Mike Samuels – The Freedom Kickstarter

But you’re here because you like my free stuff, and are interested in what else I’ve got under my kilt.

And perhaps even the kind of stuff that requires one to part with a few pesos/ yen/ good old British pound sterling.

Well, that’s what we’ll discuss today …

WHY COPYWRITING?

Copywriting changed my life.

I say that with no sense of hyperbole.

When I first came across proper sales copy, I was a burnt out personal trainer.

I was doing okay financially, but was working genuine 16-hour days, and training clients 7 days a week.

My first introduction to the world of copywriting was through a friend and mentor named Jon. Jon was a copywriter, and helped me craft my first ever proper sales page to sell an online ebook.

When I plugged that proper sales copy into my website, it helped me generate over £50,000 in just 12 months, selling one $19 ebook.

That was without a big list, or any paid advertising.

I was hooked.

It was this amazing result that lead me down the copy rabbit hole, first learning how to write copy for my former fitness business, resulting in taking it past the mythical 6-figure mark.

(And yes, that’s a genuine 6-figures in £GBP, and not just one month where I earned roughly £8,000 and claimed ‘6 figures.’)

Then I decided to make a career switch, and started writing copy for others.

Without blowing my own trumpet, in the last 4 years of doing this, I’ve managed to get to the level where –

• I’ve made in excess of $167 Million for various clients in all manner of industries.
• I’ve had winning control pieces for New Market Health. (Part of the ‘800-lb Gorilla’ of copywriting, the Agora division.)
• I’ve brought my own income up to the quarter of a million mark.
• Helped a client bring in $102,000 in a day from a single $20 ebook.
• Over 170 people have completed my training courses and coaching programs.
• My hourly rate is £350, minimum, and I make extra revenue on each project based on how well it does.
• I no longer need to work for anything less than £5,000 per project.
• I own multiple properties, funded by my copywriting ventures.
• I live a life of total locational and financial freedom. I get to pick and choose my work, my hours, and my clients, travel frequently, and never stress over money.

If I’m being honest, writing all that made me slightly sick in my mouth at how self-aggrandising it sounds.

But I say this not to impress you, but to impress upon you just how life-changing being a copywriter can be.

But, there’s a problem …

WHAT MOST COPYWRITERS(EVEN THE SMART ONES) GET WRONG

“I’ve let them down again.”

The words were oozing with pain and resentment.

“I told them this time it would be different, that I’d be able to stand on my own two feet, and they wouldn’t need to support me.

But here I am, nearly 30, and back home with the folks.

I feel so guilty – All they’ve ever done is support me, and I can’t seem to make more than a lousy few hundred quid a month.”

This was a conversation I had with a copywriting friend of mine about a year ago.

The guy was good –

He had a fresh, easygoing writing style. He wrote persuasively. And whenever I read his work, I was impressed.

Trouble was, he couldn’t get clients consistently.

He either struggled with the confidence of actually sealing a deal, and asking more than a couple of hundred quid …

Or he procrastinated so much over the work once he got it, worrying he wasn’t good enough.

As such, he was back living with his parents, rapidly approaching 30, and wondering what the hell he was doing wrong.

I see this way too often:

People who are good at writing, who struggle to get (and keep) high-paying copywriting clients.

As such, they often end up broke, or at least constantly worried about cash, and can’t fully support themselves financially.

Here’s the thing. (And what I told said friend.)

Most copywriters are going about business all wrong.

They’re making 3 career-ruining mistakes:

MISTAKE #1. THEY DON’T HAVE A PROVEN SYSTEM (IE. TEMPLATES.)

It takes a long time to craft great copy.

If you’re doing it from scratch, that is.

And this is a major reason why so many people put off going into the industry, even if they love writing, and think they’d be good at it.

The thing here, is that copywriters (wrongly) assume they need to start at ground zero with every project. That is NOT the case.

And in actual fact, doing this not only grossly overcomplicates everything, it also means you’re playing with fire every time you submit a piece of work.

When you’re writing something new, how do you know if it will convert or not?

Answer: You don’t.

During my copywriting career when I wrote full-time for clients, everything I did was based off the same structure, very similar formats, and was copied and pasted from a model I knew would convert. This model could be used in any niche, for any product or service, at any price point.

See, when you have templates that are proven to convert, you have complete and utter confidence in what you deliver, and the client is almost certain to come back and ask for repeat business, often before they’ve even put it out there and tested it.

MISTAKE #2. THEY’RE APPROACHING THE WRONG CLIENTS.

It’s natural to assume when you’re starting out, you need to low-ball your fees, and look for clients who are struggling.

After all, struggling clients need good copywriters the most, right?

Wrong.

The best clients to get are those who are already successful, who spend money on marketing, and who are more in the market to test and refine, rather than to go from loss to profit.

The secret to getting these guys lies in approaching them in the right manner, with the right positioning, and learning what makes them tick.

But most copywriters are spreading their net far too wide, and sending out generic, clichéd pitches, rather than offering a unique offer to the right kind of client.

Or worse still, they’re plastering themselves all over Facebook for the whole world to see.

This is not only detrimental to business, it’s almost impossible to do for anyone who wants to transition from another area to copy, or use copywriting as a side hustle.

MISTAKE #3. THEY’RE NOT ASKING FOR EQUITY DEALS.

I don’t care who you are – whether you’ve sold hundreds of millions, or you’re just starting out – Every copywriter should be commanding equity deals.

