Lois McKenzie

Up Club

In May, I’ll finally be opening the doors to a course which will be a live teaching & coaching of a curriculum I’ve been developing for, literally, 5 years (not one to rush things 🤣).

My deepest desire is that this will be the least wanky and most practical course you could ever possibly take for your writing. Yes, it will be a copywriting course. But more than that, I want to help you really rebuild your relationship to writing and the written word.

The curriculum has been developing for 5 years, yes. But it’s also based on an almost 17 year (!!) career flinging ink for everyone from Fortune 500s to best selling authors. From writing taglines for $500 hairbrushes to defining the most important thought leadership of industry-shifting personal brands. We going deep (we just will not be diving). 

We’re going to activate fresh thinking, cultivate your breakthrough ideas and learn how to express them, all through your writing.

Sweet Talk is an 8 week copywriting, messaging & writing course that will teach you how to write copy so good that brands, clients and customers will be tripping over themselves to sell their ideas TO YOU.

Because when you know how to write really, really good copy it feels less like selling people and more like offering an invitation into a world they already want to be a part of.

This course is perfect for you if

❤️‍🔥 You're a creative, entrepreneur, founder, service pro, coach, marketer who wants to master copywriting for your own business...

❤️‍🔥 You love writing but struggle with wrangling that creative energy for long enough to write copy that you really cannot wait to share.

I’m not claiming to be some gate-keeping, untold-secret-holding, answer-to-all-of-your-prayers, genius word guru (although that does have a ring to it). But I will teach you the tools I've learned to generate $10m in sales & $4m in capital as a top conversion copywriter over a decade.

Send me a DM if this tickles your fancy. Spaces are extremely limited.

Copy & Messaging Consultant & Copywriter

Elaina Ray International

Content Coach

Marketing Director

Do It Marketing

Sales Director

Copywriter

Various

I didn't always want to be a copywriter. I just wanted to write.

I would be nose-deep in books, fantasising about one day toiling away at a desk in dungarees with a pencil in my hair (I was an Enid Blyton fan, OK) and writing things that people would be utterly enamoured by. 

Life happened. 

And over the years, I heard things like, 'starving artist', 'nobody makes any money writing books anymore' and 'you can write, but you also need to make money'. 

So, I did what any self-respecting creative would do. I went into advertising 😬

I started writing headlines for a daily print news cycle, moved on to writing website copy for restaurants at a local 'digital marketing' agency, when nobody even really knew what that word meant. 

Then I started writing taglines and headlines and product names for startups for an agency in New York. From $500 hairbrushes to Beef Jerky, my job was making things sound good. 

I honestly thought I'd hit peak career and imagined myself moving to New York and swanning about in cafes, this time the vision was a little more refined. Perhaps a pencil behind the ear. 

But, life happened again. 

When I got pregnant with my daughter I knew I didn't want to live as a slave to fast-paced advertising agency life... so I set out on my own (lol why did nobody tell me that would be even worse).

Since then, I've ghostwritten two best-selling books, I've written sales pages that have sold 7 figures. I once wrote an email that got a 66.2% Click Through Rate and generated 6 figures in revenue overnight (true story).

In all of this time I've done everything possible to only work with brands who's values I can get behind. While, I am aware copywriting is hardly the Lord's work, I try to make an honest living. 

Now, I spend most of my time educating business owners on how to do these kinds of things with their own words. Through coaching & workshops, and now a new course I'm launching in May 2024.

If you read all of this, come say hi.

Freelance Writer

Bolt Digital Agency

From working with every possible different brand as a freelance writer to becoming the Head Copywriter at Bolt Digital Agency, my career evolved significantly over the years. 

With Bolt I had the pleasure of being back in real, fast-moving, digital agency life. It was exciting. Every brand something new and different. 

My role was to write high-converting stories for our high profile clients -- lots of VC backed start ups that secured multi-millions in funding after we were done: dating apps, luxury hotels, global fintech startups, and even granola bars. 

Each assignment was a masterclass in articulating unique brand messages, appealing to diverse audiences, and launching or scaling businesses effectively. 

