Busy Bee - That's Me!

Yep, it's been busy around these parts. I'm packed and ready to move...it's going to be hot though! I've got at least 4 friends coming over to help so hopefully it will go quickly. And my new place has a pool so you know how I'll be spending my afternoon. :) :)

Also I may have limited Internet access for the next few days so my posting may be spotty but I'll do my best.

So for now, adieu! Rest and be well.

Create a nice day,


Lara

That John Carlton Is One Salty Dog

Now I know why John Carlton signs everything "Stay frosty"! He is salty. If he were a woman I'd say he's sassy but he's not so I'll call him salty instead. It's a much more masculine adjective. :)

This is an entertaining post on the advantages of long copy over short copy. Check it out - I guarantee you'll learn a thing or two.

All of his posts enforce my firm belief that he is a master. I love his copy. Enjoy.

Create a nice day,

Lara

Midweek Mover

It's been a long week already. I've spent my nights packing and my days at a temp job. Granted this temp job was pretty easy - my only responsibility was to answer phones. They rarely rang so in essence I simply had to show up.

Anyway, the move is underway. The first big step is to spend a week in Chicago and I booked my flight today. I'll be there from July 23rd through July 29th. Wish me interviews!

I'm continuing to expand my network and asking people to contact their friends for me. So far I've been introduced to one woman with Leo Burnett - that is exciting! I'm thrilled to talk to her and hopefully her contacts as well.

Enough about me, it's time for another brief educational tip! In this article, Clayton, the Man, Makepeace shares his thoughts on fully utilizing copywriting techniques. Enjoy!

Moving...

Well it's official, I have 7 days to move out my house. I'll have temporary housing for the next 1-2 months while I plan the Chicago thing. It's a bit stressful and uncertain but it will be okay no matter what.

So this week will consistent of a lot of packing, selling and donating. I'm getting rid of anything I don't absolutely need because I'm paying to ship it to Chicago.

It'll be a good exercise in clearing the junk out of my life!!

Can you be a copywriter?

Clayton Makepeace is arguably one of the best out there...he's definitely one of my teachers. He took some time to discuss advice and tips for any of us interested in pursuing copywriting as a profession/career/vocation.

Since he is one of the masters, it's worth your time to read (and re-read as I did today).

Enjoy it here.

Hot Stuff

Yes it's hot here today ... and about 10 degrees hotter in my office because it's upstairs. Time to get a fan going in here...the sweat on my legs is running like the Mississippi at its southern mouth. It's flowing fast!

Just the usual update for today: spent the day temping and am exhausted from moving and unpacking boxes, closets and things. I'm glad to have the work because I like the income though.

In the evening I emailed a few people about Chicago, listed my furniture for sale on craigslist and did a search for info on Vernon Howard. I'm working on a small project for my local copywriting friend about him. Not finding a great deal about his early years though and that's the info I need!

Things are progressing on the Chicago side. I've got a place to stay for a few nights in July and August. My friend's friend's works in the ad biz there so I'm eager to talk to that person and learn more. Keep your fingers crossed!

In other news, I'm moving out either the 1st weekend in July or the 2nd. Then I'll be a box lady for a bit. What an eventful summer...I wasn't aware I wanted to create this for myself. :\

I'm off to rest and unwind before turning in. Hope you are having a terrific Tuesday.

Create a nice day,


Lara

Moanday Monday

It is pretty tough to work all day, take care of a house and then find time for job searching/apartment living/figure-out-what-I'm-going-to-do-in-the-next-few-weeks-type planning as well. Not to mention updating this blog for you!


I met with a local freelance copywriter to learn more about his career path. He worked for a few of the biggies (JWT, Leo Burnett, etc) and spent almost a decade in Chicago. Currently all of his clients are ad agencies he has worked with in the past (or has become acquianted with over the course of his advertising tenure). He doesn't solicit clients, he just picks up overflow projects from a variety of agencies.


