How I Went from Corporate Sales to Copywriting From 78 Countries
APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY | YOUTUBE
You know how people say, “Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”? I call BS.
I love my job… and it’s still work. But it’s the kind of work that lets me earn a full-time income working 20-30 hours a week from cafes in Mexico or coworking spaces in Thailand.
This post gives you the story of how I went from tech sales girlie to copywriting wiz-slash-world-traveler, and what I learned about selling along the way.
I’ll cover:
Personal notes, like how I made it work financially
Professional notes, like how my career changed over time
The best way I found to work as a digital nomad
Let’s go! ✈️
NOTE: You can listen to these stories in podcast form. Listen here, or keep scrolling to read the full post.
Consume this blog post in podcast form here:
My Sales Career Foundations
I’ve always loved sales. Before I was writing launch copy, I spent 10 years in corporate sales. I started my career selling personal finance products, then after college I took a job selling IT hardware to small businesses, then selling services from the same company.
That to say - I’ve sold a LOT of intangibles, and to a vast array of people.
My favorite part of my corporate career was when I worked in sales leadership, but I soon moved to a company that gave me an even bigger challenge - tech research sales. This was the best because I got to learn from analysts who were studying sales psychology, and they were studying my sales teams, too!
So we got to implement what our analysts were studying, and got to see real-time results from new methodologies. At the time, I was selling directly to C-suites, getting trained by the people actually researching and defining modern sales strategy. I learned the buying patterns, the psychology, and most importantly: how to talk to humans like humans.
That’s what made me dangerous when I started copywriting. 🤓
It was also during my time in tech research sales that I started my travel blog, with the goal of building a side income that would eventually free me from the cubicle. But more on that in a few.
How I Got My First Freelance Clients While Traveling
Let’s back up a bit, though. My travel bug wasn’t born in my career, and it’s just as important part of my story as the ‘job stuff’.
During college, I had the opportunity to live out one of my life’s goals: to live and work abroad. After my freshman year, I moved to France to teach English, and was immediately hooked on the idea that I could have my cake (travel) and eat it, too (work). I didn’t have to be one of those people who took 2 weeks a year to travel, and one of them would be to visit my parents. I could think broader.
So, I found a multi-country study abroad program in Cyprus. Then, after I joined the traditional workforce, I chose companies that put me near major international airports so that I could maximize my PTO while figuring out how to get my job to let me travel full-time. I thought that would be my travel blog, but it turns out, the blog was a stepping stone and a lesson in the end!
After several years bouncing around in tech, I decided it was time to quit my job. To do what, I didn’t know. But, when I quit my job in 2019, I did it with the intention of traveling until I figured it out, because being stationary wasn’t working for me.
I put feelers out to my network, and immediately, people started asking, “Can you write this sales page for me?” And honestly, I didn’t even know what a copywriter was at that point. I just knew that I was a great writer and a great salesperson. And I started getting them results.
So, my travel-and-writing life took off!
How Copy VIP Days Freed Up My Time
As a traveler, time is… weird. I am rarely in the same time zone as my clients, even if I am in the US.
I needed to create offers that fit my time and my clients’ needs, and now, my favorite way to deliver services is through VIP Days. I get to offer dedicated pockets of my time when I know I’ll be available, and my clients get high-quality copy, fast.
Clients always ask, “How the heck do you get all of this done in one day?” The answer? I use a decade of sales experience, six years of copywriting, and a brain trained to think like your buyer.
Here’s how it works:
We meet a couple of days before the VIP day to strategize.
You send me what you’ve got—offers, testimonials, goals.
I stew on it, research, and ideate.
On your VIP day, I sit down and write. For 7 hours. And get way more done than you’d expect!
I love these because they are so collaborative. You give me what I need to get a bunch of copy written, and you get to bring it across the finish line.
Hire a Traveling Copywriter. We Can Translate Big Ideas To Your Clients
When you’re not selling a physical product, you have to communicate the value of an experience. This is what I call ‘selling the transformation’, and to me, it’s no different than being out in the world, living life.
That’s because both travel and copy come down to one thing: clear communication.
In your copy, the transformation has to be crystal clear. This is what I do best.
Need help defining the transformation you provide?
Want to Work Together?
If you’ve got a killer offer and no time (or desire) to write about it, I’ve got you. I live for turning “I think this is what I do…” into “holy sh*t, people are finally buying.”
You can:
Book a VIP Day
Reach out on Instagram: @nomad.copy
Connect with me on LinkedIn: Samantha Burmeister
You don’t have to want to travel full-time like me to be a great client. I just ask that you come with an open mind about what it means to connect with your clients, and be well-prepared for the attention your sales pages are about to receive!
Reach out any time!
-Sam
Helpful Resources:
Get on my calendar - if you’d like me to write your sales pages for you!
Catch up on the sales page series:
Learn how to format a sales page
Connect with me here:
To view this episode with subtitles, visit my YouTube channel here
