What’s one of the best ways to prove to new people you are a credible expert?

Endorsements from other.

Which is what we’re looking at in this Q and A video – this time with natural light and with me getting off my behind to stand up and answer it.

This week’s question was from Kate (I call her Liz  in the video – I was confused, it doesn’t take a lot) who asked:

I’d love to learn how to ask for testimonials ~ Kate (not Liz)

So this is what I cover in the video below.

Remember, to get a simple but specific testimonial which paints a compelling story for your service, ask your customer to answer the following 3 questions:

• What problem were they suffering from?
• How did the product / service help (and were there any surprise bonuses!)
• What were the specific results?

And don’t forget to get them at their “hot” moment when you ask!

Research Data On Testimonials

The next question was from Geoff who asks:

We run a therapy practice.

I wonder if you can help. I would like to know if you have come across any research data on the effectiveness or otherwise of:-

1.  Testimonials on web sites
2.  Pictures of therapists

Excellent question Geoff, and my answer is going to be of the “try and test” variety.

There’s no doubt that testimonials are powerful proof that you have served others well in the past, but the best research data you’ll find is if you run a small test yourself.

This is because what works for someone else, won’t necessarily work for you. The results would depend on a number of factors such as:

• Your goals, whether you want sales, sign ups or enquiries
• Your audience
• Your website design
• Your call to action

You could create 2 pages that are the same, but one has testimonials with photos on and the other has ones without (I’m going to bet that the picture testimonials will win ). Then you can see which page gets more of the response you’re looking for.

Testing on your own audience is far better than relying too much on other people’s studies (though they are great at getting ideas of what and how to test. )

Something which I think you will find interesting is a published test that saw an increase of 34% response by adding just 3 lines of testimonials.

See how Wikijob Increased Sales by 34% by A/B testing customer testimonials.

So, that’s another Q and A post rounded up!

Next Friday time we’ll be looking at lede lines and how to come up with ideas for starting to write your content and sales copy.

Send in your copywriting question by writing in the comment box below.

And share the copywriting love by clicking the retweet button at the top of this article.

Every time this article gets a retweet, a copywriter somewhere beats writer’s block

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Okay, this needs to be said:

We are drowning in a sea of “experts”.

Photo by Kovik

With anyone able to call themselves an expert, it’s given rise to the hack job, the wannabe and the self-titled “gurus” who offer shoddy service.

“Not me” I hear you say (and I believe you, you’re a Harrisonamy reader )

But here’s the problem…

Even as a proper expert, this landscape is dangerous for your business.

Because the noise of the mediocre is stomping all over the whispers of talent.

Customers are confused

Since everyone these days has a website, blog, newsletter, autoresponder, free report, it’s harder to separate the wheat from the chaff.

and having those pieces of content marketing in place for your business is not enough to prove you can be trusted.

Knowledge is not enough

A study on the Psychology of Experts by James Shanteau at Kansas State University concluded that to be seen as an expert you needed to exhibit certain traits in addition to knowing your stuff

As Shanteau states:

Knowledge is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for expertise.

Which means unless you’re displaying these following traits, it’s likely you’re being ignored by the very people you can help.

1: Show extensive and up to date content knowledge

Displaying up-to-date knowledge or your niche is critical. Just a couple of ways you can do this includes:

• Sharing relevant stories in social media from industry blogs
• Using your blog to comment on the latest academic studies, articles and relevant news stories.

2. Display perceptual or attention abilities

This is a fancy way of saying you can spot how to solve your customer’s problem (when they can’t).

How can you communicate this?

• Case studies of recent clients
• Critiques or evaluations on your blog (for example as a web designers, you could offer to feature someone’s website and then analyse in your blog how you would improve the design)

3: Know what is irrelevant

Shanteau found that experts know what can be ignored when it comes to getting the job done.

For example, doctors knows what symptoms you should be wary of and which are just little “quirks” of the human body.

You can prove your worth  to your customers by telling them what’s really important when it comes to their problems.

This helps to cut through the overwhelm and will be a welcome relief to your audience.

So you could include blog posts such as:

The only social media site you should use as an orthodontist (and why you can ignore the rest)
The number one training program for a beginner’s marathon
3 ways to beat the blank page and start any sales page

4: Simplify complex problems

Can you deconstruct relevant legislation to your customers?

Perhaps put together a “beginner’s guide” to a tricky subject?

