We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sara Rosinsky. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sara below.
Alright, Sara thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?
Fortunately, I’m not looking for glamor. And as something of a control enthusiast, I’m comfortable taking on all the responsibility for running my business. I don’t want to be responsible for overseeing employees, however, which is why I’m committed to remaining a one-woman copywriting shop.
I’m not diminishing anyone’s struggles—I know that entrepreneurship can be tough. But the fact of the matter is, I love what I’m doing. Shiny Red Copy has let me acquire new skills, tackle interesting projects, and meet terrific people. I get to decide how I spend my time and energy. I don’t have to commute, attend department meetings, or concern myself with office politics. I can walk my dog, play racquetball, or nap whenever I want to.
I contemplated going full-time back in 2016–2017 for the classic reasons: a regular paycheck and health insurance. But after I’d worked for a year or so to build my business, I realized that I was unwilling to throw it all away. Plus, I want this adventure to continue. Long live Shiny Red Copy!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?
I started my advertising career by … advertising. It really works!
When I graduated job-free from college during a recession, I hung up signs in Boston’s Back Bay announcing I was available for work. I landed a variety of odd jobs—polishing silver, walking dogs, painting an apartment, and even playing Scrabble with an elderly woman.
Eventually, my self-promotional signs got me a gig as a part-time receptionist in a small ad agency. One thing led to another, and I ended up working full-time and staying at that agency for ten years. I learned all about the ad business, but I fell in love with copywriting and got to learn it from my then-boss and now-friend Stan Bornstein.
I freelanced when my daughter was a baby and then started the next chapter of my career: working in-house as a senior copywriter at Publix Super Markets in Florida. I moved on from Publix in 2016 and fired up my own business again.
To demonstrate my writing ability to the world, I began creating fun little lessons about English that I’d share on social media. People liked them and started making topic requests. After a while, I had such a large collection of lessons, I thought I’d turn them into a book. And I wrote Unflubbify Your Writing: Bite-Sized Lessons to Improve Your Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar.
These days, I get to work on all sorts of fun projects for terrific clients. I love writing food and beverage packaging and all sorts of advertising. I also do branding, websites, and emails. Every so often, I get to come up with names for a product or company, and that’s just the best.
I love words—their histories, their sounds, their behavior, their power. And I consider myself the world’s luckiest duck that I get to play with words for a living.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Posting on social media is fun for me. I get to be creative, do whatever I want, and receive positive feedback. What’s worked for me is ensuring that my content is helpful and/or entertaining. Also, I’ve been very consistent about it. I’ve posted virtually every day on LinkedIn for the past five years or so. People tell me they look forward to reading my posts, so I’m motivated!
I’d recommend focusing on what interests you most because it will make posting enjoyable. And if you enjoy posting, you’ll be more likely to do it.
Any fun sales or marketing stories?
I think this story is fun because it had a happy ending for me.
After my husband and I moved to Colorado, I kept hearing good things about Boise, Idaho. It occurred to me that it would be a quick flight and that I could combine business with pleasure. So I set up meetings with a handful of Boise designers and ad agencies, booked myself an Airbnb, and planned a terrific solo trip. My husband thought the endeavor was pretty silly, but I believed it was a great idea.
Well, last year, one of those Boise designers I’d met connected me with someone who became one of my absolute favorite clients. That never would have happened if I hadn’t taken that very enjoyable trip to Boise. I’d gone with my gut, and it paid off!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shinyredcopy.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sararosinsky/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sararosinsky/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaraRosinsky
- Other: I have a second Instagram account: @shinyredcopy. And you can find my book at Unflubbify.com.