Episode 73: How to turn your passion project into a career path with Nicki Krawczyk

Welcome to The Career Clarity Show, where we help you find a lucrative, soulful, and joyful career path for you!

For full show notes, go to GetCareerClarity.com/Episode73.

Today we are talking about one of the career paths that is often incredibly coveted, incredibly interesting, and seems incredibly elusive – a writer. As a career change coach, I have heard over and over again the idea that if you want to do something that you love, that you feel passionate and excited about that feels like it gives you an outlet for your creativity, you can’t make money doing it. It comes up in all kinds of different careers. But I hear it come up when people talk about their aspirations as a writer the most. 

I’m so excited to bring today’s guest on to talk to you all about why that isn’t exactly true and different pathways that you can be using to find a compelling, interesting, meaningful path forward, getting to use some of the skills and the gifts that you love the most. 

We are joined by Nicki Krawczyk,  a copywriter with 15+ years of experience, writing for multi-billion-dollar companies, solopreneurs, and every size business in between. She also coaches people to become professional copywriters and build thriving careers of their own via her website, www.FilthyRichWriter.com, and her Comprehensive Copywriting Academy. For her, being “filthy rich” means having a job you love, being good at what you do, and making great money doing it.

Today’s episode is for you if you are interested in cultivating a little seed of hope and optimism and positivity when it comes to figuring out how to make some of the things that light you up, turn into lucrative and profitable career paths for you. Specifically if you’ve ever had ambitions around turning your writing from being a hobby or a passion project into something that can earn you a living. 

Want to learn more about our strategic framework for successful career change? Download The Roadmap to Career Fulfillment ebook right here!

SHOW NOTES:

• Filthy Rich Writer
• Filthy Rich Writer on Facebook
• Nicki’s Free Copywriting Training
• Read the Career Clarity Book!

Subscribe to The Career Clarity Show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and Google Play.

And, follow The Career Clarity Show on Facebook and Instagram — and sign up below to receive emails when new episodes come out!

Transcript:

Lisa Lewis Miller  0:04  

Welcome to the Career Clarity Show. If you want to create a career path you’ll love, you’re in the right place. I’m Lisa Lewis Miller, career change coach, published author and your host, and each week, we’ll bring you personal transformation stories, advice and insights from experts about how you can find a more fulfilling, soulful and joyful career. 

Lisa Lewis Miller  0:30  

Hello, and welcome, clarity seekers. I’m your host, career change expert and the creator of the Career Clarity Show method, Lisa Lewis Miller today on the podcast, we are talking about one of the career paths that is often incredibly coveted, incredibly interesting, and seems incredibly elusive. This is the path of trying to figure out how to make a living as a writer. And if there’s one thing that as a career change coach, I have heard over and over again, it’s the idea that if you want to do something that you love, that you feel passionate and excited about that feels like it gives you an outlet for your creativity, you can’t make money doing it. It comes up in all kinds of different careers. But I hear it come up when people talk about their aspirations as a writer, perhaps the most. 

Lisa Lewis Miller  1:17  

So I’m so excited to get to bring today’s guest on to talk to you all about why that isn’t exactly true and different pathways that you can be using to find a compelling, interesting, meaningful path forward, getting to use some of the skills and the gifts that you love the most. Today’s episode is for you if you are interested in cultivating a little seed of hope and optimism and positivity when it comes to figuring out how to make some of the things that light you up, turn into a lucrative and profitable career paths for you. Today’s episode is specifically for you if you’ve ever had ambitions around turning your writing from being a hobby or a passion project into something that can earn you a living. And this episode is for you if you are wanting to learn how to think more creatively and more expansively about what’s possible out there. because trust me, after having worked with hundreds of clients on making career changes, there are so many interesting, unique, diverse ways to craft a path on your own terms that feels are really good for you. 

