💥 Messaging that does justice to your solution.
🔥 Copy that resonates with your ideal buyer.

Sounds simple, right? 

And yet, in B2B tech, so many things get in the way:

❌ Agencies turn your website into a billboard — stroking boardroom egos but causing web visitors to bounce.

❌ Product marketers get too close to the product — forgetting to connect the dots for your ideal buyer.

❌ Too many cooks in the kitchen — causing your copy to get more cliche with every iteration.

And let's not forget:

❌ Everybody’s sycophantic ChatGPT is adding their two cents.

Well, I can help.

My process doesn’t just involve deep discovery, VoC research, and messaging strategy. 

I make the experience painless (and peaceful!) for your team. 

We’ll establish which stakeholders are involved and how they’ll contribute. So from Day 1, everyone knows what to expect and who's got the final say.

How do I do that?

➡️ Live or async Figma walkthroughs
➡️ Friendly but firm management of stakeholder feedback
➡️ Constructive handoff to design with creative direction

Here’s what clients say ⤵️

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“She had this way of making people feel heard, managing different opinions and keeping everything moving forward at the same time. … She wireframed the pages so we could see exactly how the copy would actually work on a website in reality. And that's something that really saved us a lot of time when it came to design. She would record these short videos explaining … how the research shaped the structure. And those videos would make it really easy for everyone across the company, across different time zones to get aligned with what was happening.” — Christopher Garrett, Chief Revenue Officer, Hushmail 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Vesna is strategic, mindful of nuance, a keen observer and a very good synthesizer of the most relevant pieces of information that matter to the reader. She is very knowledgeable of what makes websites great vs meh. … In the age where AI is actively displacing writing talent, Vesna’s expertise in crafting the right story and delivering the right message that matters is so refreshing (and renders AI helpless).” — Nadia Davis, VP of Marketing, CaliberMind

As for results? 📈

“ Within about three weeks of launching our new website, we've seen, depending on how you measure it, a 20 to 35% increase in our sales revenue.” — Christopher Garrett, Chief Revenue Officer, Hushmail


Whether your goal is more demo requests, more free trial starts, or more plan signups, I’ll work with you to boost conversions with better, bolder, buyer-aligned B2B copy. 🎯

Vesna M. – B2B Copywriter

Too good not to repost.

This is valuable for everyone.

- B2C, B2B
- Freelancers, consultants, and solopreneurs
- Startups
- Mature companies & orgs
...

What a cool framework!

Vesna Miro

🟣 Fixer of mediocre messaging for B2B SaaS, tech, cybersecurity // 🟠 Home - product - pricing - demo - landing pages & LinkedIn ads that convert jaded buyers // 🥇 Copyhackers Certified SaaS Copywriter

Illustrator • Graphic Designer • Fluffer of Ideas

This is it my friends. This is the year. The year you finally decide to pull up your elasticated (although now slightly perished due to overuse) underpants and sort out that branding of yours.

No longer will you sit in envy, surrounded by sodden tissues, watching as others smash it/crush it/pummel it (delete as appropriate) with their fancy branding.

This year, you’re taking them all on by turning your company branding into a fecking masterpiece.

“But Dave, I know nothing about this branding malarkey, where on earth would I even begin?”

You begin right here 👇 Right down there 👇 On this here video I’ve just uploaded 👇 On you go 👇

The gap between where you are and where you want to be can be closed with just one learnable skill.

I figured that out during night shifts as a security manager — no control, no real money, just time to kill. So I taught myself direct response copywriting, and built the skill that bought my freedom.

I went from writing $25 articles to working with the biggest brands in my industry, writing funnels that generated over $25M in sales, and becoming top 1% in my field.

I write about the thinking, ideation and systems behind the work and my interests: 

How to be more autonomous, more persuasive, and more discerning about what you do and what you spend your time on - for greater leverage in life.

Cain Smith

Copywriters: $170k/yr is FU money for most freelancers.

It's a strange number, but here's why I think it makes sense:

- It's rare but possible for in-house copywriters to earn a $100k salary.
- Salary surveys put average copywriter pay in the $70–80k range, with only the top 10% breaking into the low six figures ($110–120k). 
- A lucky few crack six figures at tech companies or agencies.

So table stakes - you've got to at least beat the top in-house salaries.

Let's square that off to $100k/year.

Now there's all the "non-billable" time you factor in...

