Cool thread over at the Copywriter’s Board:

How To Find Selling Story Buried In Your Business

Yet another video I learned about from Ray Edwards.

Tim Ferriss’ book, The 4 Hour Work Week, is required reading for any entrepreneur. This video summarizes the book in about six minutes:

You should get the book, but if you don’t have it yet… watch this video and then get the dang book! Okay?

Thanks to Ray Edwards for making me aware of this:

At the end of this video, he mentions Soap Lake, Washington (a town which, as he mentions, is in the middle of nowhere and just so happens to be within spittin’ distance of where I grew up) and their Lava Lamp project.

I’ve been earning my living full-time as a copywriter and marketing consultant since January of this year.

My family decided to take a “working vacation” which would take one day’s travel to and from, and I would work for several hours during the day while Genhi and the kids “played”. We did break the pattern one day when we went to the zoo, although I took care of some business via cell phone, and worked for several hours in the morning before we left.

After we had been gone about a week, every day Genhi and I would have a discussion that went like this:

Me: “Ready to go home?”

Genhi: “Let’s stay a few more days.”

(We could stay as long as wanted; someone else did not have a “reservation” after us.)

The point is, we didn’t have a boss to report to nor clients to whom we had to meet onsite. We did work with clients over the phone and via email.

We are headed home now… her turn to drive… .

What a life!

What would it mean for you to have this kind of freedom?

This is a really cool concept that Ben Settle discusses here:

http://bensettle.com/blog/how-to-create-profitable-copywriting-joint-ventures/

He suggests that copywriters break out their working time into thirds:

• Doing fee-based copy projects
• Doing performanced-based projects (joint ventures)
• Creating/enhancing one’s own products

This struck me as a very synergistic model. Here are my thoughts:

• Fee-based projects can bring in consistent income, assuming you have a good marketing funnel. Keeping one of these “in the hopper” at all times keeps you involved with what is happening in the marketplace, outside of your own business.
• Performance-based projects keep you focused on those activities that produce income.
• Your own products can create long-term, semi-passive income.

The great part is… this is not limited to copywriters! I’m convinced that almost anyone whose job is to provide a service can apply it in some way.

In future posts, I’ll provide some examples.