I’ve made a large number of mistakes in my life. These flubs
\nhave cost me more in lost income, career success, and happiness
\nthan I could possibly keep track of.<\/p>\n
Here are my 5 worst screw-ups, presented in the hopes that I can
\nhelp you avoid making the same errors I did:<\/p>\n
1-Not jumping on opportunities.<\/p>\n
When Internet marketing arrived on the scene, I both resisted
\nand ignored it.<\/p>\n
I could have gotten into online information marketing in the
\n1990s.<\/p>\n
Instead, I waited until 2004, until my colleague FG pushed me
\ninto doing it.<\/p>\n
As a result, others gained the leadership position I could have
\nowned, and I lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales I
\ncould have made during that time.<\/p>\n
Joe Vitale and others have said, “Money loves speed.” The faster
\nyou act, the more likely you are to succeed.<\/p>\n
2-Not having an ultra-narrow niche.<\/p>\n
At the beginning of my copywriting career, I wrote only
\nindustrial copy, and was well positioned in that niche. I loved
\nit! Industrial clients wanted to hire ME, not my generalist
\ncompetitors.<\/p>\n
As time went on, more people outside that niche wanted to hire
\nme, and so I became less focused, although today I do have four
\nniches: financial, health, high tech, and business-to-business.<\/p>\n
I love writing for the variety of clients I have today, but from
\na purely business point of view, life would be easier if I were
\nmore narrowly niched.<\/p>\n
I think copywriters who laser focus on a narrow niche are smart,
\nlike Pam Foster who specializes in the marketing of pet
\nproducts. Now that’s a narrow niche!<\/p>\n
3-Turning down book contracts.<\/p>\n
There have been a few times over the last three decades when I
\nturned down a major publisher who wanted me to write a book for
\nthem.<\/p>\n
In each case I came to regret turning down the book offer — and
\nwished I had accepted and had written the book.<\/p>\n
Every book I have written has helped my career in some way –
\neven my satire, sex, and Star Trek books!<\/p>\n
My advice: writing traditional paper books is good for your
\ncareer or business, so if you are offered a contract by a real
\npublisher, take it.<\/p>\n
4-Not saving your accomplishments and kudos.<\/p>\n
Any time I get a letter of praise, I drop it in a file labeled
\n“kudos.” I then excerpt these favorable comments and post them
\non my site:<\/p>\n
www.bly.com\/newsite\/Pages\/testimonials.php<\/p>\n
Any time you produce something for an employer or client, like a
\nvideo or a brochure, save a copy as an electronic file.<\/p>\n
Clients today increasingly want to see that you have done work
\nsimilar to what they need done now.<\/p>\n
The more samples you can show them, and the closer those samples
\nmatch their current project requirements, the more comfortable
\nthey will be hiring you.<\/p>\n
Although I saved a lot of my work, every once in a while a
\nprospect asks for a sample in a field where I have done work –
\nbut don’t have the sample. And I kick myself every time.<\/p>\n
5-Not having children at an early age.<\/p>\n
This we couldn’t help: although I got married at 25, my wife was
\ndiagnosed with cancer a few months after the wedding, and we
\ncould not have kids for several years following her treatment.
\nThen we went through infertility and didn’t have our kids until
\nwe were in our 30s.<\/p>\n
If I could change all that, I would have had kids when we were
\nstill in our 20s. Doing so increases the odds that the parents
\nwill be around for the kids and grandkids longer. And, younger
\nparents have more energy.<\/p>\n
Steve Martin became a first-time dad at age 67. When his
\ndaughter graduates college, her father will be 88. That’s not
\nideal for either parent or child, in my opinion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’ve made a large number of mistakes in my life. These flubs have cost me more in lost income, career success, and happiness than I could possibly keep track of. Here are my 5 worst screw-ups, presented in the hopes that I can help you avoid making the same errors I did: 1-Not jumping on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1848,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1848"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=897"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":899,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897\/revisions\/899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}