EXTRA MONEY PER MONTH: NO PROOF, FEWER SOLUTIONS

I don't know how many times I've searched online to find out how to make an extra $500 a month, sometimes the headline reads "How to make an extra $1,000 a month in your spare time."  These headlines are lies that play on people's fears of not being able to keep up with their monthly expenses.  Invariably I read about thrift store shopping as a way to make that extra money.  The authors of these desperate screeds even cite phantom friends who've made $800 "buying items in good conditions from Good Will, consignment shops and garage sales."  I know someone who did that as well but they didn't buy these items to resell them; they bought them to place inside their homes.  You absolutely can find deals at these venues, but if the deal is so good you might not want to offer it to anyone else.  So you're assessing products versus their price all the time.  The same author who recommended Good Will shops recommends buying these items, "clean them up and sell them at a higher price . . . ," says that she had a "friend who did this (she mostly went to garage sales) and she made an extra $800 per month!"  I love the exclamation mark.  She tries to use excitement to hide the desperation, cost in money and in time in these projects.  What's annoying about these types of articles is that they never mention the cost to showcase whether or not that $800 was pure profit or offset against $250 of expense.  Without telling us how much she spent in gas, in repair or maintenance of an item or how much time it took her driving around, cleaning the item up, posting it up at eBay, then driving to the Post Office and pay for shipping.  We don’t hear about any of this.  

One idea that might work to make extra money that I've long been working at is writing articles.  But the question is still the same, "How does one make money at this?  To whom do you submit the articles?  For whom do you write?"  One may as well be a copywriter where you write White Papers, B2B copy, brochures, SEO, and so forth.  If all writing is copy anyway, which it is.  I found on my Facebook page a flyer from AWAI whose headline read "No Writing Samples?  Here's the Solution . . . ."  

Okay, I'll bite.  And bite I did.  My teeth are hurting, chipping them all the time on false promises.  So much copy is pure clickbait.  And author of "No Writing Samples?  Here's the Solution," Steve Slaunwhite is no different.  He writes

One strategy is to put together a portfolio of related writing samples. For example, you may not have written a white paper before, but you may have written an e-book or long-form magazine article. Those projects are comparable in length and style and require similar skills, such as research, interviewing, and clear writing and storytelling. 

Oh, I see, so you actually DO need writing samples, right Steve?  So it's not that there is any magic trick to the answer of writing samples; instead, you actually do need writing samples.  "See how tricky I am?" teases Slaunwhite.  I am not saying that I cannot learn anything from Slaunwhite, but I don't really like his copy.  If the only thing that he's selling is information in this AWAI, then sell information, accurate information, reliable information, relevant information.  Act like a teacher and teach, don't bait.  Like I said I can still learn from him, and his point about storytelling is well-taken, but nothing that I haven't heard before and in greater detail. 

And speaking of storytelling, case studies—one of the most fun and lucrative projects in B2B—also require interviewing and storytelling skills. (A case study is a customer success story. As the writer, you will be interviewing your client's customer to get that story.) 

You see when someone says ". . . one of the most fun and lucrative projects in B2B . . . ," I want to say "prove it."  But he doesn't provide anything of value; instead, he simply goes onto something else posing it as some kind of solution.

Take a look at the writing you've done. Pull together some samples that are related to typical B2B writing projects. I know one copywriter who recently landed her first $4,200 white paper project. Although she had no experience crafting white papers, the example of a persuasive sales proposal she wrote for her previous employer clinched the deal. 

Hell, I can make similar statements, "My friend, William, wrote three white papers for Fortune 500 companies and netted $8,000 with each one."  See?  I am mad with sentences.  Proof?  PROOF!  You want proof?  How dare you?  What kind of information copywriter do you think I am?  These are private friends to which only I am privvy.  I could never share anything with the general public . . . certainly not for free.  If you want to know, it'll cost you.  I charge $5,000 for consulting.  So it's dishonest.

When speaking to a prospective client about a project where you don't have the perfect writing sample to show, here's an example of how to handle that conversation. 

Oh, look.  Steve is going to tell us how to speak, which words to use, and so forth.  Yippie!

"I haven't worked on this specific type of project yet. However, I'm confident I can put together an excellent case study for your company. And here's why. I've written several email newsletter articles for similar clients which require the same set of skills: interviewing customers, telling a great story, and effective copywriting. So your case study would benefit from my experience in those areas. In addition, I'm familiar with the format and know how a case study should be written." 

This is a guy who is writing for a general audience, a generally dumbdowned, inexperienced audience to whom he can charge $7,500 for a copywriting course.  Way to go, Steve.  I wonder if Steve has writing samples up at AWAI.  Real writers I know have a saying, "You can't beat something with nothing," which is absolutely true.  You can't beat the Devil with nothing.  You can't beat poverty without doing something with your tools.  Slaunwhite champions the above statement as that "something" in order to beat nothing.

Can you see how this kind of response would increase your chances of getting the work? It sure beats saying something like, "Oh, ah, well, I haven't actually written one of those before."

Well, I for one do not know of anyone who would go into a presentation with nothing, which is the whole point of Slaunwhite's piece here.  And he's a standard bearer at AWAI?  Wow.  

Like I said, I can still learn from Slaunwhite.  It's just that you have to sift through a whole of time-wasting, disappointing gibberish.  

The key is to be honest and confident as you explain to the prospective client what it is about your knowledge, skills, and experience that make you a good fit for the project — in addition to showing related samples that show off your writing abilities.

What makes Slaunwhite a good representative for B2B copy, where to get clients, how to pitch them, what to offer, at what price, etc.?  Why all the omissions?  Lying by omission is just as much a lie as commission.

Of course, nothing beats having the right samples in your portfolio. If a B2B marketing director is looking for a writer for her email campaign, you'll dramatically boost your chances of landing the project if you have one of those in your portfolio! Even if it is a "practice" piece you created during a course.

In my opinion, the ideal samples to have on hand when breaking into writing for B2B companies are:

Email marketing pieceProduct descriptionCase studyAdvertisementBlog post 

Okay, this is a start.  This is good.  Like I said, I can still learn from him.  Very little else in his piece is valuable. 

In fact, that's why I include those portfolio-building assignments when teaching the B2B Copywriting Mastery program for AWAI. If you have those samples in your portfolio, B2B marketing directors are definitely going to feel more confident in hiring you.

Do you have any questions about generating samples for prospective clients? Please share with us in the comments below so we can help.