He also recommended I consider a semester or two of school at a specialized advertising school so I can build my portfolio...that or I find a young art director to team up with and conceptualize spec ads.


Great input and insight on his part and I'm exploring both the school and the team concept options.


My next step is to contact more agencies, talk to a few other friends and get things in place for my visit in late July. I'm planning to be in the Windy City from the 19th/20th til the 28th. Hopefully I can find a place to stay and can meet with some acquiantances as well.


Exciting times!!


That's my update but I wanted to take the focus off of me for a moment and share some copywriting knowledge with you. Straight from The Man himself, here's today's newsletter from Clayton Makepeace.

Clayton shares some tidbits on online marketing, copywriting, web traffic and all the other good stuff we love to hear him rant about!!

Enjoy.

Create a nice day,


Lara

Windsurfing!

Since you didn't get any updates for several days I'm giving you a couple of posts in one day. How cool is that?! :)

I promised you windsurfing pictures and here are a few of me. It was a blast!!!

Wow!

I thought I had updated you on Thursday but it seems I didn't and I apologize. I appreciate that you are here now! So on to your update...

Thursday was much of the same...I spent the day temping, had dinner with a friend and that's about it. Friday was a repeat except instead of meeting up with friends, I sent my information to ad agencies. I also contacted my friend's brother who works for one of the big agencies - at least he did the last time I checked anyway.

This weekend I'm spending some time contacting people I know with direct ties to Chicago so as to line up housing. I plan to spend a week there next month and during the week I'll interview with as many agencies as I can! It should be fun. Chicago is a terrific city - summer especially!

I'm also posting this article about copywriting to ezines and the like. Hope you enjoy it!

3 Quick Questions to Improve Your Response

Don’t have time to rewrite all of your marketing materials? Need to better focus your copy? These three questions will help you do just that.

Copywriting is both art and science and as a result it uses artistic, creative qualities that are refined with scientific tools to measure response rates so you can maximize your return on investment.

Ask yourself these 3 questions and use them as tools to inspire and recreate artistically copy with better results.

1.) Does each sentence engage and provoke your reader to read the next sentence?
This engagement starts with your first sentence and shouldn’t end until the last sentence of the P.S. Each sentence builds on the sentence before it and carries your reader along on a ride!
It’s that ride that will create and retain a bond with them as they learn about your product/service/company and how you’re going to help them and make their lives better.

2.) Does your copy tell or sell?
Truly great copy doesn’t “sell” anything…at least not in the traditional sense. Great copy tells your reader how your product/service/company will make their lives better. In his book Scientific Advertising, Claude C. Hopkins, writes “Ask yourself – would it help a salesmen sell goods?” “Would you it help me sell them if I met a buyer in person?”
The key word in both questions is help, help your prospect, help your client and help yourself. Again from Scientific Advertising, Hopkins says the best ads ask no one to buy.

3.) Does your prospect have an identity?
When you write your copy who are you writing it for? What does your prospect look like? What do they do? Where do they live? Are you talking to Fred/Frieda the weekend bowlers and avid baseball fans? Or are you writing to Donald and Ivana, exclusive country club members and Four Seasons brunchers?
Your advertising is reaching someone. Know who it is and it’ll be at least 10 times more effective. Conceptualize and visualize your prospect before and during the copywriting process for increased response rates. Get inside their minds.
Give your prospect all the likeness of your best friend and that’s how they’ll respond.

Questions? Comments? Interested in learning more? For more copywriting tips, contact Lara Kay Loest at lloest@gmail.com or leave a comment at http://goodtogreatcopy.blogspot.com/.

Quick Update

Well it was a busy Wednesday so I only have a few minutes to update you.

I had a chat with a potential client today and I hope we've been able to provide some direction and support for her. The challenge in new clients (one of the challenges I should say) is helping them without doing things for them. I cannot figure out what a business marketing plan should be nor the direction for them to take. I can provide feedback and resources. However there is a tendency to provide consulting...and that should not be free. I have a challenge in that area as well.

