Vlad Adrian Iancu

What can I do you for? (Romanian native with English proficiency)

1. Services based on subscription (RO and EN): 

- CONTENT/COPYWRITING FOR SOCIAL MEDIA (Ethical Ghostwriting). Get your brand recognized, for the right reasons. Includes setting up a communication strategy (some people think that "brand" is an icky word) and posting calendar. I don't do community management, but I coach you on how to approach comments and DMs in a smart and results oriented fashion. 

- ARTICLES FOR YOUR WEBSITE/BLOG. We’re talking straight up blog articles or advertising pieces with an SEO-friendly approach. I will be using your brand voice to educate your customer base and make your services/products popular;

- ANY OTHER TYPE OF CONTENT your heart desires, your brand needs, and your budget allows for: newsletters, white papers, reel/video scripts, and so on and so forth. You need instructions for how to wash your socks? I can write that too. 

2. One time only services - RO and EN (it may be the start of a beautiful friendship, or we could just keep it casual);

- CONTENT FOR WEBSITE PAGES. You have an idea, a product/service, a brand. Now you need a website for it. I’ll hook you up with a voice and text for the pages, and you can go looking for an IT wizard;

- SCRIPTWRITING. I can wax poetically for the artistically inclined, be it for social media videos, movies (short or full feature), your daughter’s school play or training videos. If you ask me nicely, I can even star in some of those productions. Have I mentioned I’m a part-time actor? 

- TRANSLATION/ADAPTATION (EN-RO/RO-EN). You need your Shakespeare to sound like Morometii (Romanian classic) or the other way around? 

- TEXT EDITING. You got the right idea, but you can’t put it into words that sound like your own. But I can.

Freelance Content Writer & Copywriter

The game was writing copy and articles of various lengths and complexity (both RO and EN), both advertising and blog, in order to optimize the customer's website according to SEO principles and attract readers. The niches I wrote for are a trade secret, so... Suffice it to say, they cover a large spectrum. Range is not a problem. 

Had mostly positive feedback and was told I will be missed. I was an asset, albeit a difficult one. But more on that later :))

Senior Content Writer

Mantu

Back in what feels like another life, I was a Training Officer and Designer. Learned a lot about people, but also about what makes a training module (be it live, remote or digital) tick. So yeah, I can catch people's attention. Alas, the corporate life wasn't for me.

Training Officer

Industry Media Vector

Back when I liked writing about the oil, gas, and energy industry. Liked is a strong word, though. I needed the money and the experience. Learned a lot, but this industry isn't the right stage for someone who writes in a personal way. Not my cup of tea after all.

Author/Journalist

LUATEL

Was so star struck that I agreed to do the job with no boost to my salary. Happily, a wise man told me that "if you're good at something, never do it for free". In retrospect, it sounds like something the Joker would say. Nevermind, thank you, Sasha!

Corporate Trainer

Money, yo! New city, new girlfriend, new place. Rent was cheap, life wasn't. You do what you have to do. What can be easier than talking to people all day on the phone? Ha ha...

Customer Care Representative

I racked my brain for a while, trying to come up with a description about myself... Do I, like my clients, have a problem with writing about my (personal/professional) brand, when clearly I can talk about it for ages?

And then it hit me: my mum had feedback about my LinkedIn photo: "Why are you naked? You should have a shirt or at least a polo on."

No, because I'm not that guy. At least not anymore. No, because one size certainly does not fit all. And finally no, because I just felt like being me. Don't be disruptive for the sake of being disruptive. Be yourself and you'll be plenty disruptive. And you'll stand out, just like that.

Need a voice to go with that bravado? I'm your man. Reach me @vladadrianiancu@gmail.com or in private. But first, check out the Experience section to see my services.

Oh, one more thing before you contact me. I ONLY do ETHICAL writing. That means: 

- No pain point massacre. Yes, I will use the potential client’s pain points to explain the problem. No, I won’t deliberately make potential clients feel like shit. There’s a big difference between: 

A. Your life will be better with this product. Have a go!
B. Your life sucks without this product. Buy or be perpetually unhappy!

- No FOMO. I don’t want people to buy or do anything else out of fear. They will join your business and/or buy because they genuinely like you/your product/service;

- No fake scarcity. I won’t fumble with the numbers to make you look better. If there is scarcity to be used, it has to be real. 

Not convinced? You can read my newsletter in the meantime: https://vladadrianiancu.substack.com/

It's a marketing comic book masquerading as a serious newsletter. Or is it? Great for people who want to learn more about ethical, balls-to-the-wall marketing, writing and everything in-between. If you're a prude... it's not really your jam.


