What a Newbie Can Expect

When I asked for your input, Bob asked for realistic, hard-hitting details about what a newbie can expect his or her first year. It seemed like a good place to start.

Now, I guess it depends on what "first year" means. My first half year (from June 13, 2005 to December 31, 2005) was up and down. I think my best month I cleared $6,000. Another month I made only $1,000 and had to go into debt to pay the bills. That was scary.

During this whole time I was doing a variety of things to market my business. Calling local business people, setting up my lead generation web site, and attending seminars. The best thing I did was go to Big Seminar on Harlan Kilstein's advice. I've traced my first Big Seminar to over $30,000 in fees. I've stopped counting now.

My first complete year as a freelance copywriter (2006) was much better. In fact, I just discovered I have a tax bill in excess of $10,000. And that's after itemized deductions and an income-reducing technique that is possible with LLCs. Yikes!

(Side note: I'm convinced that if Americans had to write checks to pay their taxes, they would demand a reduction in how much their income is taxed. I imagine we could get back to pre-World War 1 tax rates of about 3-5%. Wouldn't that be nice?)

During your first year, the most critical ingredient to your success will be... ACTION!

Don't overly concern yourself with HOW various things will be done. Don't over-analyze. Simply do lots of things and you'll eventually "self correct" and do the things that need doing.

Of course, this is not very efficient, but efficiency is not what you're looking for at first. You're simply trying to get things done and figure out what works... and what doesn't. Later on, after you've had success, you can pare back and start looking at ways to become more efficient.

Two things you absolutely must not neglect in your first year:

1. Self-Marketing. Let it never cease. Whether times are good or bad, you must always be marketing your service. This is vital.

2. Bookkeeping. This year I didn't do any bookkeeping until the end of August. What a pain. I had to spend a day and a half tracking down statements, visiting my CPA, and figuring out my income and expenses. This is not fun. Much better to stay on top of it month by month or quarter by quarter at least.

Speaking of your business structure, it's probably best in most cases to be set up as an LLC, if for no other reason than to protect your personal assets. You may also wind up paying less in taxes as an LLC versus a sole proprietorship. (But hey, what do I know? I'm definitely not a tax expert. That's why I work with a CPA.)

Another thing to expect in your first year: surprises.

No two clients will be the same until you've had a few of them. Then you may start to notice patterns. But don't sweat about this too much. Just get out there and gain experience.

Also, in the interest of being candid, I have been fired by a client and I have fired clients. Neither is very much fun.

In the case where I was fired, it was just weird. I hadn't even written the final copy yet. It was never tested. From my point of view, it was very subjective. I simply thanked God for removing me from a wrong relationship and moved on.

In other cases, I've had to move away from clients who abuse my time or violate my trust. I believe John Carlton once said you're not a real copywriter until you've been screwed out of all or part of a fee. That happened to me in Month 3 (September 2005). It's happened only a few times since, mostly due to my lack of experience with recurring commissions. Sometimes I wind up with a trustworthy client, sometimes not. But you can't worry about that stuff. It happens. Just learn and move on.

Something else I've learned is that most projects always take longer than expected. Therefore, budget more time than you think you'll need. You'll most likely need all of it.

Why does this happen? Because clients will change terms on you... decide to go in a different direction than originally planned. Or you'll have a death in the family... or a blizzard or two that require literally hours of shoveling just to get basic necessities (like food). Whatever. There a million reasons a project may go longer than expected, and almost never for the reasons you might think.

Okay, that's enough for now. If I think of more, I'll post it later. In the mean time, if you have questions, please post them below.

Comments

[Jay White]

Great stuff, bro. As you know, I'm just finishing up my first official year as a freelancer, and God has been VERY good. The Whites are truly blessed.

Thanks for the insight on LLCs. I've been a sole proprietor this year and I'm thinking of changing that because of tax breaks. I'll definitely look into it.

Hope you and the family are well, Ryan. Check out my new website at:

www.autorespondercopy.com

when you get a chance and let's talk soon, okay?

JW

[Bob]

Hi Ryan,

Wow! Great job tackling my question...Now, you've inspired a few more.

