We were lucky to catch up with Lindsay Hope recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lindsay, appreciate you joining us today. So, let’s imagine that you were advising someone who wanted to start something similar to you and they asked you what you would do differently in the startup-process knowing what you know now. How would you respond?

If I were starting over in my business, I’d find an engaged community to join and hire a one-on-one coach sooner.

Solo-preneur-ing is lonely. You question everything with self-doubt. You spend too much time on all the wrong things. Shiny objects distract you from finding the right things to focus on. You suffer from constant comparison-itis and feel like you have to do things the way others are doing them. This is not a healthy or sustainable way to build a business. But how do you create a business that works for you? You join a community and hire a coach!

Finding the right community and coach takes time and energy, but it’s worth the upfront research. The longer you fly solo, the more likely you are to get stuck on the hamster wheel when you’re starting out.

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 develop email marketing strategies and write copy for marketing email sequences and campaigns for eCommerce businesses.

According to Hubspot, the ROI of email marketing is 4200%. Email is one of the most essential channels to optimize, especially for eCommerce companies. Any eComm business that isn’t making at least 30% of revenue from email should consider working with a strategist to discover how to improve their email performance.

I help business owners and marketing leaders discover how to connect with their customers through the inbox, building lifetime relationships and raking in revenue.

Some copywriters focus solely on copy. My approach to email projects comes from the strategy standpoint: what are my potential clients doing well, where there are opportunities for improvement, and what do we need to create, tweak, or eliminate to help reach their goals. Marketing emails consist of automations (like a 5-part welcome sequence introducing new subscribers to the brand) and campaign emails (one-off nurturing/informational/educational/promotional content).

Clients work with me in two ways: on a single-project basis (a VIP day or a Power Hour) or as an ongoing retainer partnership as Your Email CMO. I provide quarterly/monthly strategy, copywriting, and continuous optimization and problem solving for your email program during this ongoing partnership.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I have endless stories about resilience… how much time do you have? (Haha.)

Everything about successful entrepreneurship has to do with resilience and never giving up. Even the most successful business owners were once on the roller coaster of success — defeat — success — defeat. And the common denominator is that they persevered through the tough times and kept going — even when the going was tough.

When I first started my business, I made a list of dream clients. I picked these clients based on what they offered and how they ran their businesses. I gravitated toward employee-owned companies and landed a client of my dreams. But it wasn’t a good fit. The processes didn’t fit with the systems I had set up for my business, and the writing I was tasked with didn’t fit my style. It crushed me when we parted ways (even though I knew it was the right thing to do). I felt completely defeated. I questioned everything. Is copywriting my true path? Can I succeed in building this business? Will I ever work with a dream client again? After a few days of wallowing in self-pity, I decided to forge a path of resilience and find better-fit clients to replace this one — and eventually, I succeeded. Since then, I’ve had my fair share of ups and downs. But now I know that I can bounce back after whatever curveballs get thrown my way. The key is to never, ever give up.

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

When I decided to become an email copywriter, I had to unlearn a handful of grammar rules. As a writer, I’ve always leaned toward following them… but when writing copy, you can break the rules.

Because these rules are so ingrained in our brains, it can be hard to unlearn them. Like what?
Start a sentence with because.
End one with a preposition.
Use sentence fragments.
Write one-sentence paragraphs.
All of this is not only acceptable in copywriting — it’s celebrated. And I’m here for it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lindsayhopecreative.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindsayhopecreative/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsay-hope-profile/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lindsaycopy

Image Credits
Photos: John Robson Photography