Most small business owners are simply self-employed...they aren't business owners at all. There is a huge difference between the self-employed and a small business owner. Anyone who tells you they are the same thing is full of horse manure and you can tell them I said that.

A business owner spends time outside of his/her business, consistently evaluates their business from a non-bias perspective and can easily hand the reigns over to a manager without the business missing a beat. The business owner is independent of the business in other words and that is a significant distinction.

A self-employed person is just a worker who does the work on their own. There's no business plan, no future goals, no outside management or perspective.

The latter isn't bad, it's simply something to be aware of because there are limitations within that structure. The self-employed person will always be at their own mercy. If they take a vacation, they aren't earning money. If they are sick, they aren't getting more clients. If they fall ill on a long-term basis they are basically screwed.

I'm not throwing stones here at all. I've been struggling to move into the business owner shoes myself. I would definitely keep myself on as an employee because I work damn hard and I'm pretty good at everything I do.

However I do believe I have mainly acted as a self-employed person for the majority of the last 14 months and my results so that.

When I do this again (because I will) and run my own business, I will do things differently. I could go into a whole list but it's a bit late and I'm tired.

My whole point to this post was to tell you I am still in process with the potential client. She falls into the self-employed side of things and is mainly looking for consulting/marketing input. The issue there is that it costs money for good consulting...as it should. We'll do our best to help her though.

I'll keep ya posted!

Off to bed...I had a long day of packing boxes and listening to Robert Allen's Empower Yourself! And Your Downline. Very interesting CDs, I highly recommend them. It fascinates me to hear the "gurus" talk because they overlap so often!!! Everything we really need to know is out there, we just have to open our eyes and see it, grab it and learn it.

Fascinating.

Create a nice day,

Lara

So Long Denver, Hello Chicago

Well I asked the Universe for a sign today. I asked to receive a positive sign if I was supposed to move to Chicago because I was leaning in that direction. And receive I did.

I won't go into what the sign was because it's personal but I did make the decision today.

Now my next step is to commit and by commiting, I have to choose a date. I need to form a timeline for my decision. I'm thinking by August 15th but that's not firm. I have to be in Wisconsin for a wedding the last weekend of August so it seems silly to fly home for a week only to fly back...and then move to Chicago. In other words, life would be easier if I were to be back in the Midwest before the wedding.

Ugh. Midwest. I'm going to avoid saying that from now on and just stick with Chicago. It's about the only city in that region I find interesting. But the market is great and it's a metropolitan town with great cultural events, fun night life with an urban vibe - all of which I love.

So that was my revelation for the day.

The move isn't permanent. Ideally I'll move there for a few years, get an even better portfolio and move back here or have multiple homes in Denver, Chicago and on a beach somewhere.

In other news, I've picked up a temp gig to make extra money and save up for the move. I'm also reaching out to as many people as possible so as to line up work and housing in Chi-town before I actually get there.

Tomorrow I'm talking with one of our potential clients...we shall see what that leads to! Keep your fingers crossed. I certainly am!

Hope you had a lovely day.

Create a good tomorrow,

Lara

When Is It Too Much?

Today I realized I have a tendency (strong tendency) to push hard when I'm worried about something. All that pushing stems from my lack of trust and now that I recognize my habit, I can fix it.

And therein lies my next hurdle: when am I pushing too much? And how much is enough?

I'm still figuring that out but I understand when I feel anxious, overwhelmed or scared...that's when it's time to let go.

I did my best today and I'll keep reaching and improving.

On top of that internal struggle, I spent today contacting ad agencies, following up with specific people from those agencies and arranging meetings. I don't have any solid leads but I'm confident something will come through soon.

My next worry was whether or not to simply move to a better market. I have to make up my mind on this one and then commit to it. I just haven't gotten to that point yet.

