A client came to me recently feeling stuck.
She's pivoting into copywriting. Every job posting she found wanted years of experience (mostly 3-5) she didn't have yet.
What she did have: a background in comedy writing, some real satire credits, and a strong pull toward writing full time.
What she didn't have was a portfolio, a plan, or the confidence that she could get the job.
By the end of our session, she had the insights needed to build all three.
Here's what we worked through.
I helped her understand there are different types of copywriting jobs, and she needed to apply for those specific to her strengths.
There are SEO-heavy B2B copywriting roles but that is not where she excelled at yet.
I reminded her that SEO is a skill you can pick up in a short course.
Making someone LAUGH on the page is so much harder to do, and she already had proof she could do it.
That's rarer, harder to fake, and exactly what brands want when they're trying to sound like a person (instead of a chatbot).
THAT was her edge.
YOUR TURN: What's your edge? Make it the thing you lead with and focus only on roles that need it.
She didn't have paid copywriting work yet, so we talked through creating some spec work (free work you do for a brand even though they didn't ask for it).
Email copy.
A radio spot.
Sample ad copy.
A few short display ads for brands she'd actually want to work with.
Label it clearly as self-created and put it out into the world anyway.
Three strong samples is a reasonable place to start, and a plain Google Doc is enough. The polished website can come later.
YOUR TURN: How can you show what you are good at even if you have not done it in a corporate setting yet?
She already has a comedy website and stand-up material sitting mostly as video.
So we talked about turning that into written scripts so a hiring manager can actually read the writing instead of just watching a performance.
We also talked about adding her most recent bylines from a credible source, even if they were small.
YOUR TURN: What can you repurpose from school assignments, internships or part-time roles to make it relevant for interviews?
Instead of sending applications into the void, we simplified the plan:
Apply directly on a company's or agency's careers page, then follow up by email with something short, around 250 words, that speaks to a real pain point.
Something like, 'Need copy that doesn't sound like it was written by AI?'
One to three strong, specific pitches a day beats fifty generic ones a week.
YOUR TURN: How can you make sure your applications are getting to the right people? Focus on solving that challenge for each one rather then sending out hundreds on the job boards.
She'd been eyeing a paid copywriting course as her next step. My advice was to wait.
Spend a month or two packaging what she has, building samples, and sending pitches first.
If nothing moves after that, revisit the course.
YOUR TURN: Don't spend your time and money on courses yet. Put your effort into packaging yourself as the solution to their problems.
If you're sitting on a skill or a background that feels off the beaten path for the career you want, look again. It might be the thing that gets you hired.
Most of all, trust yourself.
💜 Brianne
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