Worried about your first clients?
Well, it can’t be as bad as Kate not showing up for a meeting with a client!
I’m not saying that to embarass her (plus, she’s sharing all about it in this episode—and how it led to $100K+ worth of work).
I’m saying it because we all make mistakes and we live to tell the tales.
But we also work things up in our brains.
My first clients? They were health clubs that I’d reached out to—via postcards. (Guess what, that tactic still works …)
So, on this Build Your Copywriting Business podcast episode, we’re sharing the good, the bad, and the, yes, ugly lessons we learned from our first copywriting clients.
Hop into the way, way back machine with us, and get ready for some stories we’re sharing for the first time.
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Looking for closed captioning or a transcript? Watch the episode on YouTube!
A Sneak Peek at the Episode
[02:05] Nicki went to school for PR, decided shedidn’t like PR, and was managing a health club for a while. She had a moment of asking, “What am I gonna do with my life?” Her mom reminded her that she knew how to write copy, having grown up with a dad who was a creative director. Nicki realized she’d been writing copy for awhile and not realized it. Her first outreach to potential clients was creating postcards and sending them to local health clubs offering her copywriting services. Those were some of her first clients.
[5:30] Kate was working in an editorial department at the same company as Nicki. Nicki needed writers for a new website launch. Kate recalls how she went to school for creative writing and copywriting aligned more with what she wanted to do. She was having more fun with copywriting than editorial writing.
[07:30] Kate shares her first meeting with a potential freelance client—and how her alarm didn’t go off. She missed the meeting, but the client (luckily) gave her a second chance. She’s used 24-hour time on her clock ever since so there’s never an 8 AM/8 PM confusion.
[9:55] Kate shares how that client—the one who gave her a second chance—has led to hundreds of thousands of dollars of work over their more-than-10-year relationship. Nicki and Kate talk about how small projects can lead to bigger projects. This client that Kate worked with started her on a very small project to test the waters. But it’s since led to a long and profitable relationship—for both of them.
[13:00] Nicki shares how she worked at TJMaxx. First, she knew the creative director. When the creative director was looking for a copywriter, she asked Nicki. They couldn’t pay Nicki’s rate. But 6 months later when they needed someone to cover a maternity leave, they didn’t balk at Nicki’s rate. A “no” is just the starting point for a conversation and it’s not a “no” forever.
[15:23] Nicki and Kate talk about how the connections they made at their first jobs led to referrals—and have continued to lead to referrals. Your reptuation is important in any field, but especially in copywriting. If people like working with you, they’ll want to continue working with you—even if they leave the company. As people you’ve worked with leave a company to work at a new company, they’ll reach out to you if they need a copywriter. It pays to be professional: hit deadlines, be kind, and do great work.
[18:49] Know that you’re not going to knock your copywriting out of the park every time. There will be times when you receive feedback—and that’s OK! You should expect it. Copywriting is a collaborative field. Welcome feedback and see it as an opportunity to make your already-great copy even greater.
[26:37] Keep everything for your portfolio. You do not need to put everything on your online portfolio, but you do want to have all your samples organized in a way that makes it easy for you to find. Put them all on Google Drive, Dropbox, or whatever cloud solution you use. Then, if a client ever asks, “Do you have samples from the healthcare industry?” Or “Do you have samples of an email funnel?” You can pull examples from your storage. Not everything can fit on your portfolio, after all. But you want to have access to everything in case you need it.
[29:15] Keep a folder of “nice” emails. When you’re having a day, and need a reminder of why you do what you do, you can pull up those emails.
Must-Hear Takeaways
As with every episode, we highly encourage you to listen to the entire conversation! But here are a few of the highlights:
“Since missing that first meeting with a potential client I’ve used 24 hour time on my clock so AM and PM alarms don’t get confused. And I set an alarm a half an hour before I’m supposed to be someplace, and then 10 minutes before.” – Kate
“ Yes, you have your portfolio. But your clients still want to know how does this person truly work? What’s it like to work with them? How do they communicate? Are they on top of things? Do they hit their deadlines? All of the things that, you know, presumably you do, but they don’t know until they actually work with you.” – Kate
“ Humility is good. The people that I’ve seen come, who in and act like they know everything, always end up falling on their faces.” – Nicki
“ Even if it’s a small project, your reputation is being built with new clients every single time.” – Kate
Related Links
- 3 Things to Remember if You’re Brand New to Copywriting
- The Importance of Freelancing in Today’s Working World
- Today’s Top Copywriting Industries
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About the Build Your Business Podcast
Ready to turn your love of writing into a successful copywriting career?
Join professional copywriters Nicki Krawczyk and Kate Sitarz to get the tips, tools, and training to help you become a copywriter and build a thriving business of your own. Nicki and Kate have 20+ and 15+ years of experience, respectively, writing copy for multi-billion-dollar companies, solopreneurs, and every size business in between.
Whether you want to land an on-staff job, freelance full-time and work from wherever you want, or make extra money with a side hustle, the best place to start learning is right here.
