Of course, the actual process of building a successful copywriting business is long and challenging. But the steps it takes to get there are straightforward and repeatable.
And that's coming from someone who has actually built one.
Since you don't have to spend any money to get it up and running, you can start your own copywriting business while retaining nearly 100% of your margins.
Google Drive is all you need to start. No inventory, no rent, no employees.
As you find your niche and improve your skills, you'll invest in tools that improve your workflow, supplement your work, or help you run your business more professionally.
There are many ways to make money writing copy, for example:
Still, these would be the only business expenses you have. And you can easily purchase them all for <$300/month. In fact, a lot of these have free alternatives.
It's worth noting that freelance copywriting businesses are insanely profitable. If you decide you don't want to be a one-man show anymore, however, you should know agencies aren't the most scalable.
They require lots of manual work. That's why the benchmark profit margin is only about 20%.
Let me show you what I mean:
Basically, you'll take home more as a freelancer than an agency owner in many cases. Some of my 115+ students have made over $70k in a month, and I've personally made over $50k at <95% margin. That's unheard of for most agency owners.
Starting a copywriting business can be hard, if you don’t understand freelance copywriting basics.
It also depends on how you look at it. It's not exactly digging ditches or working in a coal mine for 8 hours a day
On one hand, you don't need to take much risk to start a copywriting business. It costs nothing, and you can do it from anywhere with an internet connection.
But, I'm not gonna sit here and act like it's easy. There have been months where I've profited $50,000+, but it took years of falling on my face and honing my skills to get there.
You will face a few challenges:
While some might consider this "hard," the reality is that success with a copywriting business is 100% non-discriminatory. Anyone willing to put their head down and commit will see results.
I like to think of the freelance copywriting business as the perfect gateway to entrepreneurship. It's great for inexperienced business owners and people who hate risk. And it gives you tons of options — you can scale it into an agency or use your developed skills/network to build something else.
To set you up no matter what the future holds, you want to start a copywriting business that's both scalable and enables you to work closely with other business owners and entrepreneurs. That way, you can peek around the curtain and learn how business works.
These four copywriting niches are the best for 2023 and beyond:
Social media copywriting is the niche I chose a few years back (Twitter, more specifically). There are others out there, but here's why I say it's the best:
In addition to the skills copywriters generally need, you'll have to learn how to grow accounts using social media algorithms. And, you'll have to figure out how to write for someone else.
If you're serious about running your own business but aren't sure how to get off the ground, I've created a cohort for a few aspiring social media ghostwriters. Apply to join. If we're a good fit, I'll be right there with you on your copywriting journey.
If you're a witty fella with a knack for creative writing, direct response is your niche. It's the most prestigious and widely-known type of copywriting.
Direct response copywriters write ads, sales pages, video scripts, and other marketing materials for small businesses, entrepreneurs creating information products, and established brands like Harry's Razors or Dollar Shave Club.
You can charge $10k+ for a single funnel project if you're good enough.
It's also comparatively easy to get into. Plenty of advertising agencies are always hiring copywriters. They'd give you a shot on a test project or a few free months of work.
SEO copywriting is the easiest to learn because it requires less creativity (though the highest-paid freelance copywriters will be exceptional in this regard, too).
There are, however, a few drawbacks to offering SEO copywriting services.
On the plus side, every business owner and their mother knows they need a blog. And even big companies don't want to hire copywriters internally. So finding your target clients is easy.
For example, location-based small businesses need local landing pages on their site for SEO reasons. You can easily charge $1k-$5k per page plus ongoing maintenance.
For a blog post, you can easily charge $300 to $800 once you get good. For established writers in this niche, $1,500+ per article is standard.
Email copywriting is kind of a mix between direct response and social media copywriting, but it's more character-limited and delivered to a smaller audience.
The best part about email copywriting is that it's the least technical skill I've listed so far.
Typically, you can just write emails like you're writing to your friend John who owns an ecom business. But instead of sending the email to John, you're sending it to his business's 90,000 email subscribers.
