Sharing the Advice I Gave to an Aspiring Copywriter
I was recently contacted by someone who wants to get into copywriting and content writing and they asked if they could pick my brain a little bit about the process of getting started. I spent a lot of time on my responses, so I thought I would also share it here on my blog in case it helps someone else!
Of course, everyone’s journey is different and I honestly don’t think the decisions I made along the way (and still make today) are the smartest decisions in terms of “business” (aka making the most money possible) but it’s what works for me and my life. I explain this more in my responses, but I thought I’d mention that here, too. If my advice doesn’t align with your goals and pace, that’s okay!
Alright, let’s dive into the questions!
How did you get started in copywriting? Have you always freelanced? What did you do before that?
I started freelancing in 2015 when my son was born. At the time, I had a marketing job with our city's tourism bureau and I found going back to work after my maternity leave to be extremely difficult. I was so desperate to be home with my baby that I took a leap and decided to try freelancing!
My tourism job actually hired me to do some work for them on a freelance basis, which was very kind of them. Then, I put myself out on sites like Upwork and Fiverr which I would not recommend. In the early days, I did a lot of very low-paying work for people who weren't reliable. I ended up finding a social media agency that hired me as a contractor, and they ended up being the biggest source of income for me and a reliable and steady client. From there, I added clients one by one and most of them have stuck with me month to month… some of them for several years now!
I chose copywriting because it's something I've always had a natural gift for. I also do content writing (blogs and social media content) and find that really enjoyable, too. I wish there was more to it than that, but it just seemed like something I could do well enough to charge for, so that's what I chose!
What types of services do you offer?
I offer emails, blogs, website copy, and social media. I also offer copy editing because I really enjoy it, but I don't have any editing clients at the moment. Since starting in 2015, I have also taught myself some basic graphic design (using Canva) so I sometimes offer that in addition to the social media captions.
In the early days, I offered virtual assistance and I still have one client from around 2017 who is on a monthly retainer for VA work. If you have a range of abilities, this might be something to consider, although I would recommend negotiating a lot of hours with 1-2 clients instead of a small number of hours with multiple clients. It can be a little overwhelming to keep track of all of the details, logins, tools, tasks, etc. in multiple businesses.
How do you market yourself?
One of the best things I did when I was starting out was join some local networking groups. The Rising Tide Society was one of them. I was able to make some great connections with other creative people who were always happy to send referrals my way.
Then, I focused on building a presence on Instagram. For me, that's where my target audience was because I wanted to work with female entrepreneurs mostly. Depending on who you want to work with, I would suggest picking one main social media channel to focus on. I think a lot of times, people try to be everywhere and it's really hard to sustain that.
It’s important to understand that you can't just post stuff and then log off. I really try to connect with people through comments and messages that are personal and that has led to a lot of referrals. This doesn't take me a lot of time, maybe 30 minutes per day in the early days and 10 minutes per day now. And the group of people that I've curated is actually pretty small. But for me, spending more time focusing on a smaller group of people has been more beneficial than casting a wide net would have been.
This is all of the marketing I've done. I would say 90% of the new work I get comes from Instagram or word-of-mouth referrals from past or present clients.
Would you mind me asking about pricing?
Sure! When I first started, I charged an hourly rate. Since then, I've learned it's better to charge a flat rate. You will get faster, and you don't want to punish yourself for that. The only thing I charge hourly for is copy editing and the VA work I still do for my older client, and my hourly rate now is $40. When I started, I think it was $20 and I've slowly raised it over the years.
I see people charging a lot more than $40 now, so I wouldn't go much lower than that. You have to take taxes out of that and other expenses, so it should be higher than you think.
For blog posts, I think I started at $40 for 800 words but now I am charging $175. I don't do a lot of website copy these days, but I will base that on the number of pages they need. I will usually do a higher price for the first page, and then less for additional pages since a majority of my time is spent researching and that should be built into the first page. For social media, I do about $12-15 per post but offer it in a bundle, e.g. 10 posts for $150 per month (and I usually will log into their scheduling tool of choice and set it up for them at that price).
What are the pros and cons of this type of work?
The pros are being able to choose the type of people you work with and the type of work you do. I love that I only work with people and companies I believe in. It makes my work fulfilling and many of my clients have become friends because I like them so much!
I love choosing my schedule and I love when people say that I've captured their voice or made something complicated sound accessible. It might not be the most profound work in the world, but if I can make running a business easier for someone, it feels good.
The cons are that the work is unpredictable. I have been lucky to have so many retainer clients that I can guess what my monthly income will be, but I still worry about the ebbs and flows of business sometimes. I choose not to do contracts (it's the midwesterner in me) and I've never been burned by it, but at the same time, someone could decide to walk away from me out of the blue and I would lose that income.
I think the only other con is keeping up with the trends and technology. It's important to know what's going on in the world of social media, SEO, artificial intelligence, etc. and it's important to know all of the different tools that are out there because your clients may ask you to work with something they're already using and it helps to either know it or be able to learn it, e.g. different website hosting platforms, email marketing platforms, social media planning tools, etc.
If you had it to do all over, would you do the same thing? What else would you try?
Yes! I would absolutely do this again! It has been a learning experience but I'm proud of the business I've built. I feel good about the work I'm doing and I feel like I'm earning an income that is comparable to what I would be paid to work in an office 40 hours per week, but I only work the hours my son is in school.
Any advice for someone just getting started?
Make sure you set aside money for taxes and get a good accountant who will help you figure out how much you need to pay each quarter. Don’t undercharge. Work hard to figure out what your boundaries are and then stick to them because people will try to get more out of you. It’s okay to stand up for yourself and say “no.” This is something I’m still working on 7+ years into this!
Where do you find copywriting inspiration or stay on top of what’s happening in the industry?
To be honest, this is something I could do more of. Back in the day, I read a few books and honestly found them all to be pretty terrible. The one book that I stand by wholeheartedly is Building a Storybrand by Donald Miller. It really switches your brain over to thinking about how you can write to the audience rather than writing from the perspective of the client. I still use what I learned in this book every day.
Other than that, I consumed a few podcast episodes in the early days that helped me understand what copywriters actually do and how they work with clients. These might be outdated now, but maybe they will help you get acquainted with the work and the world:
Jenna Kutcher Podcast - Episode 06
Being Boss Podcast - Episode 58
The Copywriter Club Podcast (I used to just cherry-pick topics that sounded helpful)
Other than that, I follow other copywriters and content writers on Instagram and don’t view them as competitors. I learn a lot from them and hopefully, they learn from me, too!
If you’re thinking of getting into copywriting or content writing as a career or even a side hustle, I hope reading through these questions and responses was helpful. Please feel free to email me at hello@kariperlewitz.com if you have a question I didn’t answer here, or if you’d like to be added to my “referral” list when there’s a lead that comes in that I can’t take!
Good luck and happy writing!