What do writers need in order to get clients?”
What are the bare-bone essentials… the things that really move the needle?
I know this… you don’t have a lifetime to master copywriting and the business of making money as a writer…. I bet you don’t even have the proverbial 10,000 hours to master it.
If you’re like me, you want to make money from your writing YESTERDAY!
A funny story about that…
In my 2nd year as a writer… after I’d make well over six figures and was doing pretty good, I got a call from one of the top writers and business owners in the business.
He wanted to show that the 10,000 hour rule was true… that you had to devote 10,000 hours to a task to really master it and make a lot of money at it.
“Joshua, how many hours a day did you spend building your writing business?”
“Well, I usually get up at around 5am and then by around 12pm or 1pm, my brain is mushy and I go play with the children for the rest of the day.
Oh, and the first 90 minutes of my morning is me doing prayers, personal devotional stuff, reading and planning.
So, I really don’t get started until around 6:30am. So, that’s what? Around 6 hours a day?
I do that 5 days a week… so around 30 hours a week. And I usually only work about 40 weeks a year.
I guess that means I put in about 1200 hour the first year.”
“That sounds really low. Are you sure?” he asked.
“The thing is this, I love working hard. But I also love doing things that work. I just focused all my time on a few activities that really moved the needle. That got me the results I wanted.”
In the end, he did not use my interview as an example because it didn’t fit the mold… but he was very encouraging to me and congratulated me on my focus.”
I want to help you have the same kind of simple focus.
It can be broken down into three parts:
One - Stuff you do just to live. It is part of your character and who you are.
Two - Foundation activities. Things that you do once, set in place and then forget about.
Three - Production actions. These are things you do over and over again to create the results you want in life. All success has a routine and repetition.
This is sooo super important that I really don’t think you should try getting clients without doing this.
But first I need to tell you a story.
The world has changed.
We must change with it or be left behind.
The other day I needed to jump on a video call with a group of people. (I won’t tell you who or why… it wouldn’t be proper… LOL)
I sent out a link to a Google Meet room that only requires you to click the link and join the video call.
15 of the 16 people joining the call jumped right on.
And one person didn’t.
She kept saying over and over again, “I’m just not very good at technology. Let me see if my husband can help. You know I can’t figure out these fancy new phones.”
Again and again… for almost 45 minutes.
We were patient and it turned out fine in the end, but I couldn’t help think.
Once upon a time, she had used a telephone, current with the times.
And then the world changed all around her.
And she woke up one day in a new world, isolated from the rest of humanity. She failed to move forward, failed to adapt, failed to learn new skills.
Now, unless she changes, she will forever be at the mercy of other people and making excuses like, “You know I’m not good at all this new fancy technology.”
We will love her and understand, but we will also do things and connect and live in ways that she will never enjoy and can’t imagine.
It is time for you to learn, grow, change and advance.
