Filip Gray Marketing

Fancy title: CEO. Actual role: Freelancer 

DCKAP

Copywriter

HockeyStack

Databox

Teramind

ClickOut Media

Content Marketer

Exit Five

Member

Modern Talking Language School

Marketing Manager (aka un-paid sibling consultant to my sister, the CEO)

Tridens Technology

Finixio

Content Marketing Specialist

You've probably seen copywriters promising to "turn your readers into drooling fanatics!" or "hypnotize prospects into throwing their credit cards at the screen!"

Yeah. Right.

Maybe you're here because you're actively looking for a copywriter. 

Or, maybe you just stumbled onto my profile while falling down a LinkedIn rabbit hole (hey, we've all been there 🤷‍♂️).

Either way, here's what matters...

You're smart. You 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 what good copy can do. 

You also know that B2B software sales aren't about hypnotic Jedi mind tricks or "secret persuasion formulas."

What I actually do is take your complex software solution and turn it into clear marketing assets - landing pages, emails, ads, and sales enablement content that make sense.

I speak both languages - I can understand your technical documentation and explain it in ways that connect with everyone from the C-suite executives to technical decision-makers.

I've been doing it for years and have done it for some awesome B2B SaaS clients you probably already heard of. 

• Databox
• HockeyStack
• Teramind
• Gravity Payments
• DCKAP
• Tridens Monetization
• Userpilot
• Usergems

Think your software deserves better than "revolutionary AI-powered features"? 

Drop me a line 📩.

𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨'𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞:

When a beginner asks if they should get into copywriting right now, what do you tell them?

I used to say yes without hesitation. Now I'm less sure.

Sure, there's still plenty of work for copywriters who know what they're doing and have 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 experience.

But for someone with zero experience trying to break in, the path seems harder than ever.

Maybe I'm being too pessimistic. What's your take?

Filip Stojanovic

Ripping the corporate BS from your marketing assets 🕵️ Copywriting x Content Marketing Strategist for B2B SaaS & Tech Companies 💡

Me: I should really get more active on LinkedIn and grow my professional network. 

Also me:

There's this idea floating around that if you're NOT a native English speaker, the American copywriting market is closed to you.

Not exactly a new concern, I know. But enough Balkan copywriters have asked me about it lately that I figured I should write something up.

I'm Serbian. My name doesn't sound like "John Smith" or "Mike Johnson." 

When I hop on calls, people can tell I'm not from Kansas.

And yeah, in the past, it might’ve cost me a few gigs. 

Here's the thing, though…

Life isn’t exactly fair. Some people do start with advantages you don't have. 

Clients do make snap judgments based on accents and names. 

That sucks, I agree.

But you can spend energy being pissed about that, or you can spend it getting so good that the bias becomes irrelevant.

And I'm not saying that's fair. I'm saying those are your options.

You can use it as an excuse, or find a way through anyway.

Here's another thing I've learned after years of doing this:

For every client who dismisses you unfairly, there are dozens who don't care as long as you can deliver.

And the clients who dismiss you for surface-level BS are usually terrible clients anyway. They're doing you a favor by showing their hand early. 

Get good at copy (or whatever it is you do). Show proof it works. Find business owners who care about their bottom line. Charge appropriately. 

That's the playbook.

Now, I don't know your exact situation. 

Maybe you're dealing with obstacles I never had to face. Maybe I've got challenges you'll never understand. 

Maybe Brad from Connecticut has his own issues we'll never see.

Sitting around measuring who has it worse doesn't move anyone forward.

The only question that matters - are you gonna let those obstacles stop you, or are you gonna find a way through them? 

Because there is a way through. I've seen it happen too many times to believe otherwise.

It might take you longer than someone else. Might require getting more creative with how you find clients. Might mean building twice the proof before people trust you.

But the path exists.

Yeah, you might have to work harder than John from Ohio.

Yeah, that's not fair.

Yeah, it pisses me off too.

But sitting around being mad about it won't make you a working copywriter.

Getting good will.

Building proof will.

There are millions of business owners out there who need good copy and don't give a damn about your name, your accent, or where you're from.

Go find them.

"𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭..." (AC/DC)

Have you ever been paid to write copy?

If yes, this isn't for you.

If NO, and you've been trying for more than a month... keep reading.

𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐱 𝐠𝐢𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫.

Three for free. Three for cheap.

Now, before you tell me you've "tried everything" and nobody will hire you...

Let's talk about why you're still stuck at zero.

Zero to one is the nastiest math problem in freelancing, imo.

Because you're not trying to grow 50%, or double your income, or any normal business goal.

You're trying to go from 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 to 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. Mathematicians call that "undefined." 

And the universe hates undefined. Gets all weird about it. 

…which is why you need to make the leap as small as humanly possible.

In other words, you’ll want to work for free.

Three times, to be specific.

"Why not just once?" you ask.

Because promising "one free gig and you're set" would be lying to you. 

Could it happen? Sure. You might knock it out of the park, land a retainer, and never look back.

…or maybe you're like the rest of us and need a few swings before you connect.

Three gives you room to screw up and still come out ahead.

Oh, and I can already hear you sputtering into your coffee. "But Guru McFuckface on YouTube said to never work for free! Know your worth! Charge premium prices!"

Sure. And that's great advice... for people who already have proof.

But right now, you're asking people to buy a car they can't test drive.

Let me tell you how this usually plays out:

𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐆𝐢𝐠 #1: You'll deliver the copy. They'll ghost you. Never hear from them again. You'll check your email 47 times a day for a week, slowly dying inside.

𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐆𝐢𝐠 #2: They'll actually respond… to tell you that you wasted their time and your copy sucks. You'll feel like garbage for a solid 48 hours.

𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐆𝐢𝐠 #3: They'll use your copy. It'll work... okay. Maybe they'll tell you the results, maybe they won't. But you'll have something real to point at.

Congratulations. You're no longer at zero.

Now you're ready for three paid gigs.

Doesn't matter what they pay. Could be $50. Could be $500. The point is that someone opens their wallet because of something you wrote.

Line up three paying clients. One might become a regular. The other two will probably disappear or find something to complain about.

And that's normal. This is where you figure out if you can handle the flaky nature of freelancing. 

Six gigs in, you can start testing what people will actually pay you. Might be $200 for an email sequence. Might be $10k for a launch campaign. 

Totally depends on your niche, your skills, how you position yourself, and what you learned from getting your teeth kicked in.

Taplio

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