We recently connected with Brandy Simpkins and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Brandy, thanks for joining us today. Alright – so having the idea is one thing, but going from idea to execution is where countless people drop the ball. Can you talk to us about your journey from idea to execution?

My business Brandywine Public Relations, LLC originally started as Brandywine Writes, and I began offering my services within 4 hours of the business idea being gifted to me. I popped it off by posting a flyer I made on Canva to Instagram and I received my first service request within a minutes.

In those ideation initial hours, I was speaking with a colleague of mine, a fellow journalist. I was telling her how much I’ve always adored writing and that I one day planned to make money from it. I just had to “get myself together” first. Though I was currently writing for a newspaper, I wasn’t earning a dime. Being fresh out of college in January 2020, at the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic, I was writing in an externship at the newspaper for the experience. The colleague, who was still in school and participating in an internship at the newspaper, shared that freelance writing gigs paid her way through a semester of college. That’s all I needed to hear before knowing I wanted in. She encouraged me to make it known that I’d like to write for people by posting it on social media. She recommended using the free app, Canva, which would allow me to create the marketing material. I immediately got to work creating a flyer that read my brand new freelancer identity, “Brandywine Writes.” The flyer included my list of writing services: “Essay writing, editing/proofreading, articles, speeches, and more.”

I beamed at the bright, sky-blue flyer using a pencil graphic to underline my brand new business name. I thought it was perfect. I posted it and within the hour, a small business owner and family friend sent me a private message inquiring about receiving help with written content for her website. Thus I began.

I had no business plan, no start-up capital, and no legitimate business mentor, but I did have a brand new English Language & Literature degree and a big vision to make a lot of money by writing just about anything that a student, small business owner, independent artist, cat or fish didn’t want to write for themselves.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Brandy Simpkins, Brandywine when I’m in the creative zone. I am a native of Savannah, GA where I’ve established my online content writing business, Brandywine Public Relations, LLC. Brandywine Public Relations, LLC assists creative business owners and artists with reaching the hearts of their target audiences by assisting them with the development of written web content. We do this by listening to the stories of our clients, which tell their motivations for the products and/or services they offer. I wholeheartedly believe that a producer telling their story is the purest way to gain their rightful audience. When consumers see that the motivation behind the creation of a product and/or service is driven by an organization or individual’s personal experiences, they have the opportunity to form an authentic connection with that which is being offered.

My target market is creative business owners and artists that see using the medium of art as a necessary way of life and have the desire to communicate this with their audience. To me, everyone is an artist in their own right, be they a painter, a chef, a musician, a woodworker, or an architect. My unique artistic ability thrives as I intentionally communicate others’ greatest abilities by craftily using the English language to describe or explain what is being created and why it is being created by the business owner or artist. The services that I offer are articles, press releases, short biographies, business letters and templates, proofreading and editing, website content, i.e. “About Me” pages, product/service descriptions, and more upon request.

Though I’ve been offering my writing services for 2 years and counting, the content that I am most proud of was written before I ever even considered starting a business. I’ll share a small piece of my own story, here. When I was in the 4th grade, I won a district writing contest that I don’t even recall entering. To the prompt of “Write a story about safety rules/precautions and why they are important”, I wrote a story that my grandmother had told me multiple times over. I always listened intently to my grandmother’s stories (and now as I recall, she’s always said that telling her story would make me rich one day).

When my grandmother was about the age of 9– the same age I was writing the story– in the cold New York apartment that she lived in with her mother, stepfather, and many siblings, she heated up a can of soup over a gas stove. She had just come in from outside and she was still wearing her long winter scarf. Over the lit gas stove, her scarf caught on fire. She was alone when the incident occurred and all she could do was follow her instinctive thought to “stop, drop, and roll”! These immediate motions spared her life, and in turn, my mother’s and my own. This I wrote about for the writing contest.

Just a few moons after writing that story, from a single-file line in the hallway of my elementary school I remember watching the school principal lightly gallop down the hallway in her mini heels until she approached my teacher and whispered something in her ear. My teacher then turned to the entire class and said, “Students, your classmate, Brandy Simpkins, has won the district writing contest.” My classmates all faced me and clapped, while I stood in astonishment at the news. That is the earliest memory I recollect of something that I created being praiseworthy. Writing had been so natural to me that I had never considered it would be worth honor. Yet, that moment revealed itself as a landmark in my journey. With that memory in tact, I eventually learned that telling stories would continue to bring value to my life and the lives of others.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Though I am currently expanding my clientele outside of my state and country, my reputation was built in my small town where everyone knows everything and everybody by word-of-mouth… and through newspaper outlets. I worked as a full-time journalist for 2 years (eventually gaining a salary position), before resigning from the full-time position, and now, I continue to freelance articles for multiple publications.

People gravitate toward me because they either remember me for being “that smart kid from school” or because they’ve read an article that I’ve written about one of their favorite businesses or organizations. Eventually, people began to inquire about my services outside of the scope of my journalism and sought to work with me on a personal level.

My reputation within my market evolves as I continue to engage with the artsy folks in town by participating in social gatherings where I perform spoken word poetry. I enjoy diversifying the way I use my gift of writing, and poetry is one of my favorite outlets. I apply my skill of poetry to the work that I produce for my clients as well.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I share this story of resilience with many business owners and artists who have emerged through the global pandemic. It seems that when the world has gone haywire, and people couldn’t grasp onto anything else, they grasped onto what they already had, their innate gifts and abilities, and they turned them into offerings for others. I know because this was a common theme of many articles I wrote at the peak of the pandemic. Anyone who had the courage to take hold of their passion and start a new business despite the economic challenges presented during the world crisis, speaks to the truth of resiliency.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ms.brandywine/ & https://www.instagram.com/brandywinepr/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mz.Brandzz
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandysimpkins1/

Image Credits
Val Tannuzzi- on the white and color wall backdrop headshot, The Culturist Union- in the photo of the client sipping coffee, Litus Marshall with Viliphotos- in the photo where I’m wearing the white top all other photos are my own