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The Reality Blog Week One, Day One

28 Responses

  1. Hi Mindy,

    Met you briefly at Bootcamp. Great exposure from your new gig here!

    Have you translated your income goal into actionable monthly pieces?
    Do you anticipate doing a lot more in the second half than the first half ?

    Wishing you and all of us the best in 2010.

    1. Hi Lee!
      Yes, I remember meeting you. Glad to see you here at the WWW!
      You make some great points – with the term "actionable" being the key. I have laid out about two months' worth of projects and goals, simply to give myself a guide to work from. I'm committed to staying flexible though, so I'll be able to jump on any new opportunities that come up.
      I certainly hope to be doing more in the second half of the year, especially when it comes to pulling in income. I guess you could say I'm planting the seeds for compounding earnings…the first few months of this year will be about laying groundwork, followed by watching those plans play out (and pay off!).
      Good luck to you this year as well! Do you have any specific goals for 2010?

  2. Hi Mindy,

    I wish you all the best for 2010, you will exceed your goals, how do I know that? I am an Optimist also! as a matter of fact I am a member of the Sunrise Optimist Club of Freehold NJ. We meet every Friday morning for breakfast from 7am – 8am. 90+ members in the club with 25- 30 meeting every week.

    My goals for 2010 are to get my website on track and to start generating income from it, part of the internet retirement program from Bob Bly. I also would like to be able to live the writers life and earn a six figure income from copywriting. This will be my first year actually trying to earn money writing.

    I am looking forward to following along with you and learning as I go.

    Matt

    1. Hi Matt! Thank you so much for sharing your goals! It's so nice to know I'm not out here all alone. I agree with you (in the spirit of optimism) – and I think we'll both exceed our goals. Especially since we've got a whole year ahead of us to work through them. Please drop in as often as you can to let me know you're there – it's super inspirational for me! As an aside, I just did some digging and found out Albuquerque has an Evening Optimist Club. That's very funny to me – seems like a "Sunrise" club is so much more fitting! Mindy

      1. Hi Mindy,

        We have a running joke about the evening club here in Freehold, it's all seniors. Some of them come to the morning club and some go to the noontime club. So you can imagine all the wise cracks that go around, all in good fun of course.

        I am looking forward to learning how to make money online, I have owned several small business' and I have over 25 years of sales experience, I want to make this successful, make my own hours and start living the writers life, I will then be very happy. I will check in often, as I am searching the site for new things to learn, there is so much information here!

        Speak to you soon.

        Matt

        1. No kidding about all the info on this site! My head is swimming in possibilities.

          By the way, as you work through the year to pull off your goals, I would love to know how your sales experience comes into play. I have no traditional sales experience (unless you count Girl Scout Cookies), so I would be grateful for any tips you might have on how that can be translated into a web-writing advantage.

          Have a good week!

  3. Mindy, You are offering us a great opportunity: we get to experience your ups and downs as you navigate the world of copywriting. That's reality for sure. Thanks, Beth

  4. Hi Beth! Thanks so much for your comment. My number one hope is that other aspiring web writers can get something out of this…along with sharing their own lessons/successes. Please let me know if there's anything you'd like me to comment on or attempt…at this point, anything is possible! Mindy

    1. Mindy, I'm new to the WWR and am impressed with the format so far. One question I have is regarding the conections you fostered with people in the industry. Were these contacts made through DRJ opportunities or mainly Bootcamp?

      If other, could you elaborate?

      It does seem somewhat intimidating to insert yourself into these situations when, as in my case, experience is still evolving.

      1. Hi Donald,

        I’m so sorry to be so slow in my reply – I must have overlooked your comment.

        But at any rate, to answer your question, I’d say I’m about half-and-half as far as the connections I’ve made, half being through DRJ and half being through Bootcamp.

        Bootcamp was an important step for me because it proved to me there were real, live, and lovely people in this industry. The connections I made there served as friends and support system for my first two years of web writing.

        DRJ is where I connected with clients for the first time. It was weird working with people I’d never physically met, but I gradually got over it and began to look forward to my email interactions with them.