Ideally I would be offered a full-time copywriting position either here or in Chicago while I'm still living in Denver. I'd be happy to move to Chicago...it's a great city and closer to my family. I'm confident I can relocate and reestablish myself fairly easily so I'm open to that.

However I don't like the idea of packing up and moving across the country without a job secured in the new city. I wonder if it's enough to simply state my intention of landing a full-time copywriting job here in Denver or in Chicago? Is that too many options for the Universe? Will I end up with nothing if I don't get more specific? Or will I be overwhelmed with choices??

That's just an explain of what goes on in my head when I think too much. But I do know this: it feels good to simply say I will take a copywriting job either in Denver or in Chicago so I think I'm sticking with that right now.

It's all right to re-evaluate too so I'll keep that in mind as time passes. I'm talking to a few people with 15 - 20+ years experience in ad agency biz so they should have insight as well.

Wish me luck - it's getting interesting!

Create a nice day,

Lara

It's Not Where You've Been But Where You Are Going

That is all that matters - your focus and intention on where you are headed. It's a mental shift I've had to make and have to make daily. Well not every single daily but at least weekly. It does change how I act, where I focus my energy and my thoughts.

Just some food for thought. I'm currently reading Timothy Ferriss' The Four Hour Workweek and Wallace Wattles' The Science of Getting Rich. Both are fascinating reads I recommend!

In addition to reading those books (haven't finished either one yet), I spent the morning and the majority of the afternoon at a nearby lake learning how to windsurf. It was so fun!!! I had a fantastic time. I'm excited to go again soon!!! I'll post pics when I get them.

That's about it for me. I'm going to spend the week contacting agencies, following up with two potential clients and somehow working out my living & work situation. Somehow it will all come together, of that I am sure! I've much improved in my ability to simply have faith in the creation process. I envision my goal as if it were already here in my life and let the good feelings flow.

It feels great to do that so it must be a positive thing! It's fun to boot. :) You'll be the first to know as all the good things happen. It'll be wonderful.

Create a nice day!

Lara

Weekend Update

The last two days have been a whirlwind of networking, social engagements and settling back into my house (for the next 3 weeks til I'm kicked out).

Last night I met with a local ad agency guy who shared his thoughts on great agencies around here and the not so great ones as well. It turns out Denver is 23rd in the US in terms of agencies. 23rd. I think Chicago is probably 3rd. *sigh* At least I got the inside scoop on where to target my efforts and he gave me a few names.

I really want this to happen...or something better. I'm taking part in Joe's 30 day experiment and the end goal I'm concentrating on is landing a copywriting job with an agency. I didn't set a specific location so I'm open to relocation.

For the experiment all I needed to do was to get clear on the goal (preferably write it out in present tense) and then meditate on it for the next 30 days. And during the meditation I am to focus on feeling as though it has already happened and I am feeling the feelings associated with it. I should actually concentrate on how I feel now that I have the copywriting job at an ad agency.

It'll be fun because I think it will work. I've already done this once and we did manifest the goal although it didn't materialize in my bank account. It's a bit of a story but I do believe this works. I think it didn't fully materialize the first time because I had some internal blocks. I probably still do but they are lessening.

To that end I had an unusual experience last night while meditating. If you know anything about chakras, energy centers, etc you might be interested in what happened to me.

As I was in the final minutes of my one hour session I felt my first chakra open. The only way I can explain it is that it's like an internal fireball lights up and spreads through that area and into your body fully. It's pretty intense. In my mind I could actually see the energy spread through my body as it happened. Pretty cool!

That's it for me - I'm going to watch The Princess Bride and go to sleep. Tomorrow I'm windsurfing for the first time! That will be super fun. I'll share photos with you too. :)

Enjoy your weekend!

Lara

Could This Thought Make You Happier?

I didn't realize I had missed writing an update yesterday...penance for me.

