Hello guys.

Trust you all had a great day today!

Have been going through the post, questions, suggestions and the motivational post Mr cutezt dropped- I must say the thread is really engaging and very informative.

Wow! Can't believe I forgot to say hello to venzal our SHIFU.

Shifu- your reputation proceeds you!

I don't know if anybody her really noticed the similarities between these two email Ben sent titled...

...VSL jerk

...Skid-mark on the under wear of email marketing

Can't help but just thinking about the style he used.


He first presents the opinion of the person he said wrote

Next he states if he agrees or not and proceeds to give his reasons.

Next paragraph he gives facts or proof backing his opinion, then an example....

Just been curious...

What's your take?

Lawnray:


Boss, please help with paypal guide

habeebulmahbub@gmail.com

you didn't ask i have it, i followed a youtube tutorial. just search "how to create lesotho paypal"

bro abeg, quote me on another dead thread if there's any need to

i prefer chris ozerchowski to ben settle

Millennialaku:
i prefer chris ozerchowski to ben settle

Oh OK.

The two men are really good.

For me am studying both and would love to become a blend of both.

Millennialaku:
i prefer chris ozerchowski to ben settle

From the little mails I've read from both of 'em, Chris is humorous, and his emails are not only specific but also evoke emotions – there's one he wrote recently about Fox.

But you can tell he's trying to sell something, sometimes.

Ben Settle, on the other hand, seems like that super-knowledgeable guy that gives you helpful advice always and you end up paying him to learn more.

His emails are longer and packed with stuff.

There's a lot to learn from both of em though.

maddman:


From the little mails I've read from both of 'em, Chris is humorous, and his emails are not only specific but also evoke emotions – there's one he wrote recently about Fox.

But you can tell he's trying to sell something, sometimes.

Ben Settle, on the other hand, seems like that super-knowledgeable guy that gives you helpful advice always and you end up paying him to learn more.

His emails are longer and packed with stuff.

There's a lot to learn from both of em though.

Honestly Ben Settle is the bomb!

He makes you see the value someone is enjoying first with a story then links it to his product.

Before you know it, BOOM!

You're already sold to it.

maddman:


From the little mails I've read from both of 'em, Chris is humorous, and his emails are not only specific but also evoke emotions – there's one he wrote recently about Fox.

But you can tell he's trying to sell something, sometimes.

Ben Settle, on the other hand, seems like that super-knowledgeable guy that gives you helpful advice always and you end up paying him to learn more.

His emails are longer and packed with stuff.

There's a lot to learn from both of em though.

wow bro, you analyzed them correctly
i find most of Ben's email boring to read but i still force myself to finish reading it sha ..............(from the few he has sent me oh)

but like you said, there's a lot to learn from the both of them

adsmaster:


Oh OK.

The two men are really good .

For me am studying both and would love to become a blend of both.

thats true

Boss we are good to go

Crazeworld:
Hi Cutetz,

Thanks for sharing experience with us. If there is anything to take from it, it's the fact that persistence, determination, and hard work pays.

I have some questions though...

Did you use a Nigerian account, from scratch and till date? This will be a motivation for many of us here.

What is interview? How is it done?

How come you still get enough jobs even without submitting proposals?

Your past clients recommend you to others, who eventually contact you on whatsapp. Do you guys transact outside of Upwork?

Is Upwork cool with freelancers taking clients out of Whatsapp, considering the fact that they won't be getting their 20% commission on future jobs?

During your early days when you were spending money on connects, did you for once think things may eventually not work out?

Do you have a side income outside of Upwork then too?

Thanks.

People, I am so sorry I haven't been able to reply your questions, I am so overwhelmed with work, let me briefly answer your questions.

1. Yes, my account is bodly stamped with "LAGOS NIGERIA"

2. Interview is basically the second stage of the hiring process, it is just like the real life interview where you submit your CV (proposal), apply for a job and if your CV looks impressive, you are contacted to come for an interview with whoever is hiring, now an interview as always does not guarantee that you have the job, writing a catchy proposal is only the first step, you have to hit the nail on the coffin with the interview, because most times, you are not the only one being interviewed for that job, so impress your client with your interview stage and soon enough l, you will be hired.

