Yvette Haughton
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Barry: [00:00:00] Welcome to the podcast, Yvette Yvette. Is your copy closer when you want to take your audience from pre-launch to paid as a conversion copywriter and launch strategist, she helps service providers find the right messaging and the positioning to get their offers sold.
She crafts copy that builds brands, brings their message to life and converts prospects into clients. Welcome to the podcast, Yvette. How are you today?
Yvette: Thanks, Barry. I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. Doing quite well. How are you?
Barry: Good man. If I was any better, my name would be Yvette and I would be living in Jamaica.
So tell us a little bit about that.
Yvette: So we, I grew up in Portland, Eastern Jamaica. That's the area that, um, a lot of celebrities like to stay because it's very secluded, quiet and lush.
Yeah. Because we get, um, we get more Rain than the rest of the island. Yeah.
The community. It's a fishing village called Mansel. I lived there [00:01:00] for the formative years of my life and then when it was time for me to go to college, I had to move to the capital city, which is Kingston. I moved, finished my undergrad, and when I go back home on occasions, so I'm still living in Kingston. Nice. But I have traveled, um, quite a few times.
Mm-hmm. First time was for my undergrad studies, we had to do a, our research program was in Curacao, so I spent a week there. Yeah. We've been there. Oh, nice. Fun story. When we were supposed to return. The flight got canceled and, um, we didn't have anywhere to stay. So the, the airline put us up by the time it was Air Jamaica, so they put us up at the sandals in Curacao.
So, Oh, wow. It was awesome for college students. It was awesome.
Barry: Oh yeah. We, we did a ship, we went to Curacao Island. Oh. In a couple of other places.
That is so good.
So you've got polar opposites of the way we speak. I'm a southern kid from, , the United States, and you have a way better [00:02:00] accent than I ever thought about it. I wish I had yours. Goals, right? Goals.
So . Tell me a little bit about your business and what you're, what you're doing right now.
Yvette: Well, I, I, I've called myself the copy closer because I so you're
Barry: doing copywriting,
Yvette: right? Yes. Yeah. I'm a conversion copywriter and launch strategist for service providers. So I help them to take their leads from pre-launch to paid, and I work on copy through the engagement connection, conversion stages.
The goal of most of what I do is to engage with the audience, build the audience, build brand authority, and of course they increase sales. So that's where the closer that comes in.
Yvette: I fell into copywriting and then it became, um, intentional.
So I started out on like a platform called, well, it's not so little anymore, Fiverr. I wanted to make some side income, so I said, okay, let me try Fiverr. My first job was to do a $5 blog post [00:03:00] for a security firm in America. They were based in Florida, and after that I started getting some traction. Then the client started asking me to do website copy.
So when I started to research, because I tend to research things today, I realized, okay, writing website copy is nothing like writing a blog post. So I need to learn more if I'm going to give them something that they can actually use for their website. So I started doing all of the research, started doing some courses.
At the time it was hard, so I was doing like $10 discount courses on you, Demi working my way up until I start. I joined Copy School by Copyhackers, the um, headed by Joanna Wiebe. She is the one that basically popularized the term conversion copywriting. So that's a form of persuasive writing that gets people to take a specific type of action.
So it's whether they're signing up to your landing page to join your email [00:04:00] list or whether it's to sell them something on your course or trying to get them to convert into just booking a call with you on your website. So I had to learn all of that, and that's how I started, um, doing more into copywriting.
And I realized I. Enjoyed that arm more than the content marketing, which would be the blog post and stuff. So I started focusing my energies there.
Barry: Oh, I love that.
You know, I'm, I'm a business coach and I know this is, I, I usually, you know, most of the people that I've interviewed so far are, I've known them really well, and, and I, that's why I love, you know, interviewing people like you because I, I just find out new things and then mm-hmm.
Yeah. These commonalities together. So that's so good. So you started, In Fiverr and you're like, I'm gonna, you know, take my shot at this. And, and, and, and then now you've grown into a, a larger business. How long ago was that? And, and where are you today? And what do you have in the pipeline [00:05:00] now?
Yvette: Okay, so no, I am basically in the growth stage on my business.
Yeah. So I'm trying to solidify my processes, um, streamline how I work with clients and to start actually doing for myself what I've been doing for clients, which is, that's being consistent with my marketing, growing my email list, and, um, putting myself out there cause. I no longer want to be my client's Best step secret.
I don't want to Yeah. Be to go there general, more business and eventually
Barry: grow up. Yeah. That's so good. And so how, how long have you been doing it now you said, did you say
Yvette: Yes, I, I, yeah. It was six plus years.
Barry: Six plus years. Right. And with, I couldn't remember, I know you said that before. So six plus years.
