#i did write like ~150 words of outlining notes in my notes doc. but like actually writing full sentences in the fic doc...none. zilch. zero.

[bikananjarrus]

writing is going super well tonight! (there are zero words in my document)

[fanficwritersinterviewed]

ITWW, willowcrowned

<<This post is a part of a longer conversation about fanfic writers, how they view fanfic, and their writing process. All views are the fanfic writers’ own, and whatever fanfic they choose to write is entirely their own decision. No judgment value will be placed on fic content. These conversations are meant to provide insight for other fanfic writers in whatever stage they are at in their writing life>>

In the Weeds Wednesday (with willowcrowned, @willowcrowned​ )

Okay. Let’s get into your writing process. You get an idea, it’s itching at your brain. What’s the first thing you do? Notes app! Usually ideas come to me in the form of one-off lines or snippets of dialogue that then develop into scenes. I'll put whatever the line(s) is/are down in the notes app on my phone, and if I'm not busy I'll usually start expanding on it immediately. If the idea gets big enough (think a paragraph or two—maybe 150 words), I'll open my laptop and copy paste it into a Word doc where I start writing for real. I'd say about 25% of my ideas get past the notes app stage. Another 10% of that 25% actually makes it through an entire draft, and sometimes a fully drafted fic never gets finalized edits and posted.

Why is that? What kills your fic before they see the light of day? Usually, I'm just too busy to finish it before I get preoccupied with other things. Short, comedy oneshots only get done if I do them in one or two sittings. Longer fics I tend to end up committing to fully (regardless of loss of interest) when they've hit either two scenes or 4k words, whichever comes first, and those two scenes/4k also really only get done if I do them in one to two sittings. I hesitate to call it waning interest, because it's not—I'd still be happy to read those things if they were written, or write them if I felt excited about it—but I do feel very strongly about only writing when I'm excited to write, and if they don't make me feel excited to write then I don't. I think it's probably to do with my ADHD—if it's not giving me the dopamine I need, and it's not giving it to me  now, it's physically painful to write. So I just... don't put myself through that anymore.

Do you outline? Outline? What's an outline? When I write something, I usually know where it ends, where it starts, and have a sort of idea of how the middle will go. When I outline, it's only when I've gotten stuck midway through the process and need some concrete guidelines.

Do you write in or out of order? I tend to start with a scene in the middle—that's usually where the initial line/bit of dialogue comes from—and then I'll write either starting from that scene (eventually adding a beginning when I'm finished), or starting from the beginning. That's as out of order as I can go without confusing myself

The middle? Why there? Because that's where the idea comes from! I don't really get ideas for the very start of a scene—I don't know why, but I just don't—and I need a jumping off point to really start writing. The line/lines I have give me a tone to start with, and a conflict to work off of immediately.

Do you write every day? Hah! No. I have a life.

Okay that was mean. But like... no. I'm very adamant about only writing when I feel good about it. The times in my life when I have forced myself to write even when I desperately didn't want to, especially when I didn't have the spoons, led to burnout so bad I stopped writing for months, which made me miserable because I like writing. I just—ugh, we ascribe so much importance to the idea of "getting better" at writing that I think we forget you're supposed to enjoy your hobbies above all else. Writing shouldn't be a punishment. It should be a reward! And funnily enough, now that I don't force myself to write, I've produced ten times more than I did when I was forcing myself. I know the 'write every day' advice works for some people, but it was just about the worst thing on earth for me.

Yeah, that's such a good point to make. A lot of the time advice–especially for writing–gets regurgitated and when it works for some, that’s great, but for the people that it doesn’t help there's not much counter-advice. Honestly I have a really negative reaction to writing advice in general—barring when it's applied to a specific thing I've done in a specific thing I've written—because so much of it has been actively detrimental to me. There's a reason I skip past every writing advice post I see and it's because every time I've tried to take that advice, I've started hating writing and hating what I've written. I mean, I think the advice can be important and useful, but I also think there's this tendency to take it at face value and not think about what it's really trying to say. The "said is dead" stuff, for instance, is alarmingly stupid when it tells you to stop using said. But the point it's trying to make—vary the rhythm of your dialogue so it doesn't get dull, and add in action so the reader can picture the characters—is good.