As Head Copywriter at Bolt, I also hired and mentored other writers, and if you've ever taught a subject, you'll know that's the real key to deepening your expertise. Figuring out how to help someone else articulate something, and then letting go of the reins was a whole new education in copywriting. 

It was also amazing to be hiring writers from earlier on in my career -- I have such a good idea of the market on both sides of the coin that has helped me serve clients immensely.

Head Copywriter

Blackpool Gazette, Johnston Press

As a fresh-faced 17 year old who had life-long dreams of becoming a writer, a decidedly green idea of what that might actually take but filled with ambition, I found my start at the Blackpool Gazette as a junior advertising copywriter. 

I caught two buses to get to their head office and asked to speak to the editor -- if I could go back and speak to myself now! The receptionist was a little amused and didn't expect her to let me in. But, for some reason, she did. She appreciated my tenacity and instead of giving me some spicy hot story to get out and report on (which is how I'd imagined it would go in my head) she suggested I join the advertising team writing headlines. 

It wasn't quite my Vogue fantasy, but it was a start. So I took it and jumped in. 

Turns out coming up with headlines under 10 words for high-pressure advertising sales reps is a good education – a proper crash course in advertising and copywriting and I was fortunately quite good at it. 

Learning the art of writing sticky 10-word headlines for high-stake clients, I discovered the heart-thumping pressure and invaluable advertising lessons of a daily print news cycle. These experiences sparked my lifelong love for concise, persuasive copy that remains both my arch nemesis and my best friend.

Junior advertising copywriter

Million-dollar verbal carpentry | Copywriting & messaging strategy that has earned our clients $8M+ in sales and $4M+ in capital.

Growing up my Mum had books everywhere.

All over the house.

Instead of a bedside table she had a leaning tower of books.

Cups of half-drunk tea perched perilously on the edge of whichever one had landed on top.

One slight wrong move or sharp turn with the bedcovers, and cold, long-forgotten tea would spill everywhere.

Which, of course, happened often.

Because she was always lost in one of three or four or five books she was reading at any given moment (she likes to start a few at once, so "you never finish one too soon").

We had two huge bookshelves that still weren’t even enough to house all of the books

-- and of all of the furniture we bought and sold and lost and broke over the years, those two, gargantuan wooden beasts survived until the day she moved to live on a boat (that’s a whole other story but thankfully the Kindle was invented).

There were piles of books on top of the shelves, beside the shelves, next to the couch.

Even in the kitchen.

My childhood friends still to this day remember our book-furniture house.

This all-consuming love-of-stories is something I got from her. I never realised it at the time. But, this is one of the greatest gifts my Mum ever gave me.

We didn’t have loads of money growing up. But we had stories.

We had whole other worlds to escape to.

The perfect medicine for any kind of affliction of the soul.

And this is what stories do.

This is what good narrative has the power to do. They are medicine. A literary apothecary.

You can transform someone's life, heartache, dreams.
You can help people change their mind about love, about pain, about money, about potential.

All with a well told story.

How does the world ever change?
How do you get people to pay attention?
How do you connect with the right people?

It starts with stories. It always starts with stories.

Storytelling has become such a huge part of my life and my work and my way of thinking. I've helped people & brands make millions of dollars telling stories.

No matter what your business is, if you can get better at one thing -- let it be telling stories. Let the most important conversations you were put here to lead be the thing that everyone loves about you.

If you need help, I can do that in 3 ways:

🔥 1:1 copy coaching
🔥 Hire me to write your web copy
🔥 Copy Club: like a private members lounge for creative founders & storytellers
🔥 Sweet Talk: a copywriting course that will teach you to write in a way that feels like art and sells like hot cakes

If you love stories as much as I do, drop me a DM and share one with me :)

Founder

We’re known for creating content that looks, feels and sounds like you. Content that builds authority, brings more eyes to your work and shines a light on your mission. Content that positions you as the expert that you are and gives you the platform you need to drive change.

In short: content that positions you as the obvious choice.
 
We're the secret ingredient to leveraging your expertise so that you can increase your impact, visibility and authority without needing to increase the time you spend online.
 
