We recently connected with Amanda Lien and have shared our conversation below.

Amanda, appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?

“I could never be a writer. Writing scares me.”

I can’t count how many times these two sentences have been spoken, emailed, or commented to me. It’s not in a condescending way; in fact, these people are typically saying it as an expression of awe in response to my answer to their question: “What do you do for work?”

My first client – back when I didn’t even call myself a freelancer because I was “just” a journalism school kid trying to build out her portfolio on the side – said those exact words to me. It was why she, a small business owner in the greater Philadelphia area, wanted to hire a freelance copywriter. Writing terrified her, and trying to craft copy for her website ahead of opening day was too much of a mental load to manage.

So, because writing doesn’t scare me, I offered to take on that load. The relief in her smile was tremendous – and the delight (and flurry of exclamation points) in her follow-up emails after content delivery was the cherry on top.

As my business grew and developed, my web copywriting offer morphed into more offerings: ghostwritten blog posts, social media copy, landing page and email drip writing, marketing asset creation, and so on. But nearly every time I onboarded a new client, I was told the same thing:

“Writing scares me.”

For some of my clients, it was the blank page and blinking cursor that got them. For others, it was their lack of time and energy to try to marshall their vast industry knowledge into intelligible words or actionable content. For most, it was as simple as, “I don’t have the time and knowledge to do this. You do. Can we team up?”

My mindset shifted when I formalized my business as an LLC amidst the pandemic. I wasn’t “just” anything – I was a creative services business focused on providing creative content and marketing strategy services to people for whom this kind of thing was inaccessible (due to circumstance, lack of talent or time, or something completely different). The idea behind that idea was simple: I want people who are scared of writing to feel they can trust me with their concepts and rest in the knowledge that someone for whom writing is a passion, delight, and joy will take care of it.

Because my work is rooted in that service mindset, it will always be a worthwhile endeavor.

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’m a creative copywriter, marketing writer and content strategist who has spent the past 5+ years serving clients across industries and company life stages. I craft case studies, ghostwritten articles, social media posts, websites and landing pages, and more – plus, I provide marketing strategy and content guidelines to help clients get their content machines off the ground.

I’ve been steadily building my business into a one-stop shop for clients; many come to me seeking LinkedIn copy and then ask for case studies, blog posts, and more as their needs develop. Thanks to my background as a journalist and ghostwriter, I’m able to effortlessly adapt my writing style to each client’s distinctive voice – something they all say has set me apart from the crowd.

My ghostwritten work has appeared in Inc, Forbes, Business Insider and more; my clients have converted clients of their own through my ROI-focused case studies, and their social media posts have brought in up to 10x the organic engagement compared to posts I’ve not written. More importantly to me, I’m able to take the stress and strain of copywriting off my clients; they send me what they need and when they need it by, and I do the rest. It allows them to focus on their business while I do mine: storytelling.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I mean this in the kindest way possible: I’m not “just a writer.” Content writing and marketing strategy isn’t just sitting around thinking creative thoughts – writers and strategists are also researchers, interviewers, data-crunchers and analysts. My job is to marry all of that data and science with the “soft science” of storytelling to come up with content that reads well and serves a purpose: to convert, inform, inspire or engage. This isn’t a simple task – people pay me because I make it simple!

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

LinkedIn and referrals tie for first place. At first, I was incredibly skeptical about maintaining a consistent LinkedIn presence, but after seeing the immense value doing so brought my clients (for whom I ghostwrite LinkedIn content, among other things), I decided to give it a shot. To date, I’ve brought in nearly a dozen clients via LinkedIn over the lifetime of my brand, and more than half of them told me they reached out because of the quality and voice of my content there.

My referrals are a bit more straightforward: a client thinks of me when a friend or fellow business owner brings up their own pain point(s) and introduces us via email or social media. It’s always an honor to be thought of and recommended! Some clients have also invited me to join their podcasts – and through hearing my passion and expertise, folks have decided they want to work with me, which is always a neat feeling!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://amandajlien.com
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/amandajlien