PROFIT.
Whether for yourself or for a client. It doesn't matter squat what you've read, what you've done, what you know...what matters is:
Does what you write produce a PROFIT?
Do that and I guarantee you won't have to worry about getting clients, they'll find you.
You won't bat 1000, nobody does. But if you write and produce...you've found the only Holy Grail that I know about. Nothing works like RESULTS.
And there are plenty of
results producing copywriters to learn from.
gjabiz
Fly Low And Collect The Dough
PS. Since you already write persuasive copy, then TESTing may be the Semi-Holy Grail.