We recently connected with Sara Gillis and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Sara thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. If you’re open to it, can you talk to us about the best (or worst) investment you’ve made. What’s the backstory and the relevant context behind why you made the investment

When I left my decade-long career in education to launch my copywriting business, the first move I made was to hire a business coach. I don’t have any entrepreneurs in my family, and while I had a few business owner friends, I didn’t have a clear model to follow when building my business (in the midst of a pandemic, no less).

Before hiring a coach, I priced my services too low, I said yes WAY too often, and I invested in my business haphazardly without a sustainable plan in sight.

After hiring a coach, I tripled my prices, I niched down and booked MORE, not less, and I have solid investment strategies in place as I continue to scale my business.

The results? I doubled my teaching salary in my first year of full-time business ownership, diversified my revenue streams, and own a business that I love that continues to scale and support my family.

Sara, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

A a copywriter, I help female creatives stand out through words. I love serving photographers, make-up artists, florists, wellness coaches and more, by crafting word-magic (what I call copy that converts).

As a former English and communications teacher for nearly a decade and as a literary nut, I describe myself as a writer with an educator’s heart, I work side by side with my clients to serve up a hefty dose of personality in brand messaging, particularly website copy. I love to show business owners that they can dropkick the tired ol’ strategy that believes that sales have to feel slimy and underhanded and help them change the script to what makes each business owner’s journey different, so they can serve their people better and sell to them more, too.

What Sara Said is a pandemic baby that I never saw coming but am so grateful to have. My services have changed over time and now range from providing done-for-you copywriting through VIP Days and done-with-you copy and content support through my membership, The Content Huddle. I’m also launching a video podcast and coaching/mentorship offers in 2023 to serve more business owners in new ways!

I serve clients nationwide but call South Dakota home. I love my life with my husband, Jordan, our two hockey-obsessed sons, Lionel (10) and Quincy (8), and our two Doodles, Nellie and Mookie.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

I built my business while working full-time as a teacher, and after juggling both for a year, I knew that it was time to leave education behind and give What Sara Said my full attention.

With the recommendation of my business coach and a few dear business owner friends, I attended a conference for photographers in March of 2022. As a copywriter who serves primarily photographers, attending this conference was a game-changer for my business. Not only did I have the opportunity to sit alongside my ideal client during presentations and speakers, but I also was able to connect and share space more informally with photographers during our open networking time. I’m still reaping the dividends – personally and financially – from this one conference experience, and I plan to attend a few more in 2023.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When I’m working with a client, I often said YES to a lot of things that I should have said NO to instead.

For me, it was easy to rationalize that if I was already placing new or polished copy on a client’s website, that I can tweak a few other things on their website, too.

But I learned this year that just because I CAN do these things doesn’t mean that I SHOULD.

Here’s a few reasons why:

1) Scope creep is real, and as the service provider in charge, if I’m not keeping my client and I focused on the task at hand, I’m often delivering well beyond what we agreed upon and contracted for.

2) PLUS (shaking my fist at myself here), I’m often not charging an additional fee for those extra tasks.

3) Valuing each other’s time and expertise looks like hiring me for what I’m good at, creating word-magic that honors what my client is good at, and leaving other work, such as design tweaks, administrative tasks, business strategy, and more, to other talented professionals who operate in that zone of genius.

I’ve had to practice, practice, practice saying things like, “That’s not my area of expertise, but I can refer you to someone I trust to handle that task for you!” or “Sure, I can, but that task is outside the scope of our current agreement; let’s chat about what that investment looks like.” But every time I say these things, it’s always worth it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://whatsarasaid.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hellosaragillis/

Image Credits
Photos by Arc Creative Company, Maddie Peschong, and Jennifer Davis