3. One of the edge upwork has over other freelance sites is that it has long term benefits, you will eventually get to a stage that your job will speak for you, you don't need to do anything, I have a policy, any job I take, I do it well, it doesn't matter if the pay is $5, in fact, I have done a $5 job before, and guess what? That client referred 2 other people to me, I didn't even need to ask him, do your best in your job cos it is your greatest testimony, clients don't want to hear the thousands of years and gibberish you have been saying, it's all about "show me what you can do" or "what you have done", many of my clients heard about me from previous clients I worked with, I just accepted another job today for 300 dollars, $100 per video, and I never submitted any proposal, it was referral. I am an upwork plus client, so I have a profile link, they just refer people to my profile link and that's all.

4. Yes, some clients are not on upwork, and are not even interested in joining, so you have to find other ways to get paid, upwork direct contract is not available in Nigeria yet, so I receive using payoneer, but i try my best to persuade the clients to hire via upwork cos it builds my profile on upwork, in fact, on my upwork profile, I have earned just about 3k dollars, the rest are via other means of payment, try as much as you can to keep your payments on upwork, it has long term benefits.

5. Well, they are not cool with it, but being on upwork doesn't make upwork my employer na, If I got the client via upwork, I get paid via upwork, I even prefer getting paid there, though sometimes when I calculate the large amounts upwork has taken from me, I feel like they are being wicked, but I still prefer being paid there, but if the client is gotten outside of upwork and doesn't want to join upwork, I still get paid, I don't care about their 20%.

6. No, I did not doubt for once that things won't work out, my doubt or concern was just how long does it have to take to get there, I have seen people who have spent over 20M dollars paying clients on upwork, those people receiving that pay, dem no get 2 heads na, so me sef must partake, so I didn't doubt, I only was worried about how long. I'm not top rated yet, I've seen top rated video editors from Nigeria who have earned over 10k dollars sef, but I believe I will get there someday, persistence is key.

7. I do have a source of income outside upwork, I am a part time staff of an organization, and I am not obligated to come everyday I work for 2-3 hours Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday weekly, but due to Corona, I now work only Tuesdays for about 4 hours, the pay is fairly good for the Nigerian standard, the reason I am part time is because they were unwilling to pay what I asked for full time back then, now, I only work there because I love the job, not because of the money, my upwork earnings is enough to sustain me for now, I'm not married, so I don't have so much responsibilities, I am not the type that loves to show off or live flamboyant lifestyles either, so I am not really eating deep into my pocket, I am planning and preparing for the future and if everything works out fine, upwork should be able to sustain even my family when I eventually get married (in years to come though), I average a monthly income of about 200-300k, in my room without shirt and on boxers, no need for suit, no need to wake up by 5am to board danfo to work so I won't be late, no need for insults from conductors, nothing nothing, just pure bliss, and this month looks even better.

But don't get it twisted, I basically work for the whole day, you can't be lazy and be on upwork, especially when you are just starting up, the only difference is that I don't have any boss to command me, I start to work any time I want (takes a lot of discipline to decide to work every day) I have not skipped working for even a day since like 3 months now, I make sure I hit an average of at least 20k daily, sometimes, i don't, but that is only because I probably woke up by 12pm or so, after working till 4 or 5am, but at least 15k for a day, another thing that takes so much from me is voiceover, I have paid almost 5h dollars on voice overs alone just cos I no get Yankee accent, so I have to hire Americans which is frustrating and expensive.

All in all sha, upwork is great, though I feel any field that has to do with writing is already too saturated.

Venzal1:
This week you are going to be swimming in a pool of resources.

Let’s kick things off with this:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eGaPnk3uhdwV_-j-TO2Nt-Ixw-ZhLvw9bqnoIB1wv6Y/edit?usp=sharing

I am letting you keep those 50 emails I wrote for a client about 3 years ago.

I am sharing them with you because they have long been deployed by the client and are no more his property.

So, study them. Use them as you wish.

For example, one of the things that you can do is re-write them in your own words and start to show clients as one of your sample email series.

You are welcome. Expect more.

P.S. Spread the love…

If you know of anyone for whom this thread would be beneficial, drag them here. We are about to hit the roof!

P.P.S. I know I have a backlog of questions to treat...

Kindly bear with me. I am working on getting my main account released from NL jail. Once that happens, I will treat every question on my mentions.

You are far to kind. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us free of charge. May God Almighty bless you

[quote author=Cutezt post=90750874]
This is really an eye opener,
Thanks for this Sir
I would like to ask if you train students regarding video editing and if possible I would like to learn under you.I would really appreciate if you can consider and reply me.
God bless.

Good evening everyone…
I just got freed from NL jail.