That’s all, pumpkin. If you’re cool with my understanding of ethics, we can work together. If not… bugger off. 

Signed,
The most unserious serious
person you’ll ever meet

What can I do you for? (Romanian native with English proficiency)

1. Services based on subscription (RO and EN): 

- CONTENT/COPYWRITING FOR SOCIAL MEDIA. Get your brand recognized, for the right reasons. Bonus: I’ll even throw in some basic graphic design in Canva or publish your posts, if need be;

- ARTICLES FOR YOUR WEBSITE/BLOG. We’re talking straight up blog articles or advertising pieces with a SEO friendly approach. I will be using your brand voice to educate your customer base and make your services/products popular;

- ANY OTHER TYPE OF CONTENT your heart desires, your brand needs, and your budget allows for: newsletters, white papers, reel/video scripts, and so on and so forth. You need instructions for how to wash your socks? I can write that too. 

2. One time only services - RO and EN (it may be the start of a beautiful friendship, or we could just keep it casual);

- CONTENT FOR WEBSITE PAGES. You have an idea, a product/service, a brand. Now you need a website for it. I’ll hook you up with a voice and text for the pages, and you can go looking for an IT wizard;

- SCRIPTWRITING. I can wax poetically for the artistically inclined, be it for social media videos, movies (short or full feature), your daughter’s school play or training videos. If you ask me nicely, I can even star in some of those productions. Have I mentioned I’m a part-time actor? 

- TRANSLATION (EN-RO/RO-EN). You need your Shakespeare to sound like Morometii (Romanian classic) or the other way around? 

- TEXT EDITING. You got the right idea, but you can’t put it into words that sound like your own. But I can.

După trei ani în care am fost puțin răutăcios și în general m-am luat de oameni, azi voiam să fac o postare în care să ofer mulțumiri și să fiu drăguț cu (OK, aproape) toată lumea. 

Azi s-a găsit Cloudflare-ul să facă iar figuri. 

Îmi pare rău, nu mai cred în coincidențe.

I racked my brain for a while, trying to come up with a description about myself... Do I, like my clients, have a problem with writing about my (personal) brand, when clearly I can talk about it for ages? And then it hit me: my mum had feedback about my LinkedIn photo: "Why are you naked? You should have a shirt or at least a polo on".

No, because I'm not that guy. At least not any more. No, because one size certainly does not fit all. And finally no, because I just felt like being me. Don't be disruptive for the sake of being disruptive. Be yourself and you'll be plenty disruptive. And you'll stand out, just like that. 

Need a voice to go with that bravado? I'm your man. Reach me @vladadrianiancu@gmail.com or in private.

Signed,
The most unserious serious
person you’ll ever meet

Freelance Content Writer & Copywriter | Ethical Ghostwriter for domestic and international brands/founders | Stay away from the cliché

Upon waking, I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of digital "writers", marketers, content strategists and brand architects suddenly cried out in terror and unexpectedly missed their deadlines. 

And then, in totally, totally unrelated news, I hear ChatGPT was down yesterday...

- Can you teach me how to get more likes on LinkedIn?
- Probably. But why?
- So I can have more likes.
- Would that help you in any way?
- Yes, I’d get more exposure. 
- Aha. Why do you do LinkedIn?
- To get clients. 
- Do you get clients?
- Of course. My posts don’t really get that many likes, but people constantly write to me and become my clients.
- That’s awesome!
- And my competition gets hundreds of likes, but I know they’re not getting clients!
- So… the likes, what’s the point? If you’re getting clients, then it means whatever you’re doing is worth it. Why do you need likes, then? 
- I want to be popular.
- Popularity does not equal more clients. If anything, it MIGHT mean fewer clients. 

And that’s because POPULARITY is not the same thing as RELEVANCE. 

There are countless examples to prove me wrong. People employ the age-old strategy of getting popular first with masses of people and then selling low-end price services. It works. It absolutely does. I’m just not a fan of that approach. 

If you want to be popular and get more likes, the plan is actually easy:

1. Lots of photos. 

Share selfies and photos of yourself as much as possible. People love those. If possible, show yourself while on holiday, dressed fancy, waving money around. It’ll make people crave your life. 

2. Talk about the rewards, never the work. 

It’s all glamour for you, baby. Share the way that your life is absolutely wonderful. Share almost nothing about your work and challenges. 

3. Productize

When you’ve hooked enough people, start selling services under the promise you’ll change your followers lives. By this point they are seriously invested, and they’ll probably pay you for a chance to entertain the delusion of your lifestyle. 

