What new freelance copywriters must do to land high-paying projects right away?

Frog leaps. I'm gonna remember that. So, here's our strategy, for you and me Junaid. We should fight like turtles, but we should jump like frogs, lol. I wanna progress, it's in our nature. So, let's fight. And, let's take an advantage of those rare opportunities.

Gotta jump, lol. Very positive thx.

N

Perhaps, I totally missed your point. I know nothing about a 10 dollar an hour rate. Good for your students, they are lucky to have you mentoring them.
If the guru instructs you to do this, then by all means, carry on.

As for the "adult approach", probably not the best thing to have written. If you have seen me bragging, I have to think that was more inference than implication.

So, here is advice, take it or leave it:

Find the companies you would like to write for, do a wish list. What interests you?

What do you love to talk about or how do you spend your leisure time? Now, google those things and go 3 to 4 pages deep (50 or more) and look at websites. You will probably find a couple with weak copy. Offer to rewrite it. If it is a sales page, offer it on spec against an A/B split test for X number of visitors.

It doesn't matter how many sites you need to contact, you just need ONE.

If you do have any confidence in your writing, draft an outline of how you could improve the page, and ask for a meeting, on Skype or how ever, and see what sort of skepticism you run into.

By picking a topic you have passion about, you'll be able to communicate in the "lingo" of the topic, be a part of the market they are speaking to.

Also, you could very cheaply (or your students, who now have a few extra bucks to spend) can purchase some PLR and write your own sales letter and include it in your sig file here at WF. Very little cost involved, and with PLR today, you can find stuff very very cheap. Add StatCounter or other free tracking device, and get a 100 eyeballs on it. You'll learn something.

It is possible you could actually make a sale or two.

Especially if you have YOUR #1 under your belt. Which apparently you do. And instead of "getting a chance", you create your own chance to demonstrate your "kick ass sales page", and by doing so, you will ACE it your first shot.

As for the second step, the "trick", if you find a web site from your google research on a topic you know about and can get excited about, you now can make them the same offer as you outline in the "trick"...

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“I won’t be receiving a single penny from you until your product sells. This means your product is as dearer to me as it is to yourself. I will craft an entire campaign strategy, including sales page copy, social media ads, emails, and everything that would be necessary to make your product an overnight hit. In return, I would like you to listen to my advises/instructions precisely and act upon them accordingly (this is crucial). PS my compensation will only be a small percentage on each sale and a permission to use your sales copy as a case study later on.”

This is a win-win for both parties.

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So, the additional trick is now, once you find a site which could use your copy help, you go buy PLR or have it created on a similar or closely related topic, say you found a golf site which sucks eggs, and you are an avid golfer, you can find tons of plr on golf, spiff it up and when you get that 5 to 10% conversion, then YOU can negotiate for them to buy your plr or add it to theirs as an affiliate and convert your income into a 50% affiliate buy.

As for years involved, I guess I misunderstood due to the subject header of the thread you originally posted:

What new freelance copywriters must do to land high-paying projects right away?

So now, I have given you a step by step approach you and your students can use, advice you can put to use today, to cut down the competition and achieve your level of excellence in a shorter time. I took about 90 days, by the way, no brag, just fact.

I guarantee you Junaid if you choose to follow your guru's suggestion and contact 100 potential clients with your offer, spec work for a %...

you will have zero competition, except from your students.

GordonJ

Junaid,

I have been around a long time. And in the remote direct marketing business for over 50 years, and have written a lot of copy...but, and this is my main "issue" today:

ALL of the greats, ALL of them, had failure. A lot of it. And some of them just got damn lucky. Right place...right time. It happens.

There were many good and even great copywriters most of you have never heard of, either freelancers or agency people who produced millions in sales. Many women wrote, as seen on MadMen the TV show, no doubt it was a man's game, but there were some great women copywriters going back to the 19th century.

I'm a historian, sort of, of advertising, having spent a summer copying ads from publications and collecting mail pieces from before the American Civil War.

Modern mail order, or the first MASS remote direct marketing was made possible because of two things:

US POSTAL SERVICE
Railroads from coast to coast.

Magazines could be delivered almost anywhere, and when Sears and Wards started sending out thousands, then millions of catalogs there was a huge boom in this industry. Today Amazon is the Sears/Wards of yesteryear.

OK, copy was written early on in newspapers of colonial America.

The position of copywriter took hold in the 1880's, when Quaker Oats began offering premiums, and used direct mail offers.

Blah blah blah for the history lesson.

What happened, and my issue is...

in the 1980's, it became a Biz-Op. Separated from marketing by a few shrewd and colorful men who seized the opportunity and started mass marketing courses on the ONE part of remote direct marketing, and that is what copywriting is, a PART, albeit a big and an important part of an industry.

Currently, I've counted over 123 courses on copywriting (before I got tired and quit),,,and most of them make a similar promise:
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Write copy, every business needs it, wants it and will pay you handsomely for it. Make 100 grand a year while sipping a cool one on the beach of your choice with nothing but a yellow pad (or laptop)...send me 49 (or 9,995) dollars and I'll teach you how.

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That's pretty much the pitch.

As a MARKETER, who recognizes the importance of copy writing, I see today, there is a lot of how to write copy and get paid, but very little how to write copy which MAKES SALES.

And as another Warrior has pointed out, this is the bottom line of the craft. And to understand the craft and art is based much more on understanding human behavior and motivation and persuasion, but not on persuasion gimmicks alone, as many are offering.

I'm happy to offer advice, and considering it is free here, please feel free to take it or leave it. It is hard for me to let stand some of the nonsense I read and I (now, being a fresh approach to WF) try to offer useful advice.

The recent rash of posting articles, most of them have been cut and pasted in, which have erroneous information is an issue.

I get and respect that Freelance makes its dough from being a toll booth between the consumer of content and the creator of content and they built their business on pushing content, it just would be nice to see them have SOME concern with the quality of the content.

And recently they have shown an effort, which is why I came back to make an equal effort to help and advise when I can. So I'm glad to offer what insights I might have into the marketing arena, but when I see misguided info, I sometimes might respond.

My BEST advice for new copy writers is, from DAY ONE, write something which tries to sell something and get as many eyeballs (preferably targeted) on your writing as you can. The fastest way to learn is to get your critiques from the wallets of your readers.

GordonJ