Creative Access is super excited to collaborate with Carolyn; a 25 year old freelance copywriter and founder of Word Tonic. Carolyn spends her days crafting carefully curated lines for ads (like the kind you read on billboards), blog posts (just like this one!), and even funny little captions on social media.
Like most of us, she wasn’t told about this career at school and went on a tipsy topsy journey to get to where she is today. So if you want to find out what a day in the life of an actual copywriter looks like – and get a few tips along the way – just read on!
Ok, but who am I and what is copywriting?
Helllllllo! Carolyn here. I thought it kind of made sense to tell you a bit about my journey into copywriting.
But first…what is copywriting?
I get asked this question a lot but in a nutshell; it’s writing stuff for brands. It’s marketing material. It’s that blog post you just read on how to make banana bread. It’s that ad you saw on the tube that made you giggle. Even the funny writing on the side of Oatly cartons is copywriting:
Now I never even knew that this career existed at school. And I kinda feel like that’s a canon moment for most of us. The kids who were good at science and STEM subjects had THE WORLD ahead of them but us English Lit kids? Nah. We either had to write a best-selling book or become a journalist. And if that didn’t work out, maybe get into teaching. I still remember going to my ‘careers advisor’ and telling them I loved writing.
Their response?
“Honey, do you really want to become an English teacher? Because that’s the most viable option.”
Thanks for nothing Mrs Smith.
ANYWAY.
With basically no help from school, I decided I’d just go to uni. Because that’s what everyone else was doing and well…it would buy me time to figure out the rest of my life.
So, I went to study English (surprise) at Queen Mary University of London but…I just didn’t love it. I hated analysing why a door was blue and to be totally honest, I couldn’t afford it. My dad’s a postman and my mum was a nanny – and they were both alcoholics. I love them, but it made juggling studies really difficult.
So, I decided to quit. But luckily within the last few months of making that decision, I found out about freelance copywriting and realised I’d finally found a career that made me excited.
I could write for a living. I could be creative. And best of all – since it was freelance – I could travel. Be my own boss. Have autonomy.
And that’s how it all started.
Now? I’ve been a copywriter for eight years and I’m also the founder of Word Tonic; a community of 2500+ gen-z copywriters.
What is Word Tonic?
Word Tonic is basically an online learning platform and community for young people to learn about copywriting and level up with lots of resources.
I created it because I was tired of always being the youngest one in other copywriting communities and I wanted to create a more accessible route into the industry. Especially for people who maybe don’ t have degrees or don’t look ‘great’ on paper.
Now we do weekly copywriting masterclasses with brands like Marvel, briefs to help build up your portfolio, live writing challenges with brands, and host live networking events across London.
What does a day in my life look like?
Freelance copywriting is very different from a normal 9-5. I don’t have a ‘boss’ breathing down my neck asking where my work is. I’m not clocking in or logging my hours. I don’t even go to the office. And the best part? I can travel while I’m working- as long as I get the job done. So I thought it would be cool to give you a peek at what a normal day in my life looks like. No sugar-coating whatsoever.
8.30am; wake up, snooze, repeat
I used to be a barista for exactly one week and a half (I couldn’t take the pressure) and I remember having to wake up AT 6AM to be there for the store opening. And that’s one thing I love about freelance copywriting; no set work hours!
Since I work for MYSELF, I can decide when I get up. And I’ll be honest, some days are rough. Some days I’m feeling a lil bit low. Other days I might have woken up feeling like death after scrolling on Instagram until 4am. And on those occasions, I’ll sleep in. Sometimes even till 10am.
But most days I get up at 8.30am and start my day.
OH and this will be my ‘work outfit’ for the day:
LIL FREELANCE COPYWRITING TIP: I won’t lie – having this freedom is great but you do need to have a certain level of willpower and ambition to get stuff done. Because yes, you can wake up when you want and work when you feel like it – but only to a point if you actually want to get paid.
So my best piece of advice for those days when you’re feeling uninspired and totally ready to just veg with your Nintendo Switch? Have a reward set up for later in the day. I literally tell myself, ‘Carolyn, you’re gonna get to watch Real Housewives and eat chocolate.’ It sounds SO dumb, but it honestly does get me out of bed.
9.00am; breakfast (and by breakfast I mean coffee)
Again, I’m just being honest here. I tend to just grab a coffee and start working right away. I’ll usually look through my emails, catch up with any client comms and get my head straight for the day with some sort of to-do-list.
