A long while ago, in the days when elephants still roamed the Earth, I came across the following question:
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Say I wanted my copywriting niche to be SaaS, but have no contacts or portfolio, what are the steps I’ll need to take to become in-demand for my niche?
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Here are the exact steps I would suggest:
Step 1: Go to Silicon Valley.
Step 2: Get in front of somebody famous in the startup space, like Elon Musk or Marc Andreessen or Peter Thiel. Get creative if you have to — stalk them at a coffee shop they are known to go to, pay to go to a conference where they will appear, or maybe just write them an email and ask if they will meet you because you’re such a big fan.
Step 3: Take a selfie of yourself next to the famous nerd in Step 2.
Step 4: Put that selfie up on your site, on LinkedIn, on Facebook, on TikTok, on Tinder, along with an article like, “10 surprising copywriting lessons from my meeting with Marc Andreessen.”
Step 5: In your article, mention several times that you are a SaaS copywriter, and link to a “Free Consultation” page.
Step 6: Repeat Steps 1-5 with additional famous nerds, as needed.
Result: Almost instant status and authority, and very probably, serious demand for your services.
You might think I’m being flippant. But I’m being 100% serious.
Yesterday, I promised to tell you the big secret of peak status.
The thing is, you might not want to hear it. Or you might not want to believe it.
Because the secret is that status can be manufactured, and very quickly.
In the same way that quality is only a minor part of the influence that your content is likely to have, your resume is only a minor part of the the status you are likely to achieve. And all the other, more important stuff, can be accomplished in two weeks’ time, if you are willing to really hustle.
Maybe you get what I’m saying.
But maybe you feel exasperated. Maybe you are sure I am either 100% wrong. Or maybe you suspect I am right, but you just find it impossible to really hustle to create status for yourself.
In that case, my advice is not to hustle. Take it slowly. Better slowly than never.
My added advice is that, if you are a marketer or copywriter in search of status, then take a look at my Most Valuable Email.
Sure, MVE will show you a new way to create quality content, but that’s not why I recommend it. Instead, the real status-building value of MVE is that it can get you gradually more comfortable with all those content-adjacent status-building practices which really make the difference.
I imagine that sounds very vague and abstract. I can’t make it more specific without giving away the Most Valuable Email trick. If you’d like to find out what that trick is, and even start practicing it today, head on over here: