Usman Farooqi

22/05/2024

5 tools every copywriter needs.

1. Snov

This is a good tool to help you find emails. At the same time, it helps warm up my professional email so I can use it to cold email 20 people a day.

2. Apollo/Instantly

Both these tools are great to send campaigns and follow ups to cold prospects.

3. TweetHunter/Taplio

Both these tools help automate Twitter and LinkedIn. And they are both paid. If you want to gain insight only, Taplio's extension and TweMex are free and they show you top posts from a creator.

4. LLC/LTD in the UK or USA

A company is not a tool. But it's the most important thing you need as a freelancer. It will not only give you credibility but also allow you to gain access to payment methods like Payoneer/Wise/Stripe easily. Payoneer and Wise are somewhat straightforward. But for Stripe, this is where you start.
5. Slack/Trello/ClickUp/Monday

These tools will not only help you stay organized but also allow you to outsource and build teams better.

Things that help us use such platforms and stay on top of everything.

22/05/2024

I got 10+ inbound leads from Upwork without applying for a single job post.

Yes, it's not a clickbait.

I joined Upwork 1 year ago.

I was not aware of how to use it effectively.

A few months ago, I optimized it again.

I updated:
-Profile picture
-3 project catalogs
-Profile description
-2 specialized profiles

This is what I analyzed:

-Profile picture was blurry
-Changed with a professional one

-Title was showing multiple skills
-Narrowed down my skills and wrote one

-Description was self bragging
-Wrote in a flow, with more fun
-Hook (pain point+target aud+solution)
-Added 5-7 relevant questions for authority
-Compared my services with others logically
-Wrote a clear CTA with more simplicity & fun

-Specialized profiles were not added
-Wrote a copy for specialized profiles
-Designer-designed high-quality images
-Put all details there after a deep research

-Completed my profile 100%
-Added all relevant skills and certificates
-Added all past experiences for more trust
-Added my best samples (this is the winning part)

I bid on a few projects and won my first project.

After ranking my profile, I get inbound leads like other social media platforms.

I shared with other experts, and they were like," Urooj, it happens rarely; you have done an amazing job with your profile copy."

You can win too.

I followed the same rule when writing copy for my client's profile.

He said, "Usman you have added extra sugar to my content."

If you also have chatgpt written content on your profile like:

-Skyrocket your reach
-Unleash your hidden power
-I craft content that generates leads
-Captivate your audience with my designs

Reach out to me; I am here to assist you.

19/05/2024

You don't need 100 clients to pay $50 each to make $5000.

You need 1 client to make that money.

Instead of thinking of a "freelancer" who works on on-off projects...

Think of yourself as a holistic solution.

Don't just be a writer. Be everything your client needs.

For example, if they are having you write emails, they'll need someone to send them out, right?

If they are having you write FB posts, they need someone to post/design them too.

That's where my concept of offer productizing comes in.

Instead of saying...

"I will write 20 emails/month that will make you at least $50k."

Say...

"I will write and send 20 emails/month to your list while improving deliverability and making sure that list makes you $50k/month."

Now we're talking.

If you want to go a step above:

"I will write and send 20 emails/month, improve deliverability, get more people to your list, and make you $50k-$60k/month."

If you're super confident at what you do... you can say "you can pay me from the extra 10k I make from the new people I bring to the list."

This is how you productize your service.

Now, you need to sell these packages to people with email lists.

14/05/2024

Alex Hormozi: 329k followers
Ali Abdaal: 131k followers
Neil Patel: 600k followers
Grant Cardone: 607k followers
Justin Welsch: 561k followers
Dan Koe: 130k followers

After looking at these people, you might argue that their 'personal brands' are not big enough when compared to...

Bill Gates (35M followers)
Jeff Weiner (10M followers)
Satya Nadella (9M followers)
Richard Branson (19M followers)
Arianna Huffington (10M followers)

And the good thing is that they don't have to be as big as these people.

All you need is...

✅ A valuable skill that's required by rich people.
✅ Some level of accomplishments (or unfair advantage). It's very subjective. IMO, knowing more about something that the average individual is an accomplishment.
✅ Proven track record (doesn't have to be of years... can be of 2-3 years with some good wins under your belt in that particular field).
✅ An offer to help people using your skill
✅ A way to make noise and reach out to many people with that skill

With this strategy, you might not become Bill Gates or Richard Branson (maybe you would)... but you can definitely become someone like Hormozi or Justin Welsh.

I would take that happily.

$100million is something I can live with. It's okay if I don't make a billion dollars.

12/05/2024

01/05/2024