9.15am – 11am; client briefing
After putting on a semi-decent shirt (I’m still wearing my boyfriend’s boxers but they’ll never know) I hop on a call with one of my clients. Some people think copywriting is just WRITING and that no human interaction is needed. Not true. Even if you’re an introvert, you’ll still need to attend meetings – especially if a new brief comes through.
So on this call, I was given a brief to write my client’s monthly newsletter and to write a blog post on sales psychology. After the call, I spent about an hour dissecting the brief to make sure I understood what was being asked of me and started planning my work!
LIL FREELANCE COPYWRITING TIP: Freelance copywriting isn’t just about writing; how you interact with your clients is also A HUGE part of it. So you need to make sure you’re on top of emails and responding to stuff in a timely manner, and that you’re getting work sent in on time. BUT…and I found this out the hard way…never set the expectation super, super high. I remember at the start of my career, I was eager to please please PLEASE. So as soon as I got a brief, I’d aim to get the work done within 2 days. Even if the deadline was in a week.
I just wanted my clients to think, ‘wow, she’s fast!” And they did love it. But soon, it became something they expected. So as soon as I started handing work in on the deadline date, they were disappointed. So instead of being eager-beaver, just get your work in one day ahead of the deadline – max.
11am-12pm; work and blank Google Doc syndrome
And now it’s time to workkkkkkkkk. I put on some music and I spend the next hour trying to come up with words and ideas related to the brief. About half my time is spent looking at a blank Google doc.
LIL FREELANCE COPYWRITING TIP: Writer’s block sucks and it never really goes away. You just get better at handling it and coaxing the creativity out. One way I like to do this is by ‘getting the gunk out.’ AKA, writing the worst way first. Let’s say I get given a brief to write a headline about chocolate. What I’ll do is spend at least 10 minutes purposefully coming up with as many bad ideas as possible- and writing them down. Sounds weird, but I find it a nice way of clearing out my brain before I get to work seriously.
12pm-1pm; lunch at my local
This is literally the only time I will make an effort (when food is involved).
1pm-2pm; Google deep dives and research rabbit holes
When I get back, I switch gears to work on a DIFFERENT COPYWRITING PROJECT. Because as a freelancer, I can have many different clients – all at once. Which in some ways is really nice; having the variety can be exciting. But it can also be a bit draining to switch between two briefs.
Part of my work with this particular project involves doing A LOT of research so I spend most of my time on Google Scholar trying to find sources to better understand the topic I’m writing about.
LIL FREELANCE COPYWRITING TIP: You’ll pretty much always need to do some kind of research for a copywriting project. But it will come especially handy when you’re writing about something you don’t 100% understand – or for a target audience you don’t relate to. Take me. The brief I got was to do with writing up a headline for an ad about football for male fans between the ages of 50-60.
I don’t mind football but I definitely don’t know what being a 50-60 year old bloke who loves footie feels like, and it’s important that I do – or else my copy will come out sounding strange. If you ever get into this problem, I recommend using Reddit. Sounds crazy but it’s a great way to people-watch (safely, online) on different groups of people with particular hobbies and interests. You can even ask them questions.
2.15-3pm; final push through
And then I have one final hour of pushing through because I’m working to a tight deadline.
Now, this day was quite filled up but it’s important to remember that it’s not ALWAYS that way. And a lot of the time YOU’RE dictating when you work and how long for. Some weeks are slow. Some weeks you’re not inspired, no matter how many walks you do or how many times you reward yourself with limitless supplies of chocolate.
And that’s okay. That’s the great thing about freelancing. If you wake up one day feeling 100% totally out of it, you can drop it for the day and do something entirely unrelated.
2.15-3pm; learning and development
Once my work is wrapped up, I usually like to spend 30 or so minutes trying to learn some new skills in marketing. It’s always a good idea to stay fresh in this field.
And remember how I said I was also the founder of Word Tonic? Well, we do weekly copywriting masterclasses in the community and on this day, we actually had a workshop with a Pokemon copywriter (yes, really).
So I came along to facilitate and lead the call and…wow. I learnt so much! Even though I’m not getting into games writing, sometimes stepping outside your immediate field can help you become more creative.
5pm; a bit of a surf
THAT’S THAT! I end most of my working days between 3pm to 5pm and today I decided to head to the beach (I live in Portugal so it’s right around the corner!) to surf. I’m not good at surfing. Never have and never will be but it’s SO MUCH FUN.
And that’s my day in a nutshell as a freelance copywriter!
