Every time we talk with Comprehensive Copywriting Academy students, Kate and I leave feeling inspired.
That’s exactly what it was like talking to Alicia.
From a young age, Alicia knew she wanted to help people. It’s what got her into social work. But, like many of those in the social work field, Alicia faced extreme burnout.
On this episode of the Build Your Copywriting Business podcast, Alicia is sharing her story, including how she transitioned from social work to copywriting, how her social work skills lend themselves to copywriting, and how she pushed past self-imposed roadblocks.
Hint: it’s OK to take messy action—as long as you’re taking action!
Alicia is proving that some careers don’t have to be full-time careers. Sometimes, you can put together a full-time career out of two part-time careers.
So, I’d encourage you to listen to this episode for a little inspiration. Ask yourself, like Alicia did, “what do you want life to look like?”
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Looking for closed captioning or a transcript? Watch the episode on YouTube!
A Sneak Peek at the Episode
[03:00] I graduated a very eager, social work grad. I jumped straight into foster care, which is where the majority of my professional experience has been in social work. After about five and a half years hit, even before then, I was just really burning out and difficult life events were happening as well.
[05:04] It’s not crazy work, it’s just more where I was at mentally. I have to stop. I need a break. What happened is I had my last day of social work and just that feeling of relief. I can actually focus on what I want to do now and I have control over my time again.
[07:26] Right away I jumped into just writing jobs. I bought the CCA course, I think less than a month after I quit. So this all happened at the same time.
[08:34] If I look back. Something that I would’ve done differently is just don’t jump in. Just start with a CCA course. That’s probably what I would’ve done. Just do the learning. Push yourself. Yes. But jump in and do the learning and then start getting clients. But I did them both at the same time.
[10:00] Upwork is very all consuming and that there’s so much competition. Had I maybe started with the CCA and building my portfolio. I could have pitched to more people that I wanted to versus relying on the people that were posting. So that’s how the beginning of my copywriting journey.
[12:30] I had a lot of clients that I was working with writing and editing sort of jobs. I knew in my head that I wanted to pursue copywriting. And it’s weird that I could do all these other writing jobs, but that copywriting was scary to me.
[13:21] To really ease myself in, I started applying the copywriting techniques that I was learning to my editing jobs. That more than doubled paid for CCA just like a non copywriting job. And so still, had I done an action sheet at that point? No, maybe like a tone guide or something but I had been thinking about it for months.
[15:05] The thing that was most helpful in propelling me into copy was a friend. I had made friends with another CCA student. We had been messaging for a long time, just checking in with each other, seeing where we were at.
[16:18] I’ve got this referral come in and it’s writing a website. I posted about that in the CCA group. It got the reactions it did. I posted the details of what it was like, how much I was paid. How long my copy doc was. Things that surprised me. Things that worked really well and things that were difficult.
[16:46] It was such a huge, beautiful learning experience and a very big project. And I got on a coaching call halfway through when I was like, I’m really stuck and I don’t exactly know what the next step is. Just talking about it helped me get to where I needed to be. And I was very happy with how that turned out.
[17:30] I spent the next several months being a perfectionist and taking way too long on all of those steps and not pitching or doing anything. I’m gonna focus on building my business.
[18:40] The part-time social work, part-time copywriter is actually a really nice balance for me. It’s what’s working really well and there’s beneficial things about being in an office and just getting paid what you’re getting paid and you just show up and do the work you need to do.
[19:10] I can control what my days look like. And it’s so nice. I just appreciate each chunk of the week as it comes ’cause I’m ready for it.
[22:42] I think this was a year and a half ago now, I’ve been part-time for a while and I still was building my copywriting business. I’d still only had a couple actual clients. I wanted to build that and get to a place where I know I can bounce in and out or increase or decrease. I have that control.
[24:05] When I launched my portfolio, my website, which was only earlier this year, I want anybody listening, any CCA students listening to know that I’m just barely one, two steps ahead.
[24:20] The majority of my career has been stuck in like, what should I call my business and what should my logo look like and how should I end just writing the site? when I actually had the accountability or sat down to do it, it did not take that long.
[24:44] Once I got my website out there, I posted it on Facebook, just my friends there and got people reaching out to me, which was great because I already know the business that I’m working with now for up to 10 hours a week, which is perfect.
[26:26] If you’re sitting in front of me and I’m gonna write for your business and help craft your messaging to match the heart, the mission of what you’re wanting to do, then I’m gonna give a hundred percent to it.
[30:20] I wrote my website and designed it and got it up in two weeks from that point. So much of it is mindset, but it’s the willingness to push yourself and to just do it and to put in place whatever system, whether it’s accountability or whatever it is that works for you.
[30:54] The way I got my name was by sitting down and painstakingly writing out things that came to me and just sitting there for like two hour chunks of time and just figuring it out. That’s when it comes.
[33:55] I ended up just designing my banner ad myself because I could. Could it be better? Probably. Am I very proud of it for having done it all myself? Yes. But I don’t want people to get stuck like I have done on different things because like from my story, you don’t need to necessarily do it in a row.
[18:35] One of my biggest strengths as a copywriter is the kickoff calls of asking good questions and recording the information and then being able to write. Asking those questions and really drawing out what you really need to know, that is hugely beneficial.
[40:20] Sometimes I would try to listen to other copywriting podcasts and it would actually give me a lot of anxiety and worry, but I stick to you guys because the CCA is very familiar and I just needed that to start.
[40:36] The skills that you have within your other industries, wherever you’re working, there will be relevant skills that you can pull in.
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:
“So I was learning CCA stuff and I was very slow. But what I did start to do, which was very valuable, is I just looked at the copy around me everywhere. I had to pay attention to everything. I looked at all the ads, I looked at emails, I looked at everything.” – Alicia
“Getting your hands messy is far more effective than trying to go in this linear path when it’s not really a linear thing sometimes where you’re trying to find a designer, but you can also work on your portfolio.” – Kate
“The timing has led to everything you did in the process, all of the steps have led to where you are now and the clients that you’re working with. You’re right on time. As long as you are moving forward in one way, shape or another, you’re gonna get there.” – Nicki
“It was when I gave a hundred percent of my time when I blocked it out on my calendar. You’re coming up with a name. That’s when you make progress.” – Alicia
“The action sheets are designed to give you some practice before you get some clients. But let’s say hypothetically you are someone who just starts getting clients first, then guess what , use them as you need them or don’t use them.” – Nicki
“Frankly, the work that we do affects our clients and makes all the stuff that they were trying to get across makes it clear and gives them the ability to convey their message to their target audience.” – Nicki
“When you pitch people, you get to choose who you pitch. You can be a very ethical copywriter because you get to choose who you reach out to or who you apply for a job for. You get to control that.” – Nicki
“All you need is whatever time you have, if you sit down and you show up a hundred percent with no other distractions, that’s when you’ll make progress.” – Alicia
Mentioned in the Episode
- Building Your Portfolio Copywriting by Working With Small Businesses
- Ep. 114: Hate Writing Your Own Portfolio? Use These Tips to Get It Done
- How to Put Together a Copywriting Portfolio (Even With No Experience)
- Alicia Website: www.copysilk.com
Related Links
- Ep. 156: 11 Years in Social Work to a $10K/Month Copywriting Career – Sonali’s Story
- Ep. 75: How to Be a Part-Time Copywriter with a Full-Time Job – Catching Up with Alicia
- How to Be a Part-Time Copywriter from Home
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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 10+ 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.