Not that complicated, right? 

That’s popularity. 

Talk about shallow, cliché, all around vapid topics while you’re at it. You can’t go wrong with spirituality, politics, burnout, unemployment. The likes will follow. 

Now, if you want your content to be relevant… that’s a different story. You actually have to provide something of value, not just entertainment. You’ll want to make people think… question themselves. That doesn’t bring likes. 

It does however bring genuine work and pay. 

Can you be POPULAR and RELEVANT? 

I guess so, but you’ll want to start with being relevant. And remember that popular people speak to the masses first, so you run the risk of diluting your message if you always create content for the lowest common denominator. 

P.S. I’ve recently been invited to create and deliver a workshop on LinkedIn. It’ll be live, in front of a small crowd. If it gathers enough interest, I might even consider turning it into a signature talk and sharing it with more people. Online, even. 

Would that be of interest to you? You can reply with a YES/NO here, in the comments or in private. I’m just gauging interest, there will be no direct/personal pitch.

Pinky promise.

Tomorrow's Black Friday and BOY!!!! do I have a super-duper discounted offer for you:











Absolutely Nothing. 

Black Friday is a marketing shtick to boost end-of-year profitability. Get over it.

“You’re always on LinkedIn. You simply write TOO MUCH. Whenever I see the ‘Read more’ option, I scroll past your content. I only give you a like when the post is short.”

I’ve heard and read the above feedback way too many times. More than I can count. And… in all honesty, even though it kind of makes me sad (reading doesn’t hurt your health, y’all) from a business perspective, I don’t really care. 

I smile, I nod, and then I proceed with taking said opinion and wiping my digital butt with it. 

See, in order for feedback like that to really matter to me, it has to check two specific boxes: 

☐ Do I want to work with this person?
☐ Is this person in a position to pay me right now? 

If the answer to both is ‘No’, I proceed with the wiping. In three years, I never checked both boxes. 

Since we cleared that up, I do have one issue. I take umbrage at people who tell writers to take any kind of feedback to heart. I’ve seen way too many brilliant writing careers and branding projects take an abrupt nosedive because the people behind them listened to a person who wasn’t the greatest mentor. 

So… next time someone criticizes your style, your length, your topics, run their opinion through your own boxes. 

You’ll save time and probably your entire business*

*I’m so confident in what I’m writing because in my entire freelancing history, the two boxes have NEVER led me astray. Even people who don’t bother with reading my posts (as in, they run them through AI for a summary… WOW) have asked me if I want to collaborate. The discussion usually comes to a screeching halt when my prices are DOUBLE what they afford or deem fair. 

No harm, no foul, there’s an audience and a price range for everyone. 

Make sure you’re presenting your material on the right stage, and in front of the right audience… before you think about changing your material ;)

Or... your prices for that matter... 

On that note, I'm fully booked now, but there's hope for a new opening in my client roster for implementation/execution projects in January. Still, I'm always open for consultancy and strategy.

Maybe you got bad feedback and you require a second opinion? 

---- 

Yes, yes, the above is a repost of last week, because LinkedIn deemed it fair to show my post to a grand total of 31 people... 

No, I WILL NOT PAY.

Ghostwriting does this, that, the other thing, and above all -- it makes you money. 

“What feckin’ is ghostwriting?”

People see ghostwriting as something that’s not authentic, kinda like ChatGPT. They think it hinders their unique way of expressing themselves. 
Having witnessed this, I identified a key need of my audience. A clarification. 

GHOSTWRITING

I sit you down, live or online, and we talk. About you, your business, your passion.

Then, we identify the pillars of content. These are the three-four main ideas that we’ll be talking about until the cows come home. We then assign topics and subtopics to these pillars, and I create a content calendar. 

By sticking to the calendar, we post regularly, and we adjust depending on feedback. I do the writing, you do the talking. I record you, and based on that, I write the posts. If you want, I also advise you on the comments and the interactions for an extra charge. That’s the audience/community management package. 

But I don't pull the texts out of thin air. I get them from the discussions I have with you, the client.

It's just that you won't write the text. But voice, style, ideas, unique way of expressing yourself, they remain the same. Just produced quicker and with less input on your side.

Ghostwriting’s just the car that gets you to the destination. If you want the ride to be 100% authentic, 100% YOU, put on some tires and start rolling on the highway. It’s not like if somebody writes up your website, you’ll say that you did it yourself… right?

Will it sound exactly like you? 

NO 1. Not at first and maybe not ever. We’re not the same person. But I can use some beats that in time we’ll identify with your style. I’ll put your verbal idiosyncrasies in writing. 

