We recently connected with Lorne Behrman and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Lorne thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
When I was 38 years old, I was laid off from what seems to be my last office day job. At the time, my daughter was 4, I was about to endure a divorce, and I was a guitarist in a punk rock band with a few record label offers. I was really overwhelmed, and scared–I felt like I had one foot in my childhood dreams and another foot in the reality and responsibilities of being a father and an adult. I collected unemployment for a few weeks while I tried to find a job, but a lot of the jobs I was applying for were going to younger people without kids. It was a challenging time. I had a master’s degree in journalism, and to make more money on the side, one of my bosses suggested I write bios for professionals. These were 900-word stories for marketing purposes, like CEO bios and musician bios. One publicity firm liked my work and started using me as their go-to writer. From there, I hustled and found a few other clients, and slowly I started to realize I could make a living as a freelance copywriter. It’s taken me 10 years to build my business, but I am a full-time freelance copywriter. Every month I still worry about paying bills, and I still search for new clients, but after this long, a lot of word-of-mouth business comes my way. I am really grateful. My writing helps fund my music. I am a solo singer-songwriter with a wonderful band, and my music draws from 1970s New York punk, soul, jazz, and folk. My writing has enabled me to fund recordings, rehearsals, and invest in myself as an artist. I have a very full creative life: I write people’s stories for a living, and sing my stories as a musician. I also feel like it’s shown my daughter that there are many paths in life; you never have to give up what you love to make a living.
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 am a freelance copywriter, my work spans bios for artists, CEOs, and all professionals, press releases, advertising copy, B2B copy, and website content and social media content. I would say it’s my job to authentically convey the essence of my clients in an engaging and authentic way. My work requires strong communication skills, intuition, patience, 7-day work weeks, and lots of discipline and organization. Every piece I write, I give it my all. I have a rigorous process that involves studying my clients, conducting in-depth interviews, writing, and lots and lots of editing before I present a piece. I sort of stumbled into this work, and it involves loving writing, loving people, loving challenges, and being okay with not having a byline. I’m proud of my ability to fuse powerful personal stories into potent marketing assets. I also enjoy the fact that each client is different–there are no formulas for this work–so each project is a blank canvas. My work also helps me evolve as a person; I learn so much from interviewing people and sharing their work and their stories.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is being able to blaze my own path. I don’t know anyone who really does what I do, as most of my work is writing bios. When I was a kid, I thought you either had to be a doctor, a lawyer, work in an office, or do challenging manual labor. I didn’t know you could find a wrinkle in the economy and connect that with your talent. I will admit it’s been very hard, and there are times I feel like maybe I should give up and get a regular job. When this happens, I hustle more and a lot of times, I just have to hold on and be patient. Living frugally really helps. My parents are big inspirations to me, and they are self-made. My dad always has told me, if you work for yourself you’ll never get laid off or fired. I also can remember times he and my mom struggled with the family business, and how he just kept going. He’s unstoppable, My writing work funds my music, and after years of standing behind people as a guitarist, I am investing in myself as an artist. Being able to write, record, and perform my own music, exactly the way I hear and feel it, has been incredible. Paying for that through being an entrepreneurial creative is really special, to me.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
What I think helped build my reputation is always striving for excellence. I take my work very seriously, and I give my client’s my full attention. I do have a master’s degree in journalism, and that’s been a huge asset for me. It’s helped me write high quality content in a timely manner. I also really value manners, and being kind and patient with people. Bios can bring up lots of emotions for people, and they often have so much they want to share with the world. I always remember that when I approach a project. I also just genuinely love being a cheerleader for people who decided to get off the couch and do something.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lornebehrman.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lornebehrman/?__coig_restricted=1
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lorne.behrman/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0fPMg8ErgHUWcVlxvJAP0A
- Other: http://www.lornebehrmanmusic.com/ https://open.spotify.com/artist/612GfKZJiMyK9Fg8i5aGsa
Image Credits
Katherine Ward, Jini Sachse, and Diana Zinni