The 80/20 of mouse removal (part 3)

How to break into industries ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Hey {NAME} -- In the previous emails I told you about the 3 options I had available when looking for a rodent removal company. 1. Have a guy 2. Ask a friend 3. Google I'm correlating my search to what you can do to break into an industry. We've discussed the first 2 options and how they are relationship-based. The main takeaway is that the 80/20 of breaking into an industry is getting to know as many people as possible in that industry. Relationships. Dan Ferrari sent an email yesterday (amazing timing) with this formula: Height of Your Reputation X Number of People You Know in The Business Now, this is a good time to briefly discuss "competence". In the beginning, competence isn't necessarily what you might think. Everyone thinks that competence means writing world-beating controls... crushing conversion metrics. Nope. At the beginning of a career, competence means delivering the highest quality work that you can, on time. On time is the biggest thing. Being reliable. Hitting deadlines. In the beginning you can't necessarily promise the world to clients and you shouldn't. You increase the size of your promises as you go. My formula: Your income is directly proportional to the size or scale of the promises you can make AND keep. As you gain experience, you become more confident in your promises (that your copy will convert) and you likely do keep those promises (if you're growing & getting better which tends to happen in time). Again, when you are developing relationships with people, being reliable is most important. I've also written about "going pro" too early. If you over-promise too early, you get yourself in trouble. This is when you're more likely to miss deadlines because the work is too far over your current level. The lesson on competence and relationship building: hitting deadlines and delivering on promises is far more important than crushing controls (in the beginning). Back to my mouse example: I said previously that we didn't use method #1 (have a guy) because my friend's rodent removal company wasn't what I was looking for -- "green". We went to method #2 (asked a friend) and they recommended a "green" company. Because the 80/20 rule is real... We did use the company they suggested. We used method #2. Relationships & referrals are the most important. Now.. I did do some Googling before I made the call. I'm going to consider "Googling" and SEO a form of advertising. They had a website advertising their services. What do you think I was looking for when I Googled this company? Reviews. Yet another form of relationships. This is why everyone will tell you to lean on friends & family to start, to get those initial reviews. At this point in the process the main reviews I was looking for were reviews of this company's competence. Did they get results & show up on time? (Most service companies do not. It's wild how bad most are.) And I did a quick check to make sure they were in fact "green". I only spent a minute on their website before heading to Yelp to check the "real" reviews. And there's a lesson here. Being on Yelp, like Google, is another form of advertising. Where are business owners you want to attract looking for copywriters? If they haven't used method #1: know a guy or method #2: ask a friend... where would they go to find someone? The direct response industry is currently consolidating to 2 places: Copy Chief & Copy Accelerator. That's where a lot of direct response business owners are going. Now, your preferred clients might not fall into this category of direct response... where are they going? Is it Upwork? Craigslist? Somewhere else? Are they simply hiring employees, not freelancers? Like getting on Yelp is helpful for the rodent removal company I used... maybe you should get into these groups/sites that your potential clients are using. There's a lot to digest here. But we still need to talk about standing out in these places where you "advertise". And often the best way is to specialize. But you have to specialize in the right way. Otherwise it's pointless. And that's what we'll discuss tomorrow. - Derek  Sent to: {EMAIL} [Unsubscribe]( CopyHour.com, 340 S LEMON AVE, 5007, WALNUT, CA 91789