The Commanding General or CEO Mindset

What you're saying is true.

BUT... it's what your prospect thinks will solve his problem that's important.

So as a copywriter, when you're talking to a potential new client, determine his criteria. If he wants more than "just copy" then you put on your commanding general hat.

If not, put on your copywriter hat.

I'm sure you know, trying to educate a potential client is pretty much a royal waste of time.

Alex

Yeah I think there's something about the 'I'm paying you to do something for me' mindset that makes clients think of us as employees...

... and when has a lowly 'employee' ever known better than their boss, right? (I'm still looking for that raised eyebrow face...)

I like what you're saying though David... and I know a lot of folks who try differentiating their business go the route of 'comprehensive sales consultant' where they'll take all that into account for the client.

Personally I prefer to be a copywriter, as opposed to a consultant, at the moment at least... it's what I do best and Pareto would recommend that's what I spend my time doing.

You say it takes decades to train a general... my take would be that it takes decades because the guy has to master three different concepts, using your example.

The guy needs to write world-class ad copy.
The guy needs to know the market inside out, keep up with trends and spot openings and opportunities.
The guy needs to have an exceptional understanding of broad and specific demographic data.

That's essentially 30,000 hours of work right there, as opposed to 10,000 to 'just' master copywriting.

So how much more intense does the training have to be? I'd argue that it doesn't.

I'd also say it can't be pushed... time and experience can't be rushed, and it's pretty much hit or miss whether you pursue quality information or not.

If you want to be the Commanding General, I'd say you only need to love each of those collective elements enough to trade 10,000 hours a piece into them. I don't think there's any escaping it.

(10,000 coming from the 10,000 hour rule by the way, in case you wondered what my fixation was :p ... found in the book 'Outliers' by Malcolm Gladwell)

Also this:
Is basically just my achilles heel... Feed the ego man

Hey Toniy,

You took the thoughts right out of my brain, and put them to words.

I was just throwing it out there for discussion.

I've often thought there are consultants, then there are highly paid consultants who've paid their dues, spending valuable time in the trenches doing copywriting and research, and they have the battle scars to prove it.

Oh well, enough time spent with my head in the clouds. Gotta get to work...

Thanks for the compliment man, I appreciate it

You did raise a very interesting point to be fair.

What's more is a lot of consultants DON'T put in their 30 hours... some compensate by outsourcing to specialists... others just bull**** their way along

I don't think you get to be a General that way (literally... no metaphor), I might be wrong, but they really do need the field experience to move on up.

Business consultants... hell my sister could become a business consultant tomorrow.

And she's an idiot :p

(That's a joke, I love her dearly and she's very switched on... not a business lady though, she's a lawyer )

I don't know much about writing things just the right way. But I was a CEO for a while, had a nice staff of 12 employees. Convinced a bunch of Russians to give me a million dollars to film nerds play games.

My advice, you don't have to "train".

You just have to care. You have to have a care that can never sleep. That all you want to do is drive your idea to its completion. It's exhilarating and exhausting. I've made a bunch of companies and I can never stay as as intensely passionate about them as in the first year. I guess that's my role, to be the igniter, the spark. But whatever I create I give myself to fully. And then when I'm tired my second in command takes it, and my firm covers me. But while I lead, I do a pretty good job. And I make sure to choose a second who I know can take over.

It usually works pretty well from there. But I guess there is a world of difference between a founder CEO and a runner CEO.

Alright the obvious question here is... HOW DID YOU convince those Crazy Russians to give you a million dollars and WHY did they want to film nerds playing games??



I'm so fascinated and I just KNOW there's a WSO in there somewhere :p

You're right though, care is just an incredibly vital part of it all.

I've dabbled in several projects over the past couple of years... I think I own about 10 sites that were made for content locking, but none of them have seen fruition because... I just don't care.

Copywriting however... I adore. I love doing it, I love being ABLE to do it, and I want to keep doing it...

I know I'm a writer, and the only way I'll ever be able to earn is by writing. Copy, articles, ebooks... doesn't matter so long as I'm writing.

I can't do SEO, I can't do AdSense, I REFUSE to to facebook and twitter... I write

And I care.

That reminds me of the shopkeeper just up the road from me... He took over and bought that shop from a friend of his because his friend bet him that he'd never last a year...

Now, I moved hear two years ago and he was there before me... happier too.

Nowadays he just seems totally miserable so I think that's pretty similar to what you're saying there... I think maybe it's time he handed it off to someone and go back to running the 5 or so Indian restuarants that ******* owns