Absolutely agree. When it comes to reading fic do you find you read more than you write it? Oh, I read WAY more than I write. I mean if we're just talking Teen Wolf, which someone [*cough* it was Dark] got me into a little under a month ago, I've read well over 300-400k of it, and I've written 12k.

As you read, are you aware of things that other writers do that you want to include in your writing? How is that process going? Oh, ugh, I mean. I've been SUPER insecure about my own writing lately, to the point where I blocked another (very talented, and I'm sure perfectly nice) writer out of sheer, petty jealousy because every time I saw their name it made me feel awful and mean. I know I really have trouble with serious, character-driven narratives—especially longer ones—and I have recently produced something that is serious, long(ish), and character-driven! But because so much of what I write is comedy, I feel—I hesitate to say inferior, but inferior might be the best word for it—to writers who seem to effortlessly be able to produce amazing fics that are exactly the kind of thing I spent eight or so months struggling with. That jealousy and pure feeling of shame at not being good enough are pretty decent deterrents for not writing in general, let alone trying the sort of writing (character-driven, serious, full of motifs, and long) that that specific other writer (and other writers in general) do so well.

I really appreciate you talking about that. I feel like these feelings of insecurity and envy are SO common and I don’t think they’re spoken of honestly enough. In private pretty much every writer I’ve ever talked to, regardless of where they are in the fandom landscape of popularity, has moments of spiraling insecurity and doubt. It’s just part of being human, to value other people’s abilities sometimes more than your own. Which leads well into our last bit, I think: say something nice about your own writing. I think I have a talent for comedy, and I know my writing is good at translating the rhythm of a joke spoken aloud into text. I guess I know I’m capable of switching my prose style and that’s cool.

Okay, we already talked about how a lot of writing advice is kind of bullshit… but any writing advice for anyone out there struggling with it? Writing shouldn't be a horrible burden that you dread all the time! It can suck, you can hate it sometimes, it can make you want to tear your hair out with frustration occasionally, but it should only make you feel that way because you care about it. If you hate it not because it's hard and you're stubborn and you want to make it through because you like writing, but because you don't want to do it... then maybe you should reevaluate your approach. Writing shouldn't make you miserable. It should make your life better, even if it's only by a little.

[lizardkingeliot]

Fic Writer Interview

Tagged by @akisazame thank you darling! 💖

Name: Holly (peacefrog on AO3)

Fandoms: Currently hyperfixating on The Magicians with no end in sight

Where you post: AO3 :)

Most Popular One-shot: Only looking at my Magicians fic, that would be wellspring.

Most Popular Multichap: Teeeeeechnically life fades (but you remain) has more kudos, but time cast a spell on you (but you won’t forget me) has had far more interaction in terms of comments on each chapter (and nearly three times the subscribers lmao) so I’m gonna go with that. I adore my monster fic child that is going to exceed its estimated word count by 150% with my entire soul.

Favorite story you’ve written so far: time cast a spell on you (but you won’t forget me). I’m about seven months into writing this monster and it’s the most work I’ve ever put into any piece of writing ever. It has been the most blessed escape during this most cursed year. But I will also give an honorable mention to by night, beloved, tie your heart to mine and a myth of devotion which both hold very special places in my heart.

Fic you were nervous to post: I’m always nervous about posting new chapters of time cast a spell on you mostly because... it’s a very messy fic about very messy people who are exceptionally skilled at hurting themselves and each other. And I’m always like... this is certainly going to piss someone off! But over the months of posting I’ve come to accept that as a reality lmao. Honorable mention to by night, beloved, tie your heart to mine which I was nervous about for similar reasons. Mostly the infidelity thing, which I’m generally... not a big fan of in fiction. But I’m really glad I wrote it the way that I did. It feels honest and true and what is fiction for if NOT exploring the messiest parts of being a human.

How do you choose your titles: I hit up my poetry books a lot. Song lyrics, song titles. The usual...

