Hey my name is Pete.
Since 2016, I’ve generated $10M in sales for my clients.
During that time I worked for 8- and 9-figure companies…
I worked with multiple copywriters who sold over $100M each…
And I’ve written multiple 7-figure packages in two different languages.
Today I want to share with you my 10 biggest copywriting lessons I’ve learned along the way.
This guide got pretty long so I split it in two parts.
Let’s get started with Part 1.
#1 Ignore Courses And Books (And What to do Instead)
There are a million copywriting courses and books out there.
What I’m about to tell you might sound counter-intuitive…
But listen: You can safely ignore 99.9% of them.
They are a complete waste of time.
This might sound crazy.
But hear me out.
Think about copywriting like learning to play the guitar.
You can buy all the books…
All the fancy DVDs…
Get the best teacher…
But the only thing that will improve your playing is PRACTICE.
The same applies to copywriting…
And it’s the same with copywriting.
I was lucky enough to work with several copywriters who sold $100M+ each.
And when I asked them how to improve my copy, they all said the same:
“Just get the reps in.”
How do you do that?
By doing the same 3 boring things over and over, every single day:
- Read a winning promo every day
- Write a piece of copy every day
- Come up with an idea every day
You do these 3 steps consistently…
And a year from now you will run circles around your competition.
By all means, pick up ONE book or course to study the basics.
But after that, you gotta get the reps in.
Every day. No excuses.
That brings us to lesson #2…
#2 Forget about Gurus – Get a Mentor (and get Paid)
There’s a ton of gurus selling copywriting advice online.
Most of them are full of shit.
Even some of the big, well-known names are complete frauds.
They might sound convincing…
But if they’re so good then why are they TEACHING copywriting instead of doing it?
Because the best copywriters I know are either rich & retired…
Or they’re too busy writing copy to sell courses.
There are some “old-school” copywriters out there who maybe wrote a winner 20 years ago…
And simply figured out that it’s much easier to teach copywriting than to actually write.
Now, there are definitely legit copywriters out there who offer mentoring.
But they’re heavily outnumbered by complete frauds and wannabes.
That’s why I recommend you stay away from paid mentorships…
You only want to take copywriting advice from people who are winning right now.
The good news is, you can get paid to get mentored by some of the best copywriters in the world.
How do you do it?
#3 Supercharge Your Writing – Get a Job as an In-House Copywriter
When I started out, I went down the freelancing path.
For the first three years as I copywriter, I didn’t even have a copy chief.
I had to figure out everything by myself.
And while I did write some winners – I don’t recommend it.
The best way to get started is to get a job in-house with a big Direct Response publishing firm.
I was lucky enough to land a gig with one of the biggest firms in my industry…
Where I got mentored by some of the best writers in the business.
And I got paid for it too!
There is no better way to learn.
Every day, you will have seasoned pros rip your copy apart.
You get to work with world-class marketers and products…
And you’ll get feedback from running your copy on big lists all the time.
I know it’s not sexy.
Everybody wants to make six figures from home.
But if you want to get good quick, this is the way to do it.
#4 Don’t Be Scared of a “Saturated” Market
A big question for rookie copywriters is what market to pick.
Keep it simple.
You can never go wrong with the “big three”…
Health / Wealth / Relationships (Dating)
Those are all massive markets.
And you will find big Direct Response publishing firms in all of them.
Now, some people will say these markets are “saturated” and you need to niche down.
But I don’t recommend that.
Yes, these markets are very sophisticated and competitive.
But that’s a good thing.
When a lot of people are in any market, you know there is money to be made
And these markets are MASSIVE.
For example, the US supplement market alone is worth $160 billion a year.
That’s a big pie.
And all you need is to get a tiny slice of it to do real well.
If you could capture just 0.001% of that, you’d make $1.5 million a year.
So don’t be scared to enter a “saturated” market.
Join a big firm… work with great mentors… they will show you the ropes.
And once you’ve learned enough, you can always niche down and go out on your own later.
#5 Never Work For Free (Even if you Start from Zero)
So how do you break into the copywriting industry, when you have no experience, no connections and no skills?
It can seem daunting to start from scratch.
And many gurus will tell you to offer free work to potential clients, just to get a foot in the door.
I don’t recommend that.
First of all, nobody values free stuff.
Most people will assume if it’s free it can’t be good.
And even if you offer to work for free you still have to sell yourself.
There’s a much better way, which I learned many years ago from David Deutsch.
He’s a real OG copywriter and one of the good ones in this industry.
And you can find the video here
It’s only 1:23 minutes long, so check it out.
Simply put, David recommends to work for yourself as your first client.
Put a small list together, write a sales page and sell them some stuff.
That way:
- You get valuable experience and build your first sample
- You get confidence… because now you know you can actually sell stuff
- You make money along the way
I did exactly what David recommends and it worked out great.
I made about $2,000 selling my first product online.
And then I took the Video Sales Letter (VSL) I had produced and showed it to a big direct response publishing firm.
They were so impressed they hired me on the spot.
And you can do it too.
So instead of working for free… work for yourself and use the experience to get your first client.
Who knows, you might like it so much you will become your own boss full-time!
That’s it for Part 1.
Part 2 is coming soon.
Any questions or comments?
Let me know down below.
