Being a ￡500 pimp-copywriter

Hey hey hey, beloved reader! How are ya?

Sooooo this would have been a diary entry, but then I thought to myself "maybe someone will get some value out of reading my journey.".

After all, two years in and I've "technically" reached the finish line? ??

So here I find myself, typing away on Christmas Eve. Let's get stuck in to how I found VERY modest success, but why I'm utterly convinced it's worth documenting the present moment in my marketing career, for all posterity.

?? Let's do this baby! ??

Two years ago to the day, I was extremely unsure of what my future held. A friend had recently mentioned being paid to write online, and in typical Steve style, I swan dived into the idea. I was hooked, an instant fanatic, over the moon.

Of course, I was completely clueless on how I'd convert words into money and had ZERO background in it, but the mere idea gave me goosebumps. I was still in education, and already knew that I'd never make it in an office job.

I also knew that if I wasn't doing what I wanted, pretty much all the time, it wouldn't work.

So really, being an entrepreneur was pretty much the only way it was gonna go for me.

And so, the first iteration of my business was born: Stephen Hockley, Travel Writer.

Travel has always been my one true passion, and as far as beginnings go, it was the toughest damn foundation I could have had.

That was deliberate.

STEVE'S TAKEAWAY

I was doing this for a clear, personal reason. From the moment I knew it was possible, the very idea of not doing it seemed batshit insane. There is no plan B, no safety net, no backup plan. It's fully ingrained into my identity.

I mean, who needs a plan B when plan A is the last one you'll ever implement?

I know what you're thinking... but honestly, I think being able to tap into that fanatical mindset is where it's at. I do. When it's at its most extreme and that furnace of ambition is in full swing, I'm thinking about it almost 24/7... and then I'm even dreaming about it! (I did last night actually ??).

I digress... so I started off with a pretty simple goal: ￡500 a month. With that, I could just about live in a motorhome as a digital nomad. Freedom was the goal, and this would be a taste.

So then, a few months after I began my rapid, public, flailing around, trying to find my feet and earn a little money, while figuring the game out... ￡200 emails here, ￡100 blog there... covid hits. Now, I don't want this to be a covid story, so I'll glide over this point. Keeping it short, I lost alllll my clients, and felt back at square one. In a super strict quarantine in Paris, with nothing to do but work.

STEVE'S TAKEAWAY

Deep isolation can really be your friend. Perhaps this varies from person to person, but at least for me, it can be golden.

So work I did. I networked, I learned everything I could, I asked people better than me question after question, I looked like a goof, and I CERTAINLY experimented on every single medium I could find (just check my old LinkedIn stuff... or, please don't?). I said yes to EVERYTHING.

I quickly came across copywriting instead of blog writing, and I was instantly attracted to it. It seemed much deeper, much more difficult, and there seemed to be a much bigger cap on the money you could make.

STEVE'S TAKEAWAY

If you want to become a successful entrepreneur, be prepared to publicly embarrass yourself. The sooner you're free from your fears of what friends and family will think, the better.

After that? Rinsing and repeating for a while. I'd try things to figure out what I liked and didn't like, I'd play with methods of outreach, various introduction messages, I'd try different styles of copy, I'd try social media, emails, ads and sales pages. All of it. I was that annoying guy that adds you on LinkedIn with a random pitch. Didn't make a penny for about 4 months while I was getting these entry-level skills.

I had a few crappy clients. I met loads of people that wanted me to work practically for free... then I landed what was essentially a retainer client after about 13 months since I started the biz, through a Facebook group. That's how I network mostly now.

I was over the moon! First goal, smashed. Proof that it could work. I was earning enough to pay for driving lessons for the all-important motorhome, and I bought my first symbolic possession from copywriting: it was a super comfortable wheely chair, haha.

I felt like an absolute pimp with my ￡500 per month, super easy gig.

Unfortunately, nothing can last forever. I quickly realised that this pimp-work had a pretty low ceiling. There wasn't much to learn, I wasn't one of the important employees... and it reached the stage where my work had become all but useless. I wanted more, and I was clearly not sticking around.

