HOW AN AUTHENTIC COPY STUDENT

WON HER FIRST COPYWRITING CLIENT IN JUST 26 DAYS!

An Interview With Elizabeth McGee

A student Success Story

Elizabeth is one of my Authentic Copy students. In this interview she tells me how in just 26 days from joining Authentic Copy she won her first copywriting client.

To hear Elizabeth’s story and learn just how she was able to go from zero to hero, listen to the interview below.

Tina: Hi, this is Tina Lorenz, and I’m here today with one of my Authentic Copy students, Elizabeth McGee. Hi Elizabeth.

Elizabeth: Hi there.

Tina: I’m glad you could join me today. Elizabeth has been an Authentic Copy for just a few short weeks and has already had some really cool results from it, and so I asked her to join me today so we can talk about it. So thanks for joining me and…

Elizabeth: Thanks for having me.

Tina: I was looking back to see, when exactly did you join? It’s been a few weeks, but something really cool happened after a matter of days in the program, what happened for you? How long had you been in the program?

Elizabeth Wins Her Very First

Copywriting Client in Just 26 Days!

Elizabeth: Yeah, it did happen quickly. I joined just after the new year sometime in February, and I kinda got started right away. I jumped in, and I started reading the material, and I joined the Authentic Copy Facebook group really quickly. Within about three weeks, a little over three weeks, I ended up getting my first copywriting client.

Tina: Very exciting.

Elizabeth: I know! Yeah, it was, it happened pretty quickly for me.

Tina: Actually, I went back and looked at the numbers of how long you’d been in, because I knew about the client, and it was exactly 26 days. Twenty-six days from being in the program, you had your first paying copywriting client. So what I teach in Authentic Copy are these three essential components. So I teach in our writing, the opt-in, writing a sales letter, writing emails. But I also teach that you can just take part of that even, and stay three steps ahead, you can begin writing copy for clients. Did you have to write the opt-in, the sales letter and the emails, within those 26 days, is that what you were doing?

Elizabeth: No, I didn’t do that. And that’s one of the great things I think about this group, you just sort of start where you’re at and go from there. I only did the email component for the project that I worked on. I haven’t done any sales letters yet or opt-ins. But it’s totally possible to just start with one and sort of learn that and get it down and feel comfortable. The future for me is I’m feeling like, yeah, I can do this, this is working.

Tina: I think that’s really exciting because the emails are, I would say, easier to write than just writing the sales letter, so a person could even start by specializing in being an email writer. You know, one of the things that’s exciting to me in Authentic Copy, is getting new copywriters ready to meet with clients. I get asked every week now because of my colleagues and the masterminds I’m in, and now that I’m teaching copywriting again, because I haven’t had a program where I was teaching for a while, and I’m getting requests all the time for, “Do you have anybody that can do this?” Because my fees are super high and a lot of people can’t afford that yet. So I call it affordable copywriting, but still paying very well. So, without going into specific numbers, were you able to recover what you invested in Authentic Copy by writing those emails within the first three weeks?

Elizabeth Says “I Was Able to do it So Quickly!”

Elizabeth: Yeah, I was, and that was the other shocking thing to me. It just surprised me that I was able to do it so quickly! I did, I made the money back that I’d spent in the program plus some, which was awesome. It’s definitely inspired me to keep going even more.

Tina: So, the other thing that I think that happens with this, you mentioned the Facebook group and it’s called Authentic Copy Interactive. It’s a private Facebook group. And I go live every week and I critique copy, and I teach new marketing strategies. We go more deeply into the things that you’re learning in Authentic Copy like mindset, keeping that success mindset up. Did you have to write those emails all by yourself? Was it like, “Okay, good luck Elizabeth, hope you can write them.”

Elizabeth: Oh, no, no. I got started, but there are so many resources between the guidebook, and I always tune in on Tuesdays to the Q and A, which is super helpful, and seeing other people’s work get critiqued is huge because you can apply it to anything that you’re doing really.

Tina: I am actually critiquing your emails for you. So we went back and forth and really fine-tuned those emails for the client to make sure that they were really the best they could be as you are writing them. I gave you the input, and I went through and said, “here’s why.” So I think that one of the things that I really strive to do is not just say, well, just change this. While I’m going through the copy, I’m teaching why we’re changing it. How was your experience with that as you were learning and editing yourself with your emails, what was your experience with learning from me?

