Goodbye Rubber Chickens …
HELLO Writer’s Life!
By Guillermo Rubio

“What if there were no hypothetical questions?”
– George Carlin

It’s not easy being a clown.

One or two bad jokes and you’re toast (not to mention getting smacked in the face by flying tomatoes, heads of lettuce, whipped cream pies, and/or rubber chickens).

But AWAI member Laurie Cauthen found a way to earn a living clowning around. And even though she was cracking all the right jokes and getting the laughs, her real passion went unfulfilled.

All her life, she’d wanted to write for a living. That’s why when she received a letter just over a year ago that promised she could make a full-time living writing via copywriting – she jumped at the chance.

She ordered AWAI’s Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting and went straight to work. And now, just a short year later, she’s made her dream of writing full-time a reality.

In fact, it was at this year’s Bootcamp that she landed a full-time writing position with a highly successful alternative health company in Florida.

So how did she do it?

She did something many people fail to do: she set her goals for the year and created a step-by-step plan to achieve them. Then she simply took action and made it happen.

For example, at the beginning of 2008, Laurie told herself she would accomplish three things and made an action plan:

• Goal #1 – Turn a spec into a paying assignment. Action – Enter AWAI’s 2008 Bootcamp Spec Challenge.
• Goal #2 – Become a Wall of Fame member. Action – Land enough paying clients as a freelancer to qualify to become a Wall of Fame member.
• Goal #3 – Land a full-time job as a copywriter. Action – Contact potential employers at AWAI’s Job Fair and set up interviews with them.

Like Laurie, you can achieve your dreams. Just follow the proven “success plan” outlined for you below. This is the same plan Michael Masterson has used to amass a fortune and create the life he once only dreamed about:

1. Set one major goal for yourself. Make sure it is both specific and measurable. For example, if you are in a job you hate, and want to make the switch to copywriting full-time, a big goal can be to earn $42,000 from copywriting within 12 months from today.
2. Break the major goals into smaller, monthly goals. Let’s continue with our example from point number 1 above. If your goal is to earn $42,000 from copywriting fees in 2009, then divide that figure by 12. This brings your average monthly income goal to $3,500.
3. Break monthly goals into weekly goals. Now that you have your monthly income goals, create weekly goals. For example, if your monthly goal is $3,500, divide that by 4, which gives you a weekly goal of $875.
4. Create a daily action plan. With your weekly goal in place, figure out what it will take on a daily basis to make that goal happen. So, in the above example, the weekly goal is $875. A daily action plan may consist of mailing a letter promoting yourself to clients on Monday. On Tuesday, you can go to a networking event being held by your local Chamber of Commerce. Wednesday may consist of sending out 10 spec assignments to companies you found on DirectResponseJobs.com. Thursday might be follow-up day, to all the companies you mailed a letter to on Monday. Friday might be going to a few local businesses in your neighborhood and offering your services.
5. Keep moving forward. This is a big one. To achieve your goal, you have to be consistent. That means constantly taking action and pushing forward, even when you don’t “feel” like it.

And remember, when you create your plan, it’s not set in stone. Be flexible. And if need be, modify your plan to fit any changes that might be going on in your life. But whatever happens, stop clowning around and start taking action!