What specifically goes on at The Big Seminar that helps generate business?

How do you set up a Lead Generating Website?

Both "heavy" questions, but I'd appreciate your wisdom.

Thanks!

[Andrew Cavanagh]

Nice post Ryan.

Learning how to market yourself effectively is the biggest key in your first year.

It will help both with your own marketing and with your clients if you study masters of marketing like Jay Abraham.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

[Mike Jezek]

Ryan that was a great post!

Here's my take on this ...

I started 5 years ago and I have worked like a dog at this business. I have written killer copy for some of the most coveted companies you could want to work for. My last sales letter raked in $400,000 in 24 hours. I don't say this to brag but to let newbies understand that I know what I'm saying is true.

The copywriting lifestyle is NOT an easy one. You will definitely work your tail off for a client only to have him or her screw you over by not paying you. Or by demanding their money back for whatever reason. It's happened to me several times. Then you'll have clients who will change up your sales copy and then complain that it doesn't work. You'll also have clients who will never even run your sales copy.

The first year is usually tough as nails. Unless you go to a seminar and meet people, you'll drudge along struggling to find clients. This idea of there being a sea of clients ready to hire you on the spot is pure unadulturated hype. Sure, if you belong to some Chamber of Commerce group, you might find a pile of jobs coming your way. But for the most part, you'll find much of your time spent chasing after clients (no matter how slick your marketing techniques) then once you get those clients you'll have to put 110% into their project.

I found myself at times fretting over where the business would come. It would seem one year that the fall season deluged me with more work than I could handle. Whereas the next fall season was a drought -- almost forcing me to quit the copywriting business.

Everyone wants to believe that their situation will be different that somehow, some teleseminar or course they bought will make it different for them. That they'll always have this nice, steady stream of clients. Again - don't buy into the hype. And don't buy into the hype of getting paid $8,000 or $10,000 for a sales letter either. Unless you're Clayton Makepeace it's not going to happen.

You will have ups and downs for the most part unless you build a network via your Chamber of Commerce and attending seminars.

That's my 2 cents.

[Michael Roach]

Ryan, thanks for taking the time to write such insightful posts.

Any advice on bookkeeping? That part of the business frightens me more than any other.

[Pam K Gitta]

Thanks, Ryan. That was very informative! I couldn't agree more on the "market yourself" comment. I think "do something to market yourself every day" is one of the best pieces of advice any freelancer can get.

[Ray Williams]

Hey Ryan,
As always, great post...
Thanks so much for being so candid.
Based on your first year, as well as the very different experiences of the others who've shared their story, I choose to believe that my first year will be whatever I make of it.
The trick is to learn how to make it the way I want it to be... I think :-)

Keep up the great posts

[Ryan Healy]

Thank you all for your comments. Here are some additional answers to your questions.

1. "What specifically goes on at The Big Seminar that helps generate business?"

Unlike other big events, there are times set aside specifically for networking. And networking is encouraged from the stage by Armand Morin. This warms-up the crowd and makes people easier to approach. In other words, the environment at Big Seminar is conducive to networking.

2. "How do you set up a Lead Generating Website?"

Creating a lead generation site is fairly simple.

Write a sales letter selling your services. Upload it to a web site. Make sure there's a form at the bottom for capturing email, phone number, etc. Then send traffic to your site (via Google Adwords, forum posts, articles, press releases, etc.).

3. "Any advice on bookkeeping?"

Keep business and personal stuff completely separate.

Save bank and credit card statements for your business, and code each expense as to what category it falls into. (Income is income. You can code it fee income, affiliate income, etc. if you want to, but it's not necessary.)

Enter it into QuickBooks or have a CPA or recordkeeper input the numbers into their system on a monthly or quarterly basis.

Many times you can find a good CPA by asking for a referral from another business person or even just calling a few people out of the phone book.

I currently pay my CPA $225 per quarter for recordkeeping, plus additional fees of about $550 total for business and personal tax filing.

Ray - I like what you said about your first year. It really is what you make of it, although every person's experience will be different.

And regarding fees, you can make $2K... $5K... $10K... or more per letter. The numbers are not set in stone. It's your choice.