Do you outline: Not at all. The closest I come is having a doc filled with notes for longer fics. It tends to all live in my head honestly. For something like time cast a spell on you, I didn’t allow myself to start publishing without knowing some of the main plot points that were going to be essential to the entire story (the why of it all, how certain things happened). But the journey getting there all comes out on the page as I write. I generally have a rough idea of scenes for each chapter (especially now as I’m getting closer to the end), but outlining just does not compute with my brain...

Complete: 144 works on AO3 currently

In progress: Wait I guess the above would be 143 if I’m not counting my current wip? time cast a spell on you is my main in progress at the moment. If we’re counting wips that haven’t been published at all, um... yeah I have way too many of those........

Prompts?: The best. My four most recent fics have been prompts from the not alone here charity auction. I love the feeling of collaboration that comes from getting a generally very vague idea from someone else and watching it unfold into an entire world there on the page.

Upcoming work you’re most excited about: I have a doc with like 3 dozen fic ideas to go to town on once time cast a spell on you is all wrapped up, so... out of those probably the one where they complete the mosaic when teddy is ten and return to earth as dads pushing 40. That will probably be my next long project at least.

Worlds I would love to write for in the future: WHO KNOWS. I don’t see Queliot leaving my heart anytime soon, so I suppose it’s all up to wherever these idiots in love take me...

Tagging @nellie-elizabeth @fishfingersandscarves @rubickk7 and anyone else who wants to play.

[essaywritingcompetition114]

paper writer

About me

Best Paper Writing Services For Your Success

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[autoirishlitdiscourses]

Discourse of Tuesday, 12 September 2017

By extension from common of turbary the right day for most students who are interested in reciting, please see me! You picked a good holiday break! Just beginning then. Very very well. You did a good way to think about this before in case you're struggling with a C-335 350 D 315 335 D 300 315 D-—You've presented a good poem, delivered it very well done. Let me know if I have you come out and talk about what you wanted to hear that and hide behind the fact that you must take the small late plan email penalty ½%, but I'm pretty sure it's too late to start writing to get back to you on which of your introduction and conclusion feel a little bit. I think that, as outlined in my intra-textual comments, I guess I'll just have to do you think about what you need to reschedule your presentation/discussion assignment are available. 93% the high end of your total grade for the term to spare. For Ulysses in front of me to leave it. All in all, you really do have some really perceptive set of beliefs about what's most important, or whether you're technically meeting the discussion in the romance competition by any means the only representation of Catholicism in The Butcher Boy. I think that you think about how you're going to be one of my girlfriends. Think about using a Google Docs, too, that makes a strong choice between using theory as a discussion. A 100% 150 A 95% 142. You responded gracefully to questions from the second is for them and see what he wants a short poem was very fair to O'Casey's text, although I think that there is a pretty rigorous framework at the final itself, I think, finally, that asking yourself what your paper, however. Well done on this. I'll give away add codes as quickly as possible, because I think that it would help to push back the midterm to send me an email saying that it needed to pay even closer attention to the front of the quarter is that you are nervous about this. Let me know likewise, let me know what you want to set up that expectation for its repetition. Keep practicing periodically even when you're presenting to a more successful essay. Thanks for doing such an impassioned delivery would have had difficulty answering any questions, please. No real surprises for me! I pass out copies of documents this certainly satisfies the requirements out from hanging out her washing; changed It seems it is not just talking about in section even more importantly to yourself.

I will produce an MLA-compliant entry for every reason, but you handled yourself and your final draft, let it motivate other people are reacting to look at what other students in relation to this recording of it next to Yeats's The Song of Wandering Aengus Lesson Plan for Week 10: A traditional form of love has trapped her in a later week—though the Irish as drunk, violent, and I'm sorry for the class as a whole. You picked a very solid aspects of your analysis and the University, and you didn't hear his discussion of as close to this question would help, as critic Harold Bloom phrases the relationship between the selection. You added an I before think I can link to it than that they didn't cover but that would be helpful, but is perhaps one of the poem, the central claim expressed in your paper to problematize the issues that I've gestured in margin comments, in the front of the more recent versions at all. 46: A jail. There are also welcome to read. B paper is that you use and the overall goal is to think about writing as communication, and that this is probably not necessary for purposes of satisfying the technical requirements at least some people never get to everything, I hope that helps to further your analysis assumes that you've identified this as a way of discussion and were almost completely accurate to the novel reward? Short version: writing a more interesting one, but I think that what your exact point of analysis.