Your audience is busy, so if you can give save them time by simplifying the complex the value of your content will increase.

5. Handle adversity better than others

We turn to experts when things go wrong so if something is troubling your customer, this is a chance for you to keep your cool.

The sites that took a stance on the recent SOPA legislation, and campaigned against it notched up expertise points for ability to simplify the complexities and show others how to proceed.

So what can you do?

Providing answers and help in your blog, email marketing or products positions you as someone who knows what to do when they have a problem.

But if a crisis appears on a larger scale you can respond by issuing more authoritative content such as a free report, or a white paper. For example:

How to recession-proof your business
How to protect your job in light of new employee legislation
Get your asking price even with house prices falling

If you can stay calm and gathered whilst your audience are stuck or anxious, you will become an indispensable source of assistance.

6. Adapt knowledge to exceptions

With increasing numbers of content mills and sites regurgitating theory-based “how-to” advice, content quality has decreased.

For example,  the blogging arena is filled with people telling you that to build a successful blog you have to create quality content, post regularly, interact with your community, etc etc.

That’s a lot of same ole same ole to stand out in.

But you can create more unusual posts such as:

• Use These Copywriting Tips When You Feel Like A Fraud
• There is No ROI in Social Media Marketing
• The “Content is King” Myth Debunked

If you apply your expertise to situations outside the norm, you’re going to illuminate your expertise over someone who’s read a couple of books.

7: Communicate your expertise

“An expert is anyone who can persuade someone else that he (she) is an expert” (Dino & Shanteau, 1984).

Now, you might think that unfair, but as Shanteau discovered, knowledge is not enough.

To be honest, I don’t care about the hacks.

What I find most tragic is the expert filled with value and waiting to be discovered.

Don’t wait.

Use these above steps to keep communicating your message, cut through the confusion and prove to your audience that there are amazing resources still around on the Internet.

And you are one of them.

Please reTweet this (using the green retweet button at the top) if you think real experts deserve to be seen and heard!

What do you think?

What kind of experts do you take notice of and which ones do you ignore? What traits can you see in yourself and which ones attract you the most to someone?

Let me know in the comments below.

Click here to read the full study on The Psychology of Experts

If you want to know more about getting your message across as an expert – sign up for the weekly Fast Copy Fridays copywriting tips, and you’ll also get details of the next  Personality Entrepreneur Sales Page Boot Camp.  

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Okay, so in last week’s Fast Copy Friday I asked you if you had any copywriting questions that you’d like me to answer, and you did, and I made a video and then answered a couple more in the blog post.

Forgive the video – I was meant to record it with natural light this morning, and in reflection I’d have chosen a waaaay better angle. The kind of angle that makes me look like Kate Moss. Which would have probably meant asking Kate Moss to do the video instead

Enough frivolous irreverence, let’s get your questions answered:

How Do You Create A Tagline?

If you have a  trick…template…process for writing taglines, that would be great! ~ Liz

Well Liz, yes I do and I like to keep it nice and simple. I’ve answered your question in the video, but in summary I like to use 2 nice steps to create the tagline which includes:

1. What you do AND
2. Who you do it for

Or

1. What you do AND
2. Why you’re different

Watch the video for more explanation and examples like Wedding photography for gothic weddings, and life-coaching in the nude…

Do Copywriters Do Design?

Next up we had Steve and Steve writes (I feel so much like I’m an agony aunt – I love it):

I am looking to become a freelance copywriter for a niche industry that I’ve worked in for quite a few years as a sales person.

I have studied the copywriting side but my question is how is the actual copy presented ot the client? Does someone else design the layout, or is it the job of the copywriter to design the layout graphics too? ~ Steve

Well Steve, great question!

Generally speaking, the copywriter isn’t expected to do the actual design, BUT it is an important role of yours to advise on the format and layout, as that is something which definitely falls within your expertise.

Now, your clients may already have designers that they work with, and you can liaise with them on putting together your sales pages, advertorials, or brochures. You do have a vested interest in creating the best final product for your client and the design is critical.

Alternatively, you may at some stage decide to team up with a designer and offer the service as a package. This completely depends on how you want to work.

Most of my clients already have designers who already know their particuler branding so it makes sense for me to work with them, and to then review the final design pieces.

Don’t feel that you are offering a lesser service by not doing hands on design though – coming up with the words that can sell products is a highly valuable skill!

