How I Found My Well-Paid Passion During a Devastating Pandemic
Binge-watching remote jobs videos on YouTube finally did it for me.
It was a fine Sunday afternoon…
What a generic beginning of a story, right?
But it’s true.
Stuck in quarantine with COVID-19 for over a week now, I was looking up opportunities to work remotely. I needed some extra cash, like a side hustle. I was not expecting to find my ultimate calling.
I stumbled upon an ordinary video of a girl who’s traveling the world, having her own business. She talked about 6 remote jobs that you can do. I went through the video on a 1,5x speed — nothing clicked.
Until the 6th job.
Copywriting.
What the hell is that?
I was actively confusing this term with “copyright”, so I decided to look it up.
The next thing I know, I was spending 3 hours that Sunday researching what copywriting is and how people do it.
There were many YouTube videos to further binge-watch, copywriters saying how easy it is and how much money they make with little effort. Of course, I took all of that with a grain of salt — as should you.
But can I do it?
I’ve been writing blog posts on all kinds of non-sense, societal teenage issues. That’s because I was a teenager. In 2013. Just imagine how horrible my blog posts were.
But I did it. And then I deleted my blog and started another one on WordPress. And then on BlogSpot (the new Blogger). And then I deleted them all.
My point is: I’ve had writing in my blood ever since I can remember. I’ve been writing as a hobby all throughout my sad and happy moments. I’ve written for myself, but I’ve always wanted to inspire others, too.
But I never thought of myself as any sort of writer. I always thought that you’d have to be a famous author to make money out of writing — there was NO other way possible. I couldn’t support myself and my parents like that, so I pursued other professional interests.
Keep in mind: supporting my parents is extremely important to me. I want to make money relatively fast and abundant. Especially in a scary pandemic that might take them away too soon — a thought that, honestly, made me even more anxious.
But then I found that being a writer is now a sought-after thing.
It’s crazy, isn’t it?
You realize you have a gift in life, but you choose to think of it as a “hobby”. You jump to a conclusion that you couldn’t possibly achieve success doing it professionally.
Ok, but I was only writing blog posts and essays. Does that count?
Being a passionate writer will not be enough for copywriting.
Once the high of finding a job I thought I could certainly do faded away, I got hit with a truth bomb.
All my cringe blog posts and even my passion for writing couldn’t guarantee that I’d become a successful copywriter. AND a freelancer on top of that.
To be a “sought-after (copy)writer”, I needed a mindset shift.
Beyond the thrill of writing and expressing myself and inspiring people and all that good stuff, I needed to implement in my mind that people hire copywriters to make them money.
The fact that you write as a passion doesn’t interest your employer/partner. You need to make sales. And you need to make them now.
So that required a major mindset shift from me.
In the beginning, I honestly thought I could NEVER do it. I absolutely hated marketing and having to sell stuff. I felt that it was intrusive and annoying.
Remember that salesperson that wouldn’t stop talking your ear off? I did NOT want to be that person.
Quickly enough, though, I learned that I didn’t have to be.
While copywriting is, indeed, all about sales and marketing, my writing journey actually came in handy: in the next years, storytelling will be the staple of marketing and sales. It’s already been that for years now, but that concept will only grow.
Businesses won’t be able to sell abundantly without connecting to their clients or customers. That’s where I come in — combining storytelling and sales techniques, I help businesses grow.
So, I guess all the writing I’ve done so far as a hobby actually paid off. But that happened only with a minimum of 6 hours/day studying and practicing copywriting. And there’s still a ton of work to do to get to that well-paid level.
There are 3 lessons to learn here, I believe:
- When you actively research for answers to your problem, as I did for my interest in remote jobs, listen carefully. It might just hit you of nowhere.
- That hobby you’re obsessed with? Reflect on it some more. Isn’t it possible that you could do it full time?
- Good things don’t come easily. You listened, and you decided to pursue your hobby full time. But you need to put in the hard work.
And as far as the pandemic goes… being stuck in my room all day pushed me to expand my knowledge. I asked questions and found the ultimate answer I needed.
Now, I’m stuck in my room working towards my dreams.
You can, too.
