We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jessica Brooks a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jessica , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

It wasn’t until I turned 30 that I was able to earn a full-time living from your creative work. I’m a writer, and I could never shake the passion I had for my craft.

I used to take my kayak to an island in the middle of the ocean and write songs and poetry as a teenager. (You can imagine how terrible that was!). When they asked us to write on a piece of paper what we wanted to be when we grew up and to seal it up in an envelope like a kind of time capsule, I jotted out in seventh grade handwriting “WRITER” and sealed my dream with spit.

Flashforward a decade and I had my first paid writing gig writing song lyrics for Hollywood. I still get a random monthly deposit in my bank account from the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN). It’s usually around 71 cents, and it’s the paycheque I’ll always be most proud of.

But writing songs is not a sustainable living, and I was never gonna be Taylor Swift. (I’m a terrible dancer.)

I have a smart cousin who’s very successful in her career as a lawyer, and she’d given me excellent advice. In order to actually be able to support your yourself — and buy a house in this day and age, you have to either do a job that pays a lot of money, or do a job that nobody else wants to do.

“Being a writer” fits into neither one of these categories. *Everybody* wants to be a writer and, in most cases, it doesn’t pay a lot of money.

I didn’t listen to my friend but I did listen to the people who told me I was a terrible dancer so I stopped writing songs and went back to school to become a food writer.

It’s not that far off from songwriting. There are rules to the craft, especially when it comes to writing recipes, and I love following a good set of rules.

I was lucky at this stage in my writing career because I got a job in food television at Canada’s public broadcaster. My writing job came with health benefits (rare in the creative space!) and I gained skills like managing websites, and blogging and social media.

The thing is, it’s easy to live in your head as a creative — and let your heart drive you.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it can mean you have blinders on when it comes to money, and what kind of lifestyle you want for yourself. So even though I had a full time job as a creative, I wasn’t happy working 9-5. I’d been following my heart without thinking about logistics.

Because the things with being a creative is that you’re often not happy until you have control over your life. Correct me if I’m wrong, but if you’re a creative you want to be able to plan when you take meetings and carve out structured time to do deep creative work. You can’t control that when you’re working in a cubicle. The work can very easily feel unfulfilling, regardless of whether it’s creative or not, if you’re not the one calling the shots.

That’s just the nature of being a creative. We’re obsessive about our craft and feel most alive when we’re in control.

It wasn’t until I launched my copywriting business in November 2022 that I actually felt in control of my career and was able to meet my financial goals. One of the things that would have sped this whole process is if I’d taken a moment to think about two things.

1. What kind of lifestyle I wanted.
2. How much money I needed to make in order to support that lifestyle.

These are the two simple questions you need to ask yourself when you’re a creative.

But there’s one more step, and it kind of piggybacks on my friend’s advice (that I didn’t pay attention to until way too late in life!). You need to look outside yourself and see what needs people have. What problems do they need to solve that they will pay good money for, and how can you adjust or build your creative skills to serve them?

The truth is, I still write songs. I still write recipes. But it’s not a need people have that they will pay good money for. These have become my hobbies — things I’m passionate about that help spark my creativity. I still talk about them on social media because it adds to my humanness, and clients like to see that before hiring me.

But I make my living as a conversion copywriter.

I’m still a writer, but it’s creative work that people actually need.

The bottom line is that you need to separate your passion from your career, and it’s okay if you don’t need to make your living from it. You’re allowed to have side hustles, you’re not a failure. That’s the beauty of the online world. There’s so much opportunity for creative to use your skills in many different ways.

The secret that I wish I’d discovered sooner was to reverse engineer my lifestyle, set financial goals, and figure out from there how to best serve people and what they’ll actually pay for.

Jessica , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a UX Launch Copywriter and I write strategic sales pages for service providers, course creators and personal brands. I help people position their offer effectively so that it reaches the buyers who actually need (and will pay!) for what they’re selling.

I’m a trained journalist, so my approach is rooted in customer research. And my food writing background helps me inject major personality into my client’s copy — giving it that X factor that attracts your ideal customers to you.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

The best source of new clients for me is referrals. Relationships matter in the online space. And while many creatives are introverts, (I know I am!), it’s important that you get out of your head and get out there and join memberships and make real connections even when it scares you.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I taught at a college and banked that money to invest in courses to learn conversion copy. Everything I made went into courses I knew would uplevel my skills into a career I knew people would pay for. I didn’t stop teaching until I was making enough money in my freelance business as a copywriter.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jessicabrooks.com
• Instagram: @brooks_cooks
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicarobynbrooks/

Image Credits
Ampersand Studios, Rachel Smack and Greg Miller (depending on which ones you use!