Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brittany Herzberg. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Brittany, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I became a copywriter by way of massage therapy & the pandemic.

While taking advantage of a much needed break from my massage practice (in my 700 sq ft apartment with my WFH boyfriend), I still wanted to DO something.

I was brand new to this world of Zoom calls, webinars, funnels, & somehow I stumbled into a particularly life-changing virtual summit called “The Copy Chat.”

Turns out—I was a copywriter!

I’d been writing my own web copy, blogs, and emails for 6+ years. I had no idea I could do this—and other people would pay me for it!

I decided to take this “down time” to collect testimonials from my massage clients, update my website messaging, & brush up on my copywriting skills.

Around the same time, health & wellness friends started reaching out to me for help writing blogs, flyers, emails, etc.

A few months later, my boyfriend & I found ourselves in an even tinier apartment (500 sq ft) in a brand new state—where my massage practice was not taking off. I went from a very successful massage studio that had me helping 40-50 clients each month down to helping 1 client—on a good week.

I did the scary thing & launched my second business—Copy by B. ®

It’s allowed me to be creative in a brand new way! And to touch so many more lives by using SEO, storytelling, & social proof to connect people online.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I grew up with tons of surrogate grandparents.

There was Johnny and June, Billy and George, and Margaret.

One thing I learned very early on is that old people are the BEST storytellers! Something I was incredibly jealous of. #IntrovertProblems

Maybe it was the influence of this generation, but anytime I meet someone new (and as a kid who moved lots—these opportunities presented themselves often), I immediately want to hear their story.

“Why do you do what you do? What motivates you? What’s your sign? Your Human Design type?” I want to know it all!

So it made COMPLETE sense when I decided to make a career out of asking strangers about their lives, crafting stories, & getting impactful business owners found online.

The fact that I’ve been a reliable safe-space-provider for 10+ years as a massage therapist only adds to my appeal.

My clients come to me when they want to stop being the internet’s best kept secret and START showing up as the answer to a Googled question.

I’d say the most fun offer idea I’ve had to-date is case study copywriting.

The offer came to me in a dream! (You can’t make this stuff up, people.)

I’d been wanting to “do something different.” “Bring something new & fresh to the marketing & copywriting industry.” So my brain had already been in the ideation phase every day for a couple weeks.

One morning I woke up and I just said “case studies—that’s it.”

And the rest is basically history!

As an SEO + Case Study Copywriter, I’m hired to create things like SEO Packets (basically keyword research + on-page SEO strategy for websites), landing pages, about pages, case studies, & sales pages.

The entire offer suite operates under the concept that these 3 things happen:
– SEO → gets people to your site
– Story → hooks + engages readers
– Social proof → sells!

…and we can harness the magic of all 3 at once!

It’s selfish of me to do this work really…

Because:
– By revealing your greatness, I get to revel in mine
– By getting you found, I continually find myself
– By helping one person (you), I touch SO many more lives
– By highlighting the skills of others, we get to showcase our own
– By sharing your story, we get to show others they’re not alone
– By asking + answering questions, we get to show there are NO stupid ones
– By connecting people + ideas, we get to create the change we wish to see

There are days I miss being at my massage studio deeply impacting 3-4 clients. But then I’m reminded (usually by an email or Voxer memo) that I’m impacting SO many more lives with the work I’m doing now.

I get to help people… help people! I mean, how incredible is that?!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I call myself a recovering perfectionist for a reason.

In school, I was a straight-A student. I almost never missed a day of school—despite even having migraines since age 7. And in general, I just held myself to an insanely high standard.

I couldn’t even tell you why!

Fast forward to starting my own business and that perfectionism just put on a different outfit.

It was still there, but with a slightly different appearance.

I pulled all-nighters before sending in client copy because I “needed it to be better.”

I took several days to send out a proposal because “this is my first impression and I can’t mess it up.”

Oh, and as if perfectionism wasn’t enough the closely related Imposter Syndrome would often stop by as well.

To remind me “I’m still new; I can’t charge rates like that yet!”

Or say that “I can’t call myself a ___ copywriter because I haven’t been in the business long enough.”

Thankfully, I’ve surrounded myself with incredibly supportive, smart humans who are there to call out the bogus-ness of these thoughts.

That plus the inner work I’ve done has helped me move beyond these problematic narratives.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

This is a recent pivot.

As we approached this summer, I noticed a slow down in case study copywriting clients.

After a couple conversations with mentors, I realized I needed to do a few things differently in order to continue helping people & doing work I love.

Those epiphanies were:
– I needed to connect the dots for people. My content was often about SEO & case studies—but rarely did I draw the map for people of how SEO & case studies support each other, how SEO & case studies can help your next launch, etc.

– Some offers are more of a “nice-to-have” and others feel more like “need-to-have.” With business owners feeling the effects of inflation & the like, they’re going to be more drawn to the “need-to-haves”… like SEO (search engine optimization).

So I’ve very recently streamlined my offer suite, updated my messaging, & shifted focus with my content creation.

I’m so invigorated by this breath of fresh air in my work—and I can tell others are feeling that vibe from me as well!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://brittanyherzberg.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brittany_herzberg/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-herzberg/
• Other: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-simple-and-smart-seo-show/id1623005671

Image Credits
Jaimi Bailey & Hayley Wick