It’s the only fair way to do business.

You should be paid on the value you provide, and that means an upfront fee, and equity deals on top.

In fact, let me tell you about –

THE MAGIC OF EQUITY-BASED COPYWRITING

70% of copywriters are what I call ‘rookies.’

They’re doing okay, and make perhaps £50 an hour, or hit the odd £5,000 month.

But they’re under-charging, they’re still going through feast and famine mode, and constantly chasing clients.

They have little to no authority, little to no freedom, and will likely be working until the day they die.

When work comes in, they have to take it, because they can’t afford not to.

The next 29% of copywriters are at the pro level.

They’re charging more – Probably around the £200+ per hour mark, and their client books are pretty full.

They do well, and they can take more time off, but only because their higher rates allow them to do so.

But they still have little financial security besides what they can save from their fees.

What about the final 1% though?

The top 1% are what I call ‘The Business-Less Business Copywriters.’

These are the guys and girls who don’t just charge high fees for their work …

They charge an equity fee on top, for every piece of work they do, ensuring they get paid time and time again for every single assignment.

Doing this alleviates so much of that financial strain, and immediately sets you apart as an expert, and someone who backs themselves to get results.

(Which you will do, if you have the right templates and know even the simplest skills for persuasion and positioning.)

If you don’t do this, you’ll never have a truly ‘business-less business.’

A business-less business is one where you pick and choose your hours …

Where you can work (or not) as you please …

Where clients see you as the expert, and ask to hire you, not the other way around …

Where you have total locational, time, and financial freedom …

And where you never need to worry about money, because you know that even if you stop working for months, (and sometimes years,) you’ll still have equity cheques coming in from past work you’ve done …

This notion of working once, and getting paid time and time again is something virtually no copywriters are doing, but is utterly essential if you want true freedom in business and in life.

I’D BEEN APPLYING THE BUSINESS-LESS BUSINESSCONCEPT FOR MYSELF FOR A WHILE,BUT THERE WAS A PROBLEM …

Despite searching high and low, there didn’t seem to be anything out there that helped budding copywriters quickly scale to this level.

There were lots of courses on getting better at copy.

There were also a plethora designed to help people get their first gigs.

And there were high-end masterminds and mentoring programs clocking in well in excess of 10 grand, that kind of touched on getting high-value clients and winning commissions.

But there was nothing concrete and proven, that promised to not only help people get their first high-paying clients, but also help them deliver awesome work, and effortlessly command equity fees … Even if they were brand new to copywriting.

I made it my mission to fill the void …

And do it in a way that was fun, ethical, didn’t require any high-level tech skills, any high-pressure selling, and could be done by introverts, just like me.

Picture this:

You wake up in the morning, and immediately feel excited.

You bound downstairs, put the kettle on, and fire up your laptop.

You check your PayPal, and clock up the equity payments that have come in overnight.

Immediately, there’s this sense of calm, mixed with pride, because you know your mortgage, your bills, and all your expenses are paid this month, and, even if you did no more work, you’d still have more than enough to top up the holiday fund, and do fun stuff with the kids.

You head to your email inbox, and see all the messages from potential clients.

After going through them, and politely declining all but 1 because you don’t need them, you send off a quick response.

“Sounds good.

I could have that done in 2 weeks for you.

It’ll be £7,000, plus 10% commission on all sales, paid monthly for the next 12 months. You happy with that?”

Hitting send, you smile, knowing they’ll definitely be good with it, and that’s another equity deal you can add to your ever-growing list of passive income gigs, bringing you money on autopilot, every single month.

That’s the reality of equity copywriting.

I myself haven’t had to pitch for a gig for almost 3 years, because I started working this way.

When you have the trifecta of –

Then you can have a true ‘business-less business,’ and a lifestyle and income that allows you to travel whenever you like, give your family everything they could ever want and need, and sleep easy at night, knowing money is never an issue.

But no one else seemed to be teaching all of this in one single, easy-to-navigate course.

Which is what lead me to this:

INTRODUCING: THE FREEDOM KICKSTARTER

This is the only programme out there, designed to help copywriters of all levels – from complete rookies who’ve never been paid a penny for their words, right up to experienced pros earning 6-figures – command £350+ per hour, win equity deals, and live the ‘coffee shop copywriter’ lifestyle.

What’s more, it’s designed to do this –

You’ll become a master of persuasion of the written word, and learn a skill that has the potential to transform the results of businesses the world over, and pay you handsomely for doing so.

It’s a 6-module course, done fully online, designed to take you from someone who likes writing, to a confident copywriter, working in any industry, living a life of total locational, time, and financial freedom.

ONCE YOU COMPLETE ‘THE FREEDOM KICKSTARTER’ YOU’LL BE ABLE TO:

It truly is a high-end copywriting ‘business in a box,’ and no stone is left unturned.

This isn’t one of those courses designed just to sell you into a further coaching program or mastermind. This really is all you need to go from just someone who likes writing, into fully-fledged, freedom-loving, well-paid copywriter.

In fact, here’s an overview of what’s included:

WEEK 1 – DEFINING EXACTLY WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU DO + BASIC CLIENT GRABBING.

To truly command those fees and have confidence in your ability, it’s crucial to work out who you want to work with, what you want to do, and what you want to specialise in.

The Freedom Kickstarter will help you evolve into a high-end brand so you can pick up the exact clients you want, effortlessly.