Lisa Lewis Miller  2:21  

Now, let me tell you about today’s guest. Today, I am delighted to bring on Nicki Krrawczyk, who is a copywriter with 15 years of experience writing for multi billion dollar companies, solopreneurs, and every size business in between. She also coaches people on how to become professional copywriters herself, and build thriving careers of their own via her website filthyrichwriter.com. And for her “filthy rich” means having a job you love being good at what you do and making great money doing it, which is incredibly aligned with the way that we think about a lucrative a fabulous lifestyle here when we talk about the four pillars of career fulfillment at Career Clarity Show. So Nikki, welcome to the Career Clarity Show.

Nicki Krawczyk  3:08  

Thank you, Lisa, it’s great to be here. 

Lisa Lewis Miller  3:10  

Well, it’s exciting to get to have you to share your expertise with our listeners, because there is so much hype, there’s so much drama, there’s so many questions and wonders about how to create career pads that feel good. And I find that consistently, this comes up with people who have a desire to write. And knowing that not only have you done it, but you have a methodology to teach people how to do it is such a great thing to get to share with folks who are listening to the show today. So can you start our listeners a little bit further back from where you are today and how you got your start into writing and in your professional career?

Nicki Krawczyk  3:51  

Absolutely. So I mean, I have always been someone who loved to write I have humbly say I just kind of have a natural aptitude for it. I’ve always enjoyed it. And it’s always come in a lot of ways relatively easy to me. But when it comes to actually coming up with crafting a career around writing, I think I understood from a very young age that it was quote unquote impossible. You know, writers don’t make any money you can’t make any money as a writer. I remember actually once being told by a the uncle of a friend when I said I wanted to be a writer, I must have been middle school so and he said, he said, Well, maybe you should tell people you want to go into business. And I mean, clearly I am very far from 12 years old, but that really stuck with me. And I know that a lot of people if not the vast majority of people who love to write have gotten that same message in one way or another. 

Nicki Krawczyk  4:55  

The way that I got into to copywriting is actually was very fortunate. That a billion years ago when I was in high school, my dad was a marketing director. He since retired, but he was a marketing director. And he used to bring home extra writing work for me to do. So I would do the work and he would give me some feedback. Flash forward to college and I went to school for a PR, discovered I didn’t like PR, you know, who works in their actual major. And like, worked at health club for a while and the whole time going, none of this feels right, what am I gonna do with my life. And I It wasn’t until my mom actually sent me a book. And I want to save something like that Six Figure Writers or  something like that. And it was, it was, the inspiration was the more important part because I think the book itself said stuff like, you need a fax machine in your home office and relatively unusable advice. But what it did was remind me that copywriting was actually an option. It was a career. And from there, I built my career little by little over the past 15 plus years.

Lisa Lewis Miller  6:09  

Now, when you were sweet little baby Nicki, and you knew that you had this natural aptitude at writing. What was it that made copywriting feel appealing to you? Because there are so many different types of writing, it’s, it is rare to hear somebody in high school or college who says I would love to do copywriting in particular.

Nicki Krawczyk  6:31  

Well, one of the reasons that it’s rare to hear that is because so few people actually know what copywriting is. And it’s it’s not a dream career. It’s absolutely i mean, for me, it’s dream career, but it’s a full, really, truly full fledged career, you know, 1000s of people are working at it every day, whether it’s at an ad agencies or in in house agencies, or freelance, as many of our students are. So it’s, it’s, it’s just not well known. I was fortunate in that my dad was in marketing. So you could give me that little bit of insight. But one of the things that I’ve always loved about it is, you get to combine creativity, because you’re writing, but at the same time, you have an element of strategy, because with every creative with every copywriting piece you’re trying to solve, in a way you’re trying to solve a problem, I kind of liken it toward problems in a way. Because you have parameters, you have objectives, you’re trying to meet things that you’re trying to do connections that you’re trying to make between your target audience and your client. And you solve those problems, through the techniques that you learn when you’re training and copywriting and also your own creativity. So it’s this really fun mix of it’s really fun challenge and mix of creativity and strategy. I love it.