Okay – that’s all for this week…

Submit your questions

If you have a question you’d like me to answer next Friday pop it in the comments box below.

Have a superfandango weekend my lovely!

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If you write a blog for your business, or have a newsletter then you probably want to be popular with your audience. It’s unlikely that you would publish content, or do your email marketing hoping to cause as much annoyance to your reader as stubbing their little toe.

Instead you want to inspire them, make them laugh perhaps, or help them out by giving away useful advice, and there’s a really good chance that you want to engage your community.

Because having any kind of community is great, but having an engaged community is the secret sauce for success if you are selling to an online audience.

Danny Iny from Firepole Marketing sent me 2 copies of his recent book:

Engagement From Scratch – How Super-Community Builders Create A Loyal Audience And how You Can Do The Same. 

Last week I finished it, and here is the review…

What is it about?

EFS is a collection of 30 essays from bloggers, most of whom are also entrepreneurs of some kind. Each essay deals with different ways to build an engaged community with the focus on how to do it right from the start.

Who’s involved?

Danny has picked some admirable people to feature who can definitely teach you a whole heap about building a community from scratch. Brian Clark, Guy Kawasaki, Anita Campbell, Mitch Joel and Evan Carmichael are just some of the people involved and the foreword is by CC Chapman. The co-authors are from a spectrum of backgrounds, but if I remember right, all are using blogs as a platform to connect with their audience (as well as email marketing and social media).

Because each essay is about 2-3 pages, this is really easy to read quickly and you can dip in and out rather than having to tackle it from start to finish in one go.

What does it cover?

Alrighty, there are 7 main sections which include:

• General Principles
• Know and Love Your Audience
• Why and How to Do Content
• Why and How to Do Social Media
• Be Your Passionate Self
• Stories and Lessons Learned
• Step-by-step

Who is it for?

As the title suggests, it’s about building engagement from nothing, so the primary audience is those just starting out.

Having said that, I made a heap of notes for myself as I’m in the process of revamping my editorial calendar and content promotion strategy for the year and there was plenty of meat in this book for me to use.

If you’re like me and thinking about your content strategy for the year ahead this book will give you a wide variety of ideas from people with all different types of blogs and business backgrounds. These little snippets of advice are a great way to spark your own ideas and think about how you can implement them in your own business.

Alternatively, if you feel your community isn’t quite working, if you’re hearing crickets when you make an offer, or are struggling to get blog comments and traffic, you might benefit from revisiting the basic principles outlined in this book.

What’s good about it?

I do like the essay style of content as I was able to read this book pretty quickly and pull out what was relevant to me. For beginners, the good thing is that many of the principles are repeated by different people throughout. The repetition of these in different ways and by different people helps you cement them more firmly in your mind.

There’s also an online area for people who have the books which include a number of goodies including:

• Engagement From Scratch summary infographic
• Summary mind map
• How to build a blog infographic
• 23 page guide to creating awesome content
• Template for a guest post approach
• 2 x step-by-step guide checklist to complement a couple chapters in the book

What’s not so good about it?

Although this is ideally for those starting to build a community, it could be overwhelming for some. Whilst many people repeat strategies and principles, there are also many contradicting statements. This makes sense and proves that there isn’t just one way to build a community, but for someone not knowing where to start out, you might not know which strategies to implement, and what to do first. However…

How can you get the best out of reading the book?

In light of the above section, I would recommend that readers of the book choose advice based on people within the book who they admire AND have similar business models and lifestyles to what you would like to achieve. For example, there’s no point in trying to spend all your time on social media if you absolutely hate it, just because someone else finds that works for them.

I would also suggest picking a couple of things to start with, rather than trying to put everything into action at the same time, you’ll just get overwhelmed.

How can you win a copy of the paperback?

Danny was kind enough to give me 2 copies and I’m giving one away (the one that doesn’t have all my notes scribbled in) to a reader on the blog.

I’ll ship anywhere and pay the postage, all you have to do is:

• Share this blog post on Twitter (use the tweet button above so I’m notified) Or
• Let me know in the comments what makes you feel engaged with a blog or business

I’ll pick a random winner this week and ship the book!

You can find out more about the book by going to the Engagement From Scratch website.

See you soon!

