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

Kaitlyn, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

“Success” is a hot topic in the entrepreneurial industry. It’s often thought of as a monetary or outward achievement – like seven figures in revenue, prestigious speaking gigs, or major media features. Those things are certainly desirable and impressive, but I think being successful goes deeper than that. It requires having a personal definition of “success” – one that keeps you grounded and prevents you from riding the hampster wheel of life & business; chasing after something you may not even truly desire and resonate with. So for starters, I think it takes having a clear individual picture of “success” to be successful. But on a more basic, broad-stroke level, I think success requires that you practice self-awareness and personal agency; always working toward your potential and no one else’s. To me, success comes from consistent, diligent, integral work balanced with the things in life that bring you joy, peace, and comfort. Success is personal, dynamic, and lasting.

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’ve always been both a dreamer and pragmatic. Someone who loved to work and loved their freedom even more. D1 college athletics provided me with discipline, work ethic, and resilience. Post-college, I was ready to go anywhere and would have done anything for a career in media/communications but found myself on a winding career path—from recruitment to sales to retail management to supporting international start-ups to content & brand management to freelancing—and finally, to working for myself through Copy Uncorked.

Running a copywriting business later became the obvious path – a perfect mix of my interests, skillset, and experiences; married with my desire to write my own rules. Having searched for and worked at my own “brand message” for so long, I’m incredibly empathetic and passionate about the work we do for other business owners. As a boutique copywriting & brand strategy agency, we’re on a mission to guide ambitious founders from a place of confusion and comparison to a deeply rooted confidence in their overall message.

I wanted people to feel less overwhelmed and skeptical about copywriting and a lot more excited and cared for. Fueled by an enthusiasm for wine, we like to say we’re pouring up compelling words to help brands grow.

I’m incredibly proud of the company’s growth in a few short years, the talented people we’ve drawn to our team, the clients we’ve been able to serve, and the really wonderful brand partners & peers we’ve met along the way. We get to do great work with and for great people and that brings me a lot of joy and enthusiasm.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

This is something I’ll forever be a student of but is something I’m really passionate about and committed to the work it requires. I’ve been fortunate to have a number of great leaders, coaches, and bosses in my life who set a great example for me. Here are some things I took away from them that I’ve worked to apply to our team at Copy Uncorked:

– Creating a culture and expectations straight from the initial job description. Each time we hire – whether contractual or an employee – we have a detailed job posting (with great copy, of course!) on the website and a thorough interview process that fosters transparency and open communication.

– We then strive to have a prepared, organized and welcoming onboarding process – from a dedicated initial call, clear systems/processes, established expectations, get-to-know-you questionnaires, new team member gifts, and clear support throughout their first assignments.

– We then complete 90-day and annual reviews to not only assess team member performance, but understand what myself, the team, and the brand can do better as well.

– As the “boss” if you will, I try to maintain an attitude of service. Our team members aren’t working “FOR” me – they’re working “WITH” me – we’re on this mission and this growth journey together.

– We have semi-regular team calls and are newly introducing annual retreats. As a mostly virtual team who spends a lot of time on Zoom for client calls, I try not to have team meetings just to have team meetings. So we do them less frequently but more intentionally. I want everyone to have space to connect, celebrate, and let down – even if/when their work doesn’t directly overlap.

I’m so grateful for those who join the CU Team and share their talents, so above all, I want it to be a positive experience for them.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

I’m a big advocate of what I like to call “aligned brands”. We build relationships with those who have copywriting-adjacent services such as design, law, SEO, systems, social media, PR, and finance. That allows us to create mutually harmonious referral dynamics with people who feel like an extension of our own brand and who I know our clients will love. It’s also put us on the receiving end of a lot of word of mouth that’s steadily grown our number of on-target inquiries on a year-to-year basis.

I’ve also invested a lot into the development and maintenance of the CU brand to ensure we’re making a great first (and ongoing) impression.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://copyuncorked.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/copyuncorked/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/copyuncorked

Image Credits
Marquel Patton – https://marquemakes.com/