Lisa Lewis Miller  7:58  

Now, I feel like you got sort of a sneak peek into copywriting by being an unpaid intern, it sounds like for your dad and his work. But a lot of people when they think about career paths in writing, think about some of the things that are a little bit more well known or things that it’s a little easier to wrap your brain around because you’ve seen people who do them like becoming a novelist, or a nonfiction writer. Things like being an editorial writer and a magazine or a newspaper as a journalist. So if somebody is saying, okay, I like writing, I’m not totally sure what it means to be a copywriter. What copy for what, how do you explain this particular part of the professional world?

Nicki Krawczyk  8:42  

Yeah, absolutely. So copywriting fundamentally, is writing this designed to persuade or to to literally sell. And I know that right away, people go, “Whoa whoa whoa I’m creative. I’m a writer and I want to be pushy. I don’t want to be salesy, none of that.” And it’s not really about being pushy or salesy. It’s about making connections, you know, finding, you know, you start out with a client that has a that has something to offer, and you’re making the connection with the target audience that has a need, or want for exactly what that client has, and you make that connection so that they both get what they want. And you do that through writing in in words and in ways that resonate with that target audience. So it’s, it’s not about crazy pushy salesy. Nobody wants to be sold to, but it’s about saying to a target audience, I mean, not literally but saying to a target audience. This is what you’re looking for, here are all the ways that it will help you it will benefit your life, it will be a transformation and that can be a big transformation like you know, finding a hot the right hospital for your your treatment or you can be a small Transformation like the best new razor to give you a clean, close shave. But that’s fundamentally what copywriting This is all about.

Lisa Lewis Miller  10:12  

You know, hearing you talk about this idea of developing connection as being the critical piece to persuasion resonates a lot with something that we’ve heard other guests on the podcast say. And if you are a longtime listener, and you listen to the episode with Harris, Kenny, which we can link to in the show notes, he talks about a very similar kind of philosophy, that the idea of being part of the sales process oftentimes comes with a bad reputation of that you are going to be slimy or dishonest or out of integrity. Whereas fundamentally, the process of helping people find the things that they need and get them is part of what makes the world go round. But what do you do? What do you say to people like you? Wouldn’t they come to you? And they say, Listen, I’m a creative. I, I don’t want to be using my craft and my tools in this kind of salesy corporate way.

Nicki Krawczyk  11:07  

Mm hmm. Yeah, that’s I mean, that’s, that’s exactly it, like, what you were saying about your previous guests is that it’s, it’s truly about helping people find the best solution for their needs. And yeah, I mean, sometimes as I was saying, sometimes that that need or that want is, importance wise, in the grand scheme of things, finding the best new razor, yeah, okay. So, but at the same time, if you’ve been looking for the right razor, or the best new razor, that’s what you want, and that’s what you need. But at the same time, too, you have people whose wants or needs are, they are looking to find the best adoption agency that will help them find a child from another country. You know, it’s it’s copywriting isn’t just writing for razors or writing for many bands. It’s also writing for nonprofits. It’s also writing for big companies that are making a big difference. It’s, it’s helping people. We all have wants, and we all have needs. And and yes, sometimes it’s I’m scrolling through Instagram, and I’m like, oh, maybe I need some new fake eyelashes. Or sometimes I’m, I’m trying to figure out, my mother just had knee surgery. So I was looking around trying to find the best physical therapist for her. But all of that messaging that I’m getting in, whether it’s about fake eyelashes, or whether it’s about physical therapy for my seven year old mother, all that messaging is copywriting. And it’s all helping me find the best solution. And that’s that connection that copywriters make.

Lisa Lewis Miller  12:47  

That makes sense. Well, so in the years that you were doing copywriting, professionally, full time, what were some of the different avenues that you explored within this big wide field?

