Hi Patty,

Ugh, that’s unfortunate, isn’t it? Many new copywriters find themselves in a similar situation and realize they should have been saving their writing all along. (So, first, now’s the time to make a habit of saving your samples!) Not knowing your fully situation, my first question is whether you can get in touch with any of your old clients to see if *they* still have any of the work you’ve done. You never know—some people keep marketing pieces for years, so it’s definitely worth a shot.

As for what you should say in the second interview, just be honest: Let them know that you’ve done work, but that you didn’t keep the samples and, boy, you wish you had. 🙂 Actually, when you get in touch with your previous clients, even if they don’t still have the pieces, ask them if they’d be willing to give you testimonials about your work. In that case then, right after you explain that you don’t have the samples (if you can’t get them), pull out a sheet with all of the testimonials you can gather. It’s not a perfect situation, but it helps to speak to the fact that 1) you know what you’re doing and that 2) people like you and like your work.

Did this help a bit? Thanks for commenting!
Nicki