Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to introduce myself. I've been lurking here for a while and find this board extremely valuable. I've learned a lot from many of you, so thanks.

Just a little about me . . . I live in Mississippi, have a wonderful wife and two kids, 3 and 5 (just about everything but the white picket fence).

My "day job" is recruiting and training for a major insurance and investment company, but I'm slowly laying the groundwork for my copywriting business.

So . . . here's to my ongoing education - and I hope to give back to you in a meaningful way soon.

Chris

Welcome aboard Chris.

Glad to have you here.

Welcome

Hi Chris!

Welcome aboard.

There's a lot to be learned from the folks on this forum.

Great to meet'cha!

Alan

Welcome Chris!

Your headline reminded me of a"Welcome Back Kotter" episode.

Let us know if you need any help

Always nice to see new faces here.

Hi Chris

Welcome to the forum.

Jane

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Welcome Aboard Chris!

Just to make it interesting...

1) What's the number one lesson, technique, idea or strategy you've learned here so far?

2) What's the one thing you've learned in your present career that you think would benefit the copywriters / marketers / consultants who hang out here?

3) What's the single greatest learning curve you think you have yet to master in your new "copywriting" (ad)venture?

Hey JP,

Trial by fire Ok, here goes:

1. I would say the number one “tip” I picked up was a passing comment Michel made last month regarding Affiliate Cloner. Writing the sales letter for an affiliate site and by-passing the owner’s sales page is a great way to “practice” and get paid for it – potentially.

2. One critical thing I’ve learned in my business and what I train our agents to is activity. We can “talk” insurance and investments all day long; we can hang out on Morningstar’s website, watch CNBC and sing “What a Beautiful World” but if we aren’t seeing people, we’re wasting our time.

Some of my guys want to have it all figured out first. They don’t want to get their nose bloodied – they don’t want to look stupid. So they wait until they “feel” competent.

I remember on the call Michel did with John Carlton last year. Carlton said people like to walk around the edge of the water bothering everyone already in with questions like “is it cold?”, “is it deep?”, etc. He said “just jump in the damn pool.”

I believe the key to activity and becoming competent in any selling – and certainly copywriting - is having a system. Systems breed success. You have to start with what you’re objective is. How much do you want to make this year, break it down to the week and decide how much activity it’s going to take to achieve that goal.

Decide what marketing methods you’ll use. Keep it simple. Whether it’s blogging, Adwords, JV’s, articles, whatever . . . just TRACK EVERYTHING. And have a funnel to move potential clients through, a process that includes name gathering.

I thought Ray’s posts on your 7-Step Plan post were extremely valuable. He made light of the flowchart everyone hammered him for, but that idea is right on. I think you have to map out your plan, track, assess and adjust. Business building 101.

3. My biggest learning curve is probably writing good bullets. That noses out about a dozen other things.

Chris,

Excellent comments and insights. I had a feeling you had it in ya!

A number of members and lurkers should read and reread your comments 5x minimum...

As I say it, "Stop getting ready to get ready. NOW is the time to do something!"