Nicki Krawczyk  13:01  

Yeah, that’s I think that’s one of the many great things about copywriting. But one of the especially cool things is that it’s very flexible. You know, I have worked, I’ve worked on staff, I have worked as a contractor, I have worked as a freelancer, I’ve worked for ad agencies, I’ve worked for internal agencies that work directly for companies. One of the neat things is you can really kind of craft your career to be the way you want it to be. And it’s also you’re never kind of stuck in one place. Because you’re on staff doesn’t mean you have to be on stuff forever or for that matter. If you’re freelance doesn’t mean you have to be freelance forever, you might find a company and start working with them. And they say, hey, do you want to come on staff and go, Oh, I love this, these people, I would actually love to do this job full time. And then of course, do there’s the element of if you’re freelance, you know, you can do it full time freelance or you could do it part time freelance. We have a lot of students who have other full time jobs and are doing copywriting In addition, some want to keep that that you know, quote, unquote, side hustle element, and some are just kind of slowly but surely moving their way into copywriting. Eventually, full time.

Lisa Lewis Miller  14:19  

Yea, that idea of having it as a side hustle and something that you’re playing with in your spare time, is really in alignment with the way that we talk about running experiments in your career here. If you can find a way to just dip your toes in the water, try it out, see how it feels, see if it’s something that you’d want to do more of and you want to invest more time in. It’s a really risk managed way to start to navigate and make a transition.

Nicki Krawczyk  14:45  

Yeah, I am so sorry. I absolutely agree. I was just going to say that that advice of leap and the net will appear, which is very popular is not something that I recommend if you can possibly help it You know, you can, you can get a really good feel for copywriting and whether or not it’s something that you will enjoy doing. And even if you you learn it and you practice it and you take out a couple of clients, do you think I, you know, maybe this isn’t something I want to do full time, maybe this isn’t something I want to do permanently, it’s still First of all, you can still do it pretend to feel like it. And second of all, it’s a very transferable skill, you don’t have to be a full time copywriter to get a lot of benefit out of understanding how to write in a strategic, copy minded way.

Lisa Lewis Miller  15:40  

So one of the things that that that brings up for me, is you started your career from the bottom right out of school, when you probably didn’t have a spouse, two dogs, three kids, two mortgages, you know, tons of different financial obligations. And one of the biggest things that people really worry about when they are contemplating making a career change, is the question of, how am I going to make make money? How am I going to pay the bills do I have to start over again, at the bottom of the ladder, I can’t afford to go back to an entry level salary, even to do something that I love. And I think another fear that comes up for people is, if I go into something like copywriting, I’m just going to look the same as every other copywriter out there. How do I differentiate myself? How do I distinguish myself? How can I get to a place where I’m elevated and then able to be out earning my peers or being able to earn what I’m worth? Mm hmm.

Nicki Krawczyk  16:42  

Yeah, the the so the element of how can I do this, when I have the spouse, the kids that had the mortgage, that all of these kind of goes back to what we were saying about you don’t have to dig in all at once. You can, like our training, for example, is is self paced, and I actually recommend that people not dig in and try to go like four hours of learning every day. And I recommend instead, something more like a half hour, if you’ve got an hour a day, great, but half hour a day, just to learn because also as adults, it’s not often that we learn something new. And it can be a lot to take in. And there’s also practice involved, you know, we we have action sheets, practice elements in our course, and our students, post them in our Facebook group and give each other feedback. So there’s a lot of lot of different elements to learning. But that said, if you do want to dig in and do it quickly, you do have that opportunity. 

