📖Turn the Page📖 Hi Reader! After the last email, I kept thinking about the question underneath the question. (There’s always a sneaky one you want to ask but can’t) Not “How did you do it?” But: Can I do it too? So let me say something clearly: Copywriting is not some mysterious creative gift. It’s not about being witty on command or having a journalism degree (Not to say you can’t go this route but 🤷♀️). What it is about is clear, precise communication. And let’s be honest—teachers are professional communicators. In fact teachers (and this includes anyone formerly known as teacher, lol) are top notch freakin’ communicators. Think about what you already do every day:
(Do you see where I’m headed, Reader?)
These things are at the core of copywriting.Not fancy words or ivy league grad school degrees. Not hype. Just clarity.When I started, I didn’t magically become someone new. I mean yes, I needed some foundational skills to do this work. But mostly I just redirected skills I had already built in the classroom. The difference? In the classroom, those skills were capped by the salary SOMEONE ELSE believed the job should pay. Outside of this environment, these skills are valued by the results they get for a company. That’s a very different game. Can you feel how different? Imagine your salary went up every time one of your students had an “aha” moment. Every time each kid went on to the next grade. Every time a student or parent or colleague told you how good you are at your job and why. But outside of teaching, these things—the results of your hard work—build your portfolio. And yes, allow you to reap the benefits of the blood, sweat and tears you’ve invested. (So many tears, y’all) Most teachers think they need: More credentials What do they actually need? A clear path for foundational upskilling + applying what they already know. That’s what I’ll be breaking down in the upcoming FREE masterclass. Not just “copywriting is cool.” But: • What it actually is Because momentum doesn’t come from hype. It comes from competence + strategy. And that combo is built Step by Step (Ooooh baby). (Sorry. IYKYK. Although I hear they made a comeback.)
If you’ve been wondering whether you could walk this path… Stay tuned. Next week I’ll share the details. And if you’re already thinking, Okay Meredith… I’m listening. Just hit reply and let me know which part you’re most curious about…I’m shaping this training around what YOU need most! I’ll just be over here practicing my moves until then… |
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Proof
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Hi Reader— The first time I got paid for writing, it was not life changing money. But it WAS the match that lit the fire. Within a month, I landed my second client—ghostwriting LinkedIn posts—and she was paying me $75 per post. Suddenly, I could see it. The way projects, income, monthly payments could begin to build—one on top of the other. Within three months, I was taking on more projects, raising my rates as I practiced, applied feedback, and learned. Although it still felt a bit intimidating, I knew at that point that I could reliably replace at least half my teaching income with copywriting. So in June of 2022, I told my principal I wanted to come back part-time the following year. Honestly, Reader? It felt like a celebration.
No, I hadn’t “made it” by any stretch. But I COULD already begin to taste the time freedom. To see the next version of myself more clearly because I was taking steps forward to become her. What most teachers or entrepreneurs don’t realize is that income doesn’t appear in one giant, cinematic moment when you’re starting out. It stacks. One project turns into two. You don’t wake up one morning having replaced your salary. You build toward it. That second client paying me $75 per LinkedIn post? But it was work I was more interested in and—more than that—it taught me:
And as my skill improved, my rates did too. Not because I randomly decided I “deserved” more. But because I could create more value for the client I was working with. That’s the part people skip over when they say: “Well sure, that worked for you.” But it wasn’t one-off magic or luck:It was skill + repetition + positioning.Within a few months, I wasn’t scrambling for one-off gigs. I had:
PROOF.I had proof that I could do this. And that proof changed everything. Because once you see money coming in from something outside the classroom—even a few hundred dollars—the story in your head starts to shift. You stop asking: And start asking: Because momentum is incredibly powerful. It makes fear quieter. You don’t need to replace your entire salary overnight. You just need to replace the belief that it’s not possible. And that begins with one paid project. Then another. Then another. If you’ve been waiting to feel fully confident before starting… Here’s what you need to know: Confidence is a byproduct of action. Income is a byproduct of skill. I’ll be sharing more soon about what that path actually looks like—a masterclass that will show you how to build the skills, the portfolio, and the client pipeline one step at at time. I’m clearing some time on my calendar to chat with people who know they are interested in taking steps towards copywriting. Hit reply with the word “me!” and I’ll send you a link to book some time. Meredith |
The $90 perspective change
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Hiya Reader— The question I get the most from teachers isn’t what you’d think. They’re not always looking for the step-by-step breakdown of how I got from THERE to HERE. They don’t ask about whether my colleagues or principal knew what I was doing. The thing people most want to know is: How do I know if I can be successful at this copywriting thing?