And so you're, you've gotten here, so now you're, you're, you're eating your I call eat my own dog food. Right. Do doing for myself what, what I was doing for clients. Exactly. Honestly, that's what you do when you're an entrepreneur. You're, you're, you start, you're good at it. You find something you're good at, you start doing it for people, and then you [00:06:00] can, you can slip on your own, right?
Because you're so busy.
Yvette: Did that.
Barry: Yeah. So how are you doing that now? I mean, you're, you're in the growth stage, so how are you, what, what is your plan right now? What are you doing
Yvette: to do that? Okay, so right now I am, I'm in Clinic X Freelancer, which is a course by Joanna Weibe from Copyhackers. Mm-hmm. So it's guaranteed helping co copywriters build their businesses as a conversion copywriter.
So I've been in it for a while, haven't really had the time to implement everything, so I'm starting over the top modules and actually being now intentional in terms of. Taking advantage of the, the office hours that she, that they offer because before I would just, you know, read everything else but be married, cor.
So no, I'm actively venturing out. I've also recently concluded a course about allergic to holy and it was teaching [00:07:00] this, it's a live course one year program that essentially teaches persons how to streamline the businesses, structure the business, working with clients. So that's the part I'm working on now.
Barry: Good. Good. I like that. So, these, so you, you, you, you're, what I'm hearing you say is you're buying online courses, learning how to do things, and then implementing those types of strategies and things in your business. Yes. And you, the first time through you, you just went through it and learned, and now you're going back through it.
And I think that's the, that's the thing is you, you know, there's, I have this thing where, where I, I talk about going it's knowledge. Understanding and then wisdom. Yes. And so if you, if you look firsthand, you, you, you, you learn the, the new thing, the knowledge, and then you go through it again and you start to do the practices, and then you start to get a more of an understanding.
And if you do those long enough, you get an un, you get wisdom around how to apply [00:08:00] them. And so are you give me your strategies of how right now you are scaling your business as far as. Practical everyday actions.
Yvette: Okay. So in terms of practical, everyday actions, um, I am, I'm actively starting out my dub side of platform, so I'm trying to not be as much working in the business, which means I'm auto responding to everybody that comes in.
So that part of it, I'm setting up my job side of autoresponder. Setting up how I connect with clients and that part of the process for the intake. Mm-hmm. I'm also now looking towards further implementing what they're teaching in copy school. The next thing is hiring, which is a va, but for me to get to that stage, I need to map my processes, work on my SOPs, which I'm in the process of doing, which I got a course from Amy Porterfield, [00:09:00] which included some SOPs, which I am, um, Looking to convert into something that works for my business, because I realized that for a lot of the entre, several entrepreneurs that I follow closely online, several of them have scaled back and a lot, sometimes it had to do with their hiring practices in terms of having not hired appropriately for the rules that they needed to fill.
Or not having a process in place to monitor what they've had, the persons they've hired. And so they've lost track of what needs to be done. Oh, yeah. And so I am trying to be very strategic in terms of that proportion of it. So right now I'm mapping out my processes from start to finish. And I'm doing that as I go through each client and then I'm working on the SOP so that when I do get to the stage of hiring, I'm like, yes, I'm doing this in a way that will definitely help me to scale properly and that I don't make the mistakes I'm seeing from others.
Barry: Yeah. So the [00:10:00] process is a big deal. Ri and then hiring people r right people, right seat, right People share your core values, right? Seat get, want, have the capacity to do their job really well. And there's a, there's a quote by I Isadora Sharp that says that you need to, um, systemize the predictable so that you can humanize the exceptional.
And so if you don't, What you just said. If you don't systemize that predictable before you hire, you're, you're not gonna be able to trust them. I, I, I teach four Ts. You have to train people, then you can trust them, and then you will have more time and more treasure. So there's the four Ts train, trust, time, treasure.
Does that make sense?
Yvette: That definitely makes, makes sense. Because as one of the courses, one of the pillars in the course is systemizing. Everything. So it makes it easier for you and the people at work with you to get things done. Yeah. So I definitely can't understand how [00:11:00] all of that relates to the four Ts that that you've all outline.
Barry: Yeah. If you don't have something documented, by definition it doesn't exist. Definitely. Yeah. And you cannot hold someone accountable for something that does not exist. So the good book is called, we have a book in our, so I'm an e o s implementer, and the foundational book for that is called Traction.
Have you
Yvette: heard of it? Yes, I have. It's actually in my audible playlist.
Barry: Oh, is it really? Yes. So I'm an implementer. You mentioned Amy Porterfield. I know her implementer. She runs on e o s, which is kind of cool. Oh, nice. Yeah. So you, you didn't know that, right? No. Yeah. And so the, there's a, there's a book in our traction library called Process and I'll send you a free copy.
, when, when we get off of here, , okay, thank you. Yeah. Because process is the, is the setting of the sale of your business really.
