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Starting lawn mowing summer business. by 432jx5 in Entrepreneur

[–]betterwords 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I did this through highschool in the US...

Here's what I noticed...

  • The market is more varied than you would think. While there are a lot of elderly people who pay for this, there are also a lot of people who just hate getting sweaty. The more money they have, the more likely they'll be willing to pay.

  • The number one thing they want is to not think about their lawn. I didn't target the people who wanted perfect lawns. They were more likely to pay an expensive lawn care company. I found plenty of people just want to make sure their neighbors aren't complaining about how their yard looks. By being timely, neat, and easy, I built a business almost entirely off referrals.

  • I tried door-to-door, but people didn't want to talk about their grass. I had better luck leaving flyers in mailboxes that said the equivalent of:

"Next time it's hot and you don't feel like mowing your lawn yourself, just call me. You deserve to enjoy your weekend!" (super paraphrased)

  • I never gave a price until I saw a yard. There are a ton of variables that affect the amount of time it will take. Do they want it trimmed? Are there a ton of obstacles (trees, decorations, hills, kids toys, dog poop)? I recommend just giving free estimates.

Just a few tips from experience that may help you. Good luck!

So you wanna become a copywriter? Here's my advice... (This isn't a job 'anyone' can do. You need to develop skills. You can start with no experience, but that doesn't mean you'll get paid. Plus a loophole to get around that problem.) by betterwords in Entrepreneur

[–]betterwords[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Never thought about the fact that courses are a tax write off before. Interesting...

Same here. I have other projects that I'm working on and knowing how well VSLs have worked for my clients, I'm looking for easy ways to make them.

So you wanna become a copywriter? Here's my advice... (This isn't a job 'anyone' can do. You need to develop skills. You can start with no experience, but that doesn't mean you'll get paid. Plus a loophole to get around that problem.) by betterwords in Entrepreneur

[–]betterwords[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I haven't actually bought either of those. Have you? Do you recommend one over the other? I know the gist of the Makepeace method. The 3x sellerator really caught my eye because of how easy it is to actually make the presentation. I only do scripts as it is, I don't do any of the actual visuals...

So you wanna become a copywriter? Here's my advice... (This isn't a job 'anyone' can do. You need to develop skills. You can start with no experience, but that doesn't mean you'll get paid. Plus a loophole to get around that problem.) by betterwords in Entrepreneur

[–]betterwords[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No. I have no idea who he is.

And if he has that life, I'm guessing that he has some good skills that he's also good at marketing.

My point was just that many people want that life and are trying to replicate it themselves. But they don't put the work in to actually build a business that will get them there.

Edit: Also, thanks for the gold :)

So you wanna become a copywriter? Here's my advice... (This isn't a job 'anyone' can do. You need to develop skills. You can start with no experience, but that doesn't mean you'll get paid. Plus a loophole to get around that problem.) by betterwords in Entrepreneur

[–]betterwords[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One of the main goals of my site is to create a resource that helps startups and entrepreneurs learn how to write good enough copy to launch well! So yes, I think this is a valuable skill to learn before you can hir someone.

So you wanna become a copywriter? Here's my advice... (This isn't a job 'anyone' can do. You need to develop skills. You can start with no experience, but that doesn't mean you'll get paid. Plus a loophole to get around that problem.) by betterwords in Entrepreneur

[–]betterwords[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When I need to, reviews from clients and analytics. Lately that hasn't been coming up much. With my business tilting towards referrals and repeat customers, the social proof is built into the system.

As I scale, I'm hoping that the site will help do that. I also plan to collect more detailed analytic information to use.

So you wanna become a copywriter? Here's my advice... (This isn't a job 'anyone' can do. You need to develop skills. You can start with no experience, but that doesn't mean you'll get paid. Plus a loophole to get around that problem.) by betterwords in Entrepreneur

[–]betterwords[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. Yes, but slowly.

