In 2012, I attended my first AWAI Fast Track to Copywriting Success Bootcamp and Job Fair. It was a non-stop whirlwind of activity. Those 3 ½ days were full of absorbing great information, enjoying beautiful Delray Beach in Florida, and meeting new people.

And… one of those “new people” was Sean McCool.

I ended up sitting next to him during an early morning session. When I introduced myself to him, I immediately recognized his name from the articles he’d written for AWAI.

Sean was reserved and polite before the session started, briefly explaining that being a copywriter was all about persistence and commitment. It wasn’t until this year that I got to know him a little better within a private copywriting group.

What I like about Sean is that he truly is what I call a “limitless potential” type. These type of people are rare and to be honest, aren’t usually understood or well-received by the average person.

Most people place limits on their lives. For instance, just because they have a high school diploma, they think they can’t do much with their life. Or because they’ve had dead-end jobs, they think that’s all they’ll ever get (or deserve).

Sean rejected such limiting thoughts early on. He catapulted himself into the six-figure stratosphere by writing eye-popping, heart-stopping copy that brought big profits to his clients.

Sean has written copy for companies like Agora, the Oxford Club, StreetAuthority, Leeb and Lombardi. He’s worked with AWAI and NPE, one of Dan Kennedy’s Info-marketer’s of the year. He even worked on a project for Joe Vitale.

Not only is Sean a solid copywriter, he also has the heart of a great coach. He recognizes that people often place limits on themselves and he desires to see them break out and reach their full potential.

So you can see why I wanted to interview Sean. Without further ado, let’s dig in. I’m hoping you’re inspired, too.

How did you get involved with copywriting as a profession?

In 2003, I got a letter in the mail from AWAI and was amazed that I could take my writing ability and the sales skills I’d learned over my lifetime in my many sales jobs.

At the time, I was hoping to use copywriting to help my father in his construction business but he didn’t “get” direct response marketing. And truth be told, I wasn’t very good at it yet.

In 2005 I went to my first AWAI Track to Copywriting Success Bootcamp and Job Fair… and did nothing. However, a one liner from Clayton Makepeace kept the dream alive. That line was: “If I could wave a magic wand and make everyone in this room (about 300) an A-Level copywriter, there still be so much work left to do that you can’t even imagine.”

Shortly after I launched my own Handyman business after leaving my dad’s company. I wrote my own fliers and made a decent little business for about 3 years.

In 2008, I got tired of Handyman work – disgusted actually – and put a stake in the ground and said come hell or high water, I’m going to be a fulltime copywriter in 2009. In the fall of 2008, I went to the AWAI Bootcamp again and this time I was serious. My eyes were wide open looking for any opportunity.

Because of that Job Fair, I was offered TWO full-time staff positions about a month after it. One was Stansberry Research (Agora) and the other was with NPE – a fitness info marketer. NPE actually told me to take the Stansberry job.

I packed up the whole family and we went to Baltimore.

Then in summer of 2010, I went freelance.

You’ve also spent some time in sales. Can you name a few key lessons you’ve learned from that experience and applied to your copywriting?

Goodness. Where to start. I think I learned how to steer and direct a conversation when talking to clients. I learned to ask good questions that got me closer to what I wanted – a high paying job.

I also think the sales skills allowed me to understand the ideas behind direct response copy. Hopkins told us in his book Scientific Advertising that copywriting is Salesmanship in Print and that the best copywriters were once salesmen – I believed him.

I also learned never to sell out of your own checkbook. In other words, you can’t determine what someone else might pay based on what YOU would pay.

What are some of the things you know now that you wished you knew when you first started?

I wish – still – that I truly got how important a scheduled writing time is. And a scheduled reading/research time is. I tend to let my feelings get the best of me and waste a lot of time not writing that I should be writing. Writers that can establish and stick to a routine will end up beating a talented writer in the long run.

How did you find your first clients?

AWAI Bootcamp Job Fair. After I was on staff then went freelance, I called a few of the other divisions at Agora and asked if they needed another writer. Rinse and repeat. Now, the jobs in the financial newsletter niche find me through word of mouth.

I also noticed that other job titles like marketing managers, editors, etc in this business tend to stay in the business but move around from company to company. And, they tend to take their contacts with them. So never burn bridges. Even the graphics person can move, change jobs and be a key contact later.

Finally, my B2B client found my website and contacted me through there. They’ve been a retainer client for 3 years now. 

You’re into making some impressive mean green smoothies and also involved with CrossFit. How long have you been on the quest for health and what have been the results?

I grew up playing sports and was pretty active. I’ve always been one to pick up a game of basketball, help friends move, etc… But recently, since August of 2013 I joined a coaching and mentoring group and they were all into CrossFit and Smoothies so I tried it out. It’s been great. I do CrossFit about 3 days per week. It’s nice because you tend to see the same people there if you go the same times. It’s like going to a gym with good friends who all really want to improve their fitness.

As for the smoothies, I have one a day about 5 days a week. And by one I mean 64oz.

The result of all this is that I’ve met people I wouldn’t have met sitting at home, I didn’t add any weight this winter. And I’ve not gotten even the slightest cold this season.

All of which adds up to me being more productive when I do finally sit down to work.

What are some of the traits you think are valuable to have for a writer/freelancer?

The ability to just do the work. And “the work” is whatever is required right then. If it’s a phone call, pick up the phone. If it’s research, sit your butt in the chair and research. If it’s writing 50 headlines doing that.

As a freelancer, it’s knowing and being willing to ask for your value. The great privilege of a freelancer is that you determine your income. The burden of being a freelancer is that you determine your income.

If you don’t understand and live by the belief that there really are fewer writers than people that need writers, then you’ll always undervalue your work. Niche does not matter. Pick any niche, any specialty and given a little research I’ll show you a highly paid writer in that niche.

And here’s my motto: If anyone can then anyone can. And if anyone can, then I can.

You’ve been coaching some folks, lately. What motivates you to do this and what do you hope your coaching clients will receive from you?

I have a love for teaching. And I love to see when a light comes on for people. It’s exciting for me to unlock people’s belief systems and show them whole new worlds they didn’t even know were there. It’s like grabbing people by the hand and taking them through a wormhole to a parallel universe where the rules allow them to do more and be more than they ever realized. That’s powerful. And I’m pretty darn good at it too.

I have a unique ability to see things and explain things in such a way that people “get” it for the first time.

I’m also not afraid to ask very direct and forward questions. I actually enjoy peeling back the layers. I get excited when the real person – who’s been hiding up to that point—suddenly  shows up in the middle of a coaching session. It’s awesome.

What question do you wish I asked that you’d like to really answer? :-)

What’s your favorite movie and why?

Inception. I think as both a coach and a copywriter we have the power to plant ideas in someone’s mind. But it only works if they believe – deeply – that it’s their idea. And in fact, on many levels it is their idea. As Eugene Schwartz says in his book Breakthrough Advertising, “Copy cannot create desire for a product. It can only take the hopes, dreams and fears and desires that already exist in the hearts of millions of people, and focus those already existing desires onto a particular product. This is the copywriter’s task: not to create the mass desire–but to channel and direct it.”

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Thanks, Sean! If you’d like to learn more about Sean, you can visit his website at www.seanmccool.com.