So that's good. I love it. So where are you headed now? And, and so you, you, are you doing an [00:12:00] online course that you're gonna launch later? Is that the, is that one of the goals that you have? That
Yvette: is one of my goals, but not for this year. Yeah, that be more like next year. This year I am still working out on ensuring that I have my systems processes in place, and then once that is all set and I have my people onboarded, then I can consider, um, expanding into course creation.
Barry: So are you gonna keep it small? Are you gonna keep is your, is your one year plan by the end of this year to, to, for it to be you and then hire, start hiring next year?
Yvette: Yes. That's the goal. Yeah. Because I'm given myself enough time to ensure that everything I've organized as well is done well enough that, yeah, I don't break things too quickly.
Barry: Yeah, you're, you're way smarter than me. I, I would just break stuff and then figure it out later, which probably took, made it harder for me to grow. But
Yvette: then it means too, it, it also means that you, you learn faster, which is a [00:13:00] problem with me. I like to test that. So, you know, it takes a while to learn the lessons that you need to move to the next step.
So, yeah, sometimes it's better to just quickly break and move on.
Barry: When I, my first my first company was sales training and I was fairly young. I started doing sales training when I was 32, and so people said, man, how did you learn how to do sales and teach sales at a young age, at such a young age? I said, well, I made a whole lot of mistakes faster than anybody else, so it was, it allowed me to learn, right?
Yes.
Yvette: So it's good and give you a joke when it comes on to sales. I. I had a friend who was in insurance and they have an intake test that they do to see your aptitude for selling insurance. Mm-hmm. After I did the test, he is like, that is the lowest score I've ever seen, so. Oh, really? Yes. And I was like, um, I don't think I'm going to be cut out to be an entrepreneur, cuz to be an entrepreneur, you need to be able to sell.
But then when I [00:14:00] started liking the conversion armor copywriting, I realized I had to learn how to be better at sales. And I know I'm good at it on paper in terms of selling my clients businesses, but in terms of face-to-face selling me, that's where I struggle. But I have all the copywriting frameworks to effectively put it out there on paper from start to finish as I use the term prelaunch paid.
So learning those frameworks kind of helped me to start learn, grasping the concepts of sales so I could get better at it. Cuz I realized that was definitely one of my weak spots. So I'm able to learn how to improve before I'd be able to help anybody.
Barry: I can tell you that I've been teaching and running sales teams for a very long time, and I have never.
I, I, I, I like personality tests and predictive index and, and, and Kolbe and Enneagram and all the tests are great. Mm-hmm. But [00:15:00] I, I don't take much stake in them when it comes to sales, to be honest with you, because it is a skillset. And I can teach people the X's and O's and the ones and zeros of selling.
Yeah. You have what it takes to be a good salesperson because you're a very likable person and you, you, you know, you, you, I can see you, you have a nice smile. You're, you're approachable. Everything else is just taught. And I, and I think those tests get in people's way. Yeah. Because. The people who would make, who would score well on those tests are a lot of times people who well, I don't wanna go down that road.
I'll tell you this. Okay. When it comes into those tests, I have taken people who are, who you would never think would be really great salespeople. Yes. And they become the best salespeople that
Yvette: I know. Yes. So it's all depends on the coach. You're not invest in any skillset. And,
Barry: and, and really [00:16:00] starting to believe in yourself and listening to the coaching and doing what is done, and you can become a good salesperson.
The, the only criteria for me is that you must love people. If you don't love people, you just are not gonna be in sales. Right? And so the hardest part is, and I was trained, and so I'll tell you, it's, it's, selling yourself is the hardest thing to sell. I always tell people what's illegal in most states, and so you, you, you, you, you have head trash when it comes to selling yourself.
I do too. And so you have to surround yourself with people and, and really the mindset is I'm not selling myself. I'm selling the system that I teach, and I'm just the person who delivers that system. Yes. Right? Yes. And then you can charge for that, and it's, it's actually a good thing. Then the higher you charge, the better it is for your client, because the more people pay for something, the more they are [00:17:00] likely to use it.
Definitely. Yeah. So that's good. I love that. So you're getting your systems together and you're gonna hire next year. What do you think the first hire is?
Yvette: The first hire would be a VA or a business. OBM. Online Business manager. Yeah. Online
Barry: business manager Or a, or a va. So. Or a va. Mm-hmm. So which one would you think you're gonna hire
Yvette: first?
I think I'd move, I'd go with the VA first based on what I'm learning in one of the courses. Yeah, so I think that's the, the
Barry: first step. Very smart because there's a lot of stuff that you can do. And if you go and you're, you're, you're listening to Traction Online, um, you can go in there and look at the Delegate and Elevate exercise.
Yes. And then if you do that exercise, which is really quick, all you gotta do is go in there and list all the things that you do on a daily basis. Right. So every, mm-hmm. You know, hour by for two weeks straight, every hour, just [00:18:00] list all the things that you did and then you categorize them. There's four quadrants and, and the first top left quadrant is things that you love and you're great at the.