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One of the biggest concerns I see with business owners who want to write a sales page, is about sounding natural. You want to be persuasive without being icky and salesy. This is particularly true if you’re a personality entrepreneur.

When you look for sales page templates, you’re going to see items to include like “fast action bonuses” or “scarcity”, and “urgency” and it just seems so pushy.

I like to show personality entrepreneurs that you can have natural sounding sales copy, even by using a “sales page” structure.

So here’s an example of how a conversational sales page might look for someone running a business group for work at home mums.

The Sales Page Structure

This is a very simple 10 point outline that I encourage business owners to use when they’re first starting their sales pages. Even this can appear heavily promotional.

1. Get the right attention (identify your target market)
2. What is the problem?
3. What do you offer in a nutshell?
4. Why does the problem still exist (for some) but can NOW be solved (what’s changed?)
5. What are the details (and why will they love it)?
   
6. Who are you and why can you be trusted?
7. Overcome objections
8. Offer bonuses
9. What do they need to do to get it (Why Should They Act NOW)?
10. What is the guarantee?
11. Bonus point – the P.S.

But let’s take each of those points and draft out a sales page that sounds natural and conversational:

1. Identify Your Target Market

Every day work at home mums are faced with the problem of the “work life balance”

2. What Is The Problem?

3. What Do You Offer? (In A Nutshell)

4. Why Does The Problem Still Exist?

5. What Are The Details (And Why Will They Love It)?

6. Why Can You Be Trusted?

7. Overcome Objections

8. Offer Bonuses

9. What Should They Do To Get It? (Why Should They Act NOW?)

10. What Is The Guarantee?

11. The P.S

I really wanted to share this with you to show you that sales copy doesn’t have to be about hype. It’s about bridging that gap between what you offer and your ideal customer, and painting a vivid picture of the value that you offer.

Let me know how you get on applying this structure to your sales copy!

Oh, I should mention, if you a freelance writer, my good friend Carol Tice is doing a 4 week blast off coaching course to help you make more money starting January 17th 2012.

Doors open today and Carol’s materials are excellent so I heartily recommend you check it out!

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Happy New Year To You! This is a guest post by Carol Tice who runs Make A Living Writing . Through her website, courses and membership group, she tells you what you need to know to rock it as a freelance writer and earn what you’re worth (which is probably more than you think!)

The Godmother to freelance writers

Ever needed to write, but you just couldn’t?

There are a lot of distractions out there, both online and off. Pesky interruptions from family members who have the nerve to crave your attention. Those fun LOLcats. Bejeweled. Choose your poison.

There’s also so much to know about how to write compelling online content. Always one more newsletter to read, one more great blog post to study.

In a word, you’re overwhelmed. There’s too much information, too many distractions, and it’s hard to clear the decks and get in that creative place where you can do your best writing.

How can you overcome overwhelm and focus on writing? Here are seven strategies:

1. Find your quiet time. It might be early in the morning or late at night, or while you eat lunch. But somewhere in your schedule there’s a time when it’s naturally less frenzied. Set aside that time strictly for writing.

2. Unplug stuff. Turn off the radio, and the email chime that dings every time you get a new message. If necessary, switch off the computer. Try hand-writing on a pad of paper or using an old typewriter if that will get you away from your online time-wasters.

3. Declutter. It’s hard to clear your head if your desk is piled to the sky with papers. Remember — think files, not piles.

4. Change your scene. If you can’t get anything done in your usual spot — whether the office or your back bedroom — try somewhere else. Hit a coffee shop or a coworking space, or sit in a park.

5. Delegate. If you have some administrative tasks you could either offload or postpone to clear the decks for writing, do it. Too much time pressure can backfire and mean nothing gets written.

6. Realize you’re good enough. You’ll learn more about how to be a better copywriter another day. For now, you do your best based on what you know. Spit out a first draft and save the rewrites and critique for after you’re done.

7. Set a timer. Block out an hour or even a half-hour where you commit to do nothing but writing. Don’t get up or turn to other tasks until the time is up. You may be surprised how much writing you can crank out once you’re forbidden all other activities.

How do you focus and get the writing done when you’re overwhelmed? Leave a comment and add to my list.

Carol Tice writes the Make a Living Writing blog. Together with Linda Formichelli of The Renegade Writer, she’s created a free Webinar about the 10 biggest obstacles freelance writers face (and how to overcome them). You can check it out through Thursday. Click here to access the free recording!