Elizabeth Gets all the Support She Needs from Authentic Copy

Elizabeth: I think that was the biggest part for me, it was the why. It wasn’t just like, this is what you should do just do it, but the why you should do it. It was definitely a mindset thing, and I found that intriguing because every time you critiqued a part of my copy, I could see why. I said oh that makes sense that completely makes sense. And then when I went to write the next one, I would apply that, and I learned something every single time.

Tina: Yeah. Because really the strategies, this is one of the things that I keep pressing, these strategies work for any niche market. They work whether you’re writing a sales letter, or an email, the same concepts are going to work. I think that’s what you experienced as you were changing. As you were doing some editing on the emails you were writing, it was already kind of embedding in your subconscious, why it’s important, but more than you might realize as you were writing the next one. It’s like, “Oh yeah, this is why I’m doing this.” And so there’s almost a pattern to it, to replicate, but it’s still original. And for that particular client and their particular product, it works, you know, the framework of why you’re doing that. Do you feel like, that makes sense to you? Does that sound like what happened?

Elizabeth: Absolutely. Because I think one of the things that you said in one of your videos was everything that I do in my copy, there’s a reason why something is bolded or underlined, in italics, or whatever. And I found that was happening as I was doing it. I was like, that needs to be capital letters, that should be bold. As you were critiquing it and adding more of that, it made total sense. And by the end of the sequence of emails that I wrote, I would have started in completely differently, from taking everything that I learned from that experience. So next time I can take that and apply it to the next one, and I think feel even better about it.

Subconcious Copywriting

Tina: Well, that’s the thing, because, I’m kind of stumbling over my words here, but I think you like, it sounds like wow. You know, you went back, and you’ve edited, did it take you a really long time to write these emails?

Elizabeth: It actually didn’t take as long as I thought it was going to. Once you get going, once you start, and I think one of your tips too is to just start, just start writing because you could just sit there all day and think about it. And I did a lot of thinking when I wasn’t writing, but once I sat down to write and just got it out, I kind of went quickly.

Tina: That’s what I call the subconscious copywriting. It’s actually kind of percolating, right? You kind of think about it, so you’re actually working on it without realizing you’re working on it. It just starts happening. When you sit down and start to write, you already kind of know where you’re going. But the thing is, thinking about what you told me before, the deadline with it, I believe you had all of the emails written in about two weeks from start to finish, the edits everything, about two weeks yeah?

Elizabeth: Right.

Tina: And I don’t think you were working 12 hour days or anything.

Elizabeth: No, no, nope. No, definitely not. I was surprised how quickly it went once I got going.

Tina: Well how many emails did you write in those two weeks?

Eight Email’s in Two Weeks

Elizabeth: In the end, it turned out to be eight emails I wrote for my first copywriting client.

Tina: That’s awesome. And then you got your first payment. Have you ever written copy before? Have you ever gotten paid to write copy before?

Elizabeth: No.

Tina: So this was the first, right? Your first copywriting client?

Elizabeth: This is a first for me. This is completely new for me.

Tina: So let’s just review. In 26 days, you got your first copywriting client through kind of a networking opportunity that came up from being in the group. You were able to write eight emails, and you got paid more than you invested in Authentic Copy. You delivered eight emails within two weeks and here’s the best part, what did the client say to you when you delivered the emails?

Elizabeth: Oh, she said, WOW! I think it exceeded her expectations, which of course I’m thrilled about because there’s always that, go ahead and send them, and it’d be the first one. I thought they were pretty good, and we had talked about it, and I was happy with what we were giving her, then just waiting to see what she would say. And I think she was surprised and happy.

Elizabeth’s First Client Says

“Oh My Gosh, I Can’t Even Believe What I Got!”

Tina: Great. Well I can actually testify here myself because I know this client, and I happened to have a conversation with her yesterday, she’s beyond happy. Elizabeth has been very modest, the client is like, “Oh my gosh, I can’t even believe what I got!”

She has a very successful business, and she’s not a copywriter, and like many entrepreneurs, she was feeling stuck. “I know I need this email sequence and I know I need to be doing this, but this part’s hard for me.” She’s a genius at what she does, but this part was like, (sigh) “Oh” you know that kind of a feeling? So in the past she thought, why would I pay someone to write copy? They’re not going to be able to sound like me or be me.

One of the things I did, is I helped you with how you would interview the client, how you would meet with them ahead of time to get the information you needed, that was the first step. And then you began to lay out the plan, and you began writing the emails, and now the client is like, “this is better than I ever would have done for myself”. I said to her, “so this is kind of like you only better.” And she said “exactly.” I mean, she’s seriously blown away, blown away by what she got. So I am like YES Elizabeth! High five!

