If I was a top copywriter, here's what I'd do...

Maybe you can...maybe you should.

But you have to go out there and test test test...test traffic, test offers, test copy...and you have to get all the pieces to work.

It's also more fun (at least, I find it so) to work with a client on a project rather than alone.

I really have zero interest in affiliate marketing. Build the funnel and then lose the product? No thanks.

Best idea since you have interest in that direction is to do it on the side while you keep your income stream from paid gigs.

How long have you been involved in IM?

Not all copywriting gigs only pay a fixed fee. If you're getting paid a percentage of sales then you've got the potential to earn the passive income you're referring to. Get a few of these deals in place and you can earn a very nice living.

Actually a lot of copywriters do promote affiliate products as well as creating their own. It's not an either/or proposition... you can do both.

I'm very new myself and have played with this question a bit.

My thoughts...

Selling a product for yourself (or your own product) has been recommended by many in this forum and I see the wisdom in that. Down the road, if I can come up with a good product of my own I will. But selling someone elses product is an ok second idea.

The thing that I'm debating is do I really want to actively sell a product? Not write copy for it, but worry about the details of selling an item and the system you need in place to do it correctly. I'm not so sure.

I'll definitely give it a chance, but don't know if I'll want to do it down the road.

But I do like the idea of writing the copy that sells. The creativity of it. I also like the idea of helping other people become a success. Especially if it means I can be successful too.

Just my thoughts on this.

Either way you go there's a learning curve.

There are no shortcuts. It will cost you time/money.

You can do both, but my advice would be to focus your energies on one area of specialty, get a good handle on that, and develop skills in other areas down the road.

If you bounce back and forth you will lengthen the time it takes to get to where you want to go. According to the Good Book: "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways."

You are only one person. Go after many things you run the risk of spreading yourself too thin and not accomplishing much.

Why would you limit yourself to affiliate income, if it is about money, why not spend the time on earning millions?

Be the owner of the affiliate program.

Your post looks at copywriting from a dollars only perspective, but, it really is all about time, and HOW you want to spend it to earn your dough.

Buffet, Trump, Cuban have the same hours in their day as you do, so if money is the quest, then a better HOW would be the question, wouldn't it?

Almost every top copywriter I know actually ENJOYS it, the research, the writing, the testing, the trying to beat controls. It is a challenge, and is probably as difficult as writing a best selling novel...in fact, probably harder because there have been thousands of best selling books, but not that many best selling promotions over time.

The problem for many a newer copywriter is once they reach a level, they spend their money and do not invest it to make it grow. Nothing wrong with that we all get to choose our lifestyle.

So, if you are about making money, then perhaps copywriting should be a part time endeavor for you, if, however, you have to write like you need to breathe, then there is really no governor set on the amount of income you generate.

gjabiz

You know the same argument can be made about a lot of fields.
Why should the stock broker not just invest his own money
and make a ton of profit instead of making a commission on his
customer's money?

Why do doctors teach in a medical school rather than
make more money practicing medicine. Why aren't all
psychologist on TV making a ton of money like Dr. Phil?

Some people say that those who can't do, teach. But
maybe some people just love teaching. I do.

There is no rule that says you cannot write and sell your own
products if you're a copywriter, and many people do. But
there is a joy of solving a client's conversion problem and
see them regard you as a hero that you cannot get from
just money alone.

But the choice is definitely up to you.

-Ray Edwards

It's a reasonable question, but there's a built in assumption, two of them actually.

First, it assumes that "being" a copywriter is strictly about having a specific skill set for writing persuasive copy. There's more to it than that. Copywriters who remain copywriters don't just do it because they're making a lot of money and that's the only way they CAN make money.

They do it for the love of them game. If someone loves running, they're going to keep doing it. Even if they've broken all the world records and accomplished all the goals they've ever set for themselves. Same with copywriting.

Asking why copywriters don't use other products as an exit strategy assumes that they don't like copywriting.

Yes, I agree that it's smart to have some passive income streams selling products on the side. I have a half dozen myself. That's just smart investing. But every time I think about saying "screw my clients," and becoming a full-time lone-wolf, there's this nagging little voice in my head...