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Nobody likes to feel bad about a problem they’re having and that includes your customers.

My mum is brilliant at listening to any challenges I’m facing without making me feel like it’s really my fault. If I haven’t exercised she’ll understand that the weather’s been a bit cold, if I’ve forgotten to do something, she’ll tell me I’ve probably been working too hard.

My brother on the other hand will tell me to man up, stop messing about and do what I need to do. (Got to love brothers).

In your sales copy, forget being like my brother, you need this empathetic side.

The cake is ALWAYS to blame... not the decision to eat the cake. That cake knows what it is doing...

Basically say to your customer:

1. Hey, it really sucks that you’re having this problem, but you know what?
2. It’s not your fault…
3. It’s because…

This approach makes your audience more receptive to what you have to offer because:

1. They like that you’re not making them feel bad
2. They can understand the logic of your argument

The second part of this is pretty important, you need a good reason why your customer has this problem. Here are some quick examples…

Don’t say:

Your team doesn’t respect you because you won’t spend 10 minutes getting to know social media, and understanding how technology can help you do your job better.

Do say:

Executives are finding it harder to lead today because technology and corporate rules are changing so fast that the old methods no longer apply

Don’t say:

You still don’t fit into those jeans because you can’t stop eating peanut butter, ham and cheese sandwiches washed down with a mince-pie and chased with a glass of mulled wine (oh yes the Christmas diet has arrived).

Do say:

The holiday season brings a huge amount of pressure if you’re trying to stay in shape. With social occasions, and tasty treats tempting you at every turn you’d need super-human discipline just to survive…

You get the picture right?

Paint a picture of the enemy that is stopping your customer getting what they want and build that empathetic bond.

That way you’ll have their attention when you explain to them what a super-duper product or service you have that can make their problem disappear.

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I got up this morning and was all excited, not least because it’s December the 1st and that means the first chocolate gets eaten on the advent calendar.

Today, Harrisonamy Copywriting turns 3 years old – and you benefit.

It's party time

Because this isn’t about me – that’s what my real birthday is for (next month… I’d like a room full of puppies and a bowl of M&Ms with the red ones taken out, thank you please).

Lets face it, the birthday of a copywriting business should be about 2 things and 2 things only:

• Free copywriting help
• Cake

Cake should probably come first.

The Details

Harrisonamy Big Birthday Bonanza!

Join me today on this webinar.

12-1pm PST / 3-4pm CT / 8-9pm GMT (London time)

Register now for the webinar, and later today you’llenjoy:

 Free Copywriting Help

I’ve been asking for your copywriting questions to answer  tonight. These kinds of questions so far include:

• Do sales pages reeally have to be soooooo freaking long!?
• Can you use the same techniques to write about services as you do about products?
• What are the best subject lines to use in emails?
• How do I shake off my corporate voice on my website?

There’s still time to submit your questions, you can do this by:

• Popping them in the comments
• Hunting me down on Twitter
• Visiting the Facebook page

Free Cake And Prizes

Now, there’s not much fun of a party with no cake which is why, we’ll be having copywirintg quizzes throughout and I’ll be giving away the following prizes:

• 1 x copy of the copywriting PhraseBook ($17)
• 1 x copy of the Beginner’s Guide To writing Web Copy($47)
• 1 x free cake delivered to your door!

Boot Camp Preview

I’ll also be giving you a sneak preview of what I’ll be covering in the Personality Entrepreneur Boot Camp this weekend (have you secured your spot yet?)

How To Register

There is no opt-in to register, simply click this link.

I also want to know your most unusual birthday present you’ve ever received. (The answers so far have had me in stitches!)

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Have you ever been to an event, or conference, or general gathering of people where someone has absolutely captivated an audience despite talking rubbish?

Or perhaps you’ve found yourself yelling at the TV during a reality TV show like The Apprentice, as a group rallies behind the loudest but possibly least competent leader.

And I’m pretty sure that at some point in your working life, you’ve met that person who can hold the attention of the boardroom despite glossing over the figures and glossing over the details.

Welcome to the Art of B.S

If you downloaded a copy of the Personality Entrepreneur report you’ll already know that the most famous “experts” in this world also tend to be the least credible.