Marketing.
Sales calls.
Finance.
Client relationships during the project... 
Plus your health insurance, software subscriptions, admin hours, coaching & education...

So to match that $100k in-house salary in actual take-home buying power...

You need to gross $140k-$150k minimum.  There or thereabouts.

Add a reasonable premium for the uncertainty and hustle of freelancing (let's say 15-20%, for argument's ), and you land at ~$170k.

All of this means once you cross the $170k threshold...

You pretty much become un-hireable by companies as an in-house writer. 

The only way a company can tempt you in-house is by offering you real upside in the form of rev-share, profit-share, phantom equity etc...

That $170k/year figure is your FU money.

Probably not the FU money you were expecting... 

It's obviously not "never work again" financial freedom.

But it's freedom to work with who you want, on what you want, on your own terms... and NEVER be tempted by the security of a copy "job"...

Which is the kind of attainable freedom most freelancers want, anyway.

P.S. If you're making $50k/year as a freelancer, and feel free as a bird anyway... that's great, obviously.  I'm not saying you NEED to earn this amount to be a sovereign copywriter.

It's just a ballpark figure that insulates you logically as well as emotionally.  At lower amounts, your "FU" mindset is emotional.  When you can math it out logically though, you become bulletproof.

Copywriter & Marketing Consultant | $25M+ in revenue generated | Writing about autonomy, strategy & one-person leverage

I write anywhere from 5-10k words of sales copy a week for A-list clients by following my 7 sacred writing productivity rules...

Swipe the list below 👇

1. Keep your phone in another room.  

And disable text/app notifications.  Pavlov's dog reacted to a bell sound... are you - a human being - really going to be someone's else's bitch?

2. Listen to white noise or classical piano or ambient beats.

Anything that DOESN'T have lyrics.  Lyrics are highly distracting.  Although "La Macarena" is rather good to write to...

3. No carbs before writing.

Structure your nutrition around your writing windows smartly so you're not getting brain fog.  I make an exception for evening writing sessions - because I don't care if I fall asleep on my keyboard then.

4. Close every internet tab except the ones you need to write with.

Ideally just your writing doc & your research doc should be all that remain (you did pre-assemble your proof elements, right?)

5. Make the room smell nice.  Fires up your neurons.  

I've turned into a right tart with all my scented candles.  My current candle du jour: Hazelnut Crepe.  Smells like Nutella!

6. Don't eat anything at the desk.  Coffee is OK.  

So is a pint of Guinness if you're down the pub, by the way (I write for an hour with a pint in the pub every Wednesday while waiting for my daughter to come out of her drama school).

7. Attack your writing like a ravenous Rottweiler going at a bowl of porridge.

The faster you write, the better.  Your writing will be pretty awful and that's OK.  That's what editing is for.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

You don't have to follow all these rules. Or ANY of them.

But at least make sure you have SOME rules.

Loosey Goosey writers really are the worst writers.  

Oh, they'll insist there's method to their madness, all right....

But you'll know them by their fruits.

The 9-year-old kid in this photo made it into this newspaper because he beat adults in a writing competition — and the judges had no idea of his age. They thought he was an adult, too...

But here's the tragic part:

That same kid grew up not earning a SINGLE penny as a writer in any way, shape or form... until he was 32 years old.

He had most of his confidence - as well as his passion and enthusiasm for writing - knocked out of him by others.

He was told he had his "head in the clouds" by many of the adults in his life...

Most of whom were out of work - or had never earned more than $10/hr in their lives.

(Hat tip to a high school English teacher called Mr Laverty, though... he was kinder to  that kid).

Anyway, that timid, bookish little kid kid grew up to be me.

No real suspense there.  You can probably tell by the goofy teeth.

And by the time I was in my early 20's and old enough to seize all that lost confidence, passion & enthusiasm back — I hesitated and doubted myself.  I suppose I'd taken just too many hard knocks.

So I retreated into my shell and settled for being as mediocre as everyone else around me.

Instead of working in journalism or in marketing & advertising...

- I worked as a minimum-wage security guard for years.
- I worked as a nightclub doorman.
- I peaked as a $30k/year middle manager.
(Many of my old pals thought I had ideas above my station, just for making it that "far"!)

And when I started writing as a side gig — FINALLY getting back to what I was best at — my new side-hustle was met with confusion at best, and derision at worst.

