When Tammy was burned out from teaching, she decided to give herself a little room to decide what her next career move was. Like many people making a major career shift, she had to fight the temptation to return to her old career.
Tammy joined the CCA in May, was pitching by August, and landed her first freelance clients by September. She started a full-time job at an ad agency in January 2023—but then something unexpected happened. Listen to Tammy’s incredible story and inspiring mindset tips for working through unforeseen challenges. (Mini-spoiler: you’ll want to listen to the very end for the biggest twist in Tammy’s inspiring story!)
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Prefer to watch the episode? Hit play below (plus, hit “cc” to toggle on closed captioning)!
A Sneak Peek at the Episode
[0:00] Nicki gives us more information about the fourth annual summer Freelance Summit.
[2:10] Tammy explains what first got her interested in a career in copywriting.
[6:16] Tammy transitioned out of teaching without a fixed job lined up, giving her time to figure out her next steps.
[8:33] A mindset shift was needed for Tammy to break out of her comfort zone but she decided to go all in with copywriting, rather than build it up on the side.
[11:55] The CCA course set Tammy up for success, helping her to build her website, land her first clients, and get hired for a full-time remote position at an ad agency (all within just a few months!).
[14:42] Tammy worked on a variety of projects, including writing copy for videos, social media, and ads.
[15:48] Collaborating with a wider team gave Tammy more experience to learn and understand the work that goes into different projects.
[16:43] Tammy suffered a setback when her full-time role was impacted by a round of layoffs at her company but managed to bounce back from this.
[21:49] Tammy is open to agency work again, but is also pitching and applying to full-time positions as well.
[24:46] The biggest lesson Tammy learned was to not stop pitching, especially if your goal is to rely on your own business. Hit the send button to keep growing and learning!
[35:00] Nicki and Kate share Tammy’s very exciting update. After recording the podcast episode, Tammy continued to apply to various copywriting positions. Spoiler: she got the job! And she got it because, while she was not hired for one copywriting role at a company, she told the company to reach out if they had opportunities in the future. Her persistance paid off!
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:
“It’s that comfort zone vs breaking out of the comfort zone and it’s so much easier in some ways to go back to that comfort zone and say ‘yeah, forget a career switch, that’s a big deal and such a mindset shift’.” – Kate
“You started in May, brand new, and by November you had been hired for a full time remote position at an ad agency. That is awesome!” – Nicki
“Whether it’s pitching or client work or whatever, you’re going to keep growing and get better and better. And the only way to do that is to hit the send button.” – Kate
“I find myself doing it still where I just sit on the same email. I’m like, ‘oh, I just need to fix this one word, this one phrase I don’t love. I know it could be better.’ And I just go through and then it’s been 30 minutes and if I don’t press send, I’m not going to get a client.” – Tammy
“Do not stop pitching, especially if your goal is to rely on your own business. And that was my goal and I kind of put the brakes on that for a bit and I could see if you stop pitching, you’ll have some dry months and so I don’t want that to happen again. So I started pitching and I just know going into the next role that things will be done differently.” – Tammy
“I was working with producers, designers, art directors, creative directors. It was really cool because I got to see how many people actually are behind a project and working with the client, going through the feedback cycle. This is exactly why I wanted this, to get this experience to learn from people who have been doing this for a long time and really just understand what goes into an ad.” – Tammy
Mentioned on This Episode:
- Tammy’s Portfolio
- Nail Your Copywriting Interview (Parts I, II, and III)
- Land the Job by Acing These Copywriting Interview Questions
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.
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Ep. 143: Business Builder or Time Waster?
Last Updated on April 23, 2025
