The officer took us to a booth on the side of the road, sat us down, and tried us best to make us scared. But my friends and I weren’t threatened, because we were aware about what was happening. It was a shake down. Because his intimating act was for us a show, as he explained how what we did was very wrong, expensive, and time consuming to fix… we all couldn’t help by smile.

Our smiles caused the office to break character; he went from intimating to cheerful, then stopped his script and asked us, “Why are you smiling?!”

We explained we knew what was going on. “How much?” my friend said. The officer pretended to act surprised, but just moments later gave us a price. We negotiated down to 50% of what he suggested, paid the fee, and continued our trip to Sekumpul Waterfall.

I was reminding of this story because while smiling is a natural behavior, the act of smiling has different connotations based on culture. The topic of smiling is especially relevant to me as an American in Russia. In America, we often smile even when we don’t mean it. Americans smile to be nice, hide a negative emotion, or simply because we feel like it’s the thing we must do.

Russians have a different understanding of smiling. Russians smile when they mean it. They will rarely smile at strangers because that’s not a practical thing to do. “Why smile if it’s not sincere?”, they will tell you.

Being in Russia has led to me smiling less. During my recent trip to the US, I’ve had my Russian friends tell me, “Raymond, you look so happy in America. I’ve never seen you smile so much in Penza.”

A few mornings ago as I laid in bed awake at 3am I had an idea. I decided to put a smile on my face for no apparent reason. I had a hypothesis; if I were to smile, my body would react and I would release endorphins in my brain — even if the smile was fake.

My theory was proven true.

Moments after smiling, I felt a jolt of energy burst up my spine into my brain. It was like jumped cables were connected to my heart. It only lasted for a moment, but it made me feel better. The fake smile created a real benefit.

This incident was a sign to smile more. Not just in a fake way, but naturally. From watching one of my favorite comedians, Norm Macdonald, to finding clever and funny ways to contribute to conversations, I’ve been trying to add more humor into my life.

No matter what’s going on in your life, I encourage you to smile more often. From watching a comedy to doing more of whatever makes you happy, smiling is one of the most-natural ways to make yourself feel better.

But learning about copywriting changed my mentality.

Instead of emotions control me, I understand which ones are at play — and use them to my advantage.

This is why whenever I come across an idiot online, which is inevitable, I rely on a mental process for leveraging their behavior for selfish reasons. Doing so not only protects my mental health, it regularly contributes to my work becoming more successful!

The process I use is simple:

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Most people wouldn’t. Even most writers, who are likely introverts by nature, aren’t scared to ask for a reasonable amount for their work.

Before I quoted $30k for the first time, I was only making a few to several hundred dollars per project. It was enough to get by, but not enough to grow. That’s why during a call when a potential client asked me, “How much?” I did what was necessary.

Here’s how it all went down.

One day, I got an email from a woman who said her agency needed a copywriter. She had been reading my blog and felt like I was the perfect fit.

We scheduled a call and within 20 minutes I understood her needs down the each deliverable and how long it would take me. When the inevitable "how much?” question came, I was ready. I looked at my notes, calculated the total, and said “$30,000”.

She checked her notes, looked away for a moment, and agreed on the condition we’d work in 3 phases ($10k x 3). Unfortunately, the project stopped after $20,000. I got paid but the agency’s client changed the direction of the project. We parted ways and kept in touch.

Aside from making $20k, I learned a lesson — don’t be scared of money.

Money flows like water. If you want to make more, ask. If you think the amount you’re asking for is too high, ask for twice as much.

That uncomfortable feeling is important.

It’s make what seems like “too much” your new standard.

The topic of my blog was simple. I would share personal experiences and the lessons learned. Over time several dozen people became regular readers.

I didn’t blog for profit, but I never was against the idea of getting paid. I even put some ads on my site, but they made $0.

The first dollar came in when one of my readers messaged me with something like, “Raymond I really like your writing. Can I pay to you to write for my business?”

They offered me $50 and I accepted. I wrote several articles for them and stopped blogging and started writing for clients. This is how I eventually became a copywriter.

For the unaware, copywriting is basically sales in writing. The text you see in advertising and anything promotional is called copy. Unlike writing you see in the news or in a book, copywriting is designed to make you take an action.

Fast forward to today and the impact copywriting has had on my life has been extraordinary. Writing has allow me to live and work from 38 different countries. I wouldn’t have seen the world, met my wife, or had hundreds of wild and interesting experiences if not for copywriting.

But lately, I’ve drifted away from copywriting because it became boring. One of the results of being a good copywriter is attracting clients who pay well but don’t offer the best product or service.

Doing that for years sucked away my soul. I now shutter at the idea of working as a copywriter again. Yet despite my attempts to transition to something else… I haven’t been able to replicate my level of success as a copywriter from other ventures.

This is a problem.

I want the monthly income I used to generate from copywriting, but I don’t want the same types of clients. While the money is nice, writing the text required feels like digging out my eyes with a spoon. Life is too short for such torture.

So, I’m doing something else instead.

I’m getting back to what worked for me at the start, blogging. The idea and mentality will be the same now as before — to write regularly about the things I’m interested in and the experiences I’ve had. I’m confident doing so will eventually lead to multiple positive outcomes:

1. Paid work

2. Better writing

3. Improved mental health

A lot has happened since I started blogging in 2012. There’s a lot to share and discuss. From my experiences traveling the world to being one on the only Americans in a city of 700,000 people, it would be a sin to not share my thoughts with the world.

For those reading this today, for those who find my blog 250 years from now, and for both new and current subscribers, welcome. By the way, if you haven’t yet subscribed, you can do so below.