So what does a day in the life of a copywriter look like?
Well, no two days are the exact same,
and if you asked me that question in 2019,
before the global pandemic,
my answer would be wildly different than it is today.
So welcome to the first edition of my new series,
where I'll give you an insider look
at my life behind the scenes.
Come along with me as I share
a day in the life of a copywriter, pandemic edition
(upbeat music)
Hey guys, what's up?
It's Alex.
Since starting my channel a whole 73 episodes go,
I have received so many questions from my global community
wondering what goes on behind the scenes
here at the Copy Posse.
So today I'm giving you a sneak peek
at what a regular work day looks like
while I run my copywriting agency and academy.
But this video comes with a big fat disclaimer.
While my days would usually differ throughout the week,
ever since the pandemic hit,
my life has gotten a lot more consistent,
and a lot less, well, glamorous thanks to restricted travel,
canceled masterminds, and temporary closures
of my favorite cafes and working spaces.
But aside from a drastically toned down travel schedule,
I am so grateful that it's basically been business as usual
in my world, and I've been able to use this time
to continue to scale my business, grow my team,
get new clients, and coach and mentor hundreds
of amazing, inspiring students from around the world
in my copywriter coaching programs.
Now, if you are ready to face this challenging time head on,
my channel is full of tutorials and guides on copywriting,
marketing, and branding tips that are working today.
So go ahead and join the posse
by subscribing to my channel below,
and don't forget to ring that bell to be notified
when my next video goes live.
In just minutes, You'll be well on your way
to igniting your business this year.
Yes, even in the middle of a global pandemic,
and I'm about to give you a taste
of what that could look like for you.
So here it is, a day in the life of a copywriter,
the pandemic edition.
Some of you might be surprised by this,
but I wake up pretty early for someone
who sets their own hours.
On most days, I am up by 7:00 a.m.,
unless Tater, my puppy, wakes me up even earlier than that,
which if I'm being honest, is probably most days.
So after heading downstairs and feeding Tater,
I make myself an oat milk latte.
I love getting up early before the noise
of the world starts up, but this doesn't mean
that I rush right into my to-do list.
I love, love, love to ease into my mornings.
After making coffee, my partner Jaxon
and I usually spend about 30 minutes or so on the back patio
before he heads off to his studio for the day.
We try to do this every single morning as a way to connect
and start the day with some quality time.
As a rule of thumb, we set our phones aside,
so that we can be as present as possible.
I try to work out a few times a week,
and I personally prefer to do this in the morning,
because it's a great way to get energized
before I tackle the day.
I am not someone who can exercise in the evening.
If I don't move my body in the morning,
there is no chance in hell of it happening later,
despite my best intentions.
Before social distancing, I'd work out
with a personal trainer at the gym,
or maybe go to a workout class, like Orange Theory,
or a spin class.
But these days I do my workouts virtually
via a video call with my trainer,
or I do my own routine in the back park behind my house.
If you are someone who mostly works from home,
movement is definitely something I encourage you to keep up.
If I even go a few days without exercise,
I get irritable, achy, and have a hard time focusing
and being productive.
So after my workout, I hop online around 9:00 a.m.
I try to never get online earlier than that,
because, guys, boundaries are so, so important
when you're working for yourself,
and especially when you're working from home.
Mornings are when I'm the most creative.
So I tend to save them for writing or creating content.
For this reason, I prefer not to schedule
any client calls until the afternoon,
unless I have a call with my team,
or a training with my students who live all over the world.
But before I get into writing zone,
I'll spend about 30 minutes or so checking my emails
and responding to any messages that need urgent attention.
If the email takes longer than a couple of minutes
to respond to though, I mark them as important,
and return to them in the afternoon.
I am a huge fan of inbox zero,
or at least inbox very little.
I like to keep my inbox extremely organized.
Okay, now it is time to write.
In the past, I'd often go right from my favorite cafe,
just so that I could get out of the house,
and have a change of scenery to get inspired.
That option is obviously not as available to me right now.
So lately I've been doing all of my writing from home,
and guilty admission, it is pretty normal for me
to stay in my workout clothes until about noon.
See, I told you, it's not glamorous.
But I always, always change
and get ready for the day at some point.
I swear, I never stay in my sweatpants all day ever.
Now, while I do have a home office,
I still love to switch things up,
and write from different parts of the house,
so I'm not glued to the same seat for hours.
Changing up my environment really helps me
keep those creative juices flowing.
So once all my creative tasks are completed,
I like to break up my day by heading out
for a walk with Tater.
This is usually when I run any errands
and head to the grocery store to grab stuff
for lunch and dinner.
Now, a little known fact about me,
I love, love, love to buy fresh flowers.
You'll almost always find multiple bouquets
of fresh-cut flowers around my house.
Once I grab groceries, I head back home
and cook up a healthy lunch.
Now, I try to eat a lot of green healthy foods
to keep my brain sharp and avoid that afternoon crash.
During my lunch is usually when I have a quick check-in
with my team, scan through social media,
and respond to all of your comments,
so don't forget to say hi in the comment section below,
so I can hear from you.
After a morning of immersing myself in writing,
it is time to switch hats from creativity to communications.
My afternoon is when I schedule copy reviews,
strategy sessions, and meetings with clients.
In between calls, I'll do some administrative work
and other business related tasks, such as sending invoices,
replying to emails, and planning social media content.
This is also when I'll do any copy editing or critiquing,
any of those left brain copywriting tasks
that require more critical thinking than creativity.