"How's the blogging going, Cain?"  One former colleague asked me this 6 years ago in the staff kitchen, with an amused smirk on his face.  "My mate's wife has one of those. She does cooking recipes and stuff."

Would've been so easy to jack it in.  But I'm glad I didn't.  Sticking to my guns paid off.

These days, I work with the biggest direct response brands in the world and I'm one of the industry's highest-paid writers.

I make enough money so that my wife doesn't have to work (she pursues her true passions now herself, and volunteers at our local church) and my schedule is entirely my own.

It.  Feels. BLOODY AWESOME.

And although it didn't happen for me overnight, of course...

I definitely think it could have happened SOONER for me.

Because I wasted years of my life allowing small minds and unambitious people to bring me down.

As a result, I spent the first 4 years of my copywriting career frantically playing catch-up — trying to make up for lost time & missed opportunities.

It's worked out well...

But I did make life bloody hard for myself by not leaning into my superpower sooner.

So moral of the parable?

Make your own journey a little easier than mine...

And start kicking arse RIGHT NOW.

Don't wait for anybody's permission, guidance or approval.

You already know deep down what you're meant to be doing with your life.

This is the ultimate freelance biz flex:

(And no, it's really not how much money you make...)

It's whether or not you've built a business around your preferences.

That's the whole point of being being freelance.

The flexibility of the business model is its biggest perk...

If you have a freelance business you can't stand, you're doing it wrong.

But if you can faithfully say to yourself:

"I'm doing creative work I enjoy, at times and dates that are convenient to me, with people I like to work with, on terms agreeable to me..."

You're winning, big-time.

There's a secret to becoming a $300k/year+ freelancer:

It's buried in something you do EVERY DAY for a living...

You just need to reframe it.

As a creative freelancer - whether you're a copywriter, a video editor, a graphic designer, a Fractional CMO...

You come up with ideas for a living.

And much gets said and written about ideas - some of it brilliant, most of it airy-fairy, worthless fluff.

I'll be writing extensively about idea generation soon...

But for now, I want to make a suggestion about how you can approach  MONETIZING your ideas better.

And that reframe I just mentioned is:

- Start thinking of yourself as an "Idea Flipper."

It'll be a genuine game-changer for you.

You see, like so many businesses models out there, Idea Flipping is an arbitrage model... 

You buy low and sell high - just like the way a real estate buyer FLIPS properties.

They might buy a house for $250k, then sell it for $320k.

And when they flip a property like this, they get a $70k profit (before fees, I know, you sticklers... don't wipe the grease off my chute...)  

It's a  flip.  An ARBITRAGE deal on an asset.

The principle for freelancers is the same.

If you're a freelancer with a creative discipline - you are an Idea Flipper.

You come up with ideas.

And then you sell them at a price GREATER than what it cost you to devise and execute them.

***If you're new to freelancing - please read that sentence above again.  It's the essence of the business model - and what separates you from a creative professional who works in-house (where the price paid for the idea asset is largely dictated by the buyer, and sometimes there isn't even a true profit to be made).***

Your "costs" - beyond your hardware, software, coffee, fluffy cushions - are your precious time and bandwidth (used to deliver your expertise) and your sanity.

Whatever it "costs" you to devise and execute your ideas - you want to make sure you're flipping them to buyers for a juicy profit.

IN ESSENCE:

Find ideas the way real estate flippers find properties.

Work your magic on them... polish them up... 

And then sell them at a profit, so you and your clients can both eat steak.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

P.S.  There's a layer above this, just like there is in real estate business models.

There's flipping - and then there's investing.

You can become an idea INVESTOR - where you think in longer timelines for bigger paydays and greater leverage (not to mention, deeper relationships - which is what REALLY pays).

In the meantime though - especially if you're at the beginner or intermediate level in your field, in terms of income/business development - just think about what you do as IDEA FLIPPING.  It'll give you a sharper focus on the commercial reality of what we do.

Like reading this stuff, do ya?

Subscribe to my email list for more - the opt-in page is in the Featured section of my Profile.

Over $25M in sales as a direct response copywriter – and I just got a VSL script back looking like it lost a fight with a red pen.

Massacred with edit requests. Here's what happened:

I got WAY too aggressive with my claims. 

Compliance flagged so much copy, I’m having to rewrite entire sections, whole-cloth.  FFS.

So here we are…

It's 7pm on a Friday night and I’m not out for karaoke in the pub.

