It has been called one of the most unforgettable races in Olympic history, and if you saw the 400-meter hurdle finish for Karsten Warholm (Norway) and Rai Benjamin (USA) last month in Tokyo, you know what I’m talking about. Both men smashed the world record, which was set by Warholm roughly a month earlier. They did it in spite of the Tokyo humidity, with the synergy of the race and the neck-and-neck competition between the field of elites doubtless fueling them to run faster than they had ever run before.

The power of this synergy is woven throughout foot racing history. In 1945, Gunder Hagg of Sweden set the world record mile time at 4 minutes, 1.4 seconds. That record held for nine years until Roger Bannister of Britain crushed that 4-minute barrier with a finishing time of 3:59.4. Within a year, 24 others pushed past that seemingly unbreachable 4-minute threshold, inspired by Bannister’s stunning feat.

In many races today, organizers understand how important it is to have a pacesetter to inspire other runners. The Chicago, London, and Berlin marathons hire runners known as “rabbits” to set a fast pace in the first section of the race. These rabbits drop out partway into the race, but not until they’ve raised the bar for the other elite runners.

So what does all of this have to do with copywriting?

If you’re a good copywriter, you may be wondering how to become a great copywriter, and I’d argue that there’s something important to learn from the running world. If you want to write high-converting copy in this hyper-competitive market, you need a push, a “rabbit”—even a community of rabbits—to elevate your vision and your skill in ways that are difficult to do on your own.

One of the best ways to do this is through a mastermind. There are plenty of them out there; the challenge is picking the right one. As one of the world’s top grossing copywriters, I’ve seen what’s out there and come up with the following criteria for selecting a mastermind that will produce the best return on investment and drive your copywriting to new heights.

• Strong social support. Being able to run ideas past people and crowdsource questions is motivating, time-saving, and can connect you with perspectives and hacks you couldn’t access on your own. But this only works if the mastermind has an engaged, responsive, cohesive social support system.

Find out how members communicate—and how frequently they communicate. It’s also worth asking about the group dynamics. I’m a big fan of diversity. My Copy Accelerator mastermind features a mix of copywriters and entrepreneurs from a broad range of industries and niches so we’re getting expertise from all sides.

• Well-connected leaders. A mastermind shouldn’t just help you become a better writer. Ideally, it should help connect you with potential employers. Who’s leading the mastermind? Are they well-known in the industry? Who have they written for? Who are other copywriters in the mastermind writing for? Do they frequently post job opportunities? Or sponsor live events that are attended by movers and shakers in the marketing space?
• In-person events. Speaking of live events… virtual is wonderful and practical for day-to-day mentoring and interactions, but few things can match the energy of in-person gatherings. I recommend looking for a mastermind that presents occasional opportunities to come together face-to-face.

These events should allow you to network, collaborate, and soak in the energy from other people who are leading out in the field of copywriting, marketing, and entrepreneurship. Look for reviews on past live events to see who spoke, who attended, and what attendees said about the experience.

• Accessible mentors. It’s great if your mastermind is headed up by a huge name in copywriting, but that won’t do much for you if you never get face time with them. Find out how often you can meet with the mastermind’s key mentors and what your interactions will be like. Will there be regularly scheduled training calls? Are mentors willing to give you feedback on a headline or a framework for a sales letter? Will they read over your copy and give you feedback? How quick are they on the turnaround?
• Diverse strategies. Make sure that your mastermind deals with many avenues of copywriting, including long-form sales letters, emails, e-commerce sales pages, Facebook ads, and more. You want to excel in all of these areas, and the right mastermind should offer resources to help you cultivate well-rounded expertise.
• Actionable tips and resources. There are plenty of copywriting theories lingering out there in the ether, and you can discuss them for hours on end, but why? What you want is actionable advice you can implement today!

My Copy Accelerator Mastermind members get full immersion in my proven copywriting method known as RMBC. It breaks copywriting into four simple sequences for copywriting mastery. It’s not a theory—it’s a template that has helped writers successfully scale on cold traffic again and again.

Look for methods, swipe files, specific instruction on writing killer headlines, ideas for increasing average order value (AOV), split tests to help you evaluate and optimize, upsell sequencing, specific strategies for raising your rates, and other nuts-and-bolts resources.

• Testimonials. Find out what mastermind members are saying about their experience by reading or listening to testimonials. Watch for compelling specifics like, “…increased my annual earnings by $X,” or “..helped my rewrite a sales letter and triple my conversions.”

There are brilliant players working together in the freelance copywriting space. Through the framework of masterminds, they’re sharing, collaborating, “setting the pace,” and figuratively smashing the four-minute mile mark for copywriting. Investing in a mastermind is not just a nice perk—I would argue that it’s a critical strategy if you want to stay at the cutting edge of direct response/emotional response copywriting and continue to scale upward without interruption or plateaus.

You can visit my Copy Accelerator testimonials page to see what people are saying about my mastermind and how it is helping its 170 members generate over $1.5 billion in annual sales.

Life’s better when you don’t go it alone—so’s copywriting!

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