NO 2. Sorry, bubbu, but trust me, you don’t want it to sound exactly like you. Because you’re not a writer. It will sound like 90% you, plus input from a writer friend. 

---- 

Tired of READING about ghostwriting on #GhostwritingTuesday? Weird, but I gotchu, fam! 

You can WATCH the Ghostwriting Master Class I shared on my newsletter - link in the comments (FU LinkedIn)

N-am mai scris de multicel în limba română, asta și deoarece n-am mai găsit subiecte relevante. 

Acum… nefiind critic de film, evit să scriu despre cinematografie dacă subiectul peliculei nu se pupă cu meseria mea. În acest caz particular, se pupă cu arta și meșteșugul, două chestiuni pe care îmi place să cred că le implică și activitatea mea, sau așa mă mint noaptea ca să accept faptul că nu-s mai mult decât o rotiță într-un sistem capitalist pe final de activitate.

De #VinereaNaționalistă o să încerc să nu dau spoilere, deși, între noi fie vorba, nu prea înțeleg cum poți da spoilere despre viața unui om, viață at

Open article: Omul care urina împotriva vântului sau ce-am înțeles eu din „Cravata Galbenă” by Vlad Adrian Iancu • 3 min read

Omul care urina împotriva vântului sau ce-am înțeles eu din „Cravata Galbenă”

This MIGHT be the end. But it doesn’t have to be!

Apparently, LinkedIn has entered it’s “F*ck you, user, I’m going to milk you until you go dry and die” era. How do I know? 

They’re asking me to “promote this post to reach people who matter to you”. Oh, I’m pretty good at reading between the lines. It means they’re going to mess with my reach and throw my posts in front of people who have nothing to do with my audience. 

But the joke is actually on them — it might actually help with my distribution and my acquiring of a new audience. Still, the threat is thinly veiled: 

“Pay up or risk losing your audience.”

Listen here, I paid for Premium once and stopped – because it was absolutely pointless. And the chances of paying for exposure are slim to none, at least in my case. 

But you’re the one who is losing out, BlinkedIn. My audience actually reads my long-ass posts. They comment on them. They DM me about them. They save them and send them to others. They check my profile when I don’t post. They ask me to create posts for them. 

All of that on YOUR PLATFORM. That's dwell time, in your favour. Dwell time you can use when you pitch people who want to run ads here. If you’re pushing me out, you’re losing money and users. Pretty soon, you’ll have bots watching ads made by bots. But… suit yourself. 

As for you, my audience, there is a solution: ring my bell. 

Otherwise… you’ll see me show up when the algo deems it fit. I wouldn’t gamble with that. 

If you don’t ring my bell… this might very well be adieu. 

Thanks for everything :D, you've been awesome!

The reach’s not broken, just bent
And we can learn to love (LinkedIn) again

Yup, I’ve been less and less active on here lately. Partly due to work, partly due to the fact that the majority of posts on here are so boring. I need inspiration to write, and the feed hasn’t been providing any as of the last few months. 

It might be the fact that reach is wack. Sure.  Yet, I don’t wanna contribute to that, you know? 

So, to further misquote Pink’s song: just give me a reason. 

If I went away tomorrow, and I stopped posting on LinkedIn FOR GOOD

1. What’s one thing you’d absolutely miss about my posts?
2. What’s one thing you won’t miss, because it was annoying as f*ck?

P.S. That’s the feedback I like, of course ↓

There isn’t going to be a per se #GhostwritingTuesday post today because I was out talking about ghostwriting (ironically), among other things, and I just made it home. 

But that doesn’t mean you can’t help me out for a change. See, during my discussion, the topic of ‘ghostwriting’ popularity came up. Now, I do provide ghostwriting services for three Romanian clients, so I can’t say there’s no market for it. 

However, I believe the market is not yet… mature. Most people either don’t see enough value in it, or don’t know enough about it – so they are not lining up to buy into it. 

That’s just my opinion, though. 

Here’s where you come in. 

If you’ve ever considered working with a ghostwriter (but didn’t) please let me know what stopped you. I can promise you a couple of things:

1. I’m just out for information in order to confirm a hypothesis and possibly work on my positioning.

2. I WILL NOT pitch you on working together, my calendar is full come January. 

3. I will not badger you for information you don't want to share, I won’t weasel my way into a collaboration. I’m not a rat. 

Comment or DM, whatever suits you best.

Thanks!

The NR.1 mistake I noticed clients and potential clients make when it comes to ghostwriting.

I know, I know, you hate generalizations as much as the next person, but this is my own experience, so you can suck a cold onion if you don’t like it. 

