How I Became a Professional Copywriter Before I Turned 22
5 tips for anyone who wants to get paid to write.
There are certain things every English major hears: “Oh, so you’ll be a teacher? Oh, so you’re going to grad school so you can find a real career? Oh, so you have no idea wtf you’re doing?”
“No,” I respond. “I write for a living.” I write for a living. The words still echo in the corners of my mind when I say them. “What?” they say. “You get paid to write?” I know. I can’t believe it either. The fact that I have a job doing something I love to do is pure bliss.
Back in college (which wasn’t that long ago; don’t let my 9 p.m. bedtime and other geriatric tendencies fool you), I was constantly berated with confused looks and comments about the path I was taking in my life.
- “Why aren’t you doing something that will pay more?”
- “Why English? Why didn’t you do journalism or something more advanced?”
- “How will you ever support yourself on a writer’s salary?”
Even a career advisor at my university said, “Well, Camille, no one really likes their first job. You’ve just gotta deal with it. You just need to find something, anything, because it’s hard to find a job in a writing field.” WHAT? Who made that rule? Must I suffer in an entry level job that I despise? Do I have to resort to the level of sacrificing my happiness for a paycheck or a title? Do I envision myself rolling over in bed in the morning and groaning because that’s how much I hate my job? Nope, I don’t think so.
In a wonderful twist, I started working remotely for Ivor Andrew (a B2B marketing agency in Wheaton, IL) before I graduated. I clicked with them, they hired me full-time, and I was suddenly a copywriter, fresh out of college and forging a path for myself. All while using my writing to push me along. Who would have thought? That “useless” degree that I had was doing real work in my life.
If you want to write for a living (or if you just want to have a good job that you love) here’s my unadulterated advice :
- Don’t let anyone’s negative opinions and perceptions bring you down. Choose to plant a career where your passion and talent intersect. Find something that makes you enjoy waking up every day. To me, choosing money and status over happiness and confidence is just bizarre.
“I have a theory that the best ads come from personal experience. Some of the good ones I have done have really come out of the real experience of my life, and somehow this has come over as true and valid and persuasive.” —David Ogilvy
- Sometimes you need to get out there and explore. I found that experiencing different things in my own life inspired me to be a better writer. I scraped up small unpaid writing gigs. I helped one of my good friends start a website and then wrote for him when he needed extra content. I paid attention to my surroundings and the happenings in my life and wrote about them, sometimes just therapeutically. I read good books, both for school and for pleasure. I thought about how different styles of writing made me feel and how I could apply those in my own writing. I befriended poets, musicians, fellow writers, and all around interesting characters and learned from them and their experiences. I wrote stupid little stories and articles on my school notebooks and plastered little pieces of scrap paper with ideas on them all over my bedroom wall. I found humor in everyday things, and then wrote about them. I jotted down hundreds of ideas for potential stories and articles on my phone. I even used to wake up in the middle of the night after having a bizarre dream and write down ideas for stories and books that wouldn’t even make sense in the morning. All of this, even the simple things, shaped me into the writer and the person I am today.
- If you’re still in school, don’t assume simply going to class entitles you to the job you want once you get your degree. Everyone you’re up against for that dream job has a degree, too. The things you do that don’t have a letter grade attached to them are your differentiators. In other words:
- What’s the career you want? Do you have one in mind? Perfect. Now do that all the time for little or no money. In college, I wrote for a satire newspaper and was such a nerd about it that they promoted me to managing editor after three months. It paid $40 a week, which is obviously highway robbery. I dedicated at least 20 hours each week to editing, writing, and staff affairs. (That’s around $2 an hour!) I edited and wrote on top of going to class, maintaining a healthy social life, trying to be a good dog mom, and bartending at Joe’s Brewery (WHAT UP, JOE’S) to pay my ungodly-expensive rent. But the truth is, I loved it. Every single minute of it. The late nights I would spend tearing through several articles, the occasional horrible employees, the hair-tearing-out stress, the constant lack of a good night’s sleep—all of it was 100% worth it because I was doing what I loved. And also, I’m pretty sure Ivor Andrew hired me mainly because I wrote this article about Valentine’s Day vomiting.
- If you’re looking for a writing careers or still in school pursuing writing, keep going. My mother, who is another successful writer and has been for over 30 years (go Mom!), always told me a comforting phrase that her father used to say to her: “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” And that, my friends, is my mantra for a fulfilling, rewarding career.
