Russ Banister
AWAI Member Since: 2003
Age: 38
What's your current occupation?
Marketing Copywriter
What's your former occupation?
Warehouse Distribution Manager for a national bakery
What was the first project you landed?
Email copy for a safety information publisher – who liked it so much they offered me full-time employment!
What are your current projects?
What am I not doing? Currently, I'm working on a sales brochure for a trade show. I'm responsible for the daily email schedule that covers our vast line of products. I've written invitations for audio-conferences and webinars, I've done long copy DM pieces to specified targets, and… oh yeah, we just changed web platforms and guess who is writing most of the new copy! I'm getting a real-world, first-class indoctrination into the high-stakes world of DM copywriting!
What has been your proudest copywriting moment?
I originally turned down the job I have now because of the money and travel issues. Four months later, they offered me everything I asked for! And the chance to apprentice under a top-notch copywriter who's been writing for more than 30 years.
What's your favorite niche to write for?
Safety, followed by self-help
What's your writing routine?
In the afternoon, I usually do research on the piece that's due next, then sleep on what I've learned, and work things out during my drive to the office the next day. Once at work, I read one or more good DM pieces and find a “thought starter.” From there, it's a matter of getting everything down on paper, then going back and editing for organization and clarity. A quick run by my copy chief, and it's off to creative.
Please give us an example of how your life has changed since becoming a copywriter.
How hasn't my life changed? This really is the “Key to the Kingdom” that others talk about. I have a certain confidence about my career I've never experienced before. I know that what I do is so needed in the marketplace.
There's no fear of not being able to find enough work – just how am I going to be able to do all the work that comes to me.
My wife and I are in the process of buying a brand-new house – and money has always been one of the things that kept us where we were for 17 years. Now... well, let's just say that if I think I need more money, I can simply write a letter!
What success tip would you like to share with your fellow writers?
Persistence pays off. I started taking AWAI's Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting in September 2003. Then, I took the Master's Program in 2005. It wasn't until January 2007 that I was ready to make the jump to full-time copywriter. And it'll be a couple years at this job before I am ready to fully take the next step... whatever that turns out to be.
It could be a freelance career, or it could be some sort of information publishing business. The possibilities that open up for me are amazing and endless!
And one VERY important factor: Create as many opportunities as you can to find a mentor. I've been fortunate. I found a great friend in a fellow AWAI member who lived in the same town as me (before Agora hired him and moved him to Baltimore!). Without his advice, candor and pushing me, I would have given up on this dream and been destined to remain a bread man.
When did you realize you were living the copywriter's life?
You mean the fast-paced, deadline-driven, results-dictated world of a professional copywriter, where you're only one sales letter away from hero or villain? (wink)
