Here’s how to build a profitable and sustainable freelance copywriting business. 

If you’re just starting your copywriting business, it can be overwhelming. Where do you start? How do you actually make good money as a copywriter? 

Get the basics down first. Start with foundations and then level up over time as you gain experience. Because money comes easier when the right stuff is already in place.

Build solid business foundations

You can’t grow and scale if you don’t have shit sorted out behind the scenes.

Basically, there’s no hack that will get you overnight success. If your goal is to make money as a copywriter, knowing what you need to focus on will help accelerate the process to hit bigger revenue months. The following categories are what I recommend every new copywriter focuses on at first if you want to build those solid foundations to grow from.

Brand messaging + positioning to attract dream clients

If you don’t want to be stuck cold pitching for work on Fiverr all day every day until you retire, you absolutely need to focus on brand messaging and positioning to attract dream clients.

What the heck do I mean by this? You need to stand out from the crowd.

• Figure out who your ideal clients actually are… More than they do X for a living and are in a certain age bracket.
• Speak directly to their wants and needs… Beyond the fact that they need your services—that’s not what’s going to get them to close the deal.
• Get clear on what makes you special… Aka how you show up online for your ideal clients as the perfect match for them.

YES there are a lot of freelance copywriters for clients to choose from, but if you focus on standing out from the crowd, you’ll never feel the pressure or like the industry is oversaturated. Your dream clients are out there. You just have to find them. 

Once you do that, you’ll start to see money coming in regularly. You learn this kind of thing in my free course, 4 Steps to Profit. 

Create a marketing plan you can stick to

Once you know who you’re talking to and what you want to say, you need to think about how you’re going to approach marketing. What does your sales pipeline look like and how are you going to get traffic to the top of that funnel?

Consider:

• How do leads find you?
• Do you have a website?
• What channels can people find you on?

You don’t need to get too complicated with this in the beginning, but you do need a plan. That could be as simple as showing up on 1 social platform and sending them all to your website which has a contact form. From there, you can improve and grow. Maybe your next step is creating a lead magnet and email nurture sequence, or a full sales funnel. You get to decide what you build.

But you have to actually do it to make real money as a copywriter.

Make connections and show up consistently

Business is human… I say this all the time. You need to think of your dream clients as real people rather than leads or potential dollars. If you show up ready to put in real effort and do the best you can consistently, over time you’ll see real results.

And beyond all this, you need to know what happens AFTER people find you and contact you. Which leads to the next point…

Create a process and document it

One thing that has helped me scale my copywriting business to even grow a team of writers and other support: Solid systems. Some creatives push back against processes because you’re worried that your work may seem cookie cutter, when everyone you work with needs something custom. But our systems and processes behind the scenes aren’t limiting. They actually create more space and streamline things so we have more time. If you haven’t done much in this area yet, get your foundations rock solid before you do anything else.

SOPS ARE EVERYTHING. In the beginning, maybe you don’t need a super robust and automated CRM, but you do need some kind of processes in place. HOW will you work with clients?

This is an area that you can focus on more after your copywriting business starts picking up. For me and the team, we find that Dubsado is one of the ways we stay organized, but find a process that works for you, and lean into it.

Make more money as a copywriter by going all in on your business.

Even if you’re side hustling right now, you have to take yourself seriously and go all in on this. Consistent, strategic effort over time is the true ticket to growth.

Skip the part where you fumble around trying to do it all alone.. Get the foundations right and invest in the right stuff. You can even get started for free with 4 Steps to Profit. This course is perfect for beginners. I created it to help you build the foundations of a profitable business in just 4 days.

The Biz Bar is also full of tools that can help you DIY your messaging, website, and marketing ASAP. Check it out here.