The Story of How I Got Turned On To Copywriting

Yes... I'm the worst blogger ever. I know.

So I'll make it up to you by posting my personal story about how I got into marketing and copywriting....

In 2005, I was flat-broke and punching time as a bookkeeper. I was sick of it. All I knew was I wanted to get out of this stinkin’ rat race... and for good.

Then, one day as I was surfing the net, I came across a promotion for an investment newsletter. It told me I could rake in a fortune from the oil boom... that these were halcyon days for the oil industry and I could catch a piece of the action if I just responded before it was too late!

As I read the promotion, I kept edging closer and closer to the computer screen. My eyes dilated as adrenaline surged through my veins.

I read faster... and faster... and faster... until I clicked on the “order now” button to stake my claim to my share of all those oil profits!

And that proved to be a life-changing moment for me. Not because I got rich in oil profits—I didn’t even make a dime—but because I was on “the list” to receive promotions from every financial newsletter known to man.

They came in my inbox... and through the mail. I was a prime prospect—except for not having any money!

But I read most of them, anyway. And after a while I started wising up to their methods. I remember thinking to myself...

“Damn, these guys are good!”

They know exactly what emotional hot buttons to press to get me drooling all over myself, convinced I’m about to get rich tomorrow!

Then somehow, AWAI, the American Writers & Artists Institute, decided I was a prime prospect for their Six Figure Copywriting Course. To this day, I have no idea what made them decide I was a prospect.

But their promotion worked. They knew what emotional hot buttons to press, too!

That’s when it all clicked for me. That’s when I realized I wanted to learn how to be a direct response copywriter... and have the almost magical skill of persuading through the written word.

So for the next two years, I gobbled up everything I could get my hands on related to copywriting. I spent every last dime I had on books and information products. I studied successful promotions and practiced my skills in secret...

Until it was time to test them in the real world. My first sales letter—a customer acquisition letter for my girlfriend’s makeup business—generated a 2.25% response to a cold, compiled list.

Not bad, huh? Especially when many mailers report precisely a 0.00% response rate!

Later, I wrote a sales letter for an ebook that boosted conversion rates by 812%... and through testing it exploded to 1,526%!

Now, we’re talkin’!

These and other successes—plus some failures along the way—have encouraged me to continue to study, practice, and hone my skills to keep them razor-sharp. Because I’m absolutely committed to becoming a top-notch, A-level copywriter.

One day, I want my name to be uttered in the same sentence with legends such as John Carlton, Clayton Makepeace, and Gary Bencivenga.

But in the meantime, I’m helping info-marketers, seminar promoters, and brick-and-mortar businesses get more out of their marketing dollars.

[Check out my website at www.LeveragePointsMarketing.com]

--
The Stan

P.S. There's my story. This is a personal blog--not a business blog--so I'll be back to reporting juicy details of my life soon!