In my 16 years as an entrepreneur, I’ve had to learn a lot of lessons the hard way.
So in order to make your path easier…
I want to share some of those lessons with you today.
Let’s dive in…
1. If you don’t know how to make sales, you’re going to struggle
This one is not negotiable.
You have to know how to make sales.
You can be amazing at creating content, but if you’re terrible at selling, you’re gonna struggle.
Money comes from sales.
And sales trump all.
2. Most of the people who are close to you will NOT believe in you at the beginning
The people closest to you usually want safety and security for you above all else.
They don’t want you to try to start your own business…
Or to leave your job and become a copywriter…
Understanding this will be a huge help early on because most of the people who are close to you will not be big supporters of what you want to do.
This obviously sucks…
And I wish it wasn’t this way…
But most entrepreneurs I know have gone through this – so just be aware of it.
3. Once you start making decent money, you will most likely spend too much of it
The first time you hit 6-figures is an amazing feeling.
Especially if you’ve been grinding below that level for a while.
But with that usually comes a lot of money mistakes.
When I hit 6-figures I went out and spent a bunch of money on a new Jeep, a better apartment, and bar tabs that were hitting $300.
It took me a while to realize…
But “lifestyle creep” bit me hard.
I was making 3x the money I made the year before, but I hardly had anything to show for it.
This is incredibly common.
And I see it all the time when someone makes a big leap in income.
So my advice?
Try to keep your expenses similar for a year or two when you have a big jump in income.
You’ll be happy you did.
4. There is a Grand Canyon sized difference between writing copy and running your own biz
Being good at copy doesn’t mean you’ll be good at running a business.
They are two VERY different skills.
I learned pretty quickly that I was good at making sales, creating offers and writing copy…
However I was NOT good at hiring people, managing them and putting them in the right roles.
That was not for me.
The skills needed to have your own offer are very different than the skills of being a good copywriter.
Most copywriters are not aware of this…
And then they learn it the hard way when they put out their first product.
Alright, let’s do one more of these and wrap up…
5. There’s no faster way to get where you want than to learn from someone who is better than you
I spent most of my early years in this biz struggling to get by.
Why?
Cause I was trying to learn everything on my own.
I never asked for help…
I never got a mentor…
It took me 6+ years to be decent at copy.
Yet when I finally hired a copy coach, I got exponentially better in less than a year.
That also made my income soar.
And I went from making around $200k a year to over $2.2 million in a year.
Now-a-days, I willingly pay for mentorship and coaching whenever I can.
Why?
Because I’ve seen over and over again that it will make me more money.
So I don’t look at it as an expense…
It’s an investment for me.
And it’s an investment with a big ROI.
So there ya go…
Those are a few of the hard lessons I’ve learned over the years.
Hope this was insightful for you.
I’ll be back tomorrow with more.
Enjoy your Tuesday,
– Justin
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Looking for a copy mentor?
Stefan Georgi and I have helped writers like Scott Mills go from $5k a month to now regularly having $30k months (he’s on pace to make over $400k this year)
If you’d like to do the same, then give this a read
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