        Our correspondence has now changed from stiff and formal to friendly and relaxes (at least, that’s the case for two clients I’ve worked with for over two years).

        I encourage you to reach out to other writers (like me) for support and encouragement – we all need a leg up sometimes and it’s good to have someone to bounce ideas off of. Gradually, that should make it a little easier to interact with clients. You might start by connecting with me on Facebook (Mindy McHorse), then by connecting with all my friends. Hope to see you there!

        Mindy

  5. Hi Mindy,

    Greetings, and thanks for all the sharing and "baring" (of your soul…) that you are doing here. I just read your portion of Rebeca's email where you share your "Three Proven Ways for Moving Ahead…" Your first is "Decide what you want, and dig deep!" I'd offer the corollary, "Decide WHY you want it…" I find that I can dig deeper and longer if I'm really clear on why I want what I want. That keeps me centered and honest with myself.

    Best of luck to you this year. We're all rooting for you!

    Regards,
    Bob

    1. Thanks, Bob! I really appreciate your comments – and the good advice! In fact, I'm going to sit down with my husband tonight to really hammer out WHY we've set the goals we have. I think we both have an idea on some level, but we've never really articulated it enough to put on paper. So I'm going to do exactly that – jumping beyond the big picture of HOW I want my life to look…thanks for the tip!

  6. Mindy, first of all I want to thank you for taking the time to share with us your weekly tasks and experiences. I believe this will help me greatly. My goals for this year is to get my first client by January and then from their make around $2000 a month. That right their would be a big step for me.

    I'm also an unorganized person. I live with my dad and their is just not enough room in this house to set up a proper office. We have the computer in the kitchen and no space to set up any additional space for storing my writing books, study materials and my swipe files. I keep everything in my bedroom. I have no money to rent a small building in town.

    Did you have trouble organizing space in your home for your office? I have one more question, what is the difference in writing for the web and direct mail? How are they different?

    1. Hi Malisia! Beautiful name, by the way. Thanks for sharing the fact you're also disorganized! It's always nice to know I'm not alone. You know what has helped me, especially when it comes to sharing space? I've started "zoning" out my work space.

      Right now, I have my office set up in a room we use for a few other purposes. Because of that, I've made it a point to set up all my work-related stuff in one section of the room. All home-office stuff is in another section, craft stuff is in yet another, and so on. That way when I'm in my work-space I'm surrounded by the things most relevant to my tasks – instead of feeling like I'm strewn all around the house.

      Maybe you could create a small "work zone" in your bedroom and then another small one in the kitchen? Good luck with that!

    2. As for your other question, I think the main difference between web writing and direct mail is length. Most web writing projects tend to be shorter, often maxing out around 1,000 words (though not always), while DM can go on for 12+ pages. Web writing also gives you the chance to work in keywords and SEO strategy – whereas with DM, that's not really relevant. When it comes down to it though, the quality of copy is what matters the most in both areas – as they say, "copy is king!"

  7. Hi Mindy, I'm very excited about your blog. I'm a newbie copywriter and feeling a bit overwhelmed and drowning in information overload. I'm really trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up, but it's all very appealing. I'm happy to watch and learn as you go through the process. Although I did attend Boot Camp in Nov., I don't think we met. If you are attending the Web Copywriting Intensive in March, I hope we can connect and share experiences. Thanks for putting yourself out in front of us like this! cb

    1. Hi Christine! Thanks so much for writing in, I really appreciate knowing people like you are out there! I can relate to the information overload – I've struggled with it for some time now. For a while, I thought that immersing myself in all my study materials – to the point of reading them at the table, at night in bed, at the dentist, etc. – would help me get going faster, but after a while I ended up glazing over and hardly taking in anything. I once read a tip from Michael Masterson that helped me focus – it's built on his "Power of One" principle. Basically, when you read a book or an eletter or when you listen to a conference, take away just ONE thing you can use and apply. When I first heard this I thought I'd be missing out on a lot of info., but it actually works quite well. Instead of sort of understanding a lot of little things, I'm getting better at really zeroing in on one main thing that then becomes very useful to me. And yes, I'll be at the Web Intensive! Can't wait to meet face to face – it'll be so much fun!