In fact, to prove this, an experiment was once conducted where a researcher hired an actor to deliver a speech to an audience of psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers. However there were a couple of things to be noted:

• The lecture was absolute rubbish, filled with illogical statements and contradictions
• It was delivered brilliantly, with absolute confidence and certainty by the actor

And despite the audience filled with people well-educated on the subject, no-one picked up on the fallacies within the lecture. In fact, they were very impressed with it.

So how can you use this to increase the credibility in your copy without hoodwinking your audience?

By understanding the traits of an “expert” which include:

• Confident delivery
• Talking in certain terms
• Sticking to a simple idea or story

Confident Delivery

When you know the benefits of your product or service, don’t hold back in your copy. Too many people writing their own copy are humble, or miss selling points completely because they’re too close to the product.

A good technique is to have a friend tell you what they think the selling points are of your product. You might find that what seems obvious to them is something you’ve overlooked.

And remember, sales copy isn’t about being arrogant, or boasting, it’s about proving to your customer that their days of living with a certain problem can be over with your help. Now that’s something to feel confident about.

Talk in certain terms

Psychologically, us humans don’t like uncertainty. We like to know what’s what in the world, not what may or may not happen.

As a result, we like listening to people who reinforce this feeling of certainty. Newspapers are much more likely to quote an expert who says “This is definitely the reason this happened” rather than “well, there are a number of factors, and really nobody’s that sure if any of them actually contributed to the final outcome. On the one hand…”

So what does this mean in your copy? Well it’s not so much about glossing over complex details, as using proof and logic to add certainty to your argument.

For example, consider the following statements:

“More businesses are turning towards social media to market their services”

compared to:

“In 2011, more than $1bn was invested in marketing businesses through social media. With an average return of $3 for every $1 spent, it’s obvious that this is a growing, and lucrative industry.

Now, I’ve just made up those figures, (obviously don’t do that), but you can see that it adds much more weight and credibility to the story than without.

Stick to a simple idea or story

Too often, sales copy gets muddled by having too many different directions or story ideas. It’s understandable because with so many different things to talk about, it’s tricky to know where to start or how to structure your sales copy. I often encourage people to write their sales page as if they were recommending a new service to a friend. It forces you to start at the beginning and try to find the logical story you would use if you were letting someone know about a new restaurant, or book or hairdresser rather than trying to concentrate on all the sales psychology at the same time.

I also teach a very simple 10 step sales page structure that you can use which I’ll be going through during this weekend’s boot camp.

Don’t forget I’m having a party webinar this thursday that’s free to join and I’ll be going through some more tips and techniques to help you write better copy!

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On Thursday, December the 1st, Harrisonamy Copywriting turns 3 years old. And I’m having a party. (More on that later, we’ve got some stuff to cover before then).

It’s moved on from the terrible twos, where all it did was ask “why?” took steps, wobbled, fell, and bumped its bum.

And that’s not to mention the crayoning on the walls and sticking food up it’s nose.

The last three years have been amazing. I don’t mean that in the sense that everything has gone right, or that I now have all the answers, but I have learned a lot and am proud of what I’ve achieved.

Working for msyself makes me feel closer to releasing the music that’s inside me.

Do you understand that feeling?

If so, I want to share my rules of this journey with you.

Avoid kissing arse

I am terrible at pretending I like people who I don’t like, to the point I can’t physically make eye contact with them. I’m never rude, I’m not mean, but I try to avoid people I don’t like because I am so bad at pretending it zaps my energy fast.

I’m also getting better at calling bullshit on myself when I hear myself say “they’re not very nice, but they’re:

• Really good at what they do
• Could get me great exposure
• Have a big list

Don’t get into those relationships. The payoff is rarely, if ever worth the trade in self-respect.

This also includes people who don’t respect your time. If they don’t respect your time, they don’t respect you. I once had a very, very wealthy and well-respected client. He was interested in working with me on a big project. It could have been lucrative for me but there was one problem.

He was late every time we agreed to speak without apology or explanation.

This was someone who had no respect for me which means working together would have been a nightmare.

I love what marketing genius Dan Kennedy says about people who impinge on his “autonomy”

“If I wake up three mornings in a row thinking about you and we’re not sleeping together and you can’t take half my assets then you’ve got to go”

Do listen to your gut

I have ignored my gut on many occasions and it always, always comes to bite my in the bum. Similar to the above, it has meant I’ve entered into relationships with people my gut didn’t like and have been heartily disappointed.

