Category: Freelancing

How to become a copywriter this year (without any experience)

Takeaways

To become a copywriter, first, make sure you understand what a copywriter is – and what it’s notProfessional copywriters don’t just sit down and start writing copy. They have a processThere’s one key to your success. It’s simple. But it’s not easy

So, you’re thinking of becoming a copywriter in 2022…

I’m not surprised. In addition to all the shifts in the workforce since the pandemic, according to Google Trends, there’s also been a steady increase in worldwide interest in copywriting since 2015.

Source

And it’s a pretty great career path.

Of

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I landed three new clients and closed $12K using Facebook groups. This morning. Here’s how. ​​​​​​​

In 2019, I got booted off Upwork.

(More on that another time.)

Not long after, the one client I could count on to fill my calendar emailed to say they were moving most of their activity in-house.

They were ‘sorry’. But there simply wasn’t enough work to go around.

*Cue the alarm bells.*

Then came the pandemic. And with it came the budget cuts and more templated apology emails.

Just like that, my calendar began to look as empty as the toilet roll aisles. I had no income. And in my mind, no way

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How I made money in high school by convincing companies to pay me big bucks for copywriting

In 2015, my mom got really sick.

She’d lost a lot of weight. Insomnia was keeping her awake for nights on end. And none of the doctors she went to could figure out what was wrong.

Still, she was working two jobs. Day in and day out. A true superhero, really.

And if things weren’t bad enough, my father came home one day with even more bad news: he’d gotten laid off from work.

Which meant that my mom had to become the sole provider of our household until he figured something

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How a busy freelance writer reduced burnout and increased vacation time

It was the fall of 2020, and the effects of COVID-19 were coming to a head. 

I was homeschooling my second grader every day – something I swore I’d never do. Teaching her meant I had to do the second thing I swore I’d never do again (at least without a calculator) – math. 

Have you tried to figure out this newfangled Common Core math approach? It’s a nightmare for anyone over the age of 20 that self-identifies as a “words person.”

Sheesh.

Also, childcare wasn’t exactly a thing during the height

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I despise cold pitching. Here’s how I made $19,000+ in 46 days from referrals alone… without sending a single cold email.

“Don’t talk to strangers.” 

That’s the earliest advice I remember being given. 

It’s also the one I followed most strictly. But not because of my parents.

Nope. What truly cemented it as an immutable law in my tiny four year old brain was a puppet show put on by the police for my pre-kindergarten class.

It started innocently; a group of woolen anthropomorphized puppies and kittens with buttons for eyes were happily playing at the park…

… then a puppy talks to a stranger. And gets abducted.

Dark twist for a bunch of four

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How rest – not hustle culture – made me a better copywriter.

Imagine you’re a canary in a coal mine:

You’re healthy as you enter the mine – full of joie de vivre. Singing to your heart’s content as you enter into the darkness. Fluttering your wings as only birds like you can.

Later, you exit the mine. Except now you’re:

Covered in soot. Frail from disease. Your song is gone.

And you’re no longer able to do what you’re uniquely qualified as a bird to do:

Fly.

Was it you that made yourself sick? Or was it the coal mine?

To most of us, the answer

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I am an introvert. Here’s how I went from fearing authority to speaking on stages.

“I was Patient Zero of losing a personal reputation on a global scale almost instantaneously.”

^^ Monica Lewinsky at a Women’s Day presentation I attended in 2017. 

Yes, that Monica Lewinsky. The woman who, by some POVs, almost brought down Bill Clinton’s presidency because she kept a certain blue dress. 

Her presentation was so well crafted on the subject of cyber bullying, I couldn’t stop watching. But it also felt like a warning: visibility can be bad. Making yourself into a household name might not be the business windfall you think

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How to Survive Your First Recession (or Any Other Disaster) as a Freelance Copywriter

While the world at large is discovering Zoom and hoarding toilet paper, I am celebrating a milestone in my freelance copywriting business.
No, it wasn’t hitting the six-figure mark.
And no, I didn’t score an interview on an episode of MarieTV. At least yet.
It’s that I received the following email from a client in response to the COVID-19 outbreak around the world….
And I turned down the offer.

Before you type out a “WHY DIDN’T YOU TAKE THE OFFER TO GET PAID EARLY” comment, let me be clear…
I am grateful that after

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Forget Ad Revenue. Here’s How to Monetize Your Blog to the Tune of $185,975/year, Ad-free

They say hard work is a reward unto itself.

But for most freelancers – you know, the kind with bills and a constant eye on their bank balance – it’s a lot more rewarding when work turns into hard cash.

Let’s face it: There’re only so many pats on the back you can survive on when you’re trying to make money from your blog.

Like, five. Maybe seven, tops.

Eventually, probably sooner rather than later, you need to take those pats on the back and turn them into bank account deposits.

In

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How to be a freelance copywriter when you suck at doing what freelancers are “supposed” to do

Back in 1949, a psychologist from the University of Wisconsin set out to study primate behavior.
Harry Harlow and a couple of his colleagues set up an experiment.
Source: Drive by Daniel H. Pink
They got some monkeys together, prepared a simple puzzle, put the puzzle in front of the monkeys and watched the scene unfold.
The scientists expected the monkeys to show disinterest.
But when the monkeys saw the puzzle, they began solving it. Immediately. With zero treats or incentives.
Over the next 14 days, Harlow and his team watched the monkeys problem-solve

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