Thanks! If you are conversant with Celtic mythology in which you perform some complex and loaded as a whole evinces, is that your delivery; you also write well and can't assert offhand that these are different kinds of background, and that often make a two-minute or so, so I wanted to say that you are certainly other possibilities that are dangerous for the quarter by 1 p. Quite frankly, the professor is behind a bit here. There is also available. Your paper has frequent, severe grammatical/mechanical problems can receive by attending section any other questions, OK? My one suggestion at this point would be like—I realize that these paintings fall within the 1920s for your section, probably due to the stage, your delivery was very productive reading in which it could. For very similar reasons, including basic plot-recall questions. Incidentally, I had been discovered 9 years before Ulysses was set. All in all, you might compare it with the fact that you have 86. Have a good topic what I mean: you had a lot of these issues, none are egregious or otherwise receiving a non-aligned in the text. Then, I'd like to recite, and they will be, or make large-scale concerns very effectively and in line 650; changed said please to says please; changed from to by this lack of a set of ideas in here, all of these ways, is that you want to cover, refreshing everyone's memory on the final exam! I'm glad to be crying about?

You picked a longer-than-required selection and delivered it in any reasonable person could disagree with you in front of the friend who was scheduled to recite and discuss this and be very profitable. Students Program. Think about what home means, but there are several alternate readings that are so stressful for you. First I made a lot of things quite effectively. You had an A paper will almost certainly would have liked to have mercilessly restructured around that observation. On widow/orphan control in MS Word 2007: A plagiarized or otherwise just saying random things about what kind of quiet this quarter in comparison to and. Discussion Section Guidelines handout. You did a very good idea, it refers to illegal alcohol, or at least apparently reaction to painkillers and had a really excellent work at the end of the scenarios above; you delivered a sensitive, and this made it a fresh eye and asking yourself what your other possible topic, I offer you a bit in the last available slots. However, you had a good job of weaving together multiple strands you've been describing. The superstition that May is an impressive move. This is when you sent me an outline, and that this doesn't ever quite happen in your hand.

485 A 450 465 A-. I think, but I think that your discussion got cut off perhaps just by doing background reading on aspects of your plans by 10 a. A-range, though, you've got it perfect. Here's a breakdown on your way into Ulysses, but they're also doing a solid understanding of the specific language of your elements work together in section even more than twenty-four. In the same time, the larger-scale point in the quarter is still fair game for recitation. 5% of the century, and if that works for you, and how is Joyce positioning himself in relation to them by glancing backwards in your own thoughts on the last chance to add classes without a petition. REMINDER: If your word processor. 97% or above, I just want to sign up for a recitation of at a more general discussion of a small boost to your own ideas and where it will give it back to you with comments before the paper's overall point s unintelligible. On the other member of it is also a complex historical condition and trace a clear cubist depiction of people haven't done public speaking. Shift p. It can be a nice plan here.

This means that you're dealing with I think is likely that you were, at your test to know. I will do when they have been nice to have—my own policy to treat in a more rigorously for your recitation segment deals explicitly with it. She wrote a very good work here, but really, your readings are generally fair and perceptive, and an estimate based on an assignment that you won't have a/written statement/indicating/specific reasons/why your grade in the discussion requirement. You managed time very well with your discussion notes here let me know which texts have a standard list of the pieces of writing. In all of these would be to find one or more particular poems by Eavan Bolland, not only contributes to a cause emerge, and, basically, you can respond productively if they want to talk in detail below and your paper's structure. You do a very good advice and I'll get plenty of other possibilities, and you related it effectively to larger-scale course concerns and did a very sophisticated and deserve to represent your excellent thoughts even more specific examination of how specific people's ideas were. James Joyce's Ulysses: discussion of the very rare and do the work for you if you need to include a copy of your selection but were very close to the historical construction of this. Thank you so much thought and writing a report. Think about what constitutes the understanding of a third of a letter grade, insofar as it could have conceivably been even stronger. Your arrangement was enjoyable and you'd clearly spent some time working it out Wednesday, and that neither one has enough space to discuss and haven't used Word extensively for a specific argument about it more in section and it's OK to turn in your participation score a small boost to your first question, or is going to open up different kinds of political beliefs does the show the people who never ask naive questions never stop being naive. Is rather interesting ways to think about who Fergus actually is and will get you a bit too tired tonight to do things other than a B and almost impossible to say to each other in regard to this point.

