I’m a single mom who quit social work to pursue copywriting. My business brought in 6

As well as writing books, I’ve also helped dozens of authors write their books, coaching them in how to tell their story, including writing techniques and book outlines.

I worked as a social worker but I was overwhelmed

I spent 15 years working in social care with young people. The first eight years, I did shift work in residential care, for young people who couldn’t live at home.

After that, I worked with young people in school programs and then community-based programs for a non-profit.

There was a lot of red tape and days where it was completely overwhelming. But it was fulfilling too — I loved it.

I started writing Amazon descriptions as a side hustle

No one ever goes into social care for the money. I never earned more than 39,000 Canadian dollars a year working full-time for a non-profit.

I’m a single mom. I needed to earn more.

At work, people always asked me to help edit reports to make them sound better. I loved writing. I realized I had a skill and I could make some extra money doing it.

I started copywriting on the side

I found small writing jobs online on an ads platform called Kijiji in 2015. I’d write blogs and Amazon descriptions for clients for $0.02 a word in my evenings and weekends.

I was having some health problems and took some time off work in May. During that time, I kept up the writing.

It showed me there was something else out there that I could do. I realized just that if I could spend 10 hours a day writing Amazon descriptions, it would be more lucrative than social work.

I quit my job

I left social work in September 2015. I’d met an insurance agent who became a mentor, and started studying to work in insurance while keeping up writing on the side. It was an impulsive decision but I thought I could keep writing as a safety net.

One week after I quit, I had emergency spinal surgery.

In hospital, I spent so much time listening to inspiring stories from the nurses. For me, it was a sign that I didn’t want to be an insurance agent. It persuaded me to pursue writing full-time.

I dove into writing Amazon descriptions in January 2016 and I blogged about my work on Facebook.

I started ghostwriting blogs for entrepreneurs and business people

I was approached on Facebook by an entrepreneur who said he liked the way I wrote. I started writing his blog. It was mainly about his business, but he also wanted to bring out his personality.

We had lots of conversations. I got to know him and his mannerisms. I called myself a copywriter, but it felt more like ghostwriting.

I charged him $450 to write four blogs. Given the amount of time I spent on them, I wasn’t even making minimum wage. He referred me to other entrepreneurs, who I started writing for as well.

I took on writing social-media posts for clients too because I was charging so little for the ghostwriting. I charged $200 for three or four posts a week. I was working 70 hours a week.

My mindset was, as long as I can make what I was making as a social worker after tax, I’d be okay.

I landed ghostwriting clients at networking events

I knew I had to meet people so I set up a networking event for local small businesses with my friend in 2017.

People who worked for all sorts of businesses attended, from children’s clothing stores to chefs.

I also attended talks by successful business people. At one, I introduced myself to a couple of people as a ghostwriter and they connected me with their friend who was looking to write a book.

We scheduled a call. He was a venture capitalist and opened up about trauma that had happened in his life. He said he’d interviewed other writers and just didn’t quite feel comfortable sharing his story.

The moment he knew my background in social work, he felt comfortable.

I agreed to write the book and charged $1,500 to write around 40,000 words, which I learned afterwards was too low. But at the time, I had no idea about pricing. I had to take on more social-media copywriting as well to earn a decent living. At times, I was working 18 hours a day.

We’d meet up regularly for interviews and I wrote his book in four months. When it was published, we were both really proud. It laid the foundation for me to write more books.

I wrote blogs and essays too

I met my next client at a networking event. She wrote her book, while I gave her advice and feedback on it as a consultant.

I was able to share on Facebook and LinkedIn that I’d helped an author publish her book, though I couldn’t share her name. Lots of people reached out to me asking for the same after that post.

I consulted on client’s books and ghostwrote personal essays, eBooks and blogs.

I now work with a team of writers

I incorporated my business in 2019. I have an incredible team of writers and editors that work with me.

They take on most of our social media and blogging work, and I focus on ghostwriting and book consulting.

I write two books a year, maximum three. They each take me 90 days. I charge $20,000 for a book that’s between 50,000 and 75,000 words. If books are longer, I charge up to $30,000. If the author wants editing and proofreading by my company as well, then I can charge up to $50,000.

Last year, my business brought in $358,000.

I still run my own blog, where I write about ghostwriting and share writing techniques and book outlines.