It’s sad that despite reaching out to the mods in charge of this section, they allowed what was overzealousness from aunty spam bot run its full course.

Yesterday was supposed to be a day for question and answer time.

I will dive into my mentions now and start to answer questions one after the other.

Thanks to all those who have contributed their quota.

Thanks also to the man who dropped a coupon code here. This is my first time of hearing Upwork uses coupons.

Also, I see many dropping emails they have written and want them to be critiqued… I’ll give those my attention too.

I am not really an expert at critiquing copy yet, but I will try.

Now…

I’ve got a few QUESTIONS that require your feedback.

1 What is the ONE thing holding you back from starting right now?

2 What exactly is it that you are still confused about?

3 What would you want me to CLARIFY more before you’d be confident to take action?

Answer them honestly, please.

I want to know what to cover next – alongside every other thing I have scheduled – to help bring you up to speed as quickly as humanly possible. Go on, I will be waiting.

The world is right now moving from the job economy to the skill economy.

And it took one rude message from Covid-19 to UnCloth this truth before our very eyes.

If you go take stock right now of how many people have lost their jobs over the last 3 months, your jaw will crack open in amazement.

The truth now is… having a high-demand skill is the way to go.

And the best types of skills to focus on are DIGITAL SKILLS.

Because…

More and more businesses are springing up all over the corners of the internet every single day.

These businesses may decide not to necessarily hire full time staffs.

They may just decide to work with contract workers blessed with certain skills that they are in need of.

And that’s where the OPPORTUNITY is at.

You can call this one of the modern oil wells. You won’t be wrong.

The only digital skill I have really strived to master so far is copywriting.

I am right now NOT able to teach full-scale copywriting because I don’t think I have climbed up to that wrung yet.

But I can teach email copywriting because I have a vast knowledge of it.

And that is the idea behind this thread.

I may now sound like a broken record, but the idea is to furnish you with a digital skill that pays well.

Now, even if by what you have seen so far you decide that you don’t want to do email copywriting… and you are struggling with your finances, take this simple advise: LEARN A SKILL.

Commit to learning as much as you can about that skill.

When you are done, you will have no problem with hooking clients.

They are on Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer.com, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram… and even in your church!

They are literally everywhere.

These clients are NOT running away.

So concentrate more on becoming freakin’ good at whatever digital skill you choose to learn.

Do you know the best part about learning digital skills?

You could build a thriving business with it down the line.

Maybe create an agency with a full staff that service other businesses with your skill.

You could decide to pour the money you make from selling your skills to other online businesses.

And that’s how you start to earn more, rest more, and enjoy more FREEDOM.

Also remember, you are not doing this for yourself alone, but also for your family.

So kindly take this seriously.

Sermon over. Amen?

We move…

Venzal:
The world is right now moving from the job economy to the skill economy.

And it took one rude message from Covid-19 to UnCloth this truth before our very eyes.


We move…

Amen
Thank you Boss venzal, God bless you real good

jonextee:
Hi Venzal... been a while we heard from you. I m sure you must v been busy.


I have some questions as regards Auto-responders. I understand it's an email discipline that is relational in nature and used to to bond with the subscribers so as build cordial and mutual relationship with them as well.

Now my question is since autoresponders come in sequence, must each mail always include a link that will prompt them to click so as to make them read the next email?

Some clients may decide that for like the first 5 emails they send out to their lists, there should be no selling. Just pure content.

In that case, the emails you write wouldn't contain a link.

Olawrites:
Where is boss ven.zal.. Your boys are waiting for food

Aunty spambot has been unkind.

Cutezt:


All in all sha, upwork is great, though I feel any field that has to do with writing is already too saturated.

Thanks for your contribution. But virtually every category on Upwork and Fiverr is saturated. The key is NOT to be a GENERALIST but a SPECIALIST.

New writers are coming in to Upwork every day and still crushing it in spite of the saturation. The mindset is key.

WordsWriter:



Lol. I'd advice you to create an Upwork account right now! Nobody knw wen this 'sara' go end.

Normally na the grace of God Upwork take dey approve account (My first upwork account I paid a guy 5k on Nairaland to help me open it after I had been rejected like 4 times).

I think it's covid-19 that made them ease their restrictions to help people dismissed from their jobs work from home.

So I think it's better you open the account, then set it to private while you follow Ven.zal's teachings.