Nicki Krawczyk  17:49  

I had an interview with a student two weeks or so ago. And her goal going into it was to replace her teaching income within five months. She had just had a baby and summer was just starting this summer. So you know, the summer of COVID. And her goal was to replace her teaching income within five months. And she dug in and did the work and she did it in six weeks. And she just last week, let her let her principal know that she will not be returning to school. And that goal was just to replace her teaching income she as we were talking, she’s saying I’m going to be as I scale up, I’m going to be able to earn so much more than that. So the obviously I’m not making any income guarantees by any means because it’s up to everyone to actually learn get the training and and do work practice and actually take the steps, you know, I can give you all of the steps that it will take to to get you where you want to be but you have to actually be willing to to take those steps in and get outside of your your comfort zone a little bit. So that’s kind of part one of the question. And actually, I’m terrible. What was I was thinking of a great answer to part two and what was part two of your question? We’re just doing this to each other.

Lisa Lewis Miller  19:18  

I know Okay, the first part was how do you come in at a reasonable salary level? Oh, was part two? If you know what I blame it on not having enough caffeine this morning. So

Nicki Krawczyk  19:32  

I was gonna say I actually have got a chance to have coffee either. They flew in last night from from Wisconsin taking care of my mom. But that’s also one of the nice things about copywriting is that yes, I have a business that also teaches people to write copy, but I still take clients I’m still absolutely in the weeds with because I like what I do. I like copywriting so I can go home and Just poor woman, she had back surgery at the beginning of May, and I was home for three weeks then and home, quote unquote, home. And just got back from two weeks in Wisconsin. But I can do that, because it’s a flexible career, you know, I, my, I could do the work from anywhere, it’s taking client calls from my parents sofa, you know?

Lisa Lewis Miller  20:28  

Well, Nikki, I want to back us up and dig into what you just shared about the teacher story and getting up to replacing your full time income in six weeks. Obviously, you’re not making any guarantees, but what are some of the things that people should be thinking about? If that’s a trajectory that they want to be on? Because there is such a pervasive narrative that you can’t make a full time living as a writer? Or if you do, you are living barely on subsistence. And you’re always one contract, or one gig away from having to sleep in your parents basement or something like that. So what are some of the differences between people who are able to turn this into a lucrative path versus people who end up feeling like they are living gig to gig paycheck to paycheck, and not experiencing some of the, the freedom and the joy that one would want to experience in this path?

Nicki Krawczyk  21:20  

Yeah, it’s it that writers don’t make any money is sadly, true for some areas, you know, sadly, unless you are JK Rowling or Stephen King as a, you’re probably not going to make a ton of money as a full time novelist, you’re gonna have to work as a professor or whatever. And very sadly, journalists don’t get paid very much anymore. And you know, your average blogger whose job is literally to write blog posts, unless they’re selling a course or also doing other things is not making money. And it’s, it’s, it is a sad thing, and I wish it weren’t the case. But unfortunately, it is the case. The copywriting is a little bit different because it is it is a skill set and produces an output, that companies can directly link back to their their bottom lines, frankly, because they can, they’re willing to pay more for it, you know, you you can take on a project and you can rewrite a company’s website and they get end up getting more signups for email or they get more purchases, or they get more inquiries or anything like that, because companies can can directly link copywriting changes to their to the bottom line, they are willing to pay for that skill set. Which is a really fun surprise for a lot of people who thought that if they wanted to be writers, they would have to be if not poor, then really pinching pennies. 

Nicki Krawczyk  23:03  

But you know, the thing is, in terms of getting into it. I think that a big mistake a lot of people make really kind of and you probably hear about this too, when they’re thinking about any career is they just kind of go Alright, this is what I want to this is what I want to do. So I’m just going to jump into into it. And today I am a copywriter I like to write so today I’m going to start marketing myself as a copywriter. And fortunately, that’s just not the way it works. The copywriting, like any career is requires training. You know, any job that you want to do any career that you want to do requires some amount of, of training and skill and honing those skills. So you know, sometimes you’ll hear people say, Oh, well, copywriting is hard to get into. And to two person, every person I’ve talked to you and said, Oh, you know, that’s interesting to hear. I’m a copywriter, I’d love to hear more about your experiences. They found it hard to get into because they just one day decided I’m going to be a copywriter and started marketing themselves without really knowing how to write copy. And yeah, it’s gonna be hard to get hired to do something that you don’t know how to do. And then on the other side of that coin, if they do manage to pick up the skills, they don’t learn how to how to market themselves, and how to how to pitch themselves, how to find clients and find clients consistently. And actually, I just remembered the second half of your question. The the element of people coming from different backgrounds and worrying that they’ll do they won’t be able to differentiate themselves from other copywriters.

