Is Copywriting a Good Career?

Copywriting is a great career for people passionate about writing, marketing, and creativity.

But is it right for you?

Keep reading.

The Pros of a Copywriting Career

Here are the pros of starting a career in copywriting:

Income

Writing is easy.

Copywriting is hard.

Writing pays peanuts.

Copywriting can pay hundreds of thousands.

The difference between writing and copywriting is your ability to convert.

Can you convince people to buy, sign up or follow using psychology and persuasion?

If you can do that, you can make serious money.

Now, your income is capped if you follow the “traditional” copywriting career path of working in-house or at an agency.

Indeed shows the average copywriter makes about $61,000 per year.

But if you decide to get into freelance copywriting or specifically Ghostwriting, you can scale to $10,000 per month in income pretty fast.

I know this because I was able to do this in my first year.

Then I coached someone else to do it in 2 weeks.

Yes, these are abnormal results but Taylin didn’t have a career in copywriting. In fact, he was a school teacher.

Everyone’s path is different.

You can go the traditional route and get paid to learn copywriting through an apprenticeship.

There’s nothing wrong with that.

Or you can sign up for mentorships, pay for courses and take action to shortcut your way to making 3x as much while living a life on your own terms.

Creativity

Copywriters no matter if they are in-house, freelancers or work at agencies need to use creativity.

If you’re not a creative person, copywriting might not be for you.

But I believe every person has the ability to be creative. It’s no different than a muscle you train at the gym.

It’s actually one of my favorite parts about being a copywriter.

There’s nothing more boring than typing in data into excel.

With copywriting, you get to deeply understand your prospect.

The level of creativity required for each job can vary depending on the niche.

If you’re a technical copywriter, you’re going to be creating boring manuals but if you’re a Ghostwriter you’re going to be writing things that shock people and capture attention.

For example, when I ghost wrote for CEOs, Entrepreneurs, Influencers or even P-Stars on social media, I had to research and understand them.

So that way, I could pretend to be them and grow their Twitter accounts.

I got paid to write Tweets for these people, build their brands, grow their followings and drive more opportunities into their businesses.

If that’s not the coolest job in the world, I don’t know what is.

High Demand

You’d think that with AI, copywriters are screwed.

It’s actually the opposite.

AI has replaced unskilled writers.

There’s no point in hiring a mediocre writer when chatGPT can write the same quality content.

AI has made it much harder for companies to hire top tier talent.

For every great writer, there are 10-20 horrible applicants they have to sift through.

If you’re great at what you do, companies and clients with money will hire you.

The Cons Of a Copywriting Career

Here are the cons of starting a career in copywriting:

High Competition

The more people who can do what you do, the less you're paid.

There’s a lot of “competition” in this industry.

And as a beginner, there were so many copywriters better than me.

You’ll find this is true whether you’re trying to freelance or apply for a traditional copywriting job.

It’s a huge con but you can beat it by separating yourself from the competition.

Just combine your skills and choose a niche.

For example:

1) I knew how to grow on Twitter (now X)

2) I knew the foundations of copywriting

So I used my informational leverage in both to my advantage.

I became a Twitter ghostwriter.

There were tons of Ghostwriters on Twitter.

The truth is, 99% don't know how to grow their own account, let alone clients.

I figured it out.

Within a few days, I landed my 1st client.

$3,000/month.

Then a few days later, another for $3000/month.

Then a couple weeks later, another for $5000/month.

Within 27 days my business was at $11K/month.

Pressure

If you decide to become a copywriter, there’s pressure to perform depending on the niche.

For example, if you write SEO optimized blog posts, your service is more productized.

Clients expect a certain deliverable in exchange for money.

If your work is performance based, there can be more pressure.

But this is the reality of where the future is headed with AI.

The days of jumping into a corporate job and being a leech are winding down.

You have to prove your value in today’s economy by getting results or AI will likely replace you.

Sometimes, you can’t always hit the mark.

But it happens to everyone.

I’ve lost clients along the way too.

You just need to remember why you started and keep pushing.

Do You Need A Degree?

You don’t need a degree to become a copywriter.

Businesses want results.

My $3,000/month clients never asked if I had a degree.

My $5000/month clients never asked if I had a degree.

My $6800/month clients never asked if I had a degree.

If you can get results, you’re qualified.

The quality of your writing shows when you either make your clients more money or get them more followers.

The name of the university you attended or the degree you earned does not reflect your skills as a writer.

Career Paths in Copywriting

In-House

If you work in-house, the job could be less stressful.

Your salary will likely be lower than working at an agency or freelancing.

Agency

Agency is more fast paced.

There’s more pressure to perform because you need to get results for your bosses' clients.

Agencies can give you more flexibility than working an in-house job.

There’s more potential for part-time work as well.

Freelance

You’ll make more money working a freelance job but now there’s more pressure because you answer directly to clients.

You also have to wear all hats including finance, administration, HR and operations.

You’re a one man army or one woman army.

Full Stack Creator

The Full-Stack Creator is the future of the creator economy.

Copywriting + Sales

Writing + Psychology

Content + Copywriting

Social Media + Email Marketing

Build an audience and stack skills.

This is where you only choose to work with a small number of high paying clients and the rest of your income comes from productizing the knowledge you’ve learned and selling it through a course or coaching program.

This is where it’s at.