...and without your message losing its authenticity and integrity.

What we do: ghostwritten authority and thought leadership content, web copy, copywriting & strategy and LinkedIn VIP days.

GO! Coaching

Empowering the Modern Loan Advisors to double their lead count while lowering their hours worked through modern marketing, sales, and operational systems.  

GO! is now the top Loan Officer Community in the US, all within 3 years.

Co-Founder & CEO

Lower

Driving the recruiting, retaining and production growth of our Loan Officers

Chief Growth Officer

Guaranteed Rate

Branch Manager/SVP of Residential Lending

Branch Manager/SVP of Mortgage Lending NMLS# 218863 Guaranteed Rate NMLS# 2611

Branch Manager/SVP of Mortgage Lending

Perl Mortgage

Private Mortgage Banking

Baytree National Bank & Trust Co.

Senior Vice President - Mortgage Division

American Street Mortgage Company

American Street Mortgage Company was a boutique mortgage firm in Chicago best known for it's composition of the brightest and hard working mortgage planners. Additionally, the core philosophy for consistent charity efforts quickly earned American Street a reputation of a high morale and ethical organization.

President

Illinois Mortgage Funding Corp.

A start up company that grew exponentially with the help of the 2003 refinance boom.

Managing Broker

CEO at GO! Coaching | Helping 10,000+ growth-minded loan officers win in business and life

Sales saved my life. 

In 1985, my parents and I emigrated Iran for better opportunities in the United States. 

We left everything and everyone. 

My mom could not get a job at McDonald’s and my Father was earning $3.75 an hour as a shoe salesman. 

We lived in a 600 sq foot apartment and moved multiple times and by the age of 14, I was working. 

I started off as a car porter and janitor and then learned how to market and rent apartments and then eventually sell cars (all by the age of 18).

School was not my thing. 

I barely graduated high school (1.7 GPA). 

I dropped out of college. 

I became a telemarketer for a small mortgage brokerage 

I made over 50,000+ cold calls and quickly became the top telemarketer in the country. 

English is my second language, but sales is my first language. 

I became BUY-lingual. 

At the age of 25, I purchased my first property: a 17-unit apartment building for $1M that I still own today and amassed 100 units before ever leaving my parents home. 

As a residential loan officer, I’ve also personally funded over $1B in home loan volume and $100M+ yearly from 2019 to 2022 alone. 

As a Co-Founder and CEO of GO! Coaching, we achieved 8 figure yearly revenue within four years of inception (all through impacting hundreds of careers). 

And as the Chief Growth Officer of Lower.com, a multi-channel fintech mortgage lender, we recently raised $100M in Series A funding (the largest in Ohio state history) to help catapult us in becoming a top 5 lender by 2030. 

Not bad for an immigrant kid from Iran. 

Selling is the most important skill you must seek. 

Understanding how to illustrate your value verbally, visually and textually, will open doors you won’t believe. 

And I’m walking proof.  

And if you’ve read this far, I have a promise for you: 

Every day, I will share one specific business gem to help you think better, do better, and to be better.  

I do, I learn, I share. 

Let's win together. 

🤜🤛

- Amir 


Email: amir@growthonly.com
Instagram: @amirsyed 
Twitter: @realAmirSyed
Instagram: @amirsyed and @bankofamirica

Amir Syed

Here’s the thing about growth: 

It rarely happens alone.

‍(By the way, this is copy-pasted from a recent newsletter, which you can read at my bio link)

This past month, at our Fall GrowthCon event (which sold out) and surrounded by hundreds of high-performing Loan Officers, one truth stood out…

A powerful environment is everything.

It’s infectious.

It’s inspiring.

And it’s necessary. 

You can have the best strategy, the perfect systems, and all the motivation in the world…

But if the people around you aren’t pushing you forward, you’ll eventually stall.

That’s what we saw happen in real time.

Every conversation sparked a new idea.

Every connection challenged someone’s thinking.

And every person in the room left with their standards raised… 

Not just because of a new tactic or playbook they walked away with, but because of who they were around.

Because we were all lifting each other up.

A rising tide raises all ships. 

Growth isn’t just about doing more.