Instead, I'm revising this promo script for Legal…

And then I’m moving on to another script which I’ll be working on until 9.30, maybe 10pm.

Doozy of an evening.

Then I'll crawl into bed with my wife…

Watch the latest episode of “24 Hours in Police Custody” with a Captain Morgan & Coke…

And fall asleep with my 8kg cat purring on my chest – like a furry little succubus slowly suffocating me to death.

But here's the thing…

I’ve been here before and it never turns out to be a bad thing.

It's better to write at 11/10 intensity and dial it down, than to write like a flaccid little wuss and have to "punch it up" later.

And elsewhere, today has been a winning day:

This morning I woke up… decided I wasn't in the mood to write…

So I spent 2 hours in my living room drinking my way through the Nespresso pods, mapping out a launch plan for my next personal venture.  

Then I went for a walk in a windswept Yorkshire country park at 11am…

And then (the most rock star part I’m really proud of…)

I drove to the tip at the QUIETEST time of day — while all my normie neighbours work 8-5 and have to do their tip runs at the weekend.

I said it last week and I'll say it again:

FREELANCERS HAVE THE MOST FUN.

And speaking of fun — a polite notice:

I'm re-booting my email list for the first time in over 2 years.

The last time I sent an email revealing my shenanigans in copywriting, freelancing, and freedom-chasing was October 2023, to be precise.

But now I’m back - new and improved - with a slightly different flavour.

If you’re already a subscriber of mine from years ago, no need to opt-in again - I’ll be emailing you soon.

But if you’re curious and fancy a butcher’s…

The opt-in page is in the "Featured" section of my profile.

Sign up if interested - I'll be glad to have you on board.

In the copywriting industry, there's a lot of talking.  Not enough doing.

I always tell new copywriters the bar in this industry is low — because it is.

People just aren't writing enough to get good.

And the secret to getting good at anything is what Naval Ravikant simply calls "iteration."

You do something, you ship it, you wait for feedback, you iterate and adjust based on feedback, you ship again...

When you do that, progress happens.

When you compress your learning this way - when you think of it in ITERATIONS - you realise just how important the relentless "doing" part is.

Volume matters if you want to get good.

Volume AND speed matter if you want to get good, fast.

This applies to writers, designers, editors, marketers, anybody...

Get your reps in.

You'll never have great pieces in your portfolio, until you have A LOT of pieces in your portfolio.

In the business Solving problems and selling ideas...with words.

You can't throw a rock without hitting some "viral" influencer, expert or guru trying to tell you a well-kept secret and sharing insights that'll change your life.

Interestingly they're world class educators on the subject of explaining, selling you degrees in explaining, consequently creating an endless chain of explainers leaving the rest of the world wondering: "who then is doing the work?"

This is one of the best posts I've seen on LinkedIn in weeks.

For months now, I've been grappling with a realisation that made me feel uncomfortable...

I'm quite a serious person.

Yeah, I have my sarky British sense of humour and I love watching "Only Fools" re-runs.

But when you boil me down... there's a pretty serious stew left in the pan.

I take my craft seriously.
I take my family life seriously.
I take my health seriously.
I take my education seriously...

I just take my life really bloody seriously.

And I've realised the whole "Don't take life too seriously" line has NEVER resonated with me.  Ever.

It always felt like one of two extremes, coming from two different types of people:

- The successful founder who's at a stage in life where they want to be seen as more likeable, relatable, human... so they say pithy stuff like "The secret to my success is not taking life too seriously." 

- The person Cole is describing in this post... the shitposter, the snarker, the coward.  The one who's quick to make fun of others because they're too afraid to take a serious swing at anything themselves.

I don't fit into either of these two stereotypes... hence the realisation.

And yeah... 

For a long time, being a "serious person" felt like a big, chonky monkey on my shoulder.

- Does this mean I'm boring?
- Does this mean I don't have a sense of humour?
- Does this mean I'm self-absorbed and egotistical?

I studied the answers and had to answer "No" on all counts...

It just means I want to live life well and take my best shot at it.

And I just can't jive with people who see serious effort as something to be sneered at or dismissed.

On LinkedIn, a lot of the shitposting I see is exactly the kind of content I'd hate to create and I hate to read.

Most of the time, it's from jaded, beaten-down, bitter people who don't want to take any risks.

