My journey from in-house copywriter to freelance copywriter

Let’s go right back to the land before smart phones. Where my university lecturers still used white boards and flip charts to teach and where I typed up notes and wrote dissertations on my family computer. You know, the one Apple Mac in the house for all to share.

Having zero clue what to do career wise, I figured as I enjoyed school I may as well carry on learning and university seemed the next logical step. Flicking through a pile of prospectuses that had been left on the sixth form common room table, a Media and Popular Culture Degree caught my eye. It sounded new and fancy when at the time the most exciting and different a school subject got was Graphic Design or Sociology. Cue 3 years of socialising fun and a broad intro to all thing’s media, I quickly realised that it was the sparkly advertising world that interested me the most. I was also self-aware enough to know that working at some top ad agency in the big smoke was just not in my DNA, never mind comfort zone. Marketing though, I could do that. I always had ideas buzzing around my head and I could conjure up a snappy strapline in seconds. I decided to go on to do a Master’s in Marketing and Advertising and this year confirmed that I was going down the right career path for me.

I hit the ground running at a small marketing agency in Leeds in 2007 in a bit of a hybrid mix role of Marketing Assistant/Account Handler. It quickly became apparent what wasn’t for me, being an Account Handler didn’t fit my skill set at all and the production side of things, ordering roll up banners and job lots of stickers just bored me. What did get me excited was when I could get the creative juices going with the marketing side. Now I knew what I was looking for and went for two marketing roles, one at a local radio station, and the other, the nation’s favourite low-cost airline. The interviews went well and I got offered both jobs on the same day.

My little Sliding Doors moment came and I opted for the airline, enticed by their strong brand. The next three years at Jet2.com (long before that Jess Glynne song was blasting out during tv ad breaks) probably taught me the most about marketing in my whole career. I got great exposure to every element of the marketing mix and worked with so many brilliant, senior marketeers who shared their wealth of experience with me. It was here that I got to really test my writing chops, penning destination guides and website copy. At the time, they didn’t have a copywriter role, it was just shared out between the marketing team, but I’d come to the conclusion that I wanted to write all day, every day. So, when the opportunity for a purely copy role at clothing retailer came up, I jumped ship.

For the next decade and a bit, I honed my copywriting skills in house at Damart. Predominately offline when I started, moving later to web copy, blogs and some social media posts to attract a younger audience, it helped me get to grips with how to keep tone of voice consistent for a brand, no matter what channel you had to write copy for. I also learnt all about the dark art of direct response copy. Old school yet clever techniques that still make up the basics of any good marketing message. Less fun and frivolous than encouraging customers to buy holidays, the marketing campaigns had to work smarter and harder here and this only improved the way I wrote. After 12 years though, I’d got understandably tired of writing the same words for the same brand and craved a new challenge to get my teeth into.

Wow was I shocked how much the job market had changed in this time! Any decent vacancy had hundreds of applicants, and I spent almost a year applying before even Ianding any interviews. During this year I’d been doing the odd bit of freelance copy on the side which was at least satisfying my craving for variety (plus adding a few more examples to the portfolio I’d need later down the line). One was for a friend’s business and the other marketing agency. A chance meeting with the owner was still to this day the weirdest way I’ve met a client. Sat watching my kids at their swimming lesson, I got chatting to another mum who I recognised. Turned out we had mutual friends and she ran her own marketing agency. She asked if I was interested in doing a bit of freelance copywriting for her and I jumped at her offer. It was my chance to test the freelance waters and ultimately it gave me the confidence to know that yes, I could still take a brief and write for businesses other than the one I’d been at for years! My only sticking point now was finances, I wanted the security of a monthly wage so the hunt for a permanent position continued.

Finally, I was successful in getting three interviews. Wanting experience in different industries meant I found myself interviewing for public sector and charity roles. Losing out at the last stage for the NHS and HMRC ones, I got the job for a mental health charity. Almost a year to the day I’d started looking for one. Whilst it was only a contract, I was happy to be able to promote the amazing services that they provided. Writing social media posts for a charity is a whole different ball game to launching a new summer clothing range on Facebook, so even after years in the marketing game, I still found myself learning new ways to approach creating a headline. When the contract ended I wasn’t ready to spend another year job hunting again. The roles just didn’t seem to be there and what had always been a ‘one day’ idea in my head suddenly became my most realistic option of work.

Freelancing. Eek.

Yet I knew the time had come. I’d toyed with the thought for ages but always assumed it would be a later down the line thing. Partly for financial reasons, how would I make any money? Partly for fear of the unknown, how would I find clients? So I did what any good copywriter does, I did my research. I read endless web articles covering how to go freelance and looked at websites belonging to other freelance copywriters who seemed to have clients somehow. I read two books that I found so helpful – How to Launch a Freelance Copywriting Business by Jules Horne and The Freelance Fairytale by Lisa Slater. I also spoke at length to a lovely fellow copywriter who I had worked with before. She’d been freelancing for yonks so could give me an honest insight into the potential pitfalls.

With no other copywriting jobs on the horizon, I took the plunge. I registered with HMRC as a sole trader and set up a separate bank account with Starling to keep my business and personal money separate. Then I gathered a load of examples of work I’d written for the companies I’d worked for, alongside the ad-hoc freelance copy projects I’d written and put together a pretty basic website on Squarespace. Like a lot of newbie freelancers, I probably spent far too much time and thought into the branding and colours, but I was so excited when my domain name went live on the world wide web!

Next step was to make myself known as ‘Christie the Freelance Copywriter’. I told everyone I knew that I’d gone freelance – friends, family, neighbours, the school mums, ex colleagues etc. I went to local networking meet ups, and I posted about my new venture on LinkedIn, making sure I’d connected with as many relevant people as possible beforehand.

Putting myself out there felt thrilling and absolutely terrifying all at the same time. I was ready and raring to go but I still remember that initial feeling of panic as soon as my first brief came in. Someone I’d worked with before had seen my LinkedIn post and her new workplace were looking for some freelance copy support. This first job was small but I then got introduced to different departments who hired me for various copy projects and now this company has become one of my most regular, and favourite clients to write for. Next one of the school mums wanted a website writing for her new business, then an ex-colleague got in touch asking for blogs. It was slow progress, but I was steadily getting my name where it needed to be, getting experience writing for new sectors and adding to my online portfolio as I went.

I found out early on that other freelance copywriters were friends not foe, with one reaching out to ask for my help with a huge project she’d landed. A mammoth task with loads of pages to write, it was definitely a case of two copywriter heads are better than one. And personally, I gleaned so much learning from it too. From watching how she managed communications with the client, how she priced the job and quoted. It gave me a great insight into the business side of freelancing which had been alien to me. Over the next year I experienced the highs of flattering testimonials, repeat business and invoices being paid (that little ‘yay’ feeling never goes) and the lows of quotes that never go anywhere and clients that ghost. It didn’t take long to feel like a fully-fledged freelancer and now I can’t imagine working any other way.

Fast forward and I’ve just reached my two-year freelancing anniversary! It might not sound much to some but to me it feels like a massive achievement, and one I could only have dreamt of when I first started dipping my toe into the freelance waters. So what have I learnt in these past two years? Well, you’ll just have to read my next blog coming very soon…

 As a freelance copywriter, I write blogs for clients on a regular retainer basis or as a one-off, get in touch today christieforcopy@outlook.com