Copywriting For Coaches

Outsourcing Copywriting Helped Micala Quinn Triple Her Teaching Income As A Work From Home Mom

• Megan Kachigan, Micala Quinn • Season 1 • Episode 15

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THIS is how you work with a copywriter...even if you are good at writing! Micala Quinn’s secret to tripling her teacher income as a work-from-home mom on part time hours is...

...to hire and outsource! 

But how do you outsource copywriting, which is your personal connection with your community and your audience...without losing your authentic voice?

Find a copywriter who can:

  •  learn your message AND how YOU would say it.
  •  take a collaborative approach
  •  grow with you over the long term.


If you want to get the full picture of how Micala works with her copywriter to create massive success in her business while raising her babies, read on! She has over 50,000 followers on Instagram and has supported over 2000 moms not having to choose between the family life they want and the income they need by creating their perfect balance as a freelancer!

0:05:12 - Normalizing having kids present while working as a work-from-home mom
0:07:24 - Micala's process for outsourcing copywriting while maintaining her unique voice and connection with her audience
0:14:26 - Micala's strategy of using her podcast as anchor content, repurposing it across social media and email
0:17:25 - Micala trusts her copywriter to execute social media content with minimal involvement
0:20:23 - Overcoming writer's block and having open communication with your copywriter about feedback and improvement

