How to Get Your First Copywriting Job

I'm about to show you how to get your first copywriting job with zero experience. All it takes is three simple steps. 

If you’re new here, my name is Ning Li. I've been a professional copywriter for about seven years and I've coached over 400 copywriters. 

I've got a ton of students who come in with absolutely zero experience. They're looking to jump ship and hit the escape button from a job they don't like. They want to get into copywriting so they can work from home, travel, and live the laptop lifestyle. 

So I'm going to show you how to get started, even if you have zero experience. 

Step number one is you need a portfolio with strong samples. You can't get a copywriting job if you don't want to write copy or you don't like to write copy. You have to want to write. 

So the first step is to write and get some samples ready. Write some emails for either a fake product or a real product. You can find one by clicking around on ads on the internet. There's plenty of ads to click on. Ads are everywhere online. 

Once you try to recreate one of those, study copywriting and get better at it. Write strong samples and put these samples into a Google Doc. 

Now you have a Google Doc with a little bit of an intro at the top that tells who you are, why you’re interested in writing copy and then include the copy samples you’ve written. 

Now you've got a portfolio. This portfolio shows a potential client how strong your writing is, if they can identify with it, and that you're not a bum on the street. 

Once you've got your portfolio ready, you're ready to move on to step two. 

Step two is to put yourself where businesses and clients are looking for copywriters. Find the lake or the pond with the fish and situate yourself there. 

Where can you find copywriting clients when you’re starting out? 

I always tell beginner copywriters to start with Upwork or Fiverr. 

You can also join Facebook groups. Search for copywriting job boards in Facebook, make your profile look professional and start applying for stuff. 

Step number three is to make them a zero risk offer. 

This is the part that's a little bit more complicated. 

Don’t be afraid of admitting you're a newbie. Don't be afraid of saying you're new. You don’t want to lie. Don't tell them you have all this experience if you don’t. 

Do play to your strengths. It’s okay to say you're a newbie. I'm going to show you how to position yourself as a newbie to land the job, even when there's tons of competition around. 

How do you land a job if you're a total newbie? 

First, demonstrate you're motivated. Show you’re hungry to learn and improve quickly.

The leverage point when you're a newbie copywriter is to make a zero risk offer. If a client includes any information about their business or their product or their service, write them three free emails to demonstrate how good your writing is. 

If it's not good, get better at it. One great way to do this is by joining my free Facebook group, Copywriters Giving Copywriting Facebook group. Once your copy is good, send it to the potential client. 

If you bought and used the product, even better. Maybe you even bought the product and went through it. 

Then you tell them… 

Hey look, I wrote three emails for you. These are free. They're on the house for you to use. 

If you like them, I’d love to do more work with you. Yes I’m new, but I’m different because I’m motivated, hungry, and a fast learner. On top of that, I’m a hard worker. 

I've been studying copywriting, getting feedback on my copy and consistently improving.  I want to get my first copywriting client and so I’m going to make it risk free for you. I’m going to give you an irresistible offer. 

I want to write for you for free. After you receive it and we go over edits and you like it, then you can pay me what you think it’s worth. That way, it’s totally risk-free for you. I’m just looking for my first piece of experience. 

After you get your first few clients and have experience to list in your portfolio, you can switch from the risk-free offer to providing your itemized list of experience and references. Then you have some leverage. 

If you have stats on the pieces of copy you wrote, even better. It shows your copy convert, your copy is good. It’ll help them sell their product. 

Think of the risk-free offer as a way for you to accumulate this itemized list of experiences and stats. Once you’ve done that and proven you can write, that is a better selling point. It's kind of like a little resume that you're building. 

So it's good to keep your first few jobs short and sweet. You're looking to get in, get a good reference, maybe get a little bit of money and then get out. Those first few pieces of experience build a portfolio to go out and get bigger copy jobs. 

There will be a snowball effect. Once you get your first few pieces experience, the rest will come much easier and with more money. 

So to summarize, your biggest leverage points when you have zero experience are…

Number one, strong copy samples in a portfolio. Number two, demonstrating you’re a fast learner who is hungry and motivated. Three, give them a risk-free offer. 

If you’re interested in learning how to become a highly paid copywriter, you can get my High Income Copy Templates book from http://ninglicopy.com  or download below...

- Ning