1. Copywriting Secrets of the Masters:
Michael Masterson
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2. "For more great free information on how to take your copywriting career to
the next level please visit www.ProCopyWritingTactics.com
and don't forget to collect your free Pro Copywriting Tactics Reports
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Your “Super-Sized” Goal for 2011
Last year at this time, I told you about one New Year’s resolution I had
made: to write a poem a day for 365 days. I got the idea from a playwright
who had done something similar. She wrote a play every day for a year.
I liked the boldness of that ambition. It seemed to me that it was the kind of
goal that could change a life. It did for that playwright. One of the plays she
wrote made her famous.
I have written poetry on and off my whole life, but never seriously. Maybe, I
thought, I could improve my skills and even write some good poems this
way. There were no guarantees, but I was optimistic that something good
would come of it.
When I revealed my personal goal to AWAI members last year, I
recommended that they set an equally ambitious goal for themselves related
to copywriting. Read a new promotion every day, I suggested. Or write one.
Many people who read that article in The Golden Thread probably thought I
was dreaming. “What’s the point of making a resolution you can’t possibly
keep,” one person wrote me.
I was concerned – maybe even a little afraid – that the objective was too
grandiose. And that I wouldn’t follow through.
But I was also hopeful. The cleverness of the idea was the sheer size of it.
By setting a super-sized career goal, I thought one could break through a
lifetime of failed smaller objectives. An Extra-Extra-Extra-Large New Year’s
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3. resolution might be big enough to crash through whatever psychological
barriers were holding one back.
That was the idea. And guess what? It worked for me. I did write 365 poems
in 365 days. I skipped a few days when I was busy traveling, but I made up
for them when I had spare time. Many of the poems I wrote were only a few
lines. And many weren’t very good. But at the end of the year, I had more
than 100 poems that were – according to a few editors I sent them to –
good enough to publish.
So that’s what I’m working on now: publishing them in literary journals and
collecting them for my first book of poetry. It feels good to have
accomplished this goal. It feels great to have improved my skills as a poet.
This brings us back to you. Did you read that article last year? Did you set
any similar goals related to your career as a copywriter?
If so, we would really like to hear about it. We’d like to know, in particular,
how tough it was, how you coped with whatever setbacks you encountered,
and what you gained from the experience.
If you didn’t make a gargantuan resolution last year, consider doing it now
for next year. You know how quickly time flies. And with every passing year,
it will move more quickly. Seize the day, as they say. Capture the moment.
Make 2008 your year for taking a quantum leap forward.
To remind you, here is what I suggested last year:
Set some unthinkably big task for yourself that, when completed at the end
of the year, will have made you a much stronger and more highly
compensated writer.
And my specific suggestion:
Write one effective mini-advertisement per day.
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4. If you’d like to take on that goal, here’s how you can do it in a way that
might also dramatically increase your income:
1. Get on the mailing lists (snail mail and Internet) of six or eight direct-
marketing businesses you’d like to work for. (Long-term AWAI
members should have already done this.)
2. Build a “swipe file” (that is, a borrower’s library) of ads that these
companies are currently using.
3. Every day, before you do any other work, take out one of the ads from
your swipe file and study it. Spend 15 to 30 minutes figuring out what
the copywriter is attempting to do, evaluating how well he’s doing it,
and identifying other approaches that might work equally well or even
better.
4. Pick one of those alternate approaches and make that your daily
assignment.
5. Spend the next 30 to 45 minutes writing and editing a little ad based
on the theme you’ve chosen.
6. When you are done, file the completed mini-ad in a large envelope
addressed to the CEO or marketing director of the company it applies
to.
7. Once a month, send out all those envelopes (each of which will contain
one or several samples of your work). Include a letter that briefly
explains who you are and why you are sending them this free copy.
The letter should be some version of: “I admire your business and
hoped that, if you saw what I could do, you might have a spot for me
on your freelance rotation.”
Don’t spend any more than 60 minutes a day completing this task.
In the beginning, you will find that you will be able to write only a limited
number of words. But as the weeks pass, you will see your speed improve
dramatically.
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5. You’ll almost certainly double the speed at which you write. You may
quadruple or quintuple it. And you’ll also see that the quality of your writing
will improve – which may surprise you, considering how much faster you are
getting. You will have sharper, more tangible ideas. Your language will be
crisper and cleaner.
The trick is to focus on quality, not quantity. So your daily objective will be to
come up with just one good marketing idea – and then, when you have it, to
write it as simply and powerfully as possible.
If you don’t want to do this every single day of the year, make it a workday
goal … which would mean you’d be writing about 250 little ads this year and
sending them out to potential clients. That goal is plenty big. And it allows
you two days a week to do something else first thing in the morning.
In addition to this “write one ad a day in 2008” idea, here are some other
“unthinkably” big goals to consider:
 Learn a marketing secret a day.
 Scan an educational book a day.
 Contact a potential client a day.
 Call/write a friend a day.
 Practice a self-promotional speech a day.

Identifying your goal is the first step. As soon as you do that … and I hope
you do it today … write it down and make it happen.
Let Michael Masterson take you by the hand and transform you into a six-
figure copywriter as he has done for thousands of others. Find out more
about the AWAI Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting.
This article was originally published as part of The Golden Thread
MICHAEL MASTERSON – There is no one more qualified and experienced
than copywriter, entrepreneur, and business-builder Michael Masterson to
teach you the art, craft, and business of copywriting.
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6. Michael started his first business – a fifth-grade publishing venture – at age
11.
After finishing grad school at the University of Michigan in 1975, he spent
two years in the Peace Corps, where he began his writing career.
Several years later he was working as a writer for a small newsletter
publishing company in Washington D.C. Then, in 1982, he learned the art of
copywriting and launched the first of dozens of successful direct-marketing
ventures, many of which have become multi-million dollar companies.
All told, he’s been directly involved in the generation of over ONE BILLION
DOLLARS of sales through the mail and online.
He’s also a highly successful author. He’s published more than a dozen
books, including several which have become Wall Street Journal,
Amazon.com or New York Times bestsellers.
Today, Michael consults mainly for newsletter publishing giant Agora, Inc.,
and writes regularly for Early To Rise, one of the most popular self-
improvement newsletters on the Internet, and for The Golden Thread,
AWAI’s weekly copywriting newsletter.
But there’s more to Michael Masterson than just his writing and business
skills.
Michael also has a knack for taking just about anyone with a burning desire
to upgrade his lifestyle – no matter what his background or education – and
transforming him (or her) into a top-notch copywriter:
 He’s the one responsible for transforming Paul Hollingshead from a 35-
year-old minimum-wage grocery store stock boy into a copywriter
earning upward of $300,000 a year … and Don Mahoney from a
woodworker to a $300,000-a-year copywriter living in Miami Beach …
 He’s mentored other copywriters who have gone on to generate
hundreds of millions of dollars in sales each year through their copy …
 He’s shown people in their 50s and 60s – people preparing for
retirement – how to successfully change careers and become well-paid
freelance copywriters …
 He’s taken young people fresh out of college – with no “life experience”
at all – and turned them into top-notch copywriters and newsletter
journalists …
 He’s taught housewives, bartenders, and laborers to excel …
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7.  He’s even helped “professionals” – doctors and college professors –
leave successful careers to enjoy the big money and stress-free
lifestyle copywriting offers
Discover how Michael can do the same for you with his
AWAI Accelerated Program For Six Figure Copywriting.
Michael Masterson
"For more great free information on how to take your copywriting career to
the next level please visit www.ProCopyWritingTactics.com
and don't forget to collect your free Pro Copywriting Tactics Reports
www.ProCopyWritingTactics.com