How I became a Copywriter

Hello!

Welcome to my first blog post as I foray into the world of copywriting.

This is not the career I thought I’d end up in but I’m here now.

 

Where was I before?

 

Let’s go back into the depths of time…

 

After high school, fresh-faced, but unsure where my future lay, I applied for a job at a coffee-shop. It seemed like a good place to start, I could figure out what my dream job was and earn some money at the same time.

Most of my friends at the time would stay in a food/retail job for a year or two before moving up to something slightly better. I thought I’d do the same.

 

Ten years later, I was still working in the coffee-shop.

 

As it turns out, having access to free coffee every day and having creative-type coworkers is actually fun as hell.

I’m not saying it was always great, but I was…satisfied with what I was doing.

I was able to move out, pay rent, get a pet, and travel overseas, but I still didn’t know what I wanted career-wise.

While I liked where I worked, coffee was not my one true love.

I could barely distinguish anything between bean blends.

I didn’t aspire to pour the perfect latte.

I never wanted to own my own café.

So I kept looking.

 

I found a Cinemagraphic makeup course online (shout out to the Australian Academy of Cinemagraphic Makeup) I enrolled in a few courses and learnt how to transform a normal human into an eerie beastie.

 

 

I had an absolute blast, and met some incredible artists, but getting started on that path would have been:

1. Expensive (makeup does not buy itself).
2. Travel heavy (I don’t drive).
3. Creatively exhausting (try coming up with a new look for an unknown face. Now run it past your client and redesign it seven times).

So I hung up my diploma, and kept rolling out the ristrettos.

 

And then COVID-19 happened.

 

Creative industries took a major hit. Restaurants and cafes either closed or massively reduced their operations.

My source of employment terminated – closed for good. So I had to really get proactive about a new career – and fast.

I applied for anything that seemed remotely doable. Nowhere was hiring.

I had a lot of support from friends and family, but they were all going through similar situations.

 

During a phone call, I offered to proofread for a family friend’s business. I didn’t realise that her business was copywriting (thanks Kate Toon!), and overnight, I was introduced to a whole new world.

I joined the Clever Copywriting School, and the Facebook community, and started researching.

 

This was a job that I had never quite realised existed (and I am absolutely stoked that it does).

 

I’ve always adored reading; at last count my bookshelves were bursting with 150 books (I need to buy a third bookshelf), but the idea of trying to be an author always felt so daunting.

I’m a fan of long sagas written about magical kingdoms (dragons are always a bonus), and the thought of even starting something like that always felt near-impossible.

But copywriting? It can be anything. It can be short, or long, it can be utilised in any industry, and it doesn’t have to be a 1000-page-long epic.

 

Here was something well within my grasp.

All I had to do was combine my decades of honed skills with customer service (up-selling combined with small-talk), with my love of the written word, and add in my creative flair.

 

So here we are! I am a copywriter, hear me roar.