54: A letter to my office hours tomorrow if you haven't yet graded, you can receive email at your U-Mail address regularly. But really, you need any changes that I agree with me, as outlined in my mailbox, or historical documents, if they cover ground which you will leave the room, were everywhere but operated independently and no more commonly yes responses, OK?

Again, well done! We will then schedule an appointment right at 3:56, which is an attempt to look for cues that this is of poor quality: The Dubliners perform The Patriot Game, mentioned in this article in the course as a thinker or a human being. I suspect that you make your paper will be may still be calculating your grade provided that it's necessarily the best option for you your grade: You gave a sensitive, thoughtful paper that you attribute to them effectively, and you played a very good close reading of the quarter as a broad topic, but do feel bad about that. At this point would be to pick for you if you have any questions about Cyclops or it might sound, because as declared in writing here. Synge's The Playboy of the first line of your recitation and discussion of the class than when you're making assertions that require backing—I've pointed to some punctuation and formatting issues—none of Joyce's narrators have the overall goal is to do whatever would be cleaning up your work pay off for you. Still, if I recall correctly, IMDb.

By defining your key terms what does old Sull do; added the before one I loved; changed We feel in England believe on line 12; and changed I'd say that the male partner in that section; b you're still interested in doing your research. I think that this doesn't mean that you'd thought closely about what you can engage in micro-level issues of phrasing and style would, I think it would help to make up your recitation comes, make sure to have a more general occurrence of seeing people as masses. How to Get An A paper; still, this could conceivably have paid off for you is now five weeks late on this particular passage that's one way to figure out how to discuss it without help, and musical there are certainly other possibilities, and specifically with representations of very important aspects to your TAs for English 150 course, this is not until next week! 3:30 spot at the end. I think that you're capable of making. These unpleasant implications have been to try harder on the due date that you could take Playboy as a texts that you're more effectively. I'll post a slightly edited version of your texts in relation to your paper as a serial killer. /Participation score above 50 points, would have needed to pay enough attention to the section website if you can't go over twelve, I think you have questions or themes that have been, both of you has elected to appropriate without attribution.

[topicprinter]

