If you’re someone who thrives off of interactions with people, how does the “sit alone and write your copy” lifestyle of the copywriter suit you? Good news: By following a few tips, it can suit you quite well. Copywriting makes a great career for extroverts, just as much as it does for introverts. You just have to design your career to fit your personality.
At first blush, any kind of writing can seem like a poor choice for an extrovert. After all, sitting by oneself and putting words together isn’t much of a social effort. And it’s very unlikely you’ll be able to suss out the exact write combination of words in a line while also chatting with colleagues. By its nature, writing requires solitude.
Copywriting, however, is an interesting balance of solitude and socializing. Sure, you need to sit alone to write. But you’ll also need to work with your design partner to concept and tweak your projects, and you’ll work with stakeholders to kick-off and review projects.
Copy isn’t written in a vacuum. Great copy requires the insight, feedback, and collaboration from a team of people and, while some of your job will involve sitting alone to process and incorporate that feedback, a big part of your job will be collecting that feedback in person.
Consider an In-House Job
As an extrovert, you may find you love working in an office because you get to be around your colleagues every day. Whether you work at an ad agency or you are part of a team at an internal agency, you’ll get to work on a variety of exciting projects alongside a team of other creatives. It’s not only a great way to get social interaction, it’s a great way to build your network and see how other roles interact with a copywriter. Even if your ultimate goal is freelancing, an in-office job can set you up for long-term success.
Plus, many in-office copywriting jobs are actually fun. Forget what you’ve known from other industries and 9-to-5 jobs. There are some fantastic companies with whip-smart people.
Tactics for Extrovert Copywriters
There are a couple of tactics you can try as an extroverted copywriter that will help you have a fulfilling career you love.
Tackle Projects in Spurts
For the extrovert, the key is to make the most of your time interacting with people, but also to use your solitary time in a way that works for you.
How? Try doing your solitary writing work in spurts. Schedule yourself 15-30 minutes in place you won’t be disturbed (maybe a conference room if your desk is in a high traffic area). When that time is up, head to the break room/kitchen to recharge with some human interaction.
Working in high-focus spurts should help you avoid the antsy feeling you may get when you have to work on your own for extended periods. Just be sure that when you do seek some human contact that you don’t interrupt people in the middle of their work spurts—that’ll make you unpopular pretty darn fast.
Use Co-Working Spaces
If your job is remote or you want the flexibility of not being tied to an office, you can still get human interaction by spending time at a co-working space. You may have to try several to find the vibe that is right for you. You don’t even have to go every single day if you don’t want—most offer day pass options.
Work Outside the Home
Beyond co-working spaces, you can also work from libraries, cafes, and even hotel lobbies. You’ll want to find spots where the businesses cater to remote workers (not all cafes want to have someone working all day for the price of one coffee—they’re running a business after all!). But you can find spots where other workers go to, well, work!
You can also look to sites like Meetup to find other remote workers.
Everyone’s different and copywriting isn’t for everyone. But whether you are an extroverts or an introvert, you can absolutely make it a career that will work for you—and experience significant success.
Watch More
On episode 46 of the Build Your Copywriting Business Podcast, Nicki and Kate break down how both introverts and extroverts can structure their copywriting career to work for them.
Your turn! What tips do you have for extroverts? Let us know in the comments below…
Last Updated on July 4, 2023
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