emmarki
JF-Expert Member
- Nov 22, 2012
- 1,121
- 1,658
My Brutally Honest Advice to Non-Native English Copywriters...
No one else in the industry will ever tell you this.
They'll either dance around the subject like an ostrich with their head in the sand...
Or lie to your face for fear of being 'cancelled'.
But because I:
1) Always keep it 100,000 with you
2) Have personally coached over 1000 copywriters from 30+ countries over the last 7 years and have actual data on what works...
I figured someone had to tell you the actual truth. So here goes.
I'm gonna rip the bandaid straight off here, no lube.
If you're from The 'Eastern World' and/ or are a non-native English speaker...
You are at a disadvantage when it comes to landing English-speaking copywriting clients.
Because once upon a time, someone with tight pants sipping tea on his high horse decided that things ought to be a certain way.
And because the rest of the citizens of Westernania had grown fond of their heads attached to their necks, they all smiled and agreed.
And thus was born Western culture.
And since Western businesses exist inside of Western culture, they follow Western values and norms.
It is a fact that people with 'Western' sounding names are generally perceived as more capable and trustworthy...
And thus earn more money on average.
Because us Westerner pricks like to do business with other Westerner pricks like us.
(who speak English properly, which is kind of important when it comes to an industry like, ya know, copyWRITING).
In fact, one Forbes-validated study with six million participants even found that for every extra letter in a name, there was an average $3,600 drop in annual salary.
I'm gonna say that one more time in case you missed the gravity of that sentence.
For every extra letter in your name, you will earn an average of $180,000 less over the course of your career.
$180,000 P E R L E T T E R
That's a $900k gain just going from 'Kimberly' to 'Kim'. AKA a FREE HOUSE just because you chose a shorter name.
I sincerely wish I was joking, but this is an actual fact with millions of data points to support it.
So if you're pulling up in prospect's inboxes with a name like 'Saad Abdelaziz Ibn Ali Ismael Shik'...
You're going to sign precisely zero English-speaking copywriting clients. Capiche?
Great.
Now that I've got the 'racist' bit out of the way and somehow managed to piss off all the white, black, brown, yellow and purple people in half a post ...
Let's discuss what to do about this little conundrum, shall we?
If you're from a Non-Western country and trying to land English-speaking clients...
(i.e. all the business coaches and personal brands that are primarily located in America).
And if you email/ DM American business owners with a foreign-sounding name, they will automatically lump you in the 'Third World $5/hr Upwork Shit Quality Copywriter' category.
Because unfortunately, the majority of writers from these countries do not speak good English and have thus created a bad reputation for everyone else.
Which we could sit here and argue is wrong or immoral or whatever. But we can't change how the world works.
People DO judge a book by its cover.
Humans are a tribe-based species and we like other people who are like us. This is hard-wired into us as a survival mechanism.
So until we gain the power to unwire millions of years of human evolution for the 8 billion people on the planet...
The best that you and I can do is to make the 'book cover' as sexy and appealing as possible.
So here's my recommendation.
If you have a foreign-sounding name and are trying to land English-speaking copywriting clients...
I strongly recommend shortening your name or using an alias (e.g. 'AJ' instead of 'Arjun').
Use this name on your website, socials, email, WhatsApp and everywhere you communicate with potential clients.
And you will have a MUCH easier time landing clients.
Again, I will probably cop some hate for this post.
Don't shoot the messenger. I'm simply telling you what no other mentor has had the balls to tell you.
Because shocker I ACTUALLY care about you getting results.
And I have many copywriters in my CMB program from Non-Western countries who are earning USD six or even seven figures a year.
(Most of whom are using Western-sounding names like Ray, AJ, Dev, Cait etc 😉
So there we have it. My brutally honest advice for 'Non-Western' copywriters.
Go chop a few letters off your name.
(Or if in doubt, change your 'pen name' to an extremely mid and white-sounding name like Sam or John to be safe).
And you WILL make more money.
No one else in the industry will ever tell you this.
They'll either dance around the subject like an ostrich with their head in the sand...
Or lie to your face for fear of being 'cancelled'.
But because I:
1) Always keep it 100,000 with you
2) Have personally coached over 1000 copywriters from 30+ countries over the last 7 years and have actual data on what works...
I figured someone had to tell you the actual truth. So here goes.
I'm gonna rip the bandaid straight off here, no lube.
If you're from The 'Eastern World' and/ or are a non-native English speaker...
You are at a disadvantage when it comes to landing English-speaking copywriting clients.
Because once upon a time, someone with tight pants sipping tea on his high horse decided that things ought to be a certain way.
And because the rest of the citizens of Westernania had grown fond of their heads attached to their necks, they all smiled and agreed.
And thus was born Western culture.
And since Western businesses exist inside of Western culture, they follow Western values and norms.
It is a fact that people with 'Western' sounding names are generally perceived as more capable and trustworthy...
And thus earn more money on average.
Because us Westerner pricks like to do business with other Westerner pricks like us.
(who speak English properly, which is kind of important when it comes to an industry like, ya know, copyWRITING).
In fact, one Forbes-validated study with six million participants even found that for every extra letter in a name, there was an average $3,600 drop in annual salary.
I'm gonna say that one more time in case you missed the gravity of that sentence.
For every extra letter in your name, you will earn an average of $180,000 less over the course of your career.
$180,000 P E R L E T T E R
That's a $900k gain just going from 'Kimberly' to 'Kim'. AKA a FREE HOUSE just because you chose a shorter name.
I sincerely wish I was joking, but this is an actual fact with millions of data points to support it.
So if you're pulling up in prospect's inboxes with a name like 'Saad Abdelaziz Ibn Ali Ismael Shik'...
You're going to sign precisely zero English-speaking copywriting clients. Capiche?
Great.
Now that I've got the 'racist' bit out of the way and somehow managed to piss off all the white, black, brown, yellow and purple people in half a post ...
Let's discuss what to do about this little conundrum, shall we?
If you're from a Non-Western country and trying to land English-speaking clients...
(i.e. all the business coaches and personal brands that are primarily located in America).
And if you email/ DM American business owners with a foreign-sounding name, they will automatically lump you in the 'Third World $5/hr Upwork Shit Quality Copywriter' category.
Because unfortunately, the majority of writers from these countries do not speak good English and have thus created a bad reputation for everyone else.
Which we could sit here and argue is wrong or immoral or whatever. But we can't change how the world works.
People DO judge a book by its cover.
Humans are a tribe-based species and we like other people who are like us. This is hard-wired into us as a survival mechanism.
So until we gain the power to unwire millions of years of human evolution for the 8 billion people on the planet...
The best that you and I can do is to make the 'book cover' as sexy and appealing as possible.
So here's my recommendation.
If you have a foreign-sounding name and are trying to land English-speaking copywriting clients...
I strongly recommend shortening your name or using an alias (e.g. 'AJ' instead of 'Arjun').
Use this name on your website, socials, email, WhatsApp and everywhere you communicate with potential clients.
And you will have a MUCH easier time landing clients.
Again, I will probably cop some hate for this post.
Don't shoot the messenger. I'm simply telling you what no other mentor has had the balls to tell you.
Because shocker I ACTUALLY care about you getting results.
And I have many copywriters in my CMB program from Non-Western countries who are earning USD six or even seven figures a year.
(Most of whom are using Western-sounding names like Ray, AJ, Dev, Cait etc 😉
So there we have it. My brutally honest advice for 'Non-Western' copywriters.
Go chop a few letters off your name.
(Or if in doubt, change your 'pen name' to an extremely mid and white-sounding name like Sam or John to be safe).
And you WILL make more money.
