Rachel Karl

AWAI Member Since: 2009
Age: 34

Web and Email Copywriter

Copywriter

What was the first project you landed?

Writing an annual report for a private school.

What are your current projects?

Website copy; email autoresponders for high profile clients; enewsletters for small businesses; social media marketing, blog posts and other online copywriting projects.

What has been your proudest copywriting moment?

When I landed my first retainer client!

What's your favorite niche to write for?

Personal Development

What's your income goal for this year?

100k

What's your writing routine?

It actually starts at the end of each day: I write a list of things to do the following day.

Then I get started around 9am. First I spend about 20-30 minutes studying something about marketing or copywriting to get the creative juices flowing.

Then I try to work in one-hour spurts until I make it through my to-do list for the day. I create a new to-do list before I end off for the day and anything that didn't get done that day, gets transferred to the following day.

Please give us an example of how your life has changed since becoming a copywriter.

The biggest way my life has changed is that I can take my work anywhere. We can be on vacation, and I can work on my projects for an hour or two each day if I want.

Also, I create my own schedule. So I can take off in the middle of the day to go on a field trip with my kids, have lunch with friends or take a yoga class!

Finally, I'm in charge of my income. The only ceilings on my income are the ones I place there myself. If I want to make more money, all I have to do is pick up a few more projects. I love that!

What success tip would you like to share with your fellow writers?

F-O-C-U-S: Follow One Course Until Successful.

The downside of not having a boss breathing down your neck, is it's so easy to get distracted by shiny objects as a freelancer.

And there are so many cool things you can specialize in as a copywriter. So, what I did was I took on anything that came my way at first. This gave me a feel for all the different types of projects available.

Then I narrowed it down to the few I enjoyed the most and studied as much as I could about those (and still study up on them). Then I created a plan that included how I would market those services. And finally, I went after clients and landed some projects that fell under my chosen specialties.

Now, I've become known as the "go-to" gal to many of my clients for those specific types of projects.

When did you realize you were living the copywriter's life?

About five months ago when I had landed several retainer clients, and I wasn't chasing after clients anymore.