For me, it actually wasn’t a big dramatic experience that allowed me to understand it was all “working.” I sat down on a normal Saturday to pay bills—something I usually avoided until the last minute. But when I opened my bank account, something caught my eye. I stared for 2 long minutes at the top line—a small direct deposit from a consulting firm—a mixture of disbelief and excitement rising in my body. Someone just paid me for my writing. I got paid to write. When I tell people I became a copywriter, I know some imagine I landed some big-time, glamorous, household-name client right away. But that’s not what happened. That’s rarely what happens. (I’ll tell you why this is OK) My first real copywriting job was with a consulting firm. I had been bold and reached out to someone in a business community I was part of that had said they needed a copywriter. The scared part of me—that hadn’t officially been hired for copywriting work yet—tried to talk me out of it. “But you’re NOT a copywriter…” my inner critic reminded me. (RUDE) By this point I had practiced reminding that annoying voice that everyone has to start somewhere. So I brushed it off. And I emailed the guy. I was honest about my experience, about wanting and being willing to learn. He gave me a shot. They paid me $90 per blog post at first to write SEO articles about… honestly… pretty random topics. I wrote four in my first month…and made $360. Not life changing dough by any means. I whooped. And then I bought my husband dinner (+ paid the babysitter!). Because when that first payment hit my account, it didn’t matter… I had proven I could be a paid copywriter. I had proven a business would pay me: Not for grading papers. They paid me to be a copywriter. From the peace and (relative) quiet of my home. It felt small—but it felt really, really real. And that’s the part no one talks about: The path to copywriting doesn’t usually start with a dramatic leap.It starts with proof that you can.That first $360 wasn’t about the money. It was about that first bit of momentum. On March 10th, I’m hosting a live webinar that walks you through how you can build your own copywriting momentum. The link to register will be in the next email(ish), so stay tuned. In the meantime, I’d really love to know where on this path you are RIGHT NOW. This will help me to tailor the info in the webinar so it’s a perfect fit for what you need at this moment in time. You can simply click on the phrase below that best describes your current situation: 👉 I’m still teaching but exploring options Rooting for you, Meredith
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The “failure” trap
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Hey Reader, I’ll admit it. When I first started thinking about not being a teacher anymore… It felt scary. The whole thing made me scared. I honestly didn’t know what would happen if I committed time, energy and money to shifting my professional life in a different direction. Would I fail? What would it even mean to “fail?” Can we talk about why the idea of “failing” feels so heavy? Because I honestly don’t think you’re scared of hard work. I wasn’t. And I don’t think you’re scared of learning something new. As educators we have dedicated our lives to learning. I think you were trained (very thoroughly) to feel like you have to get things right the first time. Think about it: as teachers, we’re evaluated constantly: 📋 By administrators We learned quickly that mistakes aren’t private. They aren’t even always objective. (this one has always been tough for me) As a teacher, your mistakes are often very visible. And over time, that does something subtle but powerful: It wires us to equate learning with perfection. To believe that if we try something new, we should already be competent at it. But here’s the truth you probably remind your students of but don’t apply to your own life: “Failure” isn’t final.
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p.s. A bunch of you let me know you would be interested in a free webinar to talk more about how to move from teaching to copywriting, so I’m working on it! Stay tuned for details about date and time!
P.ps. if you are already copywriting, or freelancing and not in the classroom anymore, I’d love to hear from you! Hit reply and tell me more about what you’re doing!
Teachers are experts. Full stop.
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Hey there Reader, On Wednesday I talked about the feeling of outgrowing your current container. Of realizing all of the many skills you have been honing for years as an educator (some of you decades!) COULD be used somewhere other than your classroom. So today, I wanted to share more about those skills and what it could look like if you “re-potted” them. (I may have outgrown this metaphor 😁) Because it’s true that I used to think the only thing I could do with my teaching experience was… teach. And that my salary was capped at what entry level business majors make in their first year—even if I taught for the next 30 years… And that I’d never, ever be able to… JUST PEE WHEN I HAD TO without either running to find someone to watch my class or risk returning to chaos and mayhem. (I know it’s not just me, Reader.) But…then I started hearing stories about other teachers who had figured out a way to use all of their years of experience and education doing something other than teaching. As it turns out there are so many ways you could take your plethora of skills and use them elsewhere! The truth is Reader, with your years of teaching experience and—for so many of you that I’ve spoken to—your multiple degrees—you’re an expert: 🪜 An expert at taking big, complex, “birdseye view” ideas and breaking them down into digestible, incremental steps so people can learn. 👈 An expert at understanding what the end goal is in order to then work backwards to make sure every skill needed is addressed and every gap is filled. 🥹 An expert at managing many different types of people at once:
And here’s the thing I want you to know— Education companies are already paying people (former teachers actually!) for their expertise and experience.(and they are paying them well 🤷🏻♀️) 👉 to write content marketing materials infused with a teacher’s nuanced experience and deep understanding of what they would have wanted and needed from teaching tools 👉 to write emails and social media copy that appeals to the audience they used to be part of 👉 to interview teachers and administrators in order to write customer success stories highlighting the real growth happening with real kids in real schools. I know this is true because I’ve done all of these things… and much, much more. And if you already know you are ready to use your expertise outside the classroom Reader, I want to show you how you can too. <<I’m thinking about offering a free webinar to walk you through some specifics of what you need to know in order to make a change like this— if you’re interested in something like this, will you reply with just the word “ME” ? >> If enough people want this info, I’ll put something together in the next few weeks! In case I haven’t said it lately, I’m so glad you’re here. Meredith |