  8. Hi Mindy–
    Thanks for all the great information! This is exactly what I need to get going, and I'll be right there with you–keeping up with the blog, checking your progress, taking the steps myself. 2010 is my year. The first year I have actually committed to making it happen. I've set my goals, including earning $30,000 in 2010 from copywriting. A big goal for me since I'm just getting started, but definitely do-able. Go Team!
    Deborah

    1. Yeah, Deborah! That's exactly what I hoped to hear – I'm so thrilled so you shared your goals and that you're in this for the long-haul with me! I can confidently say that you've come to the right place to make things happen. Not so much my blog, but the WWW website in general. I swear I learn more things everyday simply by flipping through these links than I did after years of coursework in other things. Please keep me posted on your progress – I'm so excited for you!

  9. Hi Mindy,

    Congratulations on this blog…and your new adventure with it. Your video is excellent…well done.

    Becoming a successful copywriter is my goal for this year…completing my lessons, getting a website running, and with a little miralcle, attending bootcamp come November.

    Consider me part of your rooting gallery. And I'll be sharing some of my ups and downs too.

    Patricia

    1. Hi Patricia,
      Awesome – thanks for sharing your goals! And I'm so glad you liked the video. It didn't exactly come easy for me…after all, I'm a writer, not a speaker!
      I certainly hope I'll get to hear more from you in the future. And I absolutely hope to meet you at Bootcamp, come November! Good luck–
      Mindy

  10. Great way to start the year off Mindy.

    I think that Lee hit the nail on the head when he asked about actionable steps. I have found that, at least for me, I can and do get excited about my goals and that gets the ball rolling. I have also discovered if I do not break that goal down into the ONE next action step to move me toward that goal, my progress, if any, is disappointing. Once I have the next action step completed, I move onto the next one action step. This process helps keep me focused, motivated, and most importantly seeing progress. It may be just me, but after a while if I cannot see progress, I begin to lose interest.

    My income goal is to consistently generate a monthly gross income of $10,000. This will, if my math is correct, get me to the six-figures per year. The key part of the goal for me is consistency. It is possible to spike big numbers, but it is the consistency the allows one to truly live the writer's life.

    Looking forward to following your adventurers Mindy – this will be a great year for everyone who puts in the action to build their business.

    Art

    1. Hi Art,
      Wow, I completely I agree! Tangible progress makes such a difference. I run into the same problem when I clean my house – I'll pick up something here and there and stay busy for hours, but unless I focus on one room at a time it looks like I didn't do anything. And that's exactly how I've seen my business play out so far. When I'm all over the place, nothing really seems to happen. But focusing…there's the key! Consistency within that focus is hard for me, though. I get too excited to move on to the next big thing.
      I look forward to hearing about your progress toward your income goal of $10K – that's terrific! Keep me posted.

      Mindy

  11. Hi Mindy! Penny from boot camp 2007. Had to take some time off from my initail start, but am back and raring to go! Congrats on your successes with AWAI and this new reality blog. Have apparently grown quite a bit since 2007! I too have been overloaded with info…but think I have figured out my areas of interest. Love the autoresponder emails niche and am focused on that. Enjoy ghostwriting and found that from my own work background, I have an eye for errors…so am adding proofreading. The money making website is also of interest. Goals: Take the Autoresponder Apprentice program, build my very first website, joined FB and submit one of the spec assignments from the ARA program. I want to make at least 30K this first year, and 4 new clients. I too think it important to have a WHY. My why-be able to go visit my grown up children when I want and not have to ask for time off to do it!! I look forward to working with you this year and am sure you will enjoy continued success.
    Might I ask if we could develop Peer Review Groups so we can all help each other with our writing along the way?

    1. Hee hee! If I had a nickel for every time a read and re-read an email and then STILL sent it off with an error… But thanks for writing out your goals, Penny. I love knowing I'm not in this alone! And I'll definitely get back to you on the peer review group. I'm already thinking of some good ways to do that. Take care! Mindy

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