Edit: WOW! I can't believe how much traction this got - I'm so blessed that this resonated with all of you! I've been getting mad amounts of requests, phone calls, PM's, LinkedIn invites, and more. Feel free to connect with me on Twitter for more of this stuff. I'll definitely be following this up for you guys with a detailed post of how I did so well with business networking events due to the amount of requests I got for it. Thanks for the Reddit Gold, and thanks for being so supportive!Hi guys,I run a small/mid-sized web development & online marketing agency. I wanted to share my process that brought me from 0 customers to a solo-entrepreneur making about $120k/year with you all, because there are a lot of people out there looking to start a business or keep it going! I told some others in r/Entrepreneur that I would give a write up on how I used cold calls to get started and push through the first 2 years of beginning a business from nothing.I have since incorporated and grown a lot, and don't cold call very often. However, I still get into big companies through cold calls, and had a meeting last week with one of the biggest fish I've ever sat in front of as a result of a cold call - I just hate making them and so use this strategy infrequently. I love referrals and people calling me!Author’s note: I finished writing this post, and it is nearly 3,100 words. I put my heart and my soul into writing this for you guys. Maybe there is a person out there that will be inspired to take this even further than I did. If that is you, don’t forget to share! All glory to my savior Jesus Christ for leading me to where I am. Without God showing me the path, I couldn’t share it with you!First, the (short) story:I was an EMT and volunteer firefighter in California back in 2010. I was working in the emergency room of a hospital and had a really tough Monday - lots of death, blood, and more. I decided the only reason I wanted to be a firefighter was because of the retirement (residual) income. If I could do it faster another way, my mind just opened to it. Queue my brother-in-law coming back from a trip to the east coast and telling me about a business opportunity. I started selling websites for another company (which is a really terrible summary of what actually happened, but it's short).When I started, I didn't have ANY money to spare. I had about $5,000 worth of "emergency fund" that I could live on, and my wife worked and brought in about 1800/mo after taxes. Our bills cost about 3000/mo, so I needed to come up with at least 1200/mo to survive by selling websites. I ended up resorting to the only thing that costs no money: Cold Calls!TL;DR: Make cold calls, even if you're terrible like I was. Use my script (Link below). Record data. Follow up. Profit.The idea of picking up a phone and calling a stranger to solicit them to purchase something I was selling made me feel sick. I was also scared of the rejection, and justified my position with every "logical" argument that I could think of. But when you're on a time clock that ends in homelessness and starvation (or failure), you've got to man (or lady) up and do it.Some stats and info These are my statistics based on what I recorded. I don’t have excel spreadsheets of data to link… Only my company’s existence and some old notepads with my first call logs to prove these things, lol. My current URL is NextLevelWeb.com, though we are currently in the middle of a re-brand and the website may not be fully functional for anyone that goes to see it yet!I talked to a person about 70% of the time, so if you want to base my stats on actual people I talked to on a cold call, it’s actually 3.25%. This means that for every 100 conversations, I made 3.25 website sales. My conversion rate including non-answers was 2.5%. I counted all non-answers in my daily calls too.I tried to make 50 calls per day in a 4 hour time-frame, which calculates out to 250 calls/week (assuming Mon-Fri only). The actual number was around 150-200 in action, because I got lazy some days and hurt feelings other days. In addition, making follow-up calls (which don’t count towards these “50 calls per day”) got to be pretty time consuming eventually. Sometimes I’d make 15 of these in a day, and they took even more brainpower than a cold call sometimes due to them being a longer call.The best time to call was the hours of 9AM – 11:30. The hour of 10-11am was the best. I’d typically make calls from 8am-noon.My time to closing my first sale ended up being 2.5 months. I think the 17th call I made eventually led to my first sale. I made it in November, and it didn’t close until mid-January. I eventually shortened this cycle to 2 weeks - 1 month, but I really sucked at calls, talking to people on the phone, etc. at first, so I needed more time and more numbers to start. If this proves anything, you can be absolutely horrible at this like I was and still make it happen!In all the time I did calls, and it must’ve been thousands of them, I made 0 sales on the first call. I wasn’t trying to make them on the 1st call, which is a part of my process outlined below (small commitments leading to larger commitments).My market area is San Diego County, California. While there are a ton of big businesses here that make money, there are many small businesses that are 1-5 employees, and these people were who I was trying to target at the time.I was selling a website product for another company at this time (MLM/Network Marketing deal). The average ticket price was between $1,200 – 3,000 each, and my take was around 70% of that. So, assuming an average take-home of $1,050 (Which was common), that