My 6-figure copywriting journey in 2024: 5 roadblocks no one talks about

I remember the moment I saw the post about six-figure copywriters. I was browsing Twitter and I came across this post from a guy who claims he is a rich copywriter and earns millions. He claimed he could make anyone a six-figure copywriter if they took his course.

The post got lots of likes and comments. He runs a writing and copywriting business. He posts a lot of lifestyle photos about it also. It seemed he got lots of students. I started following him because I was bored in my personal life. I deleted the Facebook app from my phone and detoxed myself from social media. I was also taking a break from news consumption. Well, not really a break, but I was trying to spend less time reading the news for the sake of my mental health.

So how do I fill up that time? With another social media aka Twitter. With Twitter, I was trying to understand the creator game. And then I got pulled into this copywriting dream.

I started studying copywriting from different sources. I did not buy any specific copywriting course. I was just looking at the free resources. These are my findings in the last month.

Be aware of 6-figure copywriter courses

Nothing good comes easy. It takes years to earn six figures as a copywriter. And there are lots of steps and road bumps along the path. If someone is selling you a six-figure copywriter course, they are selling a dream. If someone is good at copywriting and they are earning a lot of money from it, why are they selling courses about it? Isn’t their time better spent making more money in copywriting? Or did they hit a ceiling and now trying to sell courses to make more money?

Who to trust online

I searched Twitter a lot. There are lots of people selling courses. And some of them are good courses. Each of them will teach you something. But end of the day, copywriting is about understanding marketing, clients, customers and how you can fit into this broad picture. The sales pitches of these courses don’t talk about these details and how long it takes someone to learn them.

Getting clients

Between learning copywriting and getting money from clients, there is a crucial step in how to get clients. When I say clients, I mean good clients, not ten-dollar clients from Upwork who will drive you nuts. If you try to get clients from freelancing websites, they are cheap and draining clients who will never get you to your six-figure copywriting goal. They are good to start with to learn the journey. But then you will have to pivot to good customers who will pay you better and will keep you around with retainers. It is not easy to get them. You need channels and connections. Again it takes time to get traction in a new field.

Lack of reality check

Everyone starts a new year resolution like going to the gym or working on a new gig or habit. By the first week of Feb, 90% of people drop off the journey towards the goal. The reason is people underestimate the difficulty of the journey and overestimate their willingness to endure the journey. And when they don’t see any immediate result, their motivation drops off.

Balancing new skills with old

Let’s say I start as a new copywriter and I start to earn some money from it. Now that will not be enough immediately to sustain my expenses. So I still have to keep my current job and also keep building the momentum of copywriting. Now add to this the demand of family and kids. It gets a lot harder. Then add the demands of social life. There are not many hours in the day or week to dedicate to the new craft to hone this further. So things have to be balanced and progress can be slow.

So the journey is tricky to get into this gig and you have to be extremely patient. You can not just buy a course and expect to start earning money. Even if you are unemployed and you can dedicate a lot of time to it, the desperation of making money will make it harder.

I am walking on this journey and I am learning a lot over the last few weeks. I will share my learnings in future posts. But to cut a long story short, you have to fasten your seatbelt and embrace the bumpy journey ahead. I have not earned a single dollar yet and I am not worried about that either. My focus is on the journey itself and not the dollar. I believe that is the key to make it in any field.