I’d love to share with you a little about my journey to becoming a copywriter who loves marketing and web design for entrepreneurs.

My story starts in 2000 with an interesting election that showed me what I love about writing and the media.

It was the year of the contested US election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. I was riveted to the news coverage and in particular how the details were covered by our media. I became obsessed with every word, each scene of ballot boxes, the hanging chads, the disputed counties…every detail.

I quickly realized that this was where I could tap into the need I’d always felt to write and to share compelling stories with an audience.

By the time I completed my bachelor’s degree in journalism I felt inspired to jump right into the field and to tell the stories of those around me, to share “news” in a way that hit home with readers.

Then reality hit me…

I quickly found that writing for a newspaper was far different from telling stories and much more about beating your competitors to print, regardless of how the subjects felt about the story. I found that I was not the advocate that I had hoped to become and instead I was viewed as the “bad guy”.

As a caring, thoughtful person, this was a difficult pill to swallow.

Journalism simply wasn’t for me. 

I left the world of newspapers and happened into marketing for charities.  I quickly fell in love with creating email newsletters, dynamic websites, and the content marketing that fueled our fundraisers for sick children. I helped their parents learn to tell their stories as spokespeople in a compelling, genuine way.

Without realizing where I’d ended up, I found how I could help others and build on some of my strengths!

I learned that my real power was in using this new media to tell the stories of others and why each story was important.

I learned how to write and design all the marketing materials we’d need for a fundraising event, how to craft copy that resonated with our email list, and how to pull it all together into one neat and complete package.

I built on this new passion for marketing.

A few years later I heard about a new position at a local college as the administrator of their online alumni community who would also act as a contributing writer for their magazine and be an event planner. It seemed like a dream job that combined my new-found digital marketing skills with my love of running fundraising events. I quickly applied, and joined their team not long after.

The job grew to include Facebook in 2008, email marketing, the management of their constituent relationship management systems, enhanced site creation, and content management systems, posting schedules and so much more. It seemed that the list of digital marketing possibilities never ended, and (most of the time) I loved the management of it all.

Technology evolved so I could finally watch the real-time engagement statistics of each marketing piece as it went live. Google Analytics, Facebook Analytics, Twitter Analytics (see a pattern forming?); it all spoke to me in excited tones with proof of what worked and what didn’t work for each channel for our audience.

Building websites became my true passion, and I fell in love with the direct copy and compelling visuals that create a cohesive marketing package.

Then, it all changed.

My department experienced the turnover of several supervisors in a few years, many of whom barely understood the new digital marketing I’d created let alone the demanding schedules I maintained to do it.

After explaining it repeatedly to each new supervisor, I realized that they didn’t understand how vital digital marketing had become to our shared audience. I’d started to realize that I could do more than run this set of systems for someone else.

I decided to step out of their office and into my own business with the idea that by leaving I could do more good for more people.  If you’d like to read more of the details of my “must change” moment, check out this post.

I realized that I’d evolved into someone who wasn’t the usual marketing professional, copywriter or web designer. I was all three.

It didn’t take long for me to decide to take the leap into True Blue Marketing in 2016, and I’m so happy that I did.

Today, I help entrepreneurs find their way with marketing specifically for the needs of each business.

I pull together every piece of what I love to do with True Blue Marketing. I’ve created digital marketing and writing for years, now my work propels entrepreneurs to the next level of their business growth.

I pride myself on being different from others in marketing. I create sites that capture the essence of each business. Instead of jumping into every new site trend, system integration, or web tool, I create what speaks to their specific strengths and then translate that into every piece that we create together.

Learn how to create copy that speaks directly to your ideal clients by downloading my free guide, The Copy Guide.