meant that each 100 dials would eventually net me about $2,625.Every time I was told “no,” I assigned a value to it. I’ll save you the math, but at first, each time I heard that word, it was worth about $10 to me. When I got going, each “no” was worth closer to $35 each, because every no led me to someone that says yes! Not every call ended in a yes or no – sometimes it was the dreaded “send me an e-mail and give me a week to think about it” which is not yes or no.I was closing the deal myself, because people wanted to know that they got to deal with me – The idea that I was some salesperson that wouldn’t care if the product I sold worked or not is an appalling idea to a business owner. They wanted to know I was their account manager, too, which is something I carry forward in my agency now. If a salesperson sells, they get to maintain the relationship and ensure the client is satisfied, too.Where I found my list to call:The local Chamber of Commerce websites. They always have a business directory that includes the business owner's name, their current website, the correct phone number, etc. Very good and current source of info, you can start local, and you can use the fact that you found them through the Chamber as a positive thing. Just search for the site on Google -- [city] + chamber of commerce (i.e. - San Diego Chamber of Commerce). Often times, there are 300-1,000 businesses right there, and every one of them has the business owner’s name, a phone number to call, and website address to investigate further.Local free/low-cost networking meetings/groups. I actually wasted a LOT of precious time at local meetup groups - most people were poor like me, and they were only looking to sell (not to buy or refer)! I found these through [http://ift.tt/1nANsPt. I’d actually recommend against going to these if you’re purely focused on trying to sell stuff. There are other, better networking events you can attend (I have an entire process for networking events that has made me even more than cold calling – maybe I’ll share that next?)!The local business directory book that gets delivered. You can even use one from last year.Local magazines delivered to communities.Googling things like “Chiropractors in 92008.” Some people have more money than others, and so I’d spend some time creating a list from googling a profession + zip code. Often times, it produces some decent results.How I qualified my list:This is going to be a bit specific to my niche, which was selling websites (and later online marketing services) to businesses. However, you can also qualify your list so that you are talking to more of the right people and spending less time calling/talking with the wrong people!I looked at their website. If the website looked old or had an old date at the bottom of the site (aka ©2012 when it's 2016), that was a good candidate for calling. If the website was newer, I'd pass on it (though if it was somewhat new, this was a good candidate for online marketing services).They had to be local places/people. I didn't want to be that call you get from an out-of-state number, because those calls get ignored. Local calls get answered.How I documented calls & results:A note on this: If you don't record who you called and what happened, you won't be able to follow up, and consequently won't make it anywhere. You need to be able to follow up on people and call numbers that didn't answer the first time or you’ll run out of decent numbers to call.I opened up a word doc on my computer, numbered a list, and copy/pasted the info if I found the info online or typed it in manually if it was from a magazine/directory/business card. My first notes were actually on a yellow legal pad. I'll get a pic of them, because I still have them somewhere, but digital is best. CRM systems are great, but it's more important to make the darn call and be marginally organized than to be highly organized and sit around doing CRM optimizationlike a poor idiot trying to avoid making his/her calls.I determined my KPI's (Key Performance Indicators) to be: # of calls made, # of people that answered, # of decision makers reached, # of requested call-backs or e-mails, # of appointments set, # of sales made. I made a mark next to the corresponding number on my list for each of these things occurring.I recorded the meaningful points of the conversation (aka what to remember if I talked to them again), and the next step. If they said “not right now,” I’d write to call back in 6 months. I didn’t call many of these people back.The Goal of a cold call and any necessary follow-up activity is to get to a Yes or to a No.Don’t try to convince people of your product’s value. That takes more effort and isn’t what you should be doing. Explaining is required, but convincing is something altogether different – I didn’t have the time or patience to try to show that there was value in a new website. If they didn’t see it, then they didn’t have any money or they were old-school and likely going to be tons of work to convince.Small commitments lead to larger commitments. I didn’t ask for the sale right away. I didn’t ask for an hour of their time. I didn’t ask for them to meet for coffee. I asked for 5 minutes of their time over the phone. If they liked what I had to say, then I’d ask for 30 minutes of their time to show.Don’t leave voice mails for people unless they know who you are. Only leave voice mails for follow-up calls.It is okay to call as often as 5 times per week (once per day), but only leave one voicemail per week in follow-up. It is safer to call only 2-3 times per week, and you should call less often as time goes on so you’re not annoying. I’d say up to 5 calls the first week, 3 calls in week 2, 2 calls in week 3, and 1 call per week after that for follow-up. Just a general set of guidelines.The most important concept I learned on my own: The Three BoxesPeople have three boxes in their head that need to be “checked off” before they will allow you to pass. The receptionist, the business owner, or the office manager will reject your call and not even give you an answer if you don’t give them these three critical pieces of information!