🧠 A Niche Copywriting Service with Major Demand
and why financial bubbles are actually a good thing for humans
1. Business idea of the Week: ✍️Copywriting for Foreign Businesses
Copywriting is one of the top 3 most valuable skills you can learn and leverage in your career.
“Copywriting is the craft of writing persuasive messages that prompt people to take action.”
The way in which statements are worded can result in drastically different outcomes.
Example:
Or…
Apple could have said “Our new mp3 player fits in your pocket and holds 1000 songs”.
Same meaning, different feeling. 💸
So now that we understand how important copywriting is….
The idea: A copywriting agency specializing in copywriting for foreign companies. There is no shortage of foreign companies trying to sell to Americans, and you can help them do it effectively.
Think about it. If you were trying to sell to Chinese consumers, you would likely hire a Mandarin speaking copywriter. Words and phrases often get lost in translation, so it is important the person writing the ad is a native speaker of the language.
This is a niche service that will allow you to differentiate yourself from other copywriters. (the riches are in the niches)
After all, there’s no shortage of copywriters if you do a quick search on Fiverr or Upwork.
I got this idea from @peter_4sure on Twitter. He wrote a thread about his experience as a copywriter for Asian businesses. Here’s a few highlights:
Peter makes it clear. Asian businesses need english speaking copywriters.
How to get started: Copywriting is a skill that takes time and practice to learn. The good news is that it is free to practice, and there is a ton of free educational content on the internet. I recommend starting with the following.
Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy - A legendary copywriter known as the “Father of Advertising”.
The Boron Letters by Gary Halbert - A series of letters written by history’s greatest copywriter.
CopyThat , a course by Sam Parr. Sam is a world class copywriter, and created this course to make you a better writer.
Write ads for product you use everyday. Re-write popular websites. Just start writing.
Once you’ve got down the basics of copywriting, and feel that you can provide value to businesses, it’s time to get your first client. Just like last weeks idea, you can start with marketplaces like Fiverr & Upwork, or cold outreach to your ideal clients.
You can use LinkedIn or Crunchbase to prospect Asian companies that may need your services.
Since copywriting is a creative skill, you will need to provide examples to your potential clients. It is important you start building a portfolio of examples right away, even if it’s just from your practice content.
Now that you’ve got your first client, it’s important to get a good reputation in your niche. If you do good work on the first project, you’ll get the second project. You’ll also be able to leverage your client to sell others on your service.
“We work with similar companies like “xyz company”. Would you be open to learning more about how we helped them sell $100K of their xyz product…?”
This business can use an agency model, and can scale by bringing on more copywriters to fulfill your projects.
Let me know what you think!
Bonus ✍️: I’m working on a free Copywriting Course that will allow you to practice writing headlines on legendary ads. Send me a message or comment, and I’ll send it to you as soon as it’s finished!
2. Why Financial Bubbles are Good for Humans. ⚒️
When you hear “financial bubble” you probably think of ridiculous prices, financial troubles, and a recession.
While bubbles typically lead to a financial crisis, they also fuel innovation.
In the 1840’s investors in the UK fueled a railroad bubble. Shady tactics and over leveraged investors led to the burst of the bubble, but the bubble forced innovation in the railroad industry.
In the early 2000’s we saw the dot-com bubble, which led to a market crash, but also created Amazon, Ebay, and Priceline.
In 2017 we saw Bitcoin spike and then fall. Although many people lost money, it led to wider adoption and innovation of blockchain tech.
Right now we’re seeing an Electric Vehicle bubble. Most electric vehicle companies will fail, but we get great companies like Tesla.
So next time you hear about a bubble, think about what innovation will come from the bubble.
Sources: https://www.focus-economics.com/blog/railway-mania-the-largest-speculative-bubble-you-never-heard-of
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-financial-bubbles-arent-always-bad-things-2017-10-03
3. What is a Poison Pill? 💊
If you’ve been on the internet this week, you probably know Elon Musk (aka “The King of Twitter”) is attempting to buy Twitter.
I won’t get into the whole story, but here’s a quick breakdown of the events:
Elon Musk buys 9.2% of Twitter for $2.89 billion. Elon and the Twitter CEO announce that he will be joining the board of directors.
The Twitter CEO then announces Elon will no longer be joining the board.
Elon submits a bid to buy 100% of Twitter for $43 billion. (+38% premium from current value)
The board votes to deploy a “poison pill” a day after Elon’s bid.
So what is a Poison Pill?
A poison pill is a corporate strategy created to avoid a hostile takeover.
In the Twitter case, it is a defensive strategy to make sure Elon is not able to easily buy a bigger stake in Twitter. The strategy will be deployed if any investor accumulates a 15% or bigger stake, and will allow other shareholder to buy shares at a discounted rate, which will dilute Elon’s stake.
For example, if Elon buy’s 15% of Twitter at $42 per share, the board can deploy the poison pill, and purchase “new shares” at $21 per share.
This would not only dilute Elon’s stake so he would own less than 15%, but it would also make it more expensive for him to buy a larger stake.
This plan has not been deployed yet, but will if any investor accumulates >15% in the next 12 months.
My take: Let Elon buy Twitter. Shareholders will benefit from the +38% premium he offered, and Elon will bring back free speech to the platform.
