From Good to Great:
Creating Daily Writing Habits
By Sandy Franks

When Eldrick Tont Woods, also known as Tiger, hit the golf circuit in the late 1990's most people assumed he was a natural-born talent.

After all, at just 22 years old, Tiger won the Masters Tournament, one of golf's most prestigious events. He then went on to win the U.S. Open, the British Open, and the PGA Championship.

The same thing could be said about other star athletes such as gymnast Simone Biles, who seemed to defy gravity with her larger-than-life triple-double flips, and Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, with a whopping 23 medals to his name.

But is their success because of a special gene for golfing, gymnastics, or swimming?

Experts have studied this same question for years and the collective answer is no.

Florida State University psychologist Anders Ericsson and science writer Robert Pool wrote about their findings in the book, Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise ...

The two agree that the idea of genetic factors — or innate talent — is a myth.

So then what makes someone rise to the top of their profession?

It comes down to practice, practice, and practice.

Or as John Adams first wrote in his 4-part diary, Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, practice makes perfect.

And the earlier you practice your craft, the better you become at it. That's what makes it seem as if someone is a natural-born talent.

Tiger's dad taught him how to swing a golf club at a very early age. In fact, at the age of two, he was showing off his swing on national television. With his father's guidance, Tiger practiced every day.

When it was time to make his debut as a professional, he was more than ready.

The same is true with writing.

You become a great writer by writing regularly … daily in fact.

In our industry, the A-list copywriters like Clayton Makepeace, Mike Palmer, Marcella Allison, and Jedd Canty weren't overnight successes.

By this I mean, they didn't wake up one day, decide to write a sales letter, and the next day it broke records for their clients.

And they don't possess a special writing gene.

Nope, instead they were constantly learning and constantly writing.

That is the only way to become a better writer.

You must practice your craft.

It's not enough to land a client, take on the project, and get paid. Don't get me wrong — it's an accomplishment for sure.

But since we're talking about writing regularly, what happens when that project is complete?

The writing stops until your next gig comes along. That downtime means you aren't writing.

And if you're not writing, then you're not practicing your craft.

So today, I'm going to share a few tips on how you can go about upping your writing skills by practicing.

Practice method #1: Re-write copy you collect in your niche.

By now you know the importance of keeping a swipe file. As a refresher, a swipe file is your personal collection of sales letters and content pieces from companies within your niche.

Each day, take one of those pieces and re-write them. You can do it by hand or on the computer. What this does is help you see the flow of copy, understand transitions, and pick up on tone.

And when you do this concentrated effort within your niche, you're getting more and more familiar with how clients speak to customers.

When it's time to write for them, you're not wasting any time learning how they communicate. You've already nailed it.

Practice method #2: Write your own blog posts.

When you commit to starting your own blog, you automatically have the opportunity to write every day.

This is what keeps a blog fresh, and readers interested.

With a blog, you're able to write on subjects you're passionate about, which is also beneficial because it makes the writing process feel effortless.

But there's another benefit to learning to write a blog. Clients need blogs because they're valuable resources to customers. And they actually make money for companies too. Lots of it.

Kathryn Aragon, founder of Jcurve Agency, spent two weeks pouring over the analytics of content her company produced for clients over the past few years.

She looked at keywords, along with the web traffic the blog brought in, and the sales that were directly correlated to the blogs. She found one blog post could be worth at least $25,000.

If you can perfect your ability to write blog posts (and you will with AWAI's training program), you could be earning some incredible income. And what's the best way to become perfect? Yes … by practicing.

Practice method #3: Write posts on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn has been growing like crazy over the past few years. Right now, there are 57 million organizations on the platform. You can narrow that number down to clients within your niche. And you can also join groups that are related to your niche.

Then it's simply a matter of posting something interesting. In fact, it only takes a few clicks of your mouse to create a post.

If you make it a habit to post daily, you'll find that people will start to notice your posts. And one of those people could be your ideal client.

Talk about the ultimate payoff!

So when you're not writing for clients, be writing for yourself.

Because going from good to great all comes down to practice.