Listening to your gut is not about playing it safe though. Sometimes you get nervous about doing something, and feel like that’s your gut instinct telling you it’s a bad idea – it’s not the same thing. When I booked to go to SXSW this year I was very nervous. It was an expensive trip, I was staying in a house of people I’d never met and my gut was very nervous. I was way out of my comfort zone, but it was one of the best decisions I’ve made this year (and yes I’m going back next year – come say hi!)

Create

The best results I’ve ever had in my business is when I’ve stopped looking at other people, stepped off Twitter and created something.

And here’s why most people don’t do it: It’s flippin hard.

Especially with writing. It’s lonely, you’re racked with self-doubt, and it feels risky because you don’t know if people will like what you create.

But it’s worth it. whether it’s writing an ebook, creating a training program or researching clients I’d love to work for, the hard work pays off.

Steal and adapt

There are tons of people doing great things out there, doing them very successfully. Often we have a mentality of “oh, I can’t do that, so and so has already done it.”

Forget that.

As long as you’re not actually stealing someone’s work word for word, or copying them exactly, they’re there for your inspiration. As you probably already know I studied screenwriting where we learned that:

There are only 7 different types of stories in the world.

Well how’s that for having to steal? Everything we wrote was similar to, or some kind of version of something else.

Like someone’s promotion? Do something similar and see if it works for you. See a snazzy advert? Adapt it for yours. Someone built a big list by guest posting on big blogs? Go out there are give it a try in your business.

Do not wait to be picked

This is the biggest lesson I’ve learned in 3 years. to illustrate, let me give you a brief summary of the past 3 years:

Year one

Oh my God, I’ve just quit my job at the start of a recession. We’re having to take in foreign students and sell the bed to make the bedroom into an office. Can I even do this for a living?

Okay, I’ve got some clients, I’ll do the work they ask of me and hope that next month they want more work.

Secretly, I really hope a big client discovers me and pays me lots of money…

Year two

I hate my work. I’m firing my clients. I never want to write about the state of the mining industry in Poland ever again. Wow. Square one. Where do I start – okay I’ll start by approaching clients I’d like to work for.

Secretly I really hope a big client I like discovers me and pays me lots of money…

Year three

My clients are awesome, but I’d like to move into training and creating products. Cool, I released my first big eBook and start talking to some amazing clients.

Secretly I really hope one of my launches just takes off and I make lots of money.

Lesson

There is no “point” where everything is roses. The journey is lots and lots of little steps, and that is why (and this bit is really important) that you have to love those little steps, and NOT wait for someone to pick you out of the crowd.

I cannot stress this enough.

You have to love each little step, even the crappy ones that make you cry.

And you have to stop waiting to be discovered. Stop waiting to be talked to, to be talked about, to be featured, to be included.

You. Are. Great. Enough.

Put yourself forward, approach clients you think are too big for you, try new things and don’t worry if they fail. Be willing to fail. In fact, fail often and fail fast so you can get on to succeeding.

Out of the three years, this is the year I’ve cried the most with some of the challenges I’ve faced, but it proves to me that I’m growing, that I’m still bumping my bum.

My job never made me cry.

It never made me feel alive either.

The party

So, what does this have to do with copywriting?

Well, people are too afraid to reveal themselves to their audience.People are worried about pushing what they have on people, about emailing their list, about emailing a client, about selling a product.

People are keeping their precious gifts far too close to their chest for fear of “bothering someone”.

That makes me sad.

I don’t mind losing subscribers when I launch a product. A lady emailed me today. She signed up to my newsletter shortly before I opened the bootcamp then complained that she was getting boot camp emails.

I don’t blame her, but I don’t mind that she unsubscribed.

Because I also had an email from a lady who took the deluxe boot camp option and was bursting with excitement about working with together this weekend.

Excited lady beats annoyed lady every time.

Now I promised you a party a long long time ago.

Well, if you stuck it out to this point – go you!

Yes I am having a party on Thursday to celebrate that Harrisonamy is 3 years old.

• You can ask any question you like about my journey
• You can ask any copywriting question you like
• I’ll be showing you what the boot camp will include
• I’ll be eating some cake
• I’ll be picking someone to receive a cake from me
• I’ll be helping you out any other way I can in the time we have

There is no opt-in

Just register ont he link below:

Yes I want to come to your party!

I really want to see you there.

And we’re off the air….

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