Top right quadrant is things that you like and you're good at, and the bottom left is things that you're good at but you don't like. And the bottom right is things you don't like and you're not good at, right? Yes. Delegate all the things down here and do the things up there. Things
Yvette: up there is that good?
I high definitely the ones at the top part I high to get, um, options that you need to focus your energies on.
Barry: And I'll tell you the thing that I found out about getting a great VA is they can actually, once they start doing the things that are smaller, they can actually start to learn how to be more of a, of a, of a practice manager or a business manager, right?
Yes. So that's really good. And so you hire this, this va and what are the things that you want them to be doing
Yvette: Well, handling initial client intake. [00:19:00] Um, be, be there for client facing in terms of any issues that clients may have, support the marketing efforts that, um, I'll be undertaken and working with whatever contractors that I'll be using for those marketing efforts.
Barry: That's good. You know, one of the things that that, that you can do that, and I, and I try to help people, especially when they're really young in their business like you are, do you know what a sinking fund is? Y Yes. Where you're paying it to pay it to pay for something later. Yes. Is I have people, and I've, in the past, I've had people create a syncing fund for a, so a va.
So if you're like, okay, a VA's gonna cost me a. You know, $2,000 a month, let's call it. Mm-hmm. So what I would start to do is pay this sinking fund $2,000 a month for the next six months and, and [00:20:00] see how that works out. See how I'm managing my cash flow, paying this account $2,000 a month. Well, if you can't do that,
Yvette: there ain't definitely no any kind.
Barry: Then you better chill out, right? So then you're like, okay, what can I do? Well, maybe it's 1500 or if it's a thousand and you start, I. Paying the thousand dollars and you're like, okay, a thousand dollars is easy, so what can I delegate? How many hours can I get this VA for a thousand dollars a month?
Because you know, you can comfortably do that with the time that you have. Well, now that you're paying them a thousand and you delegate those things, still doing the things you don't like. Yeah. Right. Be outta necessity. Well, that thousand that, you know, let's say it saves you 10 hours a week. Now with that extra 10, you should be able to generate more revenue and then create, and then that syncing fund.
You now, you, you, you pay the VA a thousand, you put the thousand, and then now you know, well, what happens is, is now you have [00:21:00] six or seven months worth of money sitting in there. Yeah. That you didn't have before and now you're paying them. Does that make sense?
Yvette: Definitely. I understand.
Barry: So that's how I helped a lot of, and that's how I helped a lot of people hire their first hire, because they already had this six months worth of pay sitting there that they had, they created fund for anyway.
That's good. I like that. Great. So what else are you working on right now in your business that that that, that you think is gonna help you move past the growth stage?
Yvette: Well, what else am I working on? Well, it is more about, um, improving my skillset as well. Mm-hmm. So I'm doing a course on user experience for copywriters.
So it, um, I normally provide wire frames for my clients to give their designers to create their website copy. So it's about the layout of where, how to settle the copy on the page so that it flows well. But I also realize [00:22:00] that there are gaps in my, um, my knowledge in terms of design. So I'm doing a design for copywriters course, which is helping me to better understand the co.
I'm not a designer by any long shot, but I'll be able to have better conversations with their designers. Mm-hmm. When they're asking questions, making suggestions about. Um, what to do with the copy once it goes on the page. So I think I'm improving my skill sets. I'll add more value to what I'm offering my clients.
Oh, I
Barry: love that. Increase your value, increase your worth, right, and then increase your, you can always increase your fees at that point. Yes. So tell me what your ideal client looks like. Well,
Yvette: my ideal client is someone who. They're in one of three phases, so, um, my avatars are one, they need a compelling online presence to announce their authority.
Mm-hmm. Or they're in phase two, they're looking to develop a legion funnel and nurture their [00:23:00] audience. Or phase three, they've done all of that and know they are at the level where they're developing a course or a program to sell, and they need high converting sales copy to support that process. So what all of them have in common is that they, whatever service or product they offer, it delivers a true value and transformation and they care about the people that they serve, and they definitely want them to succeed.
So that's how my clients are.
Barry: Oh, I love that. Well, that's, that's, that's fantastic. So where, where can people find you?
Yvette: Oh, certainly. They can find me at my website if yvettejwriting.com, or they can find me on Instagram or Twitter, Yvette J writing.
Barry: Oh, that's fantastic. It has been an absolute pleasure to talk with you, Yvette.
I, I think that you're on the right track. I think you're doing unbelievable things, and I'm super excited about your journey moving forward. Thanks. Thank you for
Yvette: being here, and [00:24:00] thank you for having me. It was my pleasure.
Barry: All right. Thank you so much. You have a good day.
Yvette: Thanks. You too.