It’s about choosing rooms that require more of you.

So this week, ask yourself:
‍
Who’s in your room right now?

Are they challenging your comfort zone, or keeping you stagnant in it?

If you want to grow faster, start there.

"I'll figure it out."

That's one of the most powerful statements you can think and say in your life. 

It shows that you:

- Believe in your ability to win
- Are going to persist through trials
- Are prepared to learn from your mistakes

The most successful people I know in mortgages and other industries have had that mindset their entire lives.

We even have a saying on our team: "F.I.O."

Figure. It. Out. 

And the key to having it is staying in the game.

When you persist, you give yourself a chance.

When you give up, you have no chance at all.

Something I've found over and over again throughout my career and life:

1. The best salesperson is the one who's studying and practicing the art of sales in their free time.

2. The best speaker is the one who's doing toastmasters and watching YouTube videos on speaking.

3. The fittest person has a trainer, nutritionist, and routine they stick to at least 99% of the time.

Outward success is the tip of the iceberg.

What you do in private is the rest of it.

Dial that in, and you'll get to where you want to GO!

I'm not one of those coaches who's in his 20s. No kids, no wife, tons of time to grind.

Instead, I:

- Have duties as a husband
- Have duties as a father
- Have duties as a leader

One way I juggle all of those is by getting up early.

When you're awake before anyone else, you can:

- Catch up on work that slipped through the cracks
- Go deep on work because you have no distractions
- Get some much-needed reflection and alone time

Become an early riser for a few months.

One hour in the early morning is like getting four hours during the day. 

You'll find that it levels you up in many areas of your life.

“Mr. Maxwell: How can I become a great leader like you one day?

He paused for a moment, put his hand on my shoulder, and said:

“To lead and sharpen others, you must first lead and sharpen yourself. Great leadership is developed daily, not in a day. Design a personal growth plan and work on yourself every single day, because to lead tomorrow, you must learn today.”

Uh, wow.

This month, I’m re-reading John Maxwell’s “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.”

To say it’s incredible is an understatement.

The more I read, the more I realize how much further I have to go as a leader, but I’m committed to the daily discipline of becoming better for everyone around me.

As we head into Thanksgiving season, I want to thank all of you who’ve supported my daily posts here over the past four years.

My mission is to help my fellow Loan Officers not only become better at their craft, but better in their personal lives.

GO! Win.

My first 1,000 cold calls flopped. Hard. Instant hang-ups, hard no's, no real interest.

I sounded like Chewbacca from Star Wars. 

In my next 1,000, I closed two deals. 

Then I became one of the top cold callers in the country.

My first year of building started rough. Nothing came easy.

Years later, we were winning big every month, scaling quickly, and gaining traction. 

Everything is like this.

Take those early losses.

Those are your education and your rite of passage. 

And guess what: struggle gives success value. 

Love the losses.

Something I don't talk about enough: I am a believer in and a follower of God.

There's an idea in Christianity that you can't take credit for anything you do or anything you receive, because it's all Him who does it for you.

I couldn't agree more.

That doesn't mean you just wait around.

You have to:

- Show up daily 
- Execute relentlessly 
- Reflect to become wiser
- Seek others to go farther 
- Fail to learn lessons

But at the end of the day, you must have good intentions. 

God searches the heart and tests the mind to give rewards based on a person's deeds and conduct. 

Be righteous with your motives, grateful for anything you get, and keep faith that more is on the way.

One more video from the NAMB Battle of Coaches at Caesar's Plaza in Las Vegas. 

This was too much fun not to share again.

Also, big shout-out to my content team for capturing this memory in such a cool way. 

I'm getting hyped all over again watching it.

Let's GO!

Happy Sunday ✌🏼

More GO! meetups.

More good times had.

More connections made.

More people winning in the mortgage biz.

Grateful for everyone who showed up at this one.

Be the person who brings people together. 

I hope I see you at the next one!

taplio

The Battle

Lois McKenzie

Amir Syed

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreAmir Syed's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Lois McKenzie

Amir Syed

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Amir Syed's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreAmir Syed's LinkedIn Performance