Na just a my Opinion oo, take it with a grain of salt

That method has been working since before Covid. I don't think Upwork became less strict with approvals because of Covid. The only change they effected due to Covid is allowing you faster access to income realized from hourly projects. I thus think this method might work for a long time still.

emperorsversion:


Please I have long created my upwork account using ven.zal samples of Web design and programming as my area of specialty.... How do i edit it now and choose email copywriting... please I will be waiting for your feedback. Thanks

Go to settings. Change your category to writing. And take out those other skills you added earlier. Now, fill up your profile with things like writing, content writing, etc.

Venzal:
Good evening everyone…
I just got freed from NL jail.


I’ve got a few QUESTIONS that require your feedback.

1 What is the ONE thing holding you back from starting right now?

2 What exactly is it that you are still confused about?

3 What would you want me to CLARIFY more before you’d be confident to take action?

Answer them honestly, please.

I want to know what to cover next – alongside every other thing I have scheduled – to help bring you up to speed as quickly as humanly possible. Go on, I will be waiting.

Once again thanks and welcome back Boss,
about your questions sir
1- The only thing holding me back is unavailability of a proper ID card(I only have a school ID which I guess can't be used)
2-how to pitch the main point or sales link in the email in a way that won't sound desperate or forcing them to Act
3- Sir,you said something of Chatting with Clients e.g during convo with Brett kitchen, so sir what are the possible question clients throw at you in order to test your knowledge about the work(I'm asking so I wouldn't be caught off guard when I reach that that phase.
And lastly, Is there a tool to check the grammatical errors of a a job done before submitting to the client.
Thanks sir

[quote author=Testapep post=90751198][/quote]

Unfortunately, i don't, sorry sir, and about mentoring, i can only drop by to help time by time, i cant closely mentor, please understand, me, but i sure can give instructions and help out with questions.

i will, however, give you a video where you will basically learn almost everything there is to learn about the editing software i use, it is one of the most used in the world,

you can buy the software at computer village for 200 naira, or download it here https://usersdrive.com/03drhb7clqad.html

then you can digest this 4 hours tutorial on video editing, follow it bumper to bumper, learn as much as you can, rewatch over and over again if you have to, for me, i studied video production in school, but I think this video is quite comprehensive for anyone who wants to learn


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seP6Yqx4BaY

ImahGabi22:


What's the OFB approach?

The meaning?

And is a temporary ID card good to go on Upwork.?

God bless Ven.zal.
God bless us.

I need urgent response please.

It means Operation Fire Brigrade. Lol

It was coined by Mr. Danny Margulies.

For ID, any government approved ID should work.

Venzal:
Thanks for your contribution. But virtually every category on Upwork and Fiverr is saturated. The key is NOT to be a GENERALIST but a SPECIALIST.

New writers are coming in to Upwork every day and still crushing it in spite of the saturation. The mindset is key.

Yeah, but trust me bro, writing is much more saturated, a job posted 5 mins ago has over 15 proposals already, and as an upwork plus freelancer, i can see the bids, and there are some bids that are very low, tho if you can successfully build a good profile, your work will speak for you and you won't have to struggle again.

sometimes, a job posted 10 mins ago on video production, UI design, etc will have about 5 proposals.

ChaseVibes:
So after days of lecture from Venzal and writing out Ben's newsletter daily, I decided to try out my first sample

Kindly rate it over 10

MAN, this is brilliant!

The subject line is a killer.

That is going to arouse a ton of curiosity. And in writing emails, your ability to sprinkle in a heavy dose of curiosity will help a lot.

You did it again at the end of the copy by teasing them about a secret without giving full details.

You have kind of caused an itch that they'd be naturally inclined to 'scratch'. And the only way to do that is to click on the damned link. That's why curiosity is powerful.

I have a little correction, though...

The TURN was too sharp. It'd throw a lot of people off.

What I am talking about is the part where you went "you don't want this for yourself?"

The transition, in my opinion, was too sudden.

You could have fed them a lot more details to ramp up desire before asking:

How would you want this for yourself?

Overall, you did amazing.

By the way, your moniker sounds like you're into PUA stuff. If I am correct, kindly shoot me a mail. We could work on something together.

Cutezt:


Yeah, but trust me bro, writing is much more saturated, a job posted 5 mins ago has over 15 proposals already, and as an upwork plus client, i can see the bids, and there are some bids that are very low, tho if you can successfully build a good profile, your work will speak for you and you won't have to struggle again.

sometimes, a job posted 10 mins ago on video production, UI design, etc will have about 5 proposals.

