As many teachers will know, the relentless nature of the job and never-ending to-do lists can certainly take their toll. After 11 years in the profession (frankly, anyone deserves a medal for that!), Comprehensive Copywriting Academy student Amanda knew it was time for a change.
After making the fun realization that you can *actually* write for a living–and get paid extremely well–Amanda is enjoying more flexibility, more time with family, and a lot less stress. The icing on the cake? She’s now earning nearly double what she made as a teacher! Listen in as Amanda shares her full story with Nicki and Kate.
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A Sneak Peek at the Episode
[2:59] CCA student Amanda was a teacher for 11 years and taught English in a public high school. She took a year off to be with her son and realized what life could be like without “teacher stress” every moment of every day.
[4:25] After investing in the CCA course, Amanda decided to do substitute teaching so that she had some more time to work through the modules and build her portfolio.
[7:52] Amanda launched her website in December 2022 and started applying for jobs with companies, as she didn’t feel ready to do freelance work just yet. She landed her first job in April 2023 writing social media posts for a vacation company.
[10:50] Amanda decided to jump ship after a month at that company to start work in her current role as a content specialist. Top tip from Amanda: when looking for jobs, you might not always find ‘copywriter’ in the job title, even if it is essentially the same role!
[12:38] Amanda’s new job pays almost double what she was making as a teacher (and she’s doing about a tenth of the work)! She had to adjust to the very different pace of her new role as she was so used to the frantic world of teaching.
[14:53] Teachers in particular have a skillset that makes them great copywriters because everything that they do is centered around making content engaging for their kids.
[17:52] It was a huge step for Amanda to walk away from a career she had worked so hard for. She had invested her time, energy, and mental stability into it for so long but copywriting offered more flexibility to spend time with her family.
[23:08] It was a fun realization for Amanda that she could write for a living, people want to pay you for it and people thank you for it (a stark contrast to teaching). Her clients often love the fact she was an English teacher as they don’t have to worry about checking the grammar!
[27:18] It may not be realistic to expect that teaching is a lifelong career. Often it’s the case that it burns people out, so it’s important for teachers to know that there are other options out there.
[30:56] Amanda’s career change has positively impacted her relationship with her son. She is more present with him and has the energy and attention span to give him what he deserves.
[33:13] Amanda advises any teachers who are feeling burnt out and looking for a change to make a plan of attack, use time off productively to learn new skills, and believe in yourself enough to make the jump.
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:
“I do believe teachers in particular have a skill set that makes them great copywriters because everything that we do is selling to our kids. We have to find everyday, how to word things to make—in my life teenagers—excited about Shakespeare or whatever it is. So if you can find a way to make a kid think algebra is cool, then you can probably copywrite for any kind of business.”—Amanda
“I know you feel like you owe it to your kids but you also owe it to yourself to find something that’s fulfilling and for me it’s been a complete life-changer. So, if you’ve been considering it, really seek it out. I think it will make you happy.”—Amanda
“If you’re a teacher and you’re listening to this, people thank me when I give them my stuff, you don’t get that as a teacher. As a copywriter you’re doing the thing that businesses don’t have the time, energy or confidence to do for themselves and you’re doing it and they’re very thankful. As a teacher, you are also doing a thing that is very helpful and no one wants to do and no one thanks you other than that one week in May.”—Amanda
“My advice would be to really sit down and think it through in terms of financially can you make the transition right now. As a teacher, I’m telling you that you have the skills that companies want, because you’re dedicated and reliable and you probably can put sentences together that don’t have punctuation errors. You are a cornucopia of good worker skills, so you are hirable.”—Amanda
Mentioned on this Episode
Related Links
- Copywriting Replaced This Teacher’s Income and She Works Less Hours—Jess’s Story
- Most Common Copywriter Backgrounds
- Transitioning Out of Teaching to Copywriting – George’s Story
- Great Summer Job for Teachers: Copywriting
- Her Goal Was to Replace Her Teaching Income in 5 Months: She Did It in 6 Weeks
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Last Updated on June 10, 2024
