TCC Podcast #135: Getting to the Truth with Andrey Adison

Copywriter Andrey Adison is our guest for the 135th episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast. We recorded this one on Valentine’s Day and are just now getting it in your podcast feed—hopefully it is worth the wait. We asked Dre about his background, what he helps his clients do today, and what he thinks writers will be doing in the future. Here’s what we covered: •  how he went from affiliate marketer to copywriter •  what he learned from affiliate marketing that he applies to his work today •  why he feels like he has a duty to get serious about mindset •  how Dre helps his clients find the core truth they want to share •  his framework for helping his clients build their message and audience •  how he finds his clients and what he charges for his services •  what he’s done to take his business to the next level •  why specialization is important and how it has helped Dre in his business •  what’s not working in his business today •  where he thinks copywriting is headed in the future This is a good one. To hear what Dre has to share, click the play button below or download the episode to your podcast player. And if you like reading, you can scroll down for a full transcript.   The people and stuff we mentioned on the show: Rob’s book The Copywriter Accelerator Andrey’s site Kira’s website Rob’s website The Copywriter Club Facebook Group The Copywriter Underground Intro: Content (for now) Outro: Gravity   Full Transcript: Rob:   This podcast is sponsored by The Copywriter Underground. Kira:   It's our new membership designed for you to help you attract more clients and hit 10K a month consistently. Rob:   For more information or to sign up, go to thecopywriterunderground.com. What if you could hang out with seriously talented copywriters and other experts? Ask them about their successes and failures, their work processes and their habits. Then steal an idea, or two, to inspire your own work? That's what Kira and I do every week at The Copywriter Club Podcast. Kira:   You are invited to join the club for episode 135 as we chat with copywriter Dre Adison about growing his business. The one thing he has done to take his business to the next level, finding and working with clients and the deep dive question he asks his clients to help them get clear on their brand messaging. Kira:   This is a very special episode because it's Valentine's Day, even though when you listen to this, it might be more like Easter-time, but there's going to be a lot of love in this episode. Rob:   Tons of love. Kira:   So welcome Dre. Rob:   Welcome Dre. Dre:    Well thanks for having me. I feel the love already. Kira:   Before we start recording we basically shared our Valentine's Day experience thus far and Rob gives books to his children on Valentine's Day. Which is so ... Rob:   And my wife, not just my kids- Kira:   And your wife. Rob:   My wife and we give to each other. Love for everyone. Kira:   It's so on brand with who you are. I just give my kids a lot of sugar and cavities. Rob:   Which is also on brand. Kira:   Which is also on brand. Dre:    You gift them your own book? Your Brand Story book? Kira:   His autograph. Rob:   I don't think they would read it. I should do that. I should give everyone my own book. Kira:   It's a good way to get it out there. Rob:   Dre, what's your Valentine's tradition? Dre:    I usually go out the next day, my girlfriend she doesn't, she feels like Valentine's Day is so populated, all the restaurants and stuff like that. So normally the day after we go out to eat or we just spend time together. Rob:   So smart. Kira:   You can tell you live in New York City when ... I feel like all New Yorkers say that. It's like yeah we don't actually go out on Valentine’s Day. There's just no space for all these people. Dre:    Too many people. Kira:   Alright, so let's kick this off with your story Dre. How did you end up as a copywriter? Dre:    At first, I feel there were a lot of twists and turns to it, but it first started out with me back in 2012 when I was in ... about to be in my senior year of college. And I just knew that whatever path I was going down, I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I knew I wanted to make a bigger impact. And I got into affiliated marketing, internet marketing. And just really trying to see how could I make money and how I could build a business of my own, and that took me down the path of affiliate marketing. I was in a company where I had to figure out how I could stand out from tens of thousands other affiliates or direct sales. I quickly learned about copywriting, building my own list and Facebook ads and things like that. So I had that foundation throughout the years. But then the thing that shifted for me, where I really wanted to become a copywriter. Because I made a shift from that to being a high-performance coach, a mindset coach. But I wanted to specialize in how do I help people get over this story that are holding them back from sharing their message. So it was always about the messaging. And then I realized that, okay, this is not really my lane. Being a mindset coach, being a high-performance coach is not really my zone. What if I use the skills that I acquired over the years to still help people get their message out there into the world? And that's where I first started getting into how to clarify your core message. And how to really just the messaging, and then I transitioned into just owning the copywriting and saying okay, I already have the messages ready, and creating my own smaller products, I already been doing these things. Now how can I use my expertise, how can I use my gifts and things that I have to help people get their message out there, or clarify it and feel confident, just owning that value and owning their gifts. And copywriting for me was the perfect balance of that mission that I had and aligning that with the gifts that I already had. Rob:   So, can we talk for a minute, before we get into copywriting, about affiliate marketing? I think a lot of us know what affiliate marketing is all about, although maybe we don't do it. It's certainly changed over the last 10 years, how it's done effectively. What are some of the things that you did as an affiliate marketer, Dre, to help people build their businesses, and maybe more importantly, what are the things in addition to copywriting, that you can take away from affiliate marketing that you apply in your business today? Dre:    I think the biggest thing was, like I said, affiliate marketing is almost like a business opportunity in a sense. So the thing that I got from it was, really understanding how do I separate myself? So when I would create a capture page, other people were using the same capture pages, other people were using the same sales letters, so I would do little things. Like, okay now, let me build my own email list instead of using the swiped emails. Then start using my list, and it was at a point where I was emailing my list almost on a daily basis. And when people would opt in, before they went to the offer, I'd create like a sandwich page, and I'd introduce myself and I'd have a video there. And just try to personalize and customize the experience and tailor it into a way where ... if the offer is positioned one specific way, now you try to have your own lane, your own spin on it. To where now, okay, now people are also buying into you. People are also buying into the message that you're sharing, and it's something that's unique. And then you introduce, or almost like you're partnering with that person or that author. Kira:   So, Dre, can you tell us more about your time as a high-performance coach, and why it ended up not being your thing. And then what you pulled away from that experience that you use in your business today? Dre:    So with that ... I wasn't that successful with the mindset, high-performance coach. It was more so ... really it was me creating a lot of content on Facebook and had a few clients. But the reason why I got into it, I guess that's really the thing that drew me into it, stuff like this. When I was doing the affiliate marketing, and then I had my own product, between $7 and $97, but I started to feel unfulfilled. I started to feel like I was just a behind the scenes person, and I knew that I had a bigger message. I wasn't showing up fully. I had a cancer scare. I had a lump that was growing on my neck, and the doctor said, ‘Okay, take these antibiotics, it will go down. Or let's wait a few months and it'll go down,’ and it continued growing. So I went to a surgeon and he said it could be lymphoma. Kira:   Oh my gosh. Dre:    But I thank God it ended up being nothing. He removed the lymph node, the swollen lymph node, he removed it. But I think just that experience, just sitting in the doctor's office ... At that time I was like, 23 years old and I'm just like ... Kira:   Wow. Dre:    I guess it put everything in perspective, of okay ... I feel like I have this bigger message to share. I feel like I have a duty almost, to use my message, to use my gifts, because I can't take life for granted. I can take things for granted. So I realized that I wasn't the only person that was going through things like that, so I think that was the shift that made me realize that okay ... What was the big thing that was holding me back, was mindset. It was like, these things. So I went down this journey, and you know, lots of times you're going down your own journey, you become passionate about helping other people with that. So I wanted to help other people really own their message and really own their gifts and get out their own way. And I felt like the biggest obstacle was the mindset. But I realize that to me, I was passionate about it,