Hi

To help a green new copywriter do you know of a course… book or other to show you how to get a direct response job/client?

My Goal - write a long sales letter(s) for a product(s) to get my feet wet.

* How do you find them? Canada – USA?

* How do you approach client – as a green newbie copywriter?

* And don’t get over your head or shoot yourself in the foot. As I might be slow getting out of the gate.

* How do you discuss work to be done and what should be in the letter of agreement?

* How long do you give yourself for projects?

* If you live in the boon docks… far away from rush of the city will you get jobs?

Thank you.

Yes… you get my point.

I’m all ears to hear your suggestions to help get my head up to speed… for the copywriter job waiting…

Thanks.


Jim

Jim,

I'm about to get ready for dinner, but here's a quickie thought:

The answer to much of what you said is "yes, it's definitely possible." And you would be a perfect candidate for John Angel's (a member of this board) course on how to find copywriting clients:

http://www.CopywriterProfits.com

Sorry to say, but I believe he is no longer selling this course.

I just an email from him today stating he has just sold his last one and
will be reselling a more "beefed up" version in another month or two for an additional $200.00

I'm sure if Jim contacts him quickly, John might be able to sqeeze in one more sale, but of course this is up to John.

I will say that John's course seems to be exactly what Jim might be looking for. I also recommend it.

Michael and Stephen thanks for the "plug"
on my course.

It is off the market right now.

I am in the process of taking it offline completely.
The new version will include the manuals, audio
CD's of coaching calls and audio CD's of interviews
with successful freelancers and transcripts of all
that stuff.

Plus, the ezine and email support for a year.

The price will be $497 plus $29.95 S&H.

It's probably going to take three months or so
before the package is available.

Hi

Michael, Stephen and John thank you for your comments and information.

Three... or so months is a long time to wait - when you need the how to now.

Any other suggestions to help discover how to get jobs and clients? And what to do when they bite... so you come across looking like you know what you are doing.

Thanks and have a great day.

Cheers.

Jim

P.S. I'm glad I've found this board. Lots of reading to get my brain cells active in the art of copywriting.

My suggstion:

Learn how you market yourself. Read the Gary Halbert Letter at The Gary Halbert Letter and check out Dan Kennedy's stuff at Dan Kennedy - Home

The same methods that allow you to build your marketing funnel will work for freelance copywriters, just as it works for practically any other business.

John

Jim,

Look at this Amazon link. You can buy a lot of books for $497

Amazon.com: freelance writing

Demonstrate your talent.

I used to be a cartoonist (yes, you read right) before I got into marketing. And yes, I'm considered to be a darned good copywriter (sure Sean, blow your trumpet), but I couldn't tell you how good I was unless I demonstrated how good I was.

And the demonstration is on the website itself. When customers got to my website or read the Headline Report, they came to their own conclusion--that I was a copywriter.

If only they knew they were dealing with an ex-cartoonist

http://www.psychotactics.com/psychoheadlines.pdf
The headline report

Psychological Marketing Business Tactics: Small Business Ideas
The website (now over 1800 pages wide, but was once just 10 pages)

Just don't do what some people try. Don't sit there researching and reading until the cows come home--while not applying anything. Your new venture is going to be a learning process and most books won't even begin to address your potential issues.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I don't think you should be afraid of making some mistakes initially (as to running a business). Go out there and look for the little guy. Build up samples, confidence and fine tune your working process--then move up.

Do 5-6 sample projects pro-bono (for recognized people if possible), and then ask them for testimonials, which you then put on your website along w/your portfolio. You can't say though, (IANAL), that you'll do sample projects For testimonials, though, because that would violate the FTC's endorsed testimonial rule.

Gotta work your way up the food chain, eg "free for no-names", then "free for names", then "pay for no-names", then "pay gigs for names".

And networking at a bunch of conferences/seminars is the best way to get in front of a lot of prospective clients face-to-face.

Then advertise copywriting services via google/overture/kanoodle.

And there's your business.

ken