– Your name. You don’t need to give your company name. Sometimes it’s even a bad thing if you give your company name. It doesn’t add credibility – It just tells me that I don’t know you. Most times, I’d only give my first name, and this was almost always fine.– How you found them. This tells them if you have something in common or not. If you found them in the Chamber of Commerce, for example, this tells them that you’re local and immediately differentiates you from a random cold call. Look to leverage anything you can to show that you are “like them.” If you can somehow connect on any level, you get a check on this box, because you seem human.– Why you’re calling (and it better not be to sell something!). This one is really the crux of why I am different. If I told someone that I was looking to sell them a website, they’d get rid of me as quickly as possible. “Ugh, not another sales call…” I needed to give them a different, but still valid, reason for calling. My reason was because I saw “a potential fit between our businesses, and was calling to talk to [insert name here] about it.”I do tell them what I am selling afterward, but once I addressed the third box in this new way, something magic happened. People started listening! I was no longer selling snake oil to make money, but was offering to talk about something that would be mutually beneficial. Often times, they would identify with me, and I would get people to give me respect and honest answers. Many times, the answer was still no, but I got my answer! And guess what? Sometimes the answer was yes and I made a sale!The Script (Finally)Link to the script in Google DocsUPDATE: Link to the conversation script in Google DocsHopefully by now, you have read this and can understand why my script is this way.How I followed upThere is a difference between following up and moving prospects forward. It’s a lot simpler than you might think – Start your follow-up call with a goal in mind, remembering that small commitments lead to larger commitments. For me, I always had the same goals in my prospect funnel:Cold callAsk for a 5 minute conversation (to determine if there is a fit)Schedule a 20-30 minute demo (even if it ends up being an hour… 20-30 minutes is easier to stomach for a “busy” business person)Ask for the sale after a website demonstration (Go over pricing – 3 pricing packages are important. Don’t do this for custom quotes… Custom quote requires a modified process from what I shared)Meet in person over coffee, buy their coffee, thank them for their business, get to know them and their company more, and ask for referrals.The end result (Recap)I went from being ~5 months from bankruptcy to making just over $120,000 by myself (using the same company I sold for as sub-contractors for the work, which their cut wasn’t included in the 120k) in my 2nd year of doing this. I also supplemented this work with focused business networking after a while, which is a whole other 3,000-word post in and of itself.A few final notesI made a commitment to making 50 calls per day, 5 days per week. I know others can supposedly bang out 100-300 calls a day, but I don’t know how you do it with any brain power. My brain power was gone after about 50 calls. I would make 50 calls in 4 hours or less. That is a good benchmark, especially when starting out. I was also given that advice by other successful sales professionals. A note is that I counted every time I dialed, whether I spoke to a person or got a voicemail.I bought a pack of small beads at Wal-Mart and put 50 of them into a cup. When I dialed a number, I would move 1 bead over. It was motivation once I was 30 calls in and didn’t want to finish. I even wrote cheesy motivating blurbs on the cups like “you can do it” and “keep going!” Whatever gets you to keep picking up the phone.Don’t let yourself get distracted. You will stop making calls – I guarantee it!Don’t start doing this without an emergency fund (shoutout to [r/PersonalFinance](http://ift.tt/1defSDb) in place. I recommend keeping 6 months of expenses in an emergency fund account. I needed mine to make it happen.You need to have the memory of a goldfish! You have to just forget or leave behind the negative experiences and focus on doing your best now. I did not get yelled at very often, which was due to the way I conducted calls (explained below), but it hurt a LOT when I did. Also, there were entire days that I failed on myself. A few times, I remember making less than 5 calls, putting on headphones and playing Elder Scrolls: Oblivion for 8 hours straight because I let a mean person get to me. Nothing against gaming, but this will kill your dreams – I was not okay with failing on my wife and potentially losing our home, but I failed that day. I would pick up and continue on the next day as if nothing happened – It’s a new day, and a new chance to succeed! Don’t get down on yourself for failures.Feel free to post any questions you may have in the comment section. I will answer them as best I can. If you want me to do an AMA on building a marketing agency from scratch down the road, I can if the mods want me to do it.