Copywriting: my journey from ‘what this?’ to ‘got this!’

I’ll tell you straight up: I didn’t know that copywriting was a thing until about three years ago. 

True story. 

Here’s how I came to not only learn what it is, but to make a living out of it.

I realised early on that writing is the best thing ever

I’ve always loved writing. Like, hardcore.

In primary school I would write short stories and poems, and proudly present them to my teachers as gifts. I filled notebooks with what I thought were Tolstoy-esque masterpiece novels, but were really only short ramblings of a budding writer kid.

And I READ. I read so many books. I still do. I was reading my mum’s Reader’s Digest books (bought for crafting purposes) at the age of four. Because I just love words. I love how people can use them so cleverly and create worlds with them.

Naturally, I thought I’d be a writer when I was older. However, I thought that the only careers you could build with this skill were:

• Journalism (a dying industry - and kind of icky)

• Novel writing (which would be excellent if I could sit still for 6 months)

• Writing for magazines (another somewhat dying industry).

Little Steph thought those career paths sounded a bit ephemeral and tricky to pursue, so I turned my sights on a different shiny thing – media. I studied media via distance education in high school (because my school was really uncool and behind the times, and didn’t offer it) and then went on to study it at university too.

All the while (can you believe this?), I still didn’t know what ‘marketing’ or ‘copywriting’ were. Lol.

I landed a marketing job… eventually

After spending nine months looking for a graduate job, I finally landed a job in Melbourne as a Marketing Analyst. This was a glorified admin role, which happened to include some writing because no one else in the business had writing skills. I got my first exposure to copywriting – but I didn’t know that what I was doing had such a fancy title back then. I just thought I was writing!

In this marketing role I wrote for so many exciting brands (ahem... Ben and Jerry’s for example, just to name-drop). I wrote web content, brand stories, advertisements, social media posts and more. I planned entire marketing strategies and integrated campaigns. I believed I was a marketing ninja. 

But I didn’t know that I wanted to specialise as a copywriter yet.

I wrote a student journey

After a couple of years I landed a job at a university as a student communications Content Strategist. I remember realising that the thing I enjoyed most about my job (and was best at) was writing! I was mostly crafting student emails and website content, and I’d get so much satisfaction from absolutely nailing a message – writing clearly, concisely and deliberately so the people reading the content (students) would know what they had to do next.

I was lucky enough to have great access to analytics and even to the students themselves to get feedback on my work and see how effective it was. Man oh man, did I get a kick out of seeing the open rates and click rates I wanted to see. It meant I was doing it right!

At that point, I knew I had to make this writing thing a full-time gig. I couldn’t be spending large parts of my day doing admin, being pulled into useless meetings, and pretending I knew what I was talking about in front of important, stuffy executives. 

I looked around at jobs online, and discovered a funny term called ‘copywriting’ which seemed to fit the bill. And then I was struck by a particularly intriguing job ad...

I worked in a copywriting agency

I applied for a copywriting job at Avion Communications on a whim. I didn’t expect to get a call, or even an interview, let alone get offered the position! This was an awesome opportunity to work in a team of copywriting experts. And what an awesome experience it was.

I worked in-house for a bank client for the first 12 months. This was great exposure, because I got to work in an agile environment alongside specialist SEO, UX, marketing, product and legal teams. I learned so much about creating content in large organisations, and I learned just how slowly large organisations take to execute on the content you create! I think I was there about six months before I had an article published.

I also learned a lot about insurance, and that I should probably get some.

While I loved my time at the bank, I knew the corporate space wasn’t for me. I wasn’t close enough to the action. I wasn’t able to influence the business or directly impact customers. I discovered my passion for small businesses, particularly ones in which I can work directly with a business owner.

My boss at the content agency was generous enough to see that I wanted a more hands-on experience with clients, so she let me manage a few smaller clients. And I. Was. In. My. Element. I built some wonderful client relationships, and helped encourage business owners to try new things and get creative with their content. It was very cool.

I noticed a gap I could fill

After two years in agency land, I was hungry for more. I realised that writing wasn’t the only part of copywriting that I loved. I also loved working closely with business owners, and providing encouragement and support as they grow their business. It may not exactly seem like a copywriter is qualified to do this, but hear me out for a minute.

When I write content for your business, I want you to see your awesomeness reflected back at you. Yes, of course you want to see increased sales and a return on investment – that’s so important in content marketing. But what if you can get that, as well as a little ego boost every time you talk to your copywriter?

That’s what I want to do! I want to be a constant reminder that you are in the world doing awesome things, making people’s lives better. I’m in awe of business owners, and I just want to be around them more.

I knew I had to take my next big leap and go out on my own as a copywriter.

I realised that I’ve got this – so I started Got This

I’d learned all I could learn from Avion. I knew the ins and outs of copywriting and content strategy, and I longed to give clients the delightful end-to-end experience I know I can uniquely offer as a freelancer. So I did something crazy. I resigned from my job, and I officially launched my business.

Sidenote: I had actually been freelancing for a couple of years when I started this business. Just small jobs outside of work hours, helping friends and people who couldn’t afford working with an agency. I knew what I was good at, and where I needed to improve. I knew I could offer people great content and a great client experience.

And here we are! The end of my journey. Or rather, it’s really just the beginning of a new journey, isn’t it? I’m so excited to see where this takes me and how I can help make the world a better place through accessible, impactful copy.

So, friend, I really hope we can work together soon. I want to get to know you and your business and I’m pumped to do this. If you’re in need of some content or marketing support, please get in touch today!