I just love, love, when this happens for people that I’m teaching copy too. As a matter of fact, the client, I happened to know, told you that she’s probably going to want you to write some more emails and possibly a sales letter.

The thing I want people to understand with watching this, is how really achievable this is, you put in the effort, you started right away, you joined the group. You didn’t sit back in the corner and say, well, I’ll just try and kind of do this on my own. You became involved immediately, which is very important.

How Networking Gets Results

Tina: One of the things I’ve talked about for years, since I started copywriting myself, is networking, how important the networking is. I shared the story with you inside the group that I went to an event in Maine, it was a small event. I went as a brand new copywriter, I’d never written for anyone, and I had the opportunity from going to that, I wrote my first sales letter, got invited to another event, wrote another sales letter, and that’s how it all started for me. I really, really encourage people about the networking. Now there are so many ways to network online too, and you never know where those networking opportunities will come from. So for you, it came from being in Authentic Copy and being in the Authentic Copy Interactive Facebook group because you participated, that’s why this opportunity arose for you.

I just can’t emphasize that enough for people, just getting started. When new copywriters are like, “How am I going to get that first client, how am I going to get it?” I include a bonus in Authentic Copy about how to get your first client, and networking’s one of them. To me it’s right at the top of the list, it’s really at the top of the list because it’s about who you know and about people getting to know you, and being helpful, and being willing, then things can happen that might surprise you, and that’s what happened for Elizabeth.

I just want to say I’m so proud of you, really proud of you! And I’m excited about where this is going to go for you. Because I know that you were in another profession, but it was kind of like, “meah,” not really wanting to do this anymore. There are so many people that are like, “I don’t like my job. I don’t want to have to go work for someone else.”

How Copywriting Brings Freedom

Tina: I know you have children; you want to be available to them. I think they play soccer, things like that that you want to be involved with?

Elizabeth: Yeah right.

Tina: And I think you’re already beginning to see how freeing this can be to learn to write copy and what the possibilities are.

Elizabeth: Oh yeah, absolutely, definitely. I’m definitely seeing that it’s not the too good to be true kind of thing. You’re wondering as you’re looking around for opportunities, and you’re not sure which ones to spend your time pursuing. I did some research about copywriting and then when I came on the course, by that point, I just knew that if I tried to do it myself, it was going to take a million years and I would be doing a lot of guess work. I was kind of already guessing, I had so many questions and I just needed people to talk to.

Tina: Right.

Elizabeth: I just didn’t want to take the slow boat and have it take me five years to get started. And I started a little bit online with Upwork, which I think can be really great, but when you’re just starting out, and you also have all those questions, I found it to be really difficult. So this was great. I didn’t wait too long before I joined your group, which I’m really glad for, because I think I saved myself a ton of time. Immediately, I started getting stuff out of the Q and A sessions. Just having other people in the group to talk to I think is huge, and you don’t feel you’re alone. It shows you that you can do this, this can be done. I didn’t have any experience in this field at all, so yeah, it really can be done.

Tina: So you’re officially a Celestial Sherpa^TM now, we call ourselves Celestial Sherpa’s.

Elizabeth: Yes!

Elizabeth says “Just Do It. Jump Right In”

Tina: So, in closing, I’d just like to say for anyone that’s thinking “I think I might want to try copywriting. Is it for me?” or “What about this Authentic Copy thing Tina Lorenz does?” What would you say to someone considering joining Authentic Copy?

Elizabeth: I would say do it! I’d say, go for it, join, don’t wait any longer if you’re thinking about it. If you’ve made the decision that you want to learn about copywriting, just do it. Just make the decision; just do it. Jump right in. You do get out of it what you put in; there’s lots of material, you’ve got to take it all in, you’ve got to go back and read it again maybe. Watch Tina’s videos; I’ve watched them all. Honestly, don’t wait, you’ll get out what you put in, and it definitely is a great opportunity. I would recommend it to anyone who’s looking for something with some flexibility. You don’t want to be in the office all day. You want to make your own schedule, and you want to be able to make decent money doing it.

Tina: Exactly. It’s only going to go up from here. You know, as you continue to learn, and you start accumulating more clients, it just continues to get better. So thank you so much.

Elizabeth: Yeah, I can totally see that.

Tina: We’ll continue to see each other in the group every week. I’m excited to continue to see your journey as you become a freelance copywriter, which actually you already are, growing your experience. So thanks again, and I hope it will help those of you watching today and I’ll talk to you soon Elizabeth. Thank you.

Elizabeth: Thank you.

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