Ever feel like quitting?
Well, Jade did quit the Comprehensive Copywriting Academy.
For like, years.
But on this episode of the Build Your Copywriting Business podcast, she’s sharing the far juicier part of the story: what she did differently when she came back to the CCA.
Because it’s what she did differently that ultimately led her to a full-time copywriting job she loves.
I am SO appreciative that Jade was willing to share her story.
Because I think we’ve ALL been there. That moment when we’re like “nope, no thanks!”
But then, once we get honest with ourselves, we realize maybe we do want to chase our dreams—even if it’s uncomfortable. Even if we feel like imposters.
If you’ve been looking for a reason to recommit to your dreams, whatever they are, then I promise Jade’s story will help inspire that recommitment.
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Looking for closed captioning or a transcript? Watch the episode on YouTube!
A Sneak Peek at the Episode
[02:48] I always wanted to be a writer since I was a little girl, but I also grew up hearing that you can’t make a living as a writer. I went to school for different languages my major was Spanish and my minor was Chinese. I finished my degree, still didn’t know what I wanted to do.
[03:53] I was working as a bilingual patient advocate for a while. I tried real estate. I ended up in affordable housing industry doing property management in that field.
[04:00] I ended up stumbling across the Comprehensive Copywriting Academy. It sounds great but too good to be true. I’ve never heard of copywriting and I don’t know. So I did some reading and I was like, okay, I’m interested.
[04:30] I’m also doing like a million other things. So I actually ended up buying the course thinking maybe I’ll learn something, maybe I won’t.
[04:40] I went through it super quick and I didn’t really do the work. I put it aside for a while. In the 2023 I ended up moving to Illinois. I let my Wisconsin real estate license expire and I was like, okay, I’m not gonna start over. So, then I decided I’m gonna try this copywriting thing again.
[05:53] I would say the first time probably I was going in so many different directions and I was just so busy and burnt out already. And then the second time I knew I was burnt out in my regular full-time job and I knew that wasn’t something that I wanted to do forever.
[06:11] I went through the course a lot more slowly and I actually took the time to absorb things and took notes and actually did all the exercises and built my portfolio and did the website and all the work. I ended up getting a full-time job with the regional Office of Education in this area.
[09:20] I am open to either a full-time job or freelance work someday. I was leaning a little bit more towards having a full-time job just to get the confidence and the experience and stuff.
[12:16] I do everything from social media ads to social media content to flyers, to creating graphics in Canva, and thumbnails. We write email newsletters. Our biggest, most recent project was we actually redid our entire website.
[12:54] We’re very proud of the website that we’ve created. One of the pages on the website that we did won an award. It was a page that describes the licensing requirement. My colleague submitted it to the Illinois Chapter of the National School PR Assoc. (INSPRA). It’s a like school communicator organization.
[14:58] I’ve been there almost a year now. I have learned so, so, so much. So I would say my confidence has definitely, definitely grown immeasurably. We’ve done so many different things in so many different mediums and my colleagues and I have done a lot of the research together.
[21:04] In learning copywriting, make sure that you’re in the space where you can actually sit down and dedicate the time to actually learn the material. And not just breeze through it, but thoroughly learn it. Take it in and put it into practice and definitely do all of the spec work and do all of the work.
[23:34] If you don’t adapt AI as a copywriter, as whatever that you’re doing, You’re gonna be left behind. So I finally begrudgingly came across to exploring a little bit of AI, and it’s very interesting. I do like to use it as a partner to come up with different ideas or to brainstorm.
[26:26] Jade’s advice for someone just starting? Look at this as an opportunity. Learning a little bit more about copywriting is the way to go. Start actually looking into it a little bit more, delving into it, looking around at the different copy around you and say, could I write this for a living? Is that something that I enjoy?
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:
“The second time I actually went through, I was like, take this seriously because I definitely hit a lot of resistance last time, and that was definitely a barrier. I’m gonna only dedicate my time to one thing that I really want.” – Jade
“I completely agree that we have a lot of interests and we should as people. But the most effective way to learn stuff and to make progress is actually to focus on one thing.” – Nicki
“The more momentum that you just naturally get because you’re into it and you’re learning and you feel you’re actually making progress, and that in itself is encouraging. ” – Jade
” Doing it deliberately and consistently is gonna start building up that memory and that copywriting mastery.” – Nicki
“AI is a brainstorm tool. It’s not an outcomes tool.” – Kate
Mentioned in the Episode
- Jade Website
- Illinois Chapter of the National School PR Association. (INSPRA)
- 5 Tips for Getting Down to Your Copywriting Work
- BONUS Laser Coaching: Focusing On Work You Want to Do
- Ep. BONUS: AI & Copywriting: Using AI to Your Advantage to Wow Clients and Land High-Paying Work
Related Links
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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.
