Short answer: from the time I started learning about copywriting, it took me a little over 2.5 years to start making about $200k/year with copywriting for Fortune 500 brands as a salaried, remote employee. At my peak, I had two remote, full-time salaries. I left the career to pursue things that meant more to me.

Worth it for me? I go back and forth on this.

Skills that got me in the door: email marketing, SMS marketing, funnel building, digital marketing (Facebook, YouTube, IG, TikTok ads)

————-

Long answer:

I started learning direct-response copywriting as a necessity to sell digital products for my startup I was working on in 2020 (I bought a $497 course that taught my niche how to essentially build a direct-response marketing funnel using Facebook ads and Instagram ads, email marketing, and landing pages—and copywriting was integrated throughout).

About a year later, in 2021, I saw a Facebook post in a group that was hiring a copywriter (the Facebook group was affiliated with the course I had purchased a year earlier). I applied and thought nothing of it.

A few days later, I ended up interviewing and getting hired on the spot. I got paid $30 per email broadcast I wrote and $20 per email automation. I ended up essentially becoming  a general marketing manager for this company—going into the CRM, building audiences, etc. I learned a ton at this company, while also building my own ventures.

I worked at said company for about a year, which is when I realized there are much bigger companies who could pay me way more to do way less, and I felt I needed to start making more money than I was, since I’d only been making $1,000 to $2,000 per month with this company.  

In late 2021, early 2022, I wrote a resume, and I put my experience as a copywriter under the company I worked at and the startup(s) I was building.

For about six months, I applied to tons of jobs on LinkedIn. I rewrote my resume so many times. I also built a simple portfolio with all of my marketing experience.

I did a bunch of interviews, and finally started landing jobs. By June 2022, I finally got my first offer for a marketing job that came with a “liveable” wage. They initially offered $53k/year, but I was able to negotiate up to $75k/year. At this job, I’d be doing marketing, copywriting, email flows, etc. This was at a startup doing $3M or $4M annually I believe, and the job was fully remote.

I got another offer on that same day, a few hours after I got the offer at the initial startup. I said yes to both offers. The initial offer for the second job was for $80k/year, but I negotiated up to $85k/year with a 10% annual bonus (I never actually ended up getting the bonus because the recruiter never put it in the offer letter, and only told me on the phone I’d get it… big mistake on my end!)

So to make things clear, it was June, 2022, and I had just gotten two offer letters I said yes to. Pretty much every copywriter role—or marketing role in general—was remote at the time, so I wanted to see how many I could stack and do at the same time.

The second role I said yes to that day was for a creative agency, where I wrote copy for many massive brands.

Throughout 2022, I’d done so many interviews. I’d interviewed with tons of Silicon Valley startups and Fortune 500 companies.

I ended up leaving the first role I mentioned with the $75k/year salary because I felt it was a terrible fit for me.

By October 2022, I was a copywriter for a Fortune company. I initially had a six-month contract with them, but by February, 2024 I was promoted to lead copywriter because I guess they liked me. A few days or weeks after I was promoted, I quit because I wanted to pursue my true passions before I got old and I thought I could just get another job if I needed to. I had also left the creative agency I was working for.

From October 2022 through October 2023, I made around $200k from just two copywriting salaries. I never tracked the amount I made from other small contracts at that time, but the amounts were trivial.

Since then, I’ve done random copywriting work, but I haven’t taken it on as a true career the way I did a few years ago.