My last post, where a disgruntled copywriter demanded “the truth” about creating wealth in copywriting, inspired copywriter Andrew Cavanagh to share the story of his beginnings on my forum:

“Here’s how I made my first ‘money’ in copywriting.”

Then one by one, other copywriters started adding their own. The responses were nothing short of amazing!

Many of the stories show that there’s indeed hope. They also show that we were all struggling copywriters once, too. And we didn’t all become overnight millionaires with million-dollar clients, as “Chuck,” the disillusioned copywriter, postulated.

I loved it so much that I posted my own story. I’ve decided to share it with you here. (By the way, the picture at the top is of me, circa 1991. A lot thinner, with glasses, and a lot more hair!) Anyway, here is my story…

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A disgruntled copywriter wrote me demanding clarifications. He believes most copywriters lie and exaggerate their claims of wealth. Let’s call him “Chuck.”

I understand where Chuck is coming from. Because I’ve been where he is. So I responded, not because I wanted to acquiesce to his demands but because I wanted to give him hope, ideas, and, dare I say it, a million-dollar education.

He says he will be asking other copywriters the same question, and even threatened (although, that may be too harsh of a word) to publish my reply.

For all I know, this copywriter may be gathering information to create his own product. Who knows? (If he is, I must say that his strategy is brilliant. And if he does create a product out of this, good for him!)

I’m reprinting the conversation here since I believe it will help a lot of other struggling copywriters out there. Also, I’m opening myself a little more than usual. I guess you can say that I’m exposing the real “Michel Fortin.”

My answer might surprise you…

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The other day I was asked, “How do I motivate a potential joint venture partner to bite? When you have a great idea and you’ve located the perfect partner, how do you motivate them to do business with you?”

In my last post, I talked about the power of a USP and how to define one. Being unique, or having an interesting twist or hook, will definitely up your chances of getting noticed.

But regardless of how you approach your prospective partner, whether it’s through an email, fax, or phone call, or by snail mail or FedEx, it is important to craft the offer in a manner that shows the benefits to your joint-venture partner.

However, there are a few extra tricks to motivate a potential partner.

Here are some of them…

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The other day, I was asked the following question:

“Why should the author of a product be included in their sales copy? Specifically, why do my readers need to know who I am or what I bring to the table? How does telling them my qualifications (or lack thereof) increase the strength of my copy?”

The author of the question then went on to say:

“My product solves a medical condition. But I am not a doctor and I have never had this condition myself. I’ve spent a year researching the best method to cure this condition. I have a list of 20,000 people with this condition and converse with them a lot. I know pretty much everything there is to know about this condition and have made it into an ebook.”

The answer is quite simple actually. In fact, in defending himself (i.e., that he’s not a doctor) the questioner answered his own question. Let me explain…

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What a fantastic call tonight! I grilled radio copywriting expert Dan O’Day for a little more than an hour on how to write effective radio advertising that gets maximum results.

Again, this one-hour teleseminar was to support our upcoming, intensive 2-day workshop in Los Angeles on how to write compelling copy for multimedia. (Which we only mentioned at the tail-end of the call.)

As promised, here’s the one-hour interview recording.

Click here to download and listen to the MP3.

It’s around the corner! More and more people are registering to come to my upcoming seminar on multimedia copywriting with Dan O’Day.

You already know who I am, but you probably don’t know Dan, who’s my “secret weapon” when it comes to audio and radio copy.

Dan is the world’s leading expert on radio advertising, which just happens to be the single most effective mass medium for driving targeted traffic to a website.

Well, Dan agreed to do a special teleseminar for you this Wednesday.

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As we’re getting ready to speak at the next Big Seminar, and share the stage with none other than Jay Abraham, my wife Sylvie and I have been working furiously on our upcoming product, Success Chef, which we are launching at Big.

But as busy as I am these days, and with the added stress of writing copy, dealing with clients and raising three teenagers, I sometimes find myself dipping into a few books as a distraction for some solace and quietude — and to give me some fresh ideas.

Last week, I bought four books, and devoured them in a single week!

I’m nothing short of amazed at how great these books are. And I want to share them with you and encourage you to grab a copy. (Audio versions of the books are also available, too.) They are…

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