One day, a guy offers a job in another Facebook group (do with this recurring info what you will), and I wish the applicants good luck, because I'm SUPER friendly.

The poster DMs me saying they think I should apply myself, and I think "MEHHH" and leave it.

And then, after a few more months, I bailed on the pimp-work with no backup plan.

STEVE'S TAKEAWAY

Calculated risk is kinda the name of the game sometimes. If you think you can do better, do better. This very moment! No excuse is good enough; it's your life.

Now by this point, I'm still pretty fresh... but I've also done some things. A few people know who I am from the aforementioned flailing, I can do some copy... for all intents and purposes, I'm probably about a junior copywriter, self-taught.

STEVE'S TAKEAWAY

The only thing that seems to make me a little different at this stage is what I like to call, the "killer instinct". The "vicious euphoria", the... "I'm doing this unto death" streak.

I am telling you now: this is what has kept me warm over the past two years. When I haven't had a penny to scratch my arse with. When it looked like things were going south, I refused to accept the situation, or I'd angrily sneer and cruelly laugh at the 30th rejection of the week. I've already seen people far better than me seemingly give up, or even turn down opportunities that would advance their career, seemingly because... out of fear..? And now, I feel like I've left them behind, and it's certainly not because I'm clever.

Perhaps I'm just optimistic to the point of delusion...

If you know the reason, let me know! It looks like self-limiting beliefs. I don't think it's luck; I'm unlucky as it gets in business... but I like to behave as if I have nothing to lose all the time, and perhaps that's enough.

...Anyway, so that person that offered the job... it turns out that they were actually a high-level copywriter. Like, 5 figures a month style. So I find this out, and what do I do with the information?

I go back immediately. I offer to work with them for free, just in return for some mad skillz. The arrangement was just for a month, and if it went well, I'd get paid from the second month onwards and be like a right-hand man.

This was the single biggest thing I've done in my career, so I hope you caught what just happened!

I got my first mentor.

STEVE'S TAKEAWAY

Now here's Steve's trade secret to getting a mentor: you want to position it as offering your would-be mentor more free time with their family, and having less stress, etc. They teach you, they are no longer a bottleneck for their own growth. It's a lot more appealing than begging "please help me!". Make it impossible to say no... copywrite it.

And a month after that, I hit another goal: I bought my motorhome. This moment was the sole reason behind my business creation. It signified freedom, and it was a pretty important moment in my life. Kinda like with the spinny chair, I saw, I INTERNALISED, that if I can input work, time, effort, and improve my skills, I can make physical changes to the environment.

I can turn thoughts into money.

LITERALLY a wizard. Or a sorcerer. Helllllll yeahhhhh.

I've gotta say, that idea still get's me goin'!

Ever since the second month of that mentorship, I've been GETTING PAID TO LEARN *cue angelic music* ??

My growth is preeeeetty much exponential. There's nothing better. I'm currently getting paid a looooot more than ￡500, and I'm intending to double/triple again, then AGAIN over the next few years.

In fact... I'm not intending. I'm already moving downhill on my skis baby. If I carry on, I'll have almost no choice soon. It's just momentum now.

STEVE'S TAKEAWAY

Sometimes working for free is okay, just be wary and extremely clear on the arrangement.

That takes us to now!

So, goals for the future? I recently saw a pretty incredible YouTuber that became a millionaire, (Sorelle Amore, check her out) and it appears as though we followed the exact same trajectory, except she's a few years ahead. She explained her strategy, and the thing that struck me was how... transparent and achievable it was. There didn't seem to be anything to it, other than what I was already doing, + like, 3000 hours of effort.

That seems pretty fair, I think.

So naturally, I thought to myself "if she can become a millionaire, why the hell can't I?".

And that's the new, unofficial goal. Learn about tax, finance, and different means of wealth generation in my spare time, while frantically sharpening my copy-sword as if I was possessed. It's gonna be property development for me when it starts to blow up, I already decided.