Now, when you're a freelancer on retainer
with regular clients, chances are there'll be weekly
standing meetings that you're expected to be a part of.
I try to have all my standing calls
with these clients on Tuesday afternoon.
Pre-pandemic, or used to travel often
and having a standard day and time block for these meetings
made it really easy for me to stay productive
and consistent, despite the time zone differences.
I like to save my Mondays for strategic planning of my week
and catching up on work left over from the week before.
Wednesdays are when I upload my videos for the week,
and Thursday afternoons, like today,
are when you'll find me right here in the studio,
recording video content.
And given my current lame social life,
this is usually the only day of the week
when I actually put on makeup and do my hair.
So after my last call of the day,
I spend about an hour doing client follow-up
and responding to any emails that have trickled
into my inbox.
6:00 p.m. is my ideal cutoff time to end work,
although there are some days that I finish later,
depending on the project I'm working on.
But I try to stick to very consistent work hours every day
to maintain a routine and stay productive.
And after my partner Jaxon returns home from his studio,
we cook dinner.
So pre-pandemic you'd often find us
out at fabulous local restaurants and cocktail bars,
but at the moment, that rarely happens.
Right now, like everybody else,
we are cooking dinner at home,
and to be honest, I actually kind of love it.
We always cook dinner together.
We'll put on some music, make a cocktail,
and chat about our days as we cook up a feast.
Italian is our favorite.
After dinner, it's time to take Tater out for a long walk.
We'll head to the beach, or the dog park,
or just stroll around the neighborhood
as the sun starts to set.
If I absolutely have to work in the evening,
it's because there's likely some urgent deadline
or troubleshooting that needs to be done,
because let's be real, when you work for yourself,
anything can happen, and you need to be ready
to put out fires at any moment.
But as a personal rule, I won't return to my office
to do this work because it can be far too easy
to get swept up, and the next thing you know,
hours and hours have gone by.
Instead, I'll work from the kitchen.
For some reason, I get last minute evening tasks done
way faster there.
All right, guys, I know this is not exciting,
but I am usually in bed and asleep by 10:30.
I know that some of you might be night owls,
but I am most definitely not.
I love to get my beauty sleep,
and my favorite time of day is climbing into bed,
ready to fall asleep, and conquer another day.
But hey, I do break the rules from time to time
and have a lot of fun whenever I'm traveling,
attending networking events, hanging out with my friends,
or hosting my Flight Club Mastermind.
But I will save that for a future edition
of a day in the life of a copywriter,
and I have to say, guys, despite all the chaos
and all these restrictions, having more time at home
and in my office has given me the opportunity
to establish a healthier routine
and manage my schedule more consistently.
I'm not saying I always want it to be this way,
obviously not, but I've been able to make the most
out of this crazy time and put more energy into pivoting
and growing my business, so that the Copy Posse
comes out of this pandemic fiercer than ever.
Now, I want to do a real quick bonus Q&A round
for those of you who have sent in specific questions
about how I run my freelance copywriting business from home.
"Alex, now that you're running a copywriting agency
and have launched programs,
how much time do you actually spend writing?"
Great question, so I would say I spend
about 50% of my time actually writing,
whether it be for my clients or for my own business.
I used to spend the bulk of my time writing,
but now that I have a team, I have more help
with the copywriting stuff, so that I can spend more time
on content creation, business development,
and strategies for growth.
Next question, "What do you do to take breaks?"
All right, so during the summer,
I like to go outside for a quick walk or I'll run an errand.
I don't often time my breaks,
you know how some people will take
like a five-minute break every hour.
I like to do one task in one sitting.
So I'll just sit down, finish the task,
and then after I'm done, I'll go do something
to take a break, like make a coffee, or go for a walk.
And if the task is really heavy, like a sales page,
I'll break it down into multiple steps,
so that I'm not continuously writing for hours on end.
Obviously, you couldn't write a sales page
from start to finish in one sitting.
All right, next question,
"How do you coordinate client meetings to manage time?"
So this is a really, really good question
because when I first started my consulting
and copywriting business, I found that I would
only schedule calls on the hour every hour.
So then I would have all this dead space
in between my calls,
which wasn't enough time to get anything done,
but it would really eat into my productivity for the day.
So unless it's a branding session or a strategy session
with a client, which can often take one to two hours,
I keep calls to 30 minutes or less.
This allows me to schedule more calls
in the same amount of time,
and then I have way more time to complete my other tasks.
So my rule of thumb is this.
Unless someone is actually paying for the call,
I keep it to half an hour or less.
Now, you might think that doing longer calls
actually provides more value to potential clients.
But honestly, that's not necessarily the case,
because when you have longer calls,
you risk over-delivering to the point
that you have nothing left on the table.
So keep your discovery calls useful,
but incomplete, 30-minutes tops.
All right, next question,
"How do you keep yourself focused while writing?"
That is a great question.
So like I mentioned earlier,
I block off writing time in the morning
and I do all of my creative work in that time.
I have a dedicated playlist on Spotify
that I listen to that really helps me get into the zone.
And if you wanna get your hands on that playlist link
and learn my other tips and tricks for working from home,
you can watch that video next right here.
So there you have it, guys.
That is what any given workday
looks like in my life right now.
Thank you so much for watching and subscribing,
and keep your comments and suggestions coming.
I love to hear from you.
Until next week, I'm Alex, ciao for now.
(upbeat music)
(Alex gasps) Yeah!
(Alex laughs)