After 3-4 years as a copywriter, I’d only gone to one live event.
I figured it was time to go out and meet people.
And make some connections in this online marketing world.
It gets pretty lonely, otherwise. And it’s tough to get referrals when nobody knows you. 🙂
When I heard about Copy Chief Live, it was a no-brainer.
I’ve been part of Copy Chief from the beginning. And one of the big lessons I’ve learned in my career is “Do whatever Kevin Rogers tells you.”
So I flew down to St. Pete not sure what to expect.
Here’s what happened.
“Holy crap that’s Dean Jackson… And there’s David Deutch… And Todd Brown…”
I walked into the big conference room at the Hilton. There was a little of that “first day of school” nervousness that comes when you’re in a new place and don’t know people.
Well, I knew Abbey Woodcock and a few familiar faces from my RFL group (a freelancing course I took in copy chief) but that was it.
I sit down at a table. Probably trying to look cooler and more important than I was.
And ya know who sits down next to me? Lorrie F-ing Morgan. A badass in the copy world who was one of John Carlton’s top students.
Part of me thought she’d be scary and intense — not sure why. But she was goddamn delightful. A theme I would later notice around pretty much everyone who went to this event.
Then I started looking around: Dean Jackson is a table away. David Deutch is across the room. Todd Brown is chatting up a circle of dudes that look weirdly like me.
There are probably others I’m forgetting. I remember being floored by the number of top marketers kicking it in the audience.
At one point, I wound up having lunch with a group that included Ian Stanley.
He was on my radar as a copywriter making an obscene amount of money while not working very much. I figured I could learn a few things from him.
After a few minutes of talking it became clear, I should go to his workshop, too. Which I did months later.
Through that, I discovered Brent Charlton — a therapist who helped me FINALLY get rid of the low self-worth issues that have been kicking my ass since forever. It was the single best personal development thing I’d done (and I was a borderline PD junkie for a while.)
I also met David Raybould, who’s been a coach for me a few months. He’s kept me sane, helped me write faster, and done other wonderful things for my career.
Why did I go off track with that little rant?
Because it’s not just about what happens during the event. It’s about the unexpected stuff it leads to when you meet cool, smart, successful people.
And that’s what’s great about Copy Chief.
Kevin doesn’t attract douchey internet marketers.
This isn’t a room full of people bragging about how much they make. Or how badly their crushing it.
It’s a bunch of genuine people getting together to learn, connect, and have some fun. Because why not?
Speakers started speaking
The speaker line-up was filled with A-list copywriters and other badasses.
Here’s a brief rundown of who spoke and what they covered.
Kevin Rogers shared the importance of having fun outside of work. And being “all you all the time.” It was a message I needed to hear. Because I’d been working non-stop. And all that grinding was sucking the personality out of my copy.
If you’re not having fun, writing lively copy aint gonna come easy.
Roy Peter Clark — the world’s #1 writing coach — taught us how to write a sentence for maximum impact.
John Carlton taught us how to write with rhythm. (The takeaway I got was to loop a song I liked while writing. Then write to the rhythm of that song.)
Henry Bingaman taught us how to get our shit together with systems and feedback loops. Something I’m only implementing more seriously now.
Todd Brown walked us through a funnel and gave us a bunch of ideas to steal.
Parris Lampropoulos showed us how to soothe people’s “childhood wounds” to lead them to buy.
John Carlton and Clayton Makepeace answered any questions you wanted for 30 minutes or so.
Joe Schrieffer of Agora gave some hilarious that showed how Trump won the election.
Addison Rice talked about how “grinding” isn’t the answer — and how to have more success and fun at the same time.
Abbey Woodcock showed us how to save a crap ton of time by getting organized. (I later joined her Business of Copy course which has been excellent in helping me save time and communicate better with clients.)
Casey Stanton taught us how to create relationships with clients, so they love you beyond the copy.
Marcella Allison talked about the importance of surrendering… and walked us through her feedback process for writing a smash-hit sales video.
On top of all the great tips, it was refreshing to hear stories from freelancers. How they dealt with self-doubt, client issues, their writing process, and more.
A lot of it was reaffirming. Things you think you’re suffering alone you realize are totally normal.
Other times, you get little pieces on how to deal with specific situations.
For example, John Carlton never liked a single piece of copy he sent out. Sometimes I feel that way after writing a piece. Then the client and customers like it and it does well. So it’s nice to know that feeling is normal and not based in reality.
Or hearing Marcella Allison talk about writing a piece of copy for a sex product. She said the copy was dry and boring. And the advice to bring it to life was to “drink scotch, watch some porn and try again.”
In other words, feel it before you write it.
Want to work for Agora?
At one point, Agora took over.
Tables were scattered around the room. And representatives from different branches of the company were there. Plus a few others (like Natural Health Sherpa and Money Map — represented by Clayton Makepeace).
All the freelancers got to spend 10 minutes or so at each table. We learned what the companies were up to, what they needed, and how to get a foot in the door with them.
Earlier in my career, this would have been an absolute goldmine.
And I know a lot of people did end up with jobs through this.
But it wasn’t what I was looking for at the time.
They wanted in-house people. And I’ve got no intention of moving to Baltimore or Florida.
But even so, it was great to hear “inside info” on how they work and do promos.
“After the party, it’s the after-party”
After all the learning was done, Kev had us meet up at the bar at 8 pm or whatever.
The place was closed down for us. (The Agora reps came to play too.)
We got to kick it and drink a bit.
Then the show started.
The amount of talent this crew has outside of marketing was nuts.
Kevin Rogers did a hilarious stand up routine. So did Ian Stanley and Dead Edleston.
Then John Carlton (guitar), Parris Lampropoulos (guitar), and Angie Colee (singer) hopped on stage with the band. They destroyed the place.
To top it off, my friend’s Abbey Woodcock and KC Baney surprised everyone by getting married right there in the bar.
Because they’re cool like that.
Oh, and the guy marrying them was a big bearded comedian (who also performed) with a rhinestone jacket.
So we got a comedy show, concert, and wedding ON TOP of all the other greatness.
How many internment marketing conferences do that?
Oh, speaking of weird things happening.
At some point in all this madness, I met Allison Carpio. Who I kinda knew from my RFL group.
Both of us travel a lot. At some point the idea of going to Medellin, Colombia came up.
We talked to a few other chiefs about it .Four months later, 6 of us are renting a house in Medellin for a couple weeks.
That was fun as hell. Plus, it’s incredible to have high-level copywriters in your home. So when you’re stuck on something you can go downstairs and ask for help. Instead of staring at your computer hoping for genius to strike.
“Okay Brian, but should I go?”
I’ll be there again this year.
At this point, it’s less about learning stuff and connecting with new people.
That’s almost a bonus.
The real reason I’m going is to see my friends again.
Thanks to the copy chief forum, live event, and coaching groups I’ve found a lot of people in this world I enjoy hanging out with.
It feels more like a family reunion than a marketing conference.
I’d recommend this for:
- Newbie copywriters. You can get jobs here. You can connect with veteran writers who need someone they can refer jobs to. You can learn a bunch about copy.
- Veteran copywriters. Same as above. Plus, copy is lonely work. And you can never have too many friends in the industry
- Victoria Secret models (sup?)
- Entrepreneurs who want to get better at copy and get connected to more quality copywriters than they know what to do with.
If you want to join, here’s the link: https://copychief.live/
I’m not an affiliate. So I get $0 if you sign up through that link.
But when you see Kev, feel free to tell him you bought through me.
Maybe he’ll buy me a beer or something.
See ya in October.