And yes, I’m shouting yet again on the internet on a #GhostwritingTuesday, but it’s for your own good, trust me. Founders, CEOs, business owners, perk up those ears, this is for you lot!

The numero uno mistake you make when you try to work with a ghostwriter is that you don’t understand: 

IT CAN’T BE DONE WITHOUT YOU!

Fair game to you, it’s usually the fault of the “professional” you pick. But, here’s the real deal from a real professional:

You have to show up and talk through stuff.  You have to open up. You have to share with me. You can’t just send me some info on e-mail and leave me to pick up the pieces and turn them into a story. 

Nu, uh, it don’t work like that, bubu. Or... it can... but that's a recipe for frustration, on both sides. 

That’s not ghostwriting. That’s delegating content curation to a writer. Totally different things. 

Leads, opportunities, connections, collaborations, work offers, they’ll most likely show up only if you show up. 

As a professional ghostwriter, I can promise you one thing and one thing alone: if you don't do it my way, you don't get to complain about a lack of results. 

Suit yourself.

“One more. You’re good. One more. You’re sweating, but it’s good. One more. Aaaaand one more. Last one.”

- whoever taught my fitness trainer how to count should be prosecuted. 

I hang up the barbell. During rest he likes to talk, and since I told him I’m a ghostwriter, he won’t let it rest. Or me. 

“How does it work? Who uses a ghostwriter?” - he gleefully asks again, as the sweat in my mustache somehow combines with the snot I expelled on that last push…

I wipe my face, and since marketing gurus drilled the ‘meet them where they are’ mantra deep into my cerebellum, I decide to meet him where he is (at the gym) and explain my business in gym terms:

There are three categories of people I serve: 

1. The ones who don’t know how to write.

These would be the people who have never gone to the gym. They’re not familiar with the process, they lack motivation, and their (writing) muscles have never been used. I train them, I watch their progress, and in time they develop a taste for showing up. But just like you can’t push the barbell in my place, I can’t write about my own ideas – they have to contribute and show their thinking. 


2. The ones who don’t have time to write.

These are the people who think they are too busy for the gym. But just one hour a month can produce results. You know training sporadically is better than no training at all. They have ideas, but they’re too busy to share them. Just like you keep me accountable, and I have an appointment to show up here every other day at 9 A.M., I set a meeting in their calendar, and they get to talk about the most important topics in their business. 


3. The people who know how to write, have time, but are inconsistent. 

I think these are your best clients as well. They worked out before/written before, they have the time required to meet/go to the gym, but they are inherently inconsistent. Left alone, without encouragement, without accountability, without prompting, they are a black hole of potential. Imagine people with great genetics, their muscles exploding after each workout, but they seldom make it to the gym (or post on LinkedIn). 

As someone recently asked me: “Do any of your clients ever graduate? Like, do they start writing on their own and growing their brand on their own? Do they learn and do it by themselves?”

The answer, sadly, is always the same. 

Yes, they do learn. Yes, they can absolutely do it by themselves. But, without a trainer… they won’t. It's human nature to give up. I should know -- this is my third trainer :))

Hope you enjoyed my little #GhostwritingTuesday meets gym real life inspired vignette, minus the snot – though let’s be honest, I’ve implied weirder stuff in my mustache. 

Want to work with a ghostwriter?

Tough luck at the moment, I’m fully booked for 2025. But maybe you can make me an offer I can’t refuse in 2026? 

Want to ask me a question about ghostwriting, to be hopefully discussed in my content? 

I’m all bespectacled eyes.

Acum c-am terminat de călărit până la epuizare rebrandingul Poștei Române, o vom ține langa cu Utah 2034 până la Crăciun. 

E bine, bravo, ne-am ocupat calendarul de conținut.

Situația asta e doar cu puțin peste penibilul oamenilor care nu se pricep la scris, dar fac ei postări în care demască cele 5 semne care garantează că un text e SIIIIIIIGUUUUUUR scris cu A.I. 

Permiteți-mi să nuanțez de #VinereaNaționalistă:

1) Dacă vrei ca brandul tău să iasă în evidență în mod relevant, nu să fie doar un brand de pluton, poate reușești să nu-ți înfigi dinții în subiectele pe care le-a dezvoltat deja toată lumea. 

2) Dacă totuși vrei s-o muști, asigură-te că analiza ta este personală, argumentată temeinic, bazată pe experiență (ptiu, drace… știu!) sau măcar atent documentată. 

Altfel… să tot fim olimpici internaționali la datul cu părerea. 

De gard. 

Cu plăcere!

taplio

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