Don’t Let Our “Insta-Culture” Hold You Back From This Key Success Tool
By Mindy McHorse

By any measure, we live in a pretty impossible, unrealistic, fantastic, and satisfying world.

It’s satisfying because we have so many answers at our fingertips … google anything and you’ll have solutions in .002 seconds.

It’s fantastic because things like open-heart surgery and people going into space are real.

But as for unrealistic and impossible …

Well, let’s just say there are beauty and success standards that abound in this world …

And they can’t be realized by real people.

• Think about every image you’ve seen of women aging gracefully (with the help of cosmetic surgeries and photo filters).
• Picture every story of “overnight success” that led to a well-staged photograph of an entrepreneur in front of a Jaguar, or a fountain, or a seven-bedroom mansion.
• Consider every tiny white pill that’s supposed to take away all your ailments with minimal side effects and only a $35 monthly commitment for life.

Point is, the idea of “doing the work” is kind of quashed in our culture.

Sidelined.

Painted over as if it doesn’t exist.

But every story out there, that’s real, anyway, involves someone, somewhere, rolling up their sleeves and committing to the road that requires one foot steadily moving in front of the other.

The stories, the glamorous magazine pages, the Inc. articles, sure — they make everything look easy.

Yet at some point, real work has to play a role.

And launching a high-paying career as a writer is no different — but people often get tripped up here, for a few reasons …

The easy part vs. the hard part

First of all, there’s the idea that persuasive writing is easy and everyone can do it.

So is walking, but only a handful of people have ever walked all the way across the continental United States, right?

Yes, anyone can learn the formula for persuasive writing, can master it, and can be paid thousands of dollars a month for that skill.

Does that make it easy?

Sort of.

Here’s the distinction: The material is simple to learn and master.

But putting your duff in a chair day after day, devoting that time, and showing up through the rain and sunshine …

That’s the hard part.

I’ve had writers send me lovely, heartfelt emails about how they decided to become a copywriter (last week) and they bought a program (six days ago) and they’ve practiced their writing every day (for three days running) …

But they still have no clients.

I applaud them, because they’ve taken those important first steps!

But as far as wondering about clients … and paid projects … and ever-growing royalties …

Those things take a little more time.

Look, I’ve totally been there myself …

When I first decided to be a copywriter at age 26, I gave my two weeks’ notice at a job I couldn’t wait to leave.

May 1^st of that year was my official first day of life as a freelance copywriter, working from the comfort of my home, ready to write my way to six-figures.

On May 2^nd, I spent at least a good hour staring at my tiny laptop screen, willing clients to just find me.

I was there … I was ready … where were they? What were they waiting for?

Granted, before hanging out my copywriting shingle I’d spent at least two months getting up an hour earlier each day to study The Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting.

But besides buying that program, quitting my job, and making up my mind to succeed …

I hadn’t really done much else.

And I certainly wasn’t making daily, steady progress in anything.

Worst of all, I was not immune to our insta-satisfaction culture of thinking that I deserved success right off the bat.

What finally happened?

After a few more weeks of staring at my screen and thinking something’s not working here, I decided to do things differently.

I’d just learned about Circle of Success for the first time, and it blew my mind.

Up till then, I’d spent a lot of time cherry-picking which writing programs I might need to learn from.

I’d hemmed and hawed over going to AWAI’s Bootcamp.

And I hadn’t met any writers going through the same thing as me.

Circle of Success was poised to give me all that and more …

But golly, the price tag!

Remember, I was only 26 at the time … I hadn’t even bought a car on my own yet, thanks to a cousin’s hand-me-down Dodge Neon.

So the idea of investing that much in just me and my writing dream, was completely jarring.

Wait … Hang on a minute …

I remember this thought, clear as day.

I wasn’t just following a dream. I was committed to setting up a legitimate service business.

It just so happened that I really enjoyed the work and the flexibility and all the freedom that came with it!

I made a commitment to take myself seriously — as seriously as any other new business owner would.

And what do successful business owners do?

They not only take themselves seriously, but they also show the world they’re serious.

The process varies, but in general it involves capital.

Which is why I took out a small business loan to help fund my COS membership. It was no different than the path a brick-and-mortar store owner might take to secure a building and goods.

Looking back, that was the best investment I ever made.

And get this — my loan? It was just over $7,000.

Which was a LOT for me at the time.

Yet now, after putting in the time to train as a professional copywriter …

There hasn’t been a month in at least three years where I’ve made less than $7,000.

I didn’t get to that point overnight, of course.

It wasn’t an “insta-fix.” There was a lot of duff-in-chair work involved.

But investing in myself … plus putting one foot steadily in front of the other …

Secured me solidly into what has to be the best profession on earth for anybody who even remotely enjoys writing.

I know it can do the same for you. Think it through … don’t be rash.

But don’t hold back from taking yourself seriously and investing in the skills you need to move forward, in whatever way that’s right for you.

Plus, nowadays, you can “earn while you learn,” thanks to AWAI’s convenient payment plans.

Do you have any questions about making progress on your copywriting journey? Please share in the comments so we can help.