Clearly it's been busy around here. I've got a few projects I've been working on for my local copywriter friend, a few emails and quotes to put together for potential new clients on top of my full-time job search ... not to mention taking care of my friend's house and her two mischevious cats...one of which escaped into the backyard the other day. They are NOT outdoor kittens.

For the most part though I've been handling the stress fairly well. I have faith that everything will unfold perfectly and fall into place. I am simply and completely committed to my quest for a full-time copywriting job with an ad agency (or something even better!!).

Tomorrow I am following up with a friend's contact and meeting for drinks with another local agency contact. It has occurred to me that I have picked a tough market in Denver.

Be that as it may I will persevere. If I end up moving somewhere for a kick ass agency and an even cooler job then I will move (but I'm limiting that to the Midwest - mainly Chicago...I refuse to live in LA and NYC). So I'm putting my intention out there, I'm believing in it and I'm acting in accordance.

The most difficult part of this is the believing I think. So when I catch myself with that thought, I simply hear it and decide to play around with it, test out the Universe to see if I can manifest something using the intention, belief and action set up.

For instance, today I set the intention that I wanted someone to give me a dollar. And you know what? I got it! I needed cash for windsurfing on Sunday and was a dollar short til today!

Now my struggle is in believing that the $1 is no different than the $400 or $4,000...it's all the same within the realm of the Universe. It's simply my belief system that makes $400 or $400,000 seem so much bigger.

At least I recognize where the battle lies and I'm working on it. Yay me! I see progress and I'm beginning to reap the rewards.

Whenever I get down on myself about where I'm at in any area of my life (whether it's financially, career-wise or interpersonal), I take a step back and look at where I was and compare it where I am now. I see progress and I see growth.

What else could I ask for?! As long as I'm moving and growing I'm happy. So I'm happy. I hope you are too.

Create a nice day,


Lara

Letting Go

Today I had decided to spend the day working on a few projects and relax my focus on the full-time job search (and relax the worries too!). And when I did, I got a call from a potential new client. She saw my response to her request for sales copy assistance and liked my samples.

So I called her back, we talked for awhile and I'll be sending her our recommendations by early next week.

It's nice when unexpected surprises like that light up my day. I was happy to talk to her, she's a fellow Wisconsinite with some interesting and exciting projects in the works. It'll be great fun to help her and watch her business expand.

It seems things unfold when I relax and let go. So I'll follow that plan of attack from here on out.

That was one my day's highlights. The other was a conference call with Joe Vitale by Healthy-n-Wealthy. Joe gave a great talk about his life, following your inspiration and his new book Zero Limits. It was a fun and uplifting hour.

Now I'm off to bed...it was another exciting day!

Create a nice day,

Lara

Under the Weather

I'm feeling quite sick tonight so your update will happen tomorrow. I spent most of the day applying and contacting ad agencies. I've made a few contacts in an effort to learn more about the local advertising scene...it seems to be quite different than Milwaukee.

Wish me luck.

Create a nice day,

Lara

Super Sunday

Today was another lovely day! I worked a bit, made some contacts about copywriting jobs, emailed other people to thank them for their giveaway gifts and generally enjoyed the day.

I'm still reading The Attractor Factor so I thought I'd pass along another terrific article by Joe.
The book provides a five-step process to attracting whatever you desire. This article is a great look at one of the most essential parts to manifesting your wants. Enjoy!

Here it is...

Books, books, books

Not much going on in my world. Yesterday I contacted more ad agencies in the Denver metro area. I also picked up Timothy Ferriss' "The 4-Hour Workweek" at a local bookstore. I haven't started it yet as I'm also working on "The Attractor Factor" and am only half-finished with Joe's terrific book.

I love to read and I'm excited to apply the information in both of these! Books are fantastic and reading will always be one of my favorite pasttimes. I highly recommend it!

That's about it from here - I'm off to a toga party tonight! Enjoy your weekend.

Create a nice day,

Lara