Keith Trimels had always dreamed of working with complete location flexibility.

But his training and consulting business required too many nights in hotels and constant travel for client meetings.

By following a hunch, continuing to walk through doors, and honing his writing and marketing expertise, he has found himself a sought-after writer sharing drinks with some of the top names in copywriting — and earning more than he did as an engineer.

How did this engineer spin his writing talent into his dream life? Through a series of bold moves, consistent effort, ongoing education, and by answering when opportunity knocked.

Following the Signs — and Arriving at a New Life

Looking back, the signs were there all along…

In college, Keith won an award for a technical report he’d written.

Later, when seeking a transportation engineering job, his ability to express clear ideas in writing was ‘light years ahead’ of most engineers — earning him the position.

Then came the repeated requests to write proposals for clients in his technical training and consulting business — so much so that proposal writing went from an afterthought to a business driver.

“Almost every proposal I wrote, won!” he says. “We were helping our clients win seven-figure contracts, so I knew I had something.”

That was Keith’s first clue that his writing talent could actually generate an income. And as he grew weary of traveling for work, a career where he could work from anywhere looked increasingly attractive.

Thus when he heard about AWAI’s Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting (now known as The Accelerated Program for Seven-Figure Copywriting), he jumped. At a minimum, building his skills would elevate his training company’s proposals. But it could also pave the path to his dream of location independence.

“I started going through the program immediately,” he says. “I may have been following some of the fundamentals already, but now I understood why they worked. It all made sense.”

Keith could have stopped there, just using his newly sharpened skills to grow his existing business. But what he did next ultimately led him right to the flexible lifestyle he enjoys today.

Bold Move #1 — ‘Hustling’ an Established Copywriter

After pouring over the Accelerated Program, Keith wanted to step up his game. He decided to reach out to AWAI copywriter Paul Lawrence after following him via his mailing list. He mentioned he’d be in his area, and invited him for coffee.

“I hustled him,” Keith says. “I told him, ‘I’ll write for you for free if you give me feedback. You have nothing to lose.’”

The move proved both beneficial and butt-busting. “It was excruciating,” he says. “He and his mentor, [AWAI’s] Mark Ford, were beating the hell out of my headlines and leads. It was ‘get blasted and then rework, get blasted and rework.’ I was in way over my head!”

But in the end, the promo he wrote performed…leading to another project with Paul.

Bold Move #2 — Applying for a Job with Almost-Zero Copywriting Experience

Ready to try his skills with real clients, Keith sent his resume to a contracting outfit that matches writers with companies. In the first interview, the account manager for the contract company called out his lack of experience.

“He said, ‘I’m looking at your resume — and it sucks,’” Keith laughs. “’But I saw your website and it’s freaking incredible. What you wrote is basically the manifesto for a technology client we work with.’”

The manager and senior copywriter of that client’s internal copywriting team checked out Keith’s website, and the deal was done. And that’s how Keith came to write for one of the largest, best-known technology companies in the world.

While the gig did build his skills, it barely paid the bills. When he informed the tech company client that he would be moving on, they couldn’t let him go. Instead, the company reached out to him directly — awarding him an attractive, three-year contract.

While there, he wrote the proposal copy for billion-dollar launches, plus a 20-page dossier explaining the tech company’s relationship to the newly arrived CIO of a global bank — with which the company had over $300 million in annual sales.

Bold Move #3 — Learning from Clayton Makepeace and Parris Lampropoulos at the Bar

Keith, who lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming part of the year, chose to drive down to Denver for an AWAI sales letter workshop from one of the masters, Clayton Makepeace.

By day, he learned from Makepeace and other masters such as Parris Lampropoulos. By night, he joined them at the bar to talk about copywriting — and life.

“When you have a conversation and you’re sharing knowledge, it’s mentoring for free. It’s insane,” Keith says. “At the end of the day, they’re people like us with kids and family too. When you talk about all that, they see you as real. It doesn’t mean they’ll throw work at you, but that good energy can lead to good opportunities.”

And indeed, those conversations did lead to copywriting gigs with top financial publishers, including Clayton’s last promo with Weiss Research before he joined Money Map.

That live-event energy continued when Keith attended AWAI’s FastTrack to Copywriting Success Bootcamps, where he forged relationships over drinks with fellow copywriters and instructors like Bob Bly, Nick Usborne, and Gordon Graham.

“There’s no substitute for face-to-face conversations. You get to see the other 85 percent of communication that occurs beyond words and tone,” Keith says.

Ready for Any Kind of Project

Back home, Keith gradually expanded the writing portion of his business, balancing his training company with copywriting projects.

He wanted to be ready for any type of project that came his way. When AWAI’s Circle of Success opened up, he didn’t hesitate to join.

“To get access to all the training I would need for a new career — for less than the cost of starting just about any other type of business — Circle of Success was an easy decision,” Keith says. “Now, I have my library with anything I need to be confident in selling myself and not have to worry about what I’ll do if the prospect says yes.”

Coupled with continual effort over the next few years, his “side income” from copywriting steadily grew until it matched his training company income.

Fulfilling the Rest of His Dream

These days, Keith is a B2B copywriter specializing in lead generation, sales proposals and edu-marketing content for technology companies, which taps into his engineering background. Somewhere along the way, Keith found his writing superpower: breaking complex concepts into something people can understand.

Keith now brings in more than what he made as a full-time engineer. And he still has the flexibility to run his training and investment companies.

The career change has given him something he'd always wanted: complete control over where and when he works. He’s worked from three different continents for clients on six continents — and location has never been a factor.

Keith’s grateful for the chance to work where he wants doing something he loves.

“The flexibility that copywriting offers is truly priceless,” he says. “I can work from anywhere with an internet connection, and my clients care about results, not my location.

If someone would have told me a few years ago that I’d be writing for big-name companies with legendary copywriters in my Rolodex, I would have said, ‘You’re out of your mind.’ But here I am.”

Ready to pursue your own definition of success?

Learn more about the programs that helped open doors for Keith, including Circle of Success and the FastTrack to Copywriting Success Bootcamp and Job Fair.