It's from people who are withdrawing themselves from the game... 

Who don't want to test themselves or compete...

So instead, they mock anyone else who tries.

That's just not my cuppa char.

Personally, I want to see more content from people who are actually trying...

From people who are in the arena, with blood on their sandals.

I just don't care to hear what the peanut gallery thinks.

Founder & CEO of Honey | We’re building the next Ogilvy.

PSA: Please stop shitposting. 

I know it’s been all the rage the past few years. But, it’s going out of style. And, frankly, it looks pathetic. 

Amateurs shitpost. Professionals work.

I say this as a recovering shitposter myself. It got a few laughs (and enough likes to validate my delicate ego). 

But, it rarely led to any meaningful relationships, valuable opportunities and great work.

Most people who shitpost on this platform are using it as a means to insulate themselves from the pain of trying and failing at something they actually care about.

It’s the equivalent of stepping up to the plate with a baseball bat and—instead of trying to rip the cover off the ball—making a parody of the individual before you who swung seriously.

You save yourself the embarrassment of striking out. But, you still strike out. 

It’s no coincidence that my life and career changed when I stopped shitposting and I started trying to do great work.

I went from a one man copywriting shop to running, building and scaling Honey. 

Founders, CEOs and CMOs want to work with us not because we are winners, but because we’re serious competitors in a world of people who are terrified to compete. 

We just so happen to win a lot, too.

Some people are going to read this and roll their eyes. Others are going to read it and decide to change their life. 

It’s cool to try. 
It’s cool to care. 
It’s cool to commit.
It’s cool to give a damn.
It’s cool to be optimistic. 
It’s cool to swing and miss. 
It’s cool to go for something.
It’s cool to put yourself out there.
It’s cool to take your work seriously. 

When you reach the end of your rope, you will want to say that you had the courage to truly try at something. 

Nobody on their death bed wishes they had racked up a few more followers by making fun of other people going after their dreams. 

If this offends you, then it’s for you.

I don't believe many freelancers ACTUALLY get imposter syndrome.

There are 3 "imposter syndrome" archetypes & only one of them is legit: 

1.  The Nervous Novice

Some beginners are understandably scared to start.

They feel out of their depth... intimidated by all the new things they have to learn... a bit daunted by the competition around them... and they call this "imposter syndrome"

This isn't imposter syndrome at all.  

A beginner's nerves are real and they don't have to second-guess them.  

They're starting something new, that's all.  No biggie.

 
2. The Flapping Fraud

This is the most insidious - and I'd argue, sadly, the most common - type of "imposter syndrome"...

Freelancers who overpromise relative to their skillset & experience, and then get scared of under-delivering.

Like the beginner, their nerves are real and justified.  Except this time those nerves are much less excusable.

Essentially LYING to clients to get business (or at least, omitting facts) is dishonest behaviour, pure and simple.  It's no wonder these freelancers feel "imposter syndrome" shredding up their souls.

The cure for their so-called "imposter syndrome" is for them to STOP over-promising relative to their skillset and experience, and just start being honest.


3.  The Brilliant Baggage-Carrier

These freelancers are the REAL DEAL.  They have legit imposter syndrome.

I describe REAL imposter syndrome as an "unreasonable crisis of confidence."

This is when you've done it before... you have PROOF you're good at it... but you're STILL doubting yourself, nevertheless.

When this happens, I believe there are possibly "outside" factors - personal baggage stuff, wholly outside of your work - that might be making you feel this way.

It's still dangerous, in the sense that it's almost definitely stopping you from thinking bigger and fulfilling your potential.

The key to stopping this is to use the most reductive mechanism you have - your brain.  Stop "feeling" like you have imposter syndrome, and THINK about the work itself.

You need facts & proof.

Have you done this before? Are you good at it? have you got the receipts to prove it?

Simply doing this exercise - ideally with pen & paper - can cause a sudden RUSH of confidence.

In my experience, nothing beats REAL imposter syndrome more effectively than realising you're "undeniable."

It's not always easy done... but feelings will usually lose a fistfight with The Truth.

taplio

The Battle

Vesna M. – B2B Copywriter

Cain Smith

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreVesna M. – B2B Copywriter's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreCain Smith's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Vesna M. – B2B Copywriter

Cain Smith

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Vesna M. – B2B Copywriter's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreCain Smith's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreVesna M. – B2B Copywriter's LinkedIn Performance