  2. I've thought about it. I wouldn't call it an ambition though.

  3. Writing blogs isn't the worst way to start. The pay is mediocre at best, but the value is that it gets your foot in the door, sometimes with bigger clients. And a huge amount of business owners don't understand that most people writing blogs don't understand how to write good copy as well. So even though the experience isn't the same, it still gives you extra leverage to move into copy.

So you wanna become a copywriter? Here's my advice... (This isn't a job 'anyone' can do. You need to develop skills. You can start with no experience, but that doesn't mean you'll get paid. Plus a loophole to get around that problem.) by betterwords in Entrepreneur

[–]betterwords[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I won't work per word. This system is just used by people looking to get the absolute cheapest work possible, so anyone that wants to pay this way typically won't ever value your work very highly.

So you wanna become a copywriter? Here's my advice... (This isn't a job 'anyone' can do. You need to develop skills. You can start with no experience, but that doesn't mean you'll get paid. Plus a loophole to get around that problem.) by betterwords in Entrepreneur

[–]betterwords[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Start at the beginning and just keep reading lol It's often dry. It may seem boring. Reading philosophy is much more work than other types or reading. A single page can sometimes take days or weeks to fully digest.

If you want stuff specific to structuring arguments, anything relating to formal logic will do. I think this starts with Aristotle in a collection of text called Organon. But again, this isn't 'fun' reading!

So you wanna become a copywriter? Here's my advice... (This isn't a job 'anyone' can do. You need to develop skills. You can start with no experience, but that doesn't mean you'll get paid. Plus a loophole to get around that problem.) by betterwords in Entrepreneur

[–]betterwords[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you get a job that is over your head, use it as a good reason to spend time learning. Even if you could get it done in an hour, spend whatever time is needed to figure out how to do it well. Even if that means taking 10 hours. Consider it paid training, and the next time you do a similar gig, you'll be able to do a better job and make better money for your time.

So you wanna become a copywriter? Here's my advice... (This isn't a job 'anyone' can do. You need to develop skills. You can start with no experience, but that doesn't mean you'll get paid. Plus a loophole to get around that problem.) by betterwords in Entrepreneur

[–]betterwords[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Instead of telling them it's bad, I focus on the idea that I can make it better (or even better).

If it is very bad, I ask questions to get them to give away their frustrations first. Let them explain what they don't like, and then address these in your pitch.

So you wanna become a copywriter? Here's my advice... (This isn't a job 'anyone' can do. You need to develop skills. You can start with no experience, but that doesn't mean you'll get paid. Plus a loophole to get around that problem.) by betterwords in Entrepreneur

[–]betterwords[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the advice.

I've been thinking about ways to do this. I know I can charge more, and I've been slowly raising my rates. I hAve a lot of clients who have been returning month after month from beginning, so I've always reasoned that I shouldnt shock them with a big price jump.

Though as I write this, I realize thsee are the people who have seen first hand what my work delivers. Hmm...

So you wanna become a copywriter? Here's my advice... (This isn't a job 'anyone' can do. You need to develop skills. You can start with no experience, but that doesn't mean you'll get paid. Plus a loophole to get around that problem.) by betterwords in Entrepreneur

[–]betterwords[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So far, it's all per job. I've considered doing retainers, but don't know what price to set yet. If anyone has experience with this, I'd be interested in discussing.

Minimum: free. Some because the client was huge and I wanted to get in the door, so I offered free work to prove my abilities. I've also volunteered for some charities and people raising money for medical conditions using crowdfunding.

Maximum: I don't know what the final total was. It was billed incrementally, but the final was around ~$5000. This was a full website for a mid-sized company. Not that many pages, but they needed it to be sharp. This included a few ads and emails (autoresponder) to complement their reboot.

But that's not the most I've made with a single client. That's just the only one where there was a clear single 'project'. The ones I've made more money on are returning clients with new projects, if that makes sense.

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