Nicki Krawczyk  24:54  

We actually the vast majority of our students have no background in in marketing or advertising or you know, horrible copywriting background. And really that’s, that’s a benefit because the things that are going to set you apart one of the things that we teach our students is how to create their USP, their unique selling point, your unique selling proposition. And it’s your unique background is actually part of what makes you sellable. As a copywriter, what we teach them is to go through your previous experience coming into copywriting, you know, your, your previous job experience, your, your hobbies, things that your passion projects, things that you have have done in your past. And figure out what skills you have acquired what traits you have acquired from each of those. And I’m making this sound very short, but it’s actually a relatively long process because you want to get it right. But figure out what traits you have acquired, and then figure out how those traits make you a uniquely skilled copywriter. So when you’re creating your USP, you’re saying, This is this unique part of my background, because of this unique part of my background, I develop this trait. And because I have this trait, it makes me a better copywriter for this reason. And so that sets you apart from all of the other copywriters who have different types of experience and that kind of thing.

Lisa Lewis Miller  26:32  

That makes a ton of sense. And one of the examples that we often talk about here at Career Clarity Show is the idea of that you are a final product in this moment that is a combination of raw ingredients, we talk about you as a chocolate cupcake. And that if we reverse engineer and we take apart a chocolate cupcake to all the inputs and all the ingredients, if you take the flour, the butter, the eggs, the sugar, all the different pieces and combine them in a different order or in different quantities, you end up with a totally different end product. And the process that you’re talking about having people go back through their previous experiences and pull out the nuggets and pull out the things that make them different and they’d love to do so they can do more of those. Their copywriting moving forward is very much akin to deconstructing that chocolate cupcake and turning it into a chocolate su flair, Su flare souffle, where a croissant or something else lovely and amazing. So that makes a ton of sense. But one question I want to come back to that you hit on a moment ago. And it’s kind of related to this differentiation piece is one of the things that you articulated that makes copywriting a more lucrative and reliably lucrative path, then being a fiction writer or a journalist or some other places is that businesses can tie your words back to their return on investment, because any linkage between your work and better ROI for a business is going to typically result in you getting to have a piece of the earnings a piece of the benefits. However, in the writing world, oftentimes, there’s a disconnect between you doing the writing, and then seeing what the outcome is for an organization. So how are you able? Or how would one who’s moving into copywriting be able to tie their work output to the outcome and to the results for the business?

Nicki Krawczyk  28:27  

It’s a great question. And it is a concern that a lot of our newer students will have they say, Well, I can’t, I can guarantee I don’t want to tell them that this is the way I will benefit them when I am unproven. I don’t I don’t, I can’t prove that I have done this before or I can’t guarantee it. And the thing is, is that you’re never going to be able to offer any kind of guarantee that your work is going to do anything because there are too many factors that that effect a situation. You know, say for example, someone who’s writing a an opt in page as an opt in page for an email newsletter. But there are way too many factors that will affect the the actual outcome of that page, the traffic that they’re sending to the potential subscribers people are sending to that page, what they actually get when they sign up all kinds where it is on the website. So you can’t as a copywriter you’re never going to be able to say nor do you want to say you know when I do this project for you your options will increase your your subscriber count will increase by 200%. But at the same time, the the principles and the the the skills that you learn as a copywriter and that you practice and then you put into play in each of your client projects. Those are going to have a positive effect. Result versus copy that has not been created strategically, you know, say for example, you’re rewriting a client’s webpage and they wrote it themselves. And you even if you’ve just started learning, if you have done the work and done a little bit of practice in and really absorbed the concepts, you know more about copywriting than they do, you are going to be able to to wield skills that that they just don’t have. 

