Your Own Course

By Steve Roller

A reality television show is expanding my creativity and helping me think bigger.

It’s also reinforcing my belief that specialized skills and passion matter a lot more than general education and a career track in today’s economy.

Shark Tank is a reality show where budding entrepreneurs try to convince five self-made millionaires to invest in their business.

In order to secure the funding to jumpstart their business ideas, they need a big vision, knowledge of the market, and a sound plan. A little bit of start-up success shows the investors that there’s actually a demand for the product.

I’ve noticed three things when the entrepreneurs come out and make their case:

• They’re usually very passionate about what they’re doing. You rarely see this kind of passion from experienced employees in the corporate world or even optimistic recent graduates. You have to be a different kind of person to run your own show.
• As passionate as they are, they don’t always package themselves well. A well-written presentation would increase their chances of getting the money they want. (As a copywriter, you wouldn’t have this problem.) I watch the show with a notebook and pen because I’m writing down ideas on how they could improve!
• The investors never ask the business owners where they went to school or what their past experience is. They care about what the product is, how it fits into the marketplace, and what the plan for capturing part of that demand is.

In other words, your educational credentials, or lack thereof, don’t really matter. What matters are your big ideas, your specialized skills, the demand for those skills, and your ability to present yourself as a solution.

Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and one of the investors on Shark Tank, agrees. He’s talking about people he hires, but the same could be said for freelancers.

In a blog post on May 13, 2012, Cuban wrote, As an employer, I want the best prepared and qualified employees. I could care less if the source of their education was accredited by a bunch of old men and women who think they know what is best for the world. I want people who can do the job. I want the best and brightest. Not a piece of paper.

So is the traditional advice of go to school, get a degree, and get a job becoming obsolete? Not yet. But since most of us are beyond college age anyway, the good news is that we’re in the right place at the right time. We can parlay copywriting skills into any number of opportunities in the $3 trillion direct-response industry.

I’m encouraging my own four kids to get a great college education and develop in-demand business skills at the same time. Ideally, they’ll be using those skills to run a business while they’re in college and graduate without any debt. They’ll have an income-producing asset and they won’t have to grovel for a job.

An alternative route

More and more people are realizing that a degree isn’t the only answer. There’s a different path to success, and my advice is to prepare now and get ahead of the curve.

As Cuban goes on in his blog post, The competition from new forms of education is just starting to appear. (He’s not talking about online degree mills, whose ads you see all over TV.) Particularly in the tech world. Online and physical classrooms are popping up everywhere. They respond to needs in the market all for far less money than traditional schools.

Sounds a little like what AWAI has been doing since 1997. Talk about being ahead of the curve.

As I see it, people of all ages are embracing this alternative model of learning new skills.

Young people will start looking for less expensive options to traditional four-year colleges. They’ll look for something where they have a better shot at learning a specific skill that the marketplace demands.

Middle-aged people (I’m including myself here) will choose this model when they realize their current career path isn’t fulfilling their emotional or financial needs. They may not choose it either. They may get downsized if they’re not producing enough revenue or keeping up with the latest skills.

Older people may just want extra income in retirement or a business they can throw themselves into the rest of their days.

Whichever category you fall into and for whatever reason, you can take advantage of this new model with three easy steps:

Light a fire. First of all, think young! Seize the idea that you are in control of your future, not a corporate agenda. Look forward, no matter what your age, and put the past behind you.

Hang out with other sharp people as often as you can. Get off the computer and meet up with big-thinkers in coffee shops or at local business events. Your best bet? You already know my bias: go to AWAI’s FastTrack to Copywriting Success Bootcamp and Job Fair next year. There’s nothing like it to jumpstart your new life.

Take action. Connect with other like-minded people informally on a regular basis, or better yet, form your own mastermind group. Finish a program like the Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting through to completion.

As you go through various online or at-home courses in this new model, take inventory of your skills. Ask yourself, What skills do I have that could help people or businesses?

Chart your own course. The great thing about an alternative model of education is that there really isn’t one set path. Take your skills and apply them in any number of different ways. You could run your own business, work for copywriting clients as a freelancer, become a consultant, write a book or develop your own courses, or create passive income with a money-making website by pursuing a passion or hobby.

Not sure where to start? Circle of Success is a great way to find your path. It’s a fast-track, rigorous training program designed to take you from where you are now to a highly paid copywriter and includes every resource that AWAI offers, plus free Bootcamps for life.

AWAI only opens enrollment to Circle of Success twice a year, and it’s not for everyone. But I can tell you that it was the key factor that helped me make a successful transition from my corporate job to the freelance lifestyle three years ago.

Light a fire, take action, and chart your own course sounds like advice you might hear at a commencement address.

Only this commencement address is more likely to be a successful business person like Mark Cuban giving a practical business lecture via webinar for your next online class.

This is the kind of education more and more students will gravitate toward in the coming years.

Before that happens (and creates a whole wave of young hotshot competitors), take advantage of everything you can.

Ditch the old system of learning, embrace the new, and start fresh as you pursue the lifestyle you’ve always wanted.

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