Oh, okay. I get your point. It's mostly those article writing and blog post writing jobs, though. Filipinos, Indians, and Pakistanis reign supreme in those categories.

shotanny:
@Boss Ven.zal....keep up with the good works sir...God will bless you abundantly...

.you guys should check out my email testing
Subject: Congratulations!!...here is your download link...

Hi sharon
We are so excited for the taken the bold steps to sign up for this wonderful products. Here is a secret of two friends I wanna share with you….Ashley and caroline had same problems of hair growth… Just like the same problem you're facing(you're not alone).

They had tried all kinds of products but didn't work that much….

Then they both heard of this wonderful product (link to the product).

Ashley scoffed and refused to even make a research or try out the products, but her friend who desperately was looking for the cure to annoying stunt hair growth have it a try…..

And guess what, apart from the fact that she got the cure for hair growth, she also decided to join our team to market this wonderful products (link) to everyone having that problem.

GOODNEWS RIGHT!!...Well congrats once again..you can review more about the products here(link) and check out amazing testimonies.

Nice. The concept of contrasting between two opposites is great.

You showed them TWO people with the same problem.

One used the product and solved the problem.

The other was skeptical,

You didn't complete it though.

In email copywriting, this concept is called HEAVEN and HELL.

You paint the picture of good (heaven) and bad (hell).

In this case, you could have talked about the other lady who was skeptical about the product... how the problem continued to plague her... and how it even ruined her social life.

You could also have elaborated a bit about the LIFESTYLE benefits the first lady who used the product got from using the product.

Because note, it's not really only about growing her hair, it is also the LIFESTYLE benefits that come with it.

For example, you could have said something like:

since using XX product, her hair is now fuller like a celebrity's.

These days when she uploads how pics on FB, everyone is commenting about her more beautiful her hair looks.

Because of these comments, her self-esteem is exploding every day.

She is smiling more... going out more... meeting new people etc etc

It'd be even more powerful if this is a testimonial directly from the horse's mouth.

I hope you get the idea.

CC everyone.

Also, your work is riddled with typos. You should pay attention before sending out. That is why the Grammarly tool will be important.

Well done for giving this a try.

Venzal:
Oh, okay. I get your point. It's mostly those article writing and blog post writing jobs, though. Filipinos, Indians, and Pakistanis reign supreme in those categories.

Yeah, exactly, when I see the number of proposals, I'm like, how the hell do new comers make it in this niche now?

jonextee:
Venzal Baba....God bless you real good.

You mentioned that amazon research is one of your many research methods you use. Pls kindly teach us the other research methods you use, cos the importance of research cannot be overemphasized.

Secondly, We would be very grateful if you cd tutor us on the use of storytelling in copywriting

I will talk about storytelling soon.

As for other research mediums: Google, Youtube, books (if you have a library in your town, could be really helpful)... and then if you are in the health niche you could use this:

scholar.google.com

Venzal:

I’ve got a few QUESTIONS that require your feedback.

1 What is the ONE thing holding you back from starting right now?

2 What exactly is it that you are still confused about?

3 What would you want me to CLARIFY more before you’d be confident to take action?

1. Setting up a befitting profile on the copywriting niche. List of words to include in profile to rank high in search, and getting related jobs on feeds.

2. Can't think of one for now.

3. EVERYTHING necessary boss! You hinted us on the importance of research... the 80/20 rule. It would be nice to be able to explore other research tools outside of Amazon reviews.

JohnQueen:
Boss Ven.zal great work I must say.

As soon as I finished yesterday's lesson,.... I got overly excited.

I stood up from my table, climbed on top of my chair and yelled out, "Ven.zal FOR PRESIDENT!!!".

I gotta admit... the other people at the restaurant were NOT excited as I was.

I didn't care though. It was at that moment I knew I had to keep following your lessons keenly, as I have my eyes set on the BAG.

Real quick... AE or BE when writing, cos I am used to writing 'favour' instead of 'favor', 'colour' instead of 'color'... Ati bebe lo...

I pictured you doing the emboldened in my head. Nice use of sensory words.

To answer your question...

Using American or British English depends on the client you are writing for.

An American client will definitely want you to write in American English.

And the same goes for a British client.

For every other country, I go American.

For those not sure about the differences between these two styles of English, this is another place where Grammarly can help.

When I have to write in American English, I simply change the setting to AE. And vice versa.