Nicki Krawczyk  30:31  

And so you don’t, you won’t have to you don’t guarantee it and you won’t be you won’t offer any kind of money back guarantee or anything like that. But just by virtue of the fact that you have learned how to do it and you know how to do it. You are the copywriting expert. In that scenario, you know more than the average business owner. Even as the average business owners get savvier about marketing and appreciate marketing more and are actively looking to work with skilled copywriters, because your focus is on copywriting and you have done the work that you have practice you will be you will know more, and you will be able to wield those skills better than they will. And frankly, for a business, even if your page increases, say for example, like increases subscriber count by like half a percent. That’s still a win for business.

Lisa Lewis Miller  31:34  

And what it sounds like I’m hearing you say is that a lot of the way that you talk about the the proof that your work is meaningful and valuable, and will be helpful comes to referencing your training and your learning. So if you’re diving into this, never having written anything, never having taken a class, never having created a provable, tangible piece of copy that you could be showing to somebody as part of a portfolio, it would make complete sense that they would never take you seriously, I’d never hire you. But they’re going through the process of getting education and training and learning some of the core principles of how do I create a compelling persuasive message? How long should something be in order to keep somebodies attention, and not lose it with this sort of infinite scroll world that we live in, but also give them sufficient details and sufficient information to be excited to learn more or to take the next step? And that highlighting all those different things that you’ve got experience with is part of how you can also create that differentiation beyond just talking about some of the unique points from your background that give you a particular perspective or particular suiting with an opportunity?

Nicki Krawczyk  32:49  

Mm hmm. Yes, absolutely. It’s, it’s all of the skills that you build. And all of the the, the training that comes into comes into play, you know, when when you are meeting with a new doctor? Yes, you want to know that they have done it before. And maybe you want to hear a little bit about a similar case. But at the same time, you’re not saying okay, well tell me everything you learned in in this class? Or Okay, why don’t you describe for me the first operation you did, when you’re coming? When you’re coming to a doctor, you are trusting them as an expert. And yeah, you want to know that they’ve had some experience. But you are not asking to dig into all of their background. And I think sometimes newer copywriters are worried that they’re going to talk to a potential client or potential clients gonna say, okay, describe for me exactly the the subscriber increase percentages, or tell me about your last five projects. And that’s just not how it works. We do have our students create portfolios, because you do need to have a digital presence. And you do need to have pieces that demonstrate that you know, how to do what you say that you do. 

Nicki Krawczyk  34:08  

But there are also ways we have students create spec pieces, which is, which are kind of, quote unquote, fake pieces or pieces that you create, for, for companies. That companies that have not hired you to do the work. So it’s kind of like you kind of imagine a project and you very clearly label it on your portfolio as spec. You’re not trying to be underhanded or anything like that. But you you create a piece to basically show off your skill before people have paid you to do work. So I know sometimes people are worried about well, how do I how do we get how do I get experience without clients and how do I get clients without experience and that’s exactly it. We create or you create a portfolio, we take you through how to create a portfolio. And as part of that the one of the best places to start is with spec pieces so that you can demonstrate the skills that you’ve learned. And when someone comes to this page, they can say, Oh, yeah, they really know what they’re doing. And for for the, for clients, it doesn’t really matter whether you’ve actually literally been paid to do that work. Or if you took it upon yourself, to demonstrate your skills in on this email, or on this, this webpage, and again, it’s all clearly labeled, so you’re not trying to like pull the wool over somebody’s eyes. But that’s a great way to, to start getting your foot in the door, starting to get a leg up, without having to worry, oh, my goodness, how am I gonna? How am I gonna land those first clients to get pieces for my portfolio? Now, you’re going to start with pieces in your portfolio, and then you’re going to get clients.