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Welcome to the copywriting for coaches podcast. My name is Megan catchin, and I am obsessed with having your brand actually sound like you on the internet. We help you write all the things that you've been trying to articulate about your business but have never been able to put into copy. We're going to go deep to up level your business without adding more to your already full plate. We'll keep it simple and sustainable. Sound like a breath of relief. Let's dive in. Today, I get to share with you Michaela Quinn's secret to tripling her teacher income as a work from home mom on nap time hours, and that is to hire and outsource. Specifically, we are sharing her process of how you outsource your copywriting? How? What does it even look like to work with a copywriter, even if you are good at writing? How do you outsource copywriting, which is your personal connection with your community and your audience, without losing your authentic voice? Three of the key takeaways that we're going to dive deeper into today is one, find a copywriter who can learn your message and how you would say it. Two is to take a collaborative approach, and we're going to spell out exactly what that looks like. And number three is to find a copywriter who can grow with you over the long term. And we're going to talk about why that isn't so important too. And it is so important to understand this process of working with a copywriter because So, for example, I was recently talking to a multi seven figure company who kept hiring copywriter after copywriter after copywriter and still thought that the problem was finding the right hire. Sometimes this is the case, but a deeper look revealed that actually it was the process that they used their cop used with their copywriter, like the process that they put the copywriter through, that made it not work. Like no matter how good their copywriters were, the process just made it so difficult for them to be successful in truly capturing the emotion and the voice of that CEO. And that is why I am especially excited to share Michaela's story with you today, because not every company gets this right. The way Michaela works with her copywriter is very similar to the process I as a copywriter, use my use with my clients as well. So whether you have never worked with a copywriter before and want to envision how a copywriter could support you, or if you've worked with a copywriter before and it maybe it didn't work out, I hope this process will help clarify things for you, to help that process feel more supportive in the future. Again, sometimes it can be the wrong hire, but that is not necessarily always the case. So if you want to get the full picture of how Michaela works with her copywriter to create massive success in her business while raising her babies, keep listening. She has over 50,000 followers on Instagram and has supported over 2000 moms, actually probably more. Now I didn't get the updated numbers from her before the time of recording, but now these over 2000 moms don't have to choose between the family life they want and the income they need by creating their perfect balance as a freelancer. But before we get into that, I want to share two quick notes about this interview. First, is that this interview was pre recorded and has been repurposed with permission. We originally recorded this interview together in 2021 but it resonated so well with my audience back then, and I feel like her story is, I mean, it's still true, obviously, and still very much relevant, and something I get asked a lot today that I wanted to bring it back. And secondly, this is something that I shared with Michaela personally, and now I want to share it publicly here as well, because I think this is important. So Michaela did this entire interview while nursing her seven month old baby, and you'll hear some of the sweet baby noises in the background. I was so impressed with how present she was to our conversation while taking care of her infant, and by watching her go first. I then went on to not be afraid of bouncing a baby in my little Ergo backpack on a call or nursing under the Zoom screen while I worked. I don't want to miss this moment to remind you that your actions are so powerful in the moment, she had no idea how much she was leading the way. For me, that is one of the reasons why this interview is so special to me, and she also does an amazing job of describing the most effective way to work with a copywriter so that you don't make feel like you made the wrong hire. After listening to this, you will feel more confident that outsizing that you can outsource your copywriting without losing your unique voice message or connection with your audience. So let's now hear. From Michaela Quinn in her own words about how she runs her business as a work from home mom. We're going to cut to that part of the interview first, and then it'll flow into how hiring a copywriter is a key component to her success. I got started, I felt like, oh my gosh, my kids. Like, I have to hire them. I can only do calls when they're sleeping or when I have a daycare provider or like clients can't see kids, if they see kids, they'll immediately think I'm unprofessional and I can't do this work. But I mean, if there's one thing I can do, it's I want to normalize that you can be working, you can be doing something productive at the same time that you're being a mom. Not that it necessarily has to be 24/7, like there is. There's merit and having structured, dedicated time to work. There's merit to having dedicated, structured time just with your kids. But sometimes the world's collide, and that's okay, and it doesn't. I just, you can I've some of my students have landed some of their best clients. Why they've had, like, kids have a major meltdown on a call, and like, the how they were able to handle that spoke volumes to the client. So, yeah, kids being present are not a make or break it for all the moms out there, yeah. Oh, that's such a powerful message. Good, Oh, fudge. And she's like, seven months and she just bit me. Sweet girl. This is Sweet Caroline, who just bit her mom. Can you say hi? Oh, sweet girl. Oh so sweet. Oh my gosh. I want to ask all the questions about her, but we'll hold on. Okay, so you started your business. You were a teacher. That's so great. I was a high school teacher too. I actually taught physics. Oh, wow. People are like, Wait, physics, copywriting, but yeah, so I see Bernard out with all the data with copywriting. I love that part of it, and it can be formulated and technique driven, and not just purely creative, though it is. Yeah. So I guess let's talk a bit, a little bit about that. How do you handle copywriting in your business, kind of, how have you handled it? And now, yeah, so when I first got, oh, when I first started my business, sweet baby, can you just let us? Let us? There we go. Um, when I first started my business, I was kind of, you know, the one woman show, doing it all, I hired and I hired a team, kind of pretty quickly. As soon as I was making