A voice that reminds me of how fulfilling it is to connect with another entrepreneur, listen to their idea and their dream, and then roll up our sleeves and get to work on making it a reality. It's about finding a new challenge, and doing something for someone other than yourself.

The need for Transcendence and Contribution is baked into the entrepreneurial personality.Until you find another means of getting that same sense of fulfillment, you'll keep doing what works. You'll keep looking for people to serve.

That might not make a lot of sense for someone who's still trying to get by, or to someone who simply started copywriting because they didn't know what else to do. But believe me, after you've climbed to the top of the mountain a few times...you start looking around for other people you can help. If you don't, I doubt whether you're a true entrepreneur.

Second, your question assumes that the goal of entrepreneurship is to set up passive income streams, retire and withdraw from life and, if possible, never work again. It assumes that, if you CAN do this, you should do it.

That sounds nice, but I've found that true entrepreneurs aren't trying to make money so that they can stop working. They're doing it so that they can focus more of their time and attention on the kind of work that makes them feel the most alive.

Most of them would die of boredom if someone told them that they could never work again.

Every time I meet someone who wants to start their own business so they can get to a place where they never have to work and can lay on the beach and sip Pina Coladas all day, I know that, if they even take the leap at all, they'll be back to their 9-5 job in no time.

At best, they'll dabble around in some low commitment business models or chase a few shiny objects...case in point, check the number of people scanning the WSO section right now. These are people motivated by laziness instead of by purpose. That's not the heart of a true entrepreneur.

Again, this might sound crazy to the person who hates working or who believes that writing copy is about as fun as crawling buck naked over poison oak, but not for us.

I may have given the wrong impression here...guess I should have spend more time on my "copy"

anyways, I am definitely an "enterpreneur at heart", and even if someone offered me a sum I could "retire" on right away, I still wouldn't want to abandon my website readers, and would insist I keep helping them get rid of their bad eating habits...I have quit my day job to do this, because I honestly feel that this is how I can provide my best service to humanity...and I know that if I keep doing the right things (offering nothing but true and honest value), a day will probably come, when I won't have to worry about finance ever again...I'm not there yet, but for now, the trend seems to be my friend...and if I ever do get there, my income will be passive for the most part (I wouldn't want it any other way)...the point I'm trying to make, is that to me, following your passion in life and/or business has nothing to do with the type of income you're earning (passive or active)...passive income simply means you're able to choose what, how much and when you're going to do the "work" you love to do in the first place

back when I was still a 9-5 coder, I kept thinking how my programming skills alone could never bring me to that point in life, but that I would have to keep clocking in the hours until I retire "too old to care" (unless I learned more skills, partnered up, found an investor, etc.)...again, I didn't hate coding, if anything, I hated the idea of being stuck with any job for 30 more than years...but copywriting is different (at least the way I see it), because copywriting is already the skill that should (in theory) allow you to take any product and sell it...it's a skill that should allow any decent copywriter to start earning passive income just with the power of a few hundred well-crafted words and some images on a sales page (that can cover the cost a fb ad cost)...and it doesn't matter if it's an affiliate product or your own product (I haven't done any affiliate marketing, but I would imagine there are lots of quality product out there that could save you the time/trouble of creating your own product)

so to rephrase my original question...if you know how to sell ANYTHING, why not sell stuff for yourself (as opposed to selling for a fix-pay client or even a boss)...am I delusional about the power of the copywriting skill and do most copywriters simply use it in a fix-pay or 9-5 way?

My mentor used to charge $10.000 per sales copy a few years ago. This doesn't say much (since I'm not mentioning what type of copy, for what product, in what market, etc) but it is in the upper pricing range of copywriters.

He stopped doing this, developed his own product in collaboration with established names and increased his income 10X in less than a year. Yes, he was unable to create high quality video products. Yes, he was unable to drive traffic in a very effective manner. But he came with the conversion systems. The other person(s) came with the rest. Win - win.

However, the thing to always remember is that nobody cares how many sales letters you've wrote. Nobody cares if you've studied Carlton or Kennedy. All they care is if you can achieve results. And these results, in form of conversion number of sales will open a lot of doors.

For me, the most valuable client is the client with access to big, quality email lists. The type of person that can make $50.000 by sending a simple promo email. This is the real leverage in IM, at least for me.