Lisa Lewis Miller  35:57  

Yeah, the idea of doing work that you’re not being paid for purely for the joy and purely for the experience is sometimes a really revolutionary idea. But for a lot of us earlier in our careers, that’s something that we just did naturally, whether it was an internship or an apprenticeship. And it’s, it’s great to hear you talking about the relevance of this type of tactic, no matter where you are in your career. And if you’re listening to this, and you’re wondering about some different applications of how to do this kind of spec work, or advanced work or free work for somebody to show them what you’re able to do. Another great episode of the podcast to check out and we will put this in the show notes is the episode with David care where he talks about moving into the world of engineering. So it’s a concept that has tons of applicability, no matter where you are thinking about going with your career and with your life. Mm hmm.

Nicki Krawczyk  36:47  

Absolutely. Yeah, the the, obviously, you want to, you want to limit how much free work you’re doing. Because the whole goal is to be making, I mean, not to be to be crass or anything, but to be making an income to be making some money at this. If you’re not getting paid as a copywriter. It’s it’s not a career, it’s a hobby. But so starting out with those, those limited spec pieces, and then you know, eventually if you’re talking to a client and they can’t afford you or which often happens with nonprofits, that can be a good place to start, but definitely limiting that since it’s actually four. I think a lot of our students are surprised at how quickly they can start earning they come in and go oh, well, I’m gonna you know, have to start I’ll spend a lot of time learning and a lot of time practicing. And it’s really not that long before you know more than the average business owner and I don’t mean that in a in a, you’re going to trick them kind of way but you have a skill set that they just don’t have. And it’s a skill set that will benefit them and benefit their business you can help them relatively quickly when you do the learning and you do the the practice work.

Lisa Lewis Miller  38:06  

Lovely. Well, Nikki, if somebody has been listening to this, and they have been thinking, this sounds awesome. I had no idea this is possible. The stories of her client sound very inspiring and very cool. Where can people learn more about you and the ways that you support people?

Nicki Krawczyk  38:22  

Absolutely. You can find us at filthyrichwriter.com and on you know, Facebook and Instagram and Filthy Rich Writer. But if people are really kind of interested in digging, more digging and more and learning as much as they can, we put together a free video training an on demand video training. So watch it when you can at free copywriting training.com. You’ll find everything you need there and all kinds of information does talk a little bit about how to find your first freelance clients. But if you’re not at that point yet, don’t let it intimidate you because there is a ton of information just about copywriting as a career and and what it can look like and what that lifestyle can be and who who would make for a good copywriter. So free copywriting training.com.

Lisa Lewis Miller  39:12  

Lovely. Well, Nikki, thank you so much for coming on the Career Clarity Show today.

Nicki Krawczyk  39:18  

Thank you, this has been so much fun.

Lisa Lewis Miller  39:20  

And if you’re listening, I’d love to hear your feedback. What you think if you think you’d apply things like this, whether you want to be a writer or go somewhere else, whether this makes sense whether it’s something you want to share with a friend, so let us know what you think you can reach me directly at Lisa@GetCareerClarity.com and send me a note or of course leave something on Apple podcast as a review, because we are trying to create a resource library for you here in the podcast have all kinds of helpful insights and perspectives on how to develop the kind of relationship to your career and build the kind of healthy, happy, meaningful path for yourself that feels like it will be sustainable. Filling and life giving for years to come. And don’t forget to go get your tools and the links that Nikki and I are both talking about at GetCareerClarity.com/podcast. And remember that if you’ve been listening to this and feeling a little hint of inspiration, a hint of opportunity, hope and possibility. And you’re noticing that you don’t love what you’re doing right now. We should talk because life is too short to be doing work that doesn’t light you up. Talk to you next time.