We recently connected with Samantha Lande and have shared our conversation below.
Samantha, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
I think storytelling is an ever evolving craft whether you are writing for a publication or a brand. I was an English major in college so I had the fundamentals but I knew nothing about running a freelance business. In the beginning I did a lot of observing and writing about anything and everything. I am not sure I could have sped up the process because much of it was based on relationship building. I think curiosity is an essential skill. You need to be curious about the topics you write about but also how the world of storytelling is continuously changing. I think initially a big obstacle was forming relationships with people that could teach me. I think now the biggest obstacle is that things are evolving at rapid speed and it can be overwhelming to keep up with it all.
Samantha, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am a writer and content strategist, which means I write various forms of content (articles, blog posts, etc) and also help brands think through their story and how to tell it. I started my writing career in such a random way. I reached out to give a “tip” to a publication and they wrote back “thanks.” I asked if they needed writers and I started at the bottom and worked my way up to associate editor. I eventually decided to go freelance full time. Part of my work involves writing for publications like Real Simple, Good Housekeeping, Men’s Health and Food Network. I also craft stories for major brands including Marriott, Kroger and Peloton and help small businesses with writing and content strategy.
I love telling stories whether it’s about an a-ha moment turned career or an amazing place to visit or product to try. I am most proud when I get feedback that I really captured the true essence of a story.
I also write a newsletter once a month about the things I love, the articles I’ve published recently and other things I am working on.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
Writing was always meant to be a side hustle or creative outlet for me. I was working in health care account management and was bored by all of the quantitative work I had to do. So I started writing on the side. I was hesitant to leave my full time job until I had more than one outlet to write for so I started making connections. Once I had 3 publications, I decided to take a risk and leave my job for one year. Eight years later and I never went back to a full time corporate job. The first milestone was the biggest but each year comes with different milestones. I eventually learned to negotiate everything and not be afraid of reaching out to places I want to work with.
How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?
I think keeping in touch with clients is key to making sure your name remains top of mind whether it be for a project for that particular client or a referral to someone else that may be in need. I try to send along an article if it may be timely to someone or check in to see where their goals and priority may be at the moment. I write a monthly newsletter so I can inform people what I am doing and try to create natural touch points to stay on top of what current and past clients are doing as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.samanthawrites.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samanthalande/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthalande/
- Other: https://view.flodesk.com/pages/615e4e29c71e8685f183c0fc (newsletter sign up)