So I’m a freelance copywriter – you know this much. But why have I set out on this risky and lonesome journey to be a freelance copywriter online?
Surely it would be safer and much more glamorous working for some big fancy advertising agency?
Well the answer to this is… maybe.
But let me give you my 5 main reasons for choosing the path of a self-employed online copywriter. Then you can make up your own mind.
1. FLEXIBILITY IS AWESOME
Being employed by me makes this profession very flexible. I get up when I want, work whatever hours suit me and accept whichever jobs look interesting.
Don’t get this muddled up with being lazy.
If you want to mope around all day drinking cans of Heineken, eating nachos and watching Big Brother Live – then go ahead – but don’t expect to earn an income from it!
Working for yourself as a freelance copywriter requires great responsibility, self-discipline and hard work.
But the flexibility – to choose my hours, my clients, my holidays and my location – is fantastic.
An ad agency works differently. You’re tied up by the restrictions of normal office working hours – which tend to be much longer for a copywriter. And there’s a big bad boss making sure that this happens.
2. THE COMFORT OF MY PJS AND A PAIR OF SLIPPERS
As a self-employed copywriter, the office I go to everyday is my house.
Therefore I don’t regularly go anywhere – apart from the nearest corner shop to re-stock on milk for those all-important cups of tea (British-style).
This trusty laptop is my tool and the web is my channel to the outside world. Which as you can imagine – is very comfortable and convenient.
Even if I wanted to come to work dressed up in a shoulder-padded blazer, a mullet-shaped wig and girls’ make-up like one of the band members of Spandau Ballet – not saying that I do – then I could!
Don’t take advantage of this too much though.
Lack of social interaction can send you crazy – well, me anyway.
Make sure you get out and about a bit. That initial face-to-face contact with clients can also be really useful for sealing the deal, building up some rapport and for truly understanding what they really want from you.
3. The UK, Europe, America, Israel or a small tropical island off the coast of Thailand
Reason 3 is location.
As my own boss and as a copywriter who works mostly online, I can pretty much live wherever I like.
Despite mentioning face-to-face interaction, lots of jobs these days can be done solely through the use of Skype, emails and other internet resources.
So you could be copywriting for a local firm, while actually chilling out far far away in a beach bar on a tropical island, sipping Rum & Coke through a colourful straw. (And getting fanned and hand-fed grapes by exotic women in bikinis).
You can also target customers from any country in the world.
Advertising in English is in growing demand pretty much everywhere. A copywriter on the web can snap up any of these international jobs…and if you’re feeling adventurous – why not jump on a flight right over to your client’s homeland and live there for a while?
Having a wife from Israel, whose family and friends still live in the “Holy Land”, makes this perk a vital asset to my lifestyle.
I also lived in Australia and I’m a bit of a traveling fanatic, so think of myself as a man of the world…Some might even say an international man of mystery (but are unlikely to).
Anyway, as a creative copywriter who loves to travel – being a copywriting freelancer online allows me to fulfill this desire.
4. You ain’t the boss o’ me!
In fact, no one is…apart from myself. And aside from the flexibility and ‘frolicking around the globe’, there is another big perk to this.
It’s the feeling you get from being your own boss – from running your own company, from dealing with all the responsibilities, from overcoming obstacles and from having your very own clients. It’s all kind of exciting and self-rewarding I must say.
A freelancer may not get close to writing for big international brands by themselves, but their clients are their very own. They have the satisfaction of choosing which clients and projects they want, working with clientele on a personal level and accomplishing their goals all by themselves.
Freelance copywriters will also get hired by ad agencies when they’re in need of extra talent – so don’t rule out the possibility of writing a jingle for the next Coca Cola campaign!
5. An unlimited income
How much you earn as an ad agency copywriter fluctuates, depending on where you live and the size of the agency.Level I copywriters usually get between the low $30Ks and the low $50Ks (or 20 Pound Sterling – 40 Pound Sterling if you’re a fellow Brit!). Level III copywriters can earn up to the $80K mark (65Pound Sterling).
This gap is even bigger when it comes to the world of freelance copy writing.
A self-employed, full time copywriter can earn anything from the meager teens up to a massive 6 figure yearly sum.
So if you’re a high-goal-setting, creative copywriter (like myself or aspiring to be one) – and you want to become the Steve Jobs of the copywriting industry – then freelancing could be your path to success or start with these copywriting courses!