So, a few more takeaways before we part:

Your reason for starting a business has to be absolutely bulletproof.

Why?

Because it's hard, and you'll give in if it's not. When I first started and I was at my most unsure, I used to write "MOTORHOME OR DEATH!" in my diary. I know, that's a little bit hardcore, but hey... I do have a motorhome, sooooo-

Okay here's another one, even if it is a little bit of a cliché: if you want to be in the 1%, outwork the 99%, and wait. From what I can see, that's allllllll you have to do.

You can't do what everyone else is doing and expect different results. Dats nuts ?? I'm starting to come across the odd self-made millionaire now (by design, I aim to learn from them) and a lot of them seem to do similar things.

Do what works. If there are certain things you enjoy, do those things. Niche down, hone in. And once you've found one single avenue that takes you to your destination, ignore the others. Put the blinkers on for just a little while, and split away from the crowd to make your own path. You do not need 17 books you won't read. You don't need 7 subscriptions to boost yourself up. You need to hit your goal, no more, no less. And on that note...

Throw out what isn't useful. I'm constantly purging, and I do mean PURGING. Facebook groups, friends, anything that is holding me back is gone, or it's going. Keep an eye on what you consume, your friends, their beliefs, and the words you use when describing your future. You need to be uplifted, boosted, and happy. And you need to believe, because nobody else may believe. It's lonely.

There have been two big purges since starting my business, I'm currently moving into the third iteration. Mainly some toxic friends that have accumulated since starting, the FB groups that served no value other than to push me onto better ones. After a time, you've learned all you can, and if you aren't benefitting, you gotta get out of there. Stagnation = losing.

Network in the way that suits you best. I've got zero (and I do mean ZERO) interest in being an influencer. I don't like photography. I ain't too interested in design. I don't want an email list right now, I don't want to sell a course yet either. Shiny object syndrome? Wrong guy, not me!

Sometimes, once you know what you're not doing, you know what you are doing.

Incremental steps. I couldn't have considered being a millionaire when I first started, it wasn't an interest. My interest was earning enough to live in a motorhome; my interest was to go shopping and buy all the expensive food I wanted without thinking of the bill. And as a hardcore minimalist, you better believe baby, I crushed my goal ;)

That damn motorhome was so vital, it was my entryway into business. It's alllll stepping stones.

With hindsight, I think I had been working up to this long before it was put in words. I can see the tendrils of this business reaching a few years back.

STEVE'S TAKEAWAY

My increments: cutting out bad habits, removing toxic friends, doing yoga every day, intermittent fasting. All of this stuff aids entrepreneurial success in my opinion, or at least it worked for me, and I tried a lot of stuff. You ain't doing jack-diddly squat in the world if your mental, spiritual and physical health isn't great. You've got to figure yourself out as a matter of urgency. Figure yourself out.

By the way, that millionaire thing is just for pleasure. I think the difficulty and the journey will be beneficial. It doesn't matter if I reach it or not.

I will accept failure, I WILL NOT accept not attempting it.

Lastly, what else haven't I done to get here?

??♂?Paid for a single course

??Read a single marketing book

???Had any social life

??Dated girls

?Watched a single tv series on Netflix or Amazon...

Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice. I'm kinda of the opinion of: if you REALLY want it, you wouldn't want to get away from it, would you? Unless it was just to refresh so you could get back into it again? I know, I probably overdid it these past two years. I want to live my life; I'm working on that again now.

Now we're all different, and obviously, test things, do what works for you. Nothing is bad, it's just that there are a lot of methods. You've got clients, cold outreach, agencies, mentors, books, the social media of your choice, fb groups, real life meet ups... you only need one of those pathways or you could find your own one. One is enough to get momentum.

Last disclaimer: this is merely a snapshot of what I'm going through, there have been plenty of ups and downs. All in all, I'm having a blast working on my own business. And I desperately hope that you do too.

Whoever you are, I hope you're absolutely killing it! Good luck.