3 Mistakes I Made In Year One as a Copywriter

It’s officially been 6 years.

I started my copywriting journey in January 2019.

My progress so far:

• Retired my wife

• Lived in 4 countries

• Generated $1M+ with email

• Made over $500,000+ in profit

• Built a 4 hour workday business

And, I've helped 40+ copywriters land their first client in one month.

It’s been a wild journey, and I’m forever grateful I decided to go all in when I did.

The only thing is?

I wish I did it sooner.

And I wish I didn’t make dozens of mistakes along the way that slowed down my progress (and made my life more painful).

Here are 3 mistakes I made in my first year (that you can avoid):

1. I didn’t specialize in sales copy at first

Okay, this might sound strange, but it’s true.

My first specialty was blog posts (even though I was training myself up as a copywriter).

Nothing wrong with writing them. In fact, I’ve made plenty of money writing blog posts – and still do (I can’t complain about getting paid $400 in 3 hours for writing a post).

But, I would have made more money quicker if I specialized in sales pages, emails, or ads.

Why?

They’re closer to the conversion. And they have a more direct impact on a business’ ability to generate revenue than a blog post.

It’s copywriting vs. content writing.

If you already specialized in blog posts, that’s okay. You can still make $10,000+ per month because they still help generate traffic from Google, engage audiences, and can convert people to make a purchase.

It’s just a harder path.

I just wrote blogs for 6 months.

Then, I specialized into email copy. That’s when my income went from $1,000/month to $5,000/month (and then to $9,000/month by month 12).

2. I didn’t reach out to businesses directly

I played it “safe” and stuck to freelance marketplaces for the first 6 months.

So places like Fiverr and Upwork.

These aren’t terrible places (in fact, they can be a decent supplement to your copy income).

But, I was waiting around for clients via Fiverr. And Upwork has massive competition (and is harder to find high-paying clients).

So you need a decent amount of proof to get them, which you don’t have at the start.

I should have reached out to businesses via DMs right away and dropped Sniper Bombs with high value upfront. It would have worked much faster (and got me higher paying clients).

3. I didn’t surround myself with other copywriters

If you want to be successful, surround yourself with people who are successful.

This means if you want to be fit, hang around people at the gym.

If you want to get closer to God, go to church.

If you want to succeed in copy?

Hang around successful copywriters.

I didn’t do this when I started. Sure, I bought the books and the courses (I invested over $5,000 in my copy education in year one).

But, I didn’t connect with successful copywriters face to face. No coaching or mentorship or even live training. 

(To be fair, coaching wasn’t as big in 2019 as it is now, so it was hard to find.)

Nothing beats getting personalized, custom-tailored help from other copywriters.

Thankfully, you can avoid this.

How?

On January 18 (11 days from now), you can join my 90-minute Sniper Bomb Workshop.

At the live training, you’ll learn the exact Sniper Bomb outreach strategy that’s getting ~70% of my copywriting students their first client in 30 days…

As brand new copywriters.

• Without sending any cold emails or cold DMs

• Without hopping on aggressive sales calls

• Without any prior business experience

My coaching students pay me thousands to learn this strategy.

But for the first time ever, you can learn how to get your first (or next) client in 30 days for just $49 USD.

And I’ll be right there with you, teaching you directly in this live training for 60 minutes. Then, we’ll do an open Q&A to get all your questions answered.

And as a bonus, you’ll get a recording of the workshop and a step-by-step doc to reference as an ongoing guide for you as you land your first client.

Only 9 more tickets available at $49 USD, then ticket price goes up to $99 USD.

Get your ticket here today.

Brandon “six years of copy heaven” Storey

P.S. Here’s some good ole fashion social proof to show you I know a thing or two about helping new copywriters get their freedom: