I am not a believer in “slow seasons are a fact of freelancing.”
I’ve been doing this long enough (20+ years) to know that 99% of the time, a slow season happens when you stop reaching out to clients (both past and present).
Now, some copywriters lean into these slow seasons and enjoy the break. To these copywriters I say, build in your vacations so you’re not waiting for a slow season to take time off!
Buuuuuut more often, I see copywriters hit the PANIC button (yes, all-caps-style panic).
I’ve noticed it’s gotten even worse with AI entering the conversation. I’ve even seen copywriters on LinkedIn wondering if they should throw in the towel.
No, my friends, the fact remains that there is no better time to become a copywriter—you’re needed now more than ever.
But it can feel pretty doom-y gloom-y. And I don’t want to discount that. I want to help you address it.
So, listen in to hear our top tips for what to do when you’re in a slow season.
And no, hitting the giant PANIC button is not one of them. 😉
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Looking for closed captioning or a transcript? Watch the episode on YouTube!
A Sneak Peek at the Episode
[01:13] The constant noise surrounding artificial intelligence and explain why AI will only get you about seventy percent of the way there. We highlight how businesses trying to replace real writers with AI slop inevitably return to hire skilled copywriters to fix the mess.
[04:56] How big corporations use “AI washing” as a convenient excuse for investor-facing layoffs to cover up their own bad business decisions. We predict a massive, widening gap in the coming years where skilled copywriters will be in higher demand than ever before.
[10:33] A temporary pause from one or two clients in a small pool can feel devastating, even when the broader economy is completely fine. We share our personal survival stories from previous recessions and pandemics to show how much career control you actually possess.
[14:56] We recommend that you start your recovery by reaching out to past clients and finding out where former colleagues are currently working. We also encourage you to pitch your current clients on new ideas and strategies before your ongoing contracts come to an end.
[18:00] Copywriters who complain about a slow business usually admit they have completely stopped sending out cold pitches. We advise against relying on a single niche like online coaching and suggest diversifying your pitches across various industries and business sizes.
[22:12] We discuss diversifying your outreach channels by combining email with in-person events, recruiters, and optimization of your LinkedIn profile. We remind you to make your social profiles entirely client-centric, focusing on what you can do for them rather than on yourself.
[26:23] Using slow periods to refresh your portfolio, take a vacation, or pitch yourself as a guest speaker to podcasts and masterminds. We suggest running free workshops for local business groups to show them how human copy beats automated AI writing every single time.
[31:08] Layoffs happen across all major industries, and AI is simply the convenient, modern scapegoat for standard corporate downsizing. We encourage you to transform your nervous energy into direct marketing action, which is the ultimate cure for business anxiety.
[33:43] Low-cost platforms like Upwork will suffer because clients looking for cheap work will inevitably pivot to using free AI tools. We emphasize that as highly trained, premium copywriters, we must avoid competing in the cheap race to the bottom.
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:
“AI-washing is at a high right now. It’s a great opportunity for big companies—that need to lay off people to get their numbers to work again—AI is a much better reason for their investors than, ‘Oops, we over-invested in the wrong places. We made bad business decisions.'” – Nicki
“ I predict within the next two years, there’s going to be a big gap of well-trained copywriters. Because we need them now and I think that gap’s only going to widen. Right now, people are thinking ‘Mm, I’m not so sure about building that skill as a writer. AI is gonna take that job. AI is going to replace copywriters, so I’m not going to learn the skills to become a copywriter.’ Because of that, I think we’re going to have a major, major gap, more so than we already have.” – Kate
“If you stop planting seeds, you have nothing to harvest in a few weeks or a few months out.” – Nicki
“A company who’s interested in hiring you cares about what you can do for them, and that’s what your profile should be all about.” – Nicki
”If you’re feeling anxious, okay, breathe through it. Have some ice cream. Go to bed early. But the next thing, you can’t live in a state of anxiety. The next thing to focus on is, okay, what can I do to bring back some of that stability if I’m feeling like things are a little bit slow for me, because there are absolutely things that you can do to control that.” – Nicki
Related Links
- Ep. 237: AI is Going to Take My Job!!! … But Is It?
- Why You Should Connect With Past Copywriting Clients
- 5 Ways to Instantly Improve Your Copywriting Portfolio Site
- Why Setbacks and “Failures” Don’t Mean What You Think They Do
- Ep. 211: How to Weather the Ups and Downs of Business
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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.
