure or not-- I STILL have to deliver good copy.

Even the best sales email or page can bomb...so I'm always thinking and looking out for ways to improve. I still don't think I'm a master at this. Most of my past failed deals were due to me getting slumped over mentally till I couldn't keep up with the workpile or communicate in time...so more then ever, I find I have to watch my mental energy meter.

There's more I'd like to share here...but I realise that Kak's advice to not work alone was real.

I don't necessarily need to start hiring...but I do need mentor-figures or consiglieres to show me the way in many, many key areas of my life. I still feel the urge to shut myself away and don't meet people...but I remind myself of the good people who helped give me an idea or two to get me moving forward.

Even though I am a lot younger than most of them, I try to support them as best as I can, in return.
Go support the charities or social causes they support...go for their birthdays or relatives' funerals...and more.

For now, here's an update I posted on the Random Thread:
Sometimes you may think what you are currently working on is good...until it isn't.

Few weeks ago, I got hit by acid reflux right during my grandma's birthday dinner. Suddenly felt that somewhere in my stomach was stuck, and bile kept gathering in my throat. No amount of hot water drank would wash them down.

I had read before that it was caused by eating too big, or some trigger allergy food...and only had it once before very, very long ago after a big dinner.

I overreacted and was so distressed that I got an x-ray done immediately. And blood work.

The doctor found I had some constipation-- and my cholesterol was not good. LDL and other markers a few points above the benchmark.

The thing is that my toilet time before this wasn't so bad until I was fighting to shit hard stools out. I'm not the kind to take all the fried and sweet stuff on a daily basis.

The only weaknesses I know I have are lack of more intense exercise (outside of the treadmill at gym), and me eating takeaway to compensate for lack of time (and mental energy) to cook. I did my best to pick takeaway that had balanced foods, but of course it ain't going to be as healthy as home-cooked for many reasons. I ate fruits regularly...a lot of eggs for breakfast.

I was SO down and embarrassed that the acid reflux happened in a family event.

Also very sad that even though I DEFINITELY lived healthier than MOST folks I know, as imperfect as I am, it all wasn't enough to keep my body working. For the first time in my life, I start blaming everyone around me for not buying me greens to eat...my social network for not helping me to cultivate a better health-driven environment...well everything.

Even got into a spat with my parents on this.

(they may know choke-tons on what they think is good for me...but bad at being sounding boards to just listen when someone is feeling very down)

After many hours in blame-mode, I was left numb.

All that remained in my head was just a few steps I could think of to get my body back in shape.

And I did these:

1. To eat out WAY less, I subscribed to a meal prep delivery service
that basically sent over prepped veges and chicken that I could just heat up. Honestly I could have made my own chicken breast and baked veges...but if someone can do it better and faster than me...why not have them help?

2. Killed 90% of carbs like rice and noodles. I still ate some potatoes, but only as a side dish and if the menu didn't have anything else (when eating out)

3. Every start of the week, I would load up the shopping cart with raw veges and fruits like cucumbers, cherry tomatos, blueberries, etc. More than before. Washed them all at one go so I can just chew on them throughout the week.

4. Started intermittent fasting to give my gut some break-time...usually skipped breakfast.
There's a lot of debate out there on whether breakfast is REALLY the most important meal of the day or some conspiracy spun up by the cereal companies...but I chose to skip breakfast because that was usually work time.

Stopped eating after 10pm...not even a snack.

5. Bought some mixed fibres-probiotic mix:

Recommended by my dad...took it every night after dinner.
The label said it would get me to the loo more often to deal with the constipation, but I only went to the washroom once per day.

I think there could be cheaper options for the gut like prunes and yoghurt...but these are just passive foods. that take time to set in. For now, I need immediate stuffs to clear me quickly.

6. Raised my exercise time from once a week to three times a week.
This is a laughable amount of time...but I got work and clients to do.

For now I'm still stuck 45-mins to 1 hour at the treadmill, but I hopped onto YouTube to emulate some dumbbells routines. I don't have any intention to build muscle for now...I just want to get my body working.

7. Update my social environment
After this acid reflux incident (and a separate car accident), I realised how limited my time and health actually were.

I stepped back from many social gatherings (even with mentor-figures) to rest and have more time for myself.
I also realised this year I had helped at too many charity events at church and elsewhere. They weren't bad activities and much was learnt-- but could I have made a better impact if I had MORE money, skills, networking and health?

I left my youth cell group for good. It was the last remaining circle of folks my age...I don't know WHY I stayed so long with them, or even wasted time debating with them on many menial issues. Maybe because I joined it since college...so the sentimentality held me back.

But when I thought carefully if I was willing to fight traffic weekly...just to go to their meetings, listen to un-dynamic, mediocre people give their surface-level opinions on the Holy Writ...and dismiss almost every of my ideas on improving life as 'too adult' or 'generalizing everyone'...then WHY GO?

I thought about finding new social groups to replace them once I was better.

I felt a bit lighter when I realised I had options open now.

Go for some gym group class? Ask my mentor-figures for admission to their country club? Hit up the church's business mastermind (where I come from, it charges a fee for membership, so it's not a light decision)?

Go buy a good course that has a mastermind?

I haven't bought a course in AGES...but after reading some stuff from Chris Orz and Troy Ericson...I was thinking of getting their stuffs on email list management. It's a step-up from the usual email copy work I do, but if it can help add more value and I meet with more hard workers out there, why not?

My only requirement for the new social circles to take on must be that they have to have an entry barrier of some sort (money, camaraderie, time, etc). They cannot be another sleazy free Meetup.com session that sends me to Amway.

But honestly this is at the bottom of my list...I want to focus on health first.

So far I think something works, because my eczema cooled down enough for me to go back to lotion...my stomach doesn't feel bloated anymore...and no acid reflux came back.
 

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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...
 

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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. :smile:

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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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.


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.
 

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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.

Had a Singaporean client ask me if I wanna charge a commissions instead of a retainer for some email work. That means for every paid lead they won from the email, I get a cut.
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?
 

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


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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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

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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.
 

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