It's a great jumping-off point for people who don't want to do tech-related gigs like SEO copywriting or direct response sales pages just yet.
It's also easy to track revenue performance from your campaigns, so pay is high when you're good.
Note: There are other freelance copywriting businesses you could start and still be successful. For example, someone skilled in software development could hop straight into technical writing and charge fairly high rates.
Anyone can start freelance copywriting with no experience. I know because I've done it, made all the mistakes, and found a way to earn high six figures.
If I had to start over, here’s how I would build a $10k/month copywriting business:
If you take these steps one at a time, I promise you: you'll be a six-figure copywriter by this time next year.
If I were you, I'd start looking for potential clients and see who bites. Being married to your "niche" will cause you to ignore great clients too early in your career.
That said, there are a few places you can narrow your focus that will make it easier to find clients.
Again, you'll find your niche as you go along. Unless you're already a specialist (e.g., a lawyer, doctor, or software engineer), you honestly don't need to worry about this too much.
This is the more important step. Getting better at copywriting should be your goal every day from this day forward.
Focus a lot of your time on learning the art. And get into the habit of noticing the world through a marketer's eyes. You'll never run out of ideas.3) Craft An Offer
You won't land high-ticket clients with no experience. You don't even know what you're offering yet.
If you're going to pitch other businesses, you need something low-risk. That's why, while you're still in the beginner phase, your best bet is to work for free.
Once you know you're working for free, all the stress of cold outreach goes away, too! You know someone is going to take a chance on free copywriting services.
It might not be your first client. It might not be your fifth. But after you've done a few projects for free, you'll find someone who loves your work and agrees to give you a testimonial.
Now, imagine how easy pitching will be with testimonials like this:
"Don't sleep on Growth Ghosts. Dakota is second to none when it comes to building a brand and the Twitter game as a whole." - Tyler Fasig
Once you have that first "big break," work on a case study with them. Get copies of all the success metrics they're seeing with your work and get their permission to publish it.
Add that to your copywriting portfolio and start using it to sell future clients.
If you're wondering, "How much does a freelance copywriter charge?" I've got some tough news...
...setting copywriting rates is a crazy, confusing, inexact science.
As you get better at working with clients and more efficient at what you do, the right offer will come to you. I don't know a single freelance copywriter who had one right away.
At the beginning, just know you should be selling results, not hours. It's not about time spent staring at a Google Doc. It's about the $$$ they pay you vs. the $$$ your work pays them.
When I say “results,” I mean things like:
I've sold results in the form of more followers/engagement, brand awareness growth, and new leads/business opportunities generated through Twitter.
Once you've been in business for a few months, you'll probably have a system down. You've got a case study, and you know the results you can drive for clients.
You're ready to start pitching a "menu" of what you offer.
The easiest way to do this is:
As a Twitter ghostwriter, I charge my clients a retainer fee starting at $4,000. That includes a fixed amount of tweets and threads per month.
If you're an SEO copywriter, it might be as simple as $0.20 per word.
This right here gets me 95% of my client inquiries.
A personal brand is free lead gen and it guarantees you're recession-proof. Everyone trusts the person with thousands of followers and tons of info right on their feed.
Over time, this is the best investment you'll make. I guarantee it.
The hard part is over. Now, you've got to accelerate the already-spinning wheel.
For the most part, this is rinse and repeat. But, with more experience under your belt and a few clients to vouch for you, it's easier!
You'll probably get referrals from happy clients and inbound leads from your socials.
You can also start having fun with different cold emails/DMs.
An arsenal of social proof makes you an even easier sell to clients. And as you prove yourself time and time again, you'll attract higher-paying clients.
Bigger impact for them, bigger payout for you.
Now, you're starting to make it in the copywriting world.
Your final step is to automate your client delivery process as much as possible (another thing I teach in my cohort).
This means building out a team of freelancers you can trust to help with work.
At this point, you're in business and geared up for long-term growth.
And guess what? You don't have to stop at copywriting, either.
I show you how to build a high-paying creative business without doing work you hate.
