TCC Podcast #190: Making Changes with Rob Marsh and Kira Hug

Copywriter Per Andreasen interviews Rob and Kira for the 190th episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast. Per kicks off the interview with the Intro in Danish... which will probably confuse a few listeners expecting to hear our regular intro... then we talked about what's up with us and how the podcast will be changing in the near future. Here's most of what we talked about: •  what the intro sounds like in Danish… thanks to Per Andreasen •  how to thrive in a crisis—Rob’s advice for surviving a recession •  what has happened to our business since the virus became a “thing” •  the Copywriter Roundtable… and why we don’t promote it •  how The Copywriter Club evolved into what it is today •  how The Copywriter Club is a bit like a cult •  how we deal with imposter complex ourselves •  when the biggest leaps in our business have happened •  why we haven’t offered certifications for the training we provide •  our biggest program failure and what we did instead •  the changes we are making to the podcast in the future •  where we think copywriting is going in the future •  why some copywriters are busier than ever during the COVID crisis •  good example of advertising in response to the economic crisis •  what we are doing in our own businesses this year •  when to expect the very first Copywriter Club event in Europe •  a bit about Per’s business too If you're interested in what's going on in our businesses, and what's next for The Copywriter Club, you'll want to check out this episode. Scroll down to listen or for a full transcript. Or better yet, download it to your podcast player now.   The people and stuff we mentioned on the show: The Copywriter Accelerator The Copywriter Think Tank The tattoo video Gin Walker Elaine Wellman Brian Kurtz  The intro/outro competition details FB post Kim Krause Schwalm Per’s Website Kira’s website Rob’s website The Copywriter Club Facebook Group The Copywriter Underground   Full Transcript: Per Andreasen:   [Speaking in Danish] Hvad nu hvis du kunne hænge ud med seriøst talentfulde copywritere og andre eksperter. Spørge dem om deres succeser og fiaskoer, deres processer og vaner for så at stjæle en idé eller to som kan inspirere dit eget arbejde? Det er hvad Rob og Kira gør hver eneste uge på…The Copywriter Club Podcast. Yes, this is still The Copywriter Club Podcast. You're invited to join them for Episode 190 as former journalist and now the world's strongest copywriter, Per Andreasen, lovingly grills them on this and that. Rob:   Our Danish audience is going to go through the roof with this episode. So, for this episode of the podcast, we've invited our friend and someone who has participated in The Copywriter Accelerator, The Copywriter Think Tank, has been to all three TCC IRLs, and is the only copywriter that we know in Denmark, I think, to interview us for the podcast and that is, Per Andreasen, the strongest copywriter in the world. Kira:   Yeah, 190, that's pretty crazy. Per Andreasen:   It's amazing. So, the last time I saw you two guys was at your amazing real life event in San Diego, and you've already gone through all your takeaways before, so I want to talk about the crisis that made everything about the event feel even more special than your previous events. Especially, Rob, your talk was about how to thrive in a crisis, can you repeat some of that advice and how that has stayed true? Rob:   I can definitely repeat a lot of the advice, it was kind of... I guess it was a timely talk. I wasn't assuming that it was going to be quite as timely as it was, as I was preparing it. I kind of thought we might be due for a recession in the next year or two, maybe in six months but wasn't thinking that it was going to come together the way that it quite did. And so, I just gave some tips for how to deal with working in a recession. And you can get all of those tips in the videos from the event that we have made available. But I guess, one or two of the main takeaways, and we've talked about them in a couple places, having an anchor client, this isn't necessarily an ideal client or a client that you love, but a client who is going to consistently pay you money so that you don't have to worry about the mortgage or keeping the lights on, or feeding your family. Because when you are dealing with that kind of stress, it changes the way that you're able to approach your work and new clients, and you start operating from a place of fear rather than from your expertise and from your ability to create value for your clients. And so, that was one of the recommendations that I made. We talked a little bit about investing wisely. It seems a little counterintuitive sometimes when money gets tight to say that you should be investing, and we certainly wouldn't recommend that people take on debt to invest in a coach or a program of some kind, but that if you need a skill or you need to think about your business differently, that it can be a really smart investment to hire somebody to help you with that or to find the right course, the right group of people, the right mastermind to hang out with and really help uplevel your business. So, those are maybe two of the biggest takeaways, without all of the fun stories that I added to make the presentation interesting. Per Andreasen:   Cool. So, you did say that the NASDAQ shot up right after you came off stage, but how have your points aged within your own business? Rob:   Well, yeah, I mean, the NASDAQ had crashed and then it had a really good day right after I spoke. So, I want to take credit for that. I mean, I don't know that our business has changed significantly, as far as The Copywriter Club goes, we have been able to find people to join the Accelerator. People are still interested in and joining the Underground. We have a good group of people who joined our Think Tank. All of that has happened since everything kind of went south right after the event, and so I think it's just an indication that business still goes on, there's still needs in the market that need to be met. And if you have the right programs, if you have connected with people in the right way, it's still possible to sell things even when everything else looks like it might be going crazy. Per Andreasen:   What do you think, Kira? Kira:   Yeah, I would just add that in our business, we're lucky to have this online business that we can continue to run and we weren't sure how it would go. I definitely had some moments early on after the event where I was just like, I don't even know if we're going to be able to continue running. I felt that way. But once we jumped in and just continued to try and to try to fill our programs... I mean, the crazy part about all of this happening for us is that our event kind of marks almost like the beginning of our year, and that's when we launch our programs. And I guess I didn't realize that we launched most of our programs right after our event. And so, in some ways, the timing wasn't great to launch at least three of our new programs, but like, Rob said, we were able to fill all of the programs and continue to run all the programs. That surprised me. But I think the people we've attracted into the Accelerator Program, into our Think Tank Mastermind, and even into our newer Roundtable Mastermind, they're all just very serious about getting results. Very intense in a way, because they're not messing around, and any investment they make needs to have an ROI, and I can feel that intensity. So, I think for me, I feel the weight of that sometimes, not like we weren't delivering prior to COVID, but I do feel the weight, we really need to help every person who invests in our programs get results, because this is such a critical time where their business could make it or not. And so, the big change really, for me is around the delivery of the programs and that we're providing more support. We're adding to what we've already created in the past because the copywriters in the programs really need more and they're overwhelmed, and they need more support with implementation. They don't really need to sit through more courses or trainings right now. They need help taking action and figuring out what to prioritize because most of us have half the time we had a couple months ago. And so, we need to know, what do I need to do with half the time to keep my business running and to grow my business? Per Andreasen:   Cool. So, I don't know if you've gone into this in a previous episode, but you launched the Roundtable membership very discreetly at the event. Can you go into a little bit of detail about what's going on there? Rob:   Really, discreetly, nobody's heard of it. Kira:   This is probably the first time we're actually mentioning it on the podcast, I don't think we've actually mentioned it before. Rob:   Is it a secret society? Kira:   It kind of is. I almost didn't want to even mention it because it is like a secret society. And it's a mastermind that we created that is... Basically, the catalyst was from members who had participated in the Think Tank mastermind which, Per, you're a member of, and they had experienced it for a couple of years and grown dramatically in their business. And they were kind enough to give us some feedback as far as, they wanted to continue working with us. They wanted to continue in the mastermind, but the conversations they needed at that point in their business as they've grown, and they're hitting multiple six figures, the conversation and the support they need is very different from the type of support that's in the Think Tank where copywriters are making anywhere from 5K a month to 10K a month and growing from there. Kira:   So, once we realize there's two conversations and these two very different levels in business,