Hello everyone,

I'm pretty new to this copywriting and marketing game. I'm at that learning stage you know the information sponge. Anyway I was just thinking how the internet has enabled me to enter into this new career and how great it is, but I must ask how in the world did you more experienced, older writers survive pre the internet?

How did you break into the copywriting/marketing game, where did you do the hard yards?
Did you apprentice under someone?
How did you even know this copywriting world was out there?
Did you come from advertising agencies?

I mean seriously it doesn't take long to 'net search and discover names like Kennedy, Carlton, Makepeace & Mr Fortin of course. I have no idea how I would have survived before the internet esp. living in the southern hemisphere (try finding copywriting books in stores or librarires here). So if you've got a couple of minutes up your sleeve wanna take a trip down memory lane, I'd love to hear how you did it.

thanks all
Marty

I started on the mid 90s as a radio commercial writer at a local station. Thought it would be fun, even though it paid horribly.

Wrote a few decent spots (a couple that won awards) and moved on to catalog writing for Bass Pro Shops. Did that for several years (a GREAT education on how to write short, snappy direct response), then went to work for an in-house agency that specialized in marketing for LASIK surgeons, where I honed my craft writing print, web, and broadcast stuff.

Eventually got fired (Thank you God) and found a new marketplace I didn't even know existed on the net. Attended a couple of seminars, including one by Mr. Fortin in Denver last year that really set the groundwork for my sales letter skills, started my own freelance copywriting company in January of this year and haven't looked back since.

Quick note--My financial goal for my first year freelancing was to at least match my previous full time salary as a copywriter. Not a tremendous feat by any means (in house work doesn't pay much unless you're hooked into a large agency in a big city, then they work you to death) but I thought I might hit it sometime in the Fall.

I blew by my goal about 3 weeks ago. Almost 5 months to the day I started freelancing.

I cut my teeth through experience, but there's some great courses out there (Breakthrough Copywriting) that can speed up the process considerably. Learn the craft and start marketing yourself, and you should be successful.

GOOD LUCK!

Honestly, I just jumped in feet-first and did what I loved. I was knee-deep in Desktop Publishing for organizations and my workplace... I studied Education & Interpretation in college, which included some design & usability principles material. I practiced, experimented, saw what worked and kept doing the good stuff. Kept taking on new projects, kept my ear to the wind, relied on word-of-mouth referrals.

The owner of our local print shop, which also produces a weekly shopper (newspaper/advertising paper) saw my work, liked it, and tapped me for some writing and layout work when he needed a hand. I met people and was recommended by people who knew people, through just a handful of gigs for the printer.

I have had a lot of fun thinking up & designing ads, newsletters, brochures, promos, signs, etc. for my gift shop, which I bought 10 years ago. However the days of one-job-for-50-years are long gone, the name of the game now is to diversify. I learned about web hosting through several disasters with my gift shop's website, got doggone PO'd and decided to just learn the biz and do the hosting myself, so "it'd be done right." At least then if it got screwed up, it'd be my own fault, right? Heh! Well we are all strong-headed self-starters here, we know how that goes!!!

That was six years ago and it's amazing to me how business has grown and changed since then... but I still love it and I am adamantly sticking to the original principle of doing it right no matter the size or scope of the business. Might be bigger, but bigger isn't necessarily better. Just like in marketing, time-tested principles (such as "quality over quantity") stay the same, remain as true as ever.

The thing about pre-internet vs. internet, is that at least for me, my upstream hasn't really changed. Word-of-mouth is still my #1 source of new business ,both for my gift shop's website and for the web hosting biz. I've long since learned that if you do right by people, they will be happy to recommend you... and when it comes down to it, a personal recommendation, and the trust that it rides upon, is hands-down the most valuable advertisement out there.

So the media has changed, but the mechanisms have not. At least for me.


*$.02*


Bailey

Hi Guys,

Thanks for taking the time to reply, I had a burning case of curiosity & had to ask, also thanks for the words of wisdom.