money, one of my big like goals in my business is, yes, to generate a lot of revenue and to make a big impact, but it's also to do that while only working part time hours. And so in order to kind of achieve that I have, I had to hire, hire a team that one of the last things I ever outsourced was the copywriting, because for me, the copywriting is such a personal connection with my with my community, with my audience, and I didn't want to lose that piece. I didn't want to lose like my thoughts, my ideas, the message that I was trying to convey, how I would say it, and outsourcing that. But now I do have someone on my team who is a copywriter. She helps with a lot of marketing stuff, but we, we have a very kind of, like collaborative approach, which just works for me. And that aspect some of the other stuff, like design, the design aspect of stuff, I'm much more hands off, but it's the copy. I'm more like, Okay, I need to, I need to see everything that's going out, because it's a like, it's the words and that I'm saying, and I just really want the messaging nailed down. And so we've kind of gone through, you know, have grand guidelines. I've taken a lot of courses on copywriting, storytelling, all of that. And the one girl on my team who kind of handles that, she serves as, like this, director of marketing role, and she oversees emails, she oversees our social channels, when we write, when we have sales pages and other stuff, she will kind of write those. And then she also works with an intern under her who she actually executes some of the like social stuff. And the scheduling and all of that. And when we're working on something, or if she's like, writing an email aisle, word vomit, via Voxer, we communicate a lot via Voxer. Like, okay, this is what I'm trying to say. Here's a personal story. Like, here's the message, and I'll just ramble, and then she'll take that ideas, clean it up, turn it into something, send it to me. Always be a boxer. Like I'm a boxer person. I don't go to Trello. I don't go to email. And my team knows this. This is just, I like everything organized in Trello. So if I want to go there, I can find stuff and see projects. But if they need an answer from me, like, you gotta come to media boxer. So then she screenshots it, send it to boxer, and I box her back. Like, okay, this looks great. Or I wouldn't say this, like, you know, and she'll, she'll make those changes. And I know it seems if anyone in here is copywriting for clients, or maybe if you're outsourcing and working with a copywriters, just from like, my perspective, it's important to know that no one is going to get it absolutely how you would say it. But if there are changes you would make, like, it's a it's an ongoing relationship. When you're hiring a copywriter, finding someone that you can work with long term and really grow with, I think is, is so beneficial Stacey, I've been working with her now for over a year, maybe close to a year and a half, and as we've as We've gotten, you know, she's gotten to know my style. More the changes that I have to give are less and less, but when she but instead of me going in and making those changes, I like to give that verbal feedback, just because, one, it is less work for me, but also by me sharing that feedback and saying, like, Okay, here's like, why I would say it this way, and kind of just explaining she's going to get to learn and know and so that those changes become less and less and less as we go on. And I mean, sometimes the additions that I give, or feedback I give, it's like, it's nothing she would have known, and it's nothing that I would have known to say it's just like, Oh, I saw that. And I I don't really, like, use that phrase, or I would never say it that way. Yeah, so I'm loving my head with everything you say, because it just so like, that is probably the number one objection that people have to hiring a copywriters like, but it's my voice. No one knows my business better than me, and, like, a personal connection, like, how could I ever outsource that? But then the people who do outsource it, like you said, because, like, there's only so much time in the day, and it comes down to, you know, where is your time best being being used. And I totally agree with how you have it working. Is how it tends to work best is having that collaborative approach. And yeah, like, the more you work, the longer you work with a client, the more you like just learn their voice. And as you said, just being able to give that feedback of, like, Okay, here's how I would say, it is definitely helpful. And yeah, and then it becomes more seamless, of how, like, no one knows that. It's not you, actually, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And she, like, all of our social content is repurposed from podcast and like, anchor content that I create. It's it's my brain. But if you look at our social media, we're very active. And she, she manages that whole process. She'll write captions, repurposing all of the like education and like content that I've already created, and put time, time into making, yeah, perfect, yeah. I love that. Do you? I don't know if you can. Want to expand a little bit more on that. So, like, the podcast is your anchor content, and you create that, and then it goes to social channels and email or what. What does that look like? Yeah, so we don't have right now the podcast. I'm still kind of trying to figure out how it fits into everything. I've had the podcast for over two and a half years now. And, and I don't promote the podcast a ton on Instagram, I promote the podcast like, when someone I use, I use the podcast as a tool for those who are interested in you know what I have to offer? I. A way for them to, like, binge everything I've ever created. And so I direct my number one, like, focus on social media, on everything I do is pushing people towards my email list, and from there, from my email list, I'll push them to to the podcast. And so that's how we kind of get that there. But every Monday, we have a new episode that goes live. Sometimes it's an interview, sometimes it's a solo show. And right now we're we just kind of started implementing this new system in August, and we're just going through the podcast content each week is a theme on social media or a theme across, like, all of our channels, emails, all that. And Stacy will turn it into a script for, like, a Facebook Live for me to go live with. She'll same content, turn it into an Instagram post with like the teaching graphics that swipe through Instagram story content, additional posts like throughout the week, also for Facebook and our Facebook group, and it's just repurposing that one content into multiple it's like the same message, but different ways of talking about the same exact thing with like, different graphics. Because, you know, not everyone is going to follow you on every single platform or channel. Yeah, yeah. But that's kind of how we've we've grown the podcast, and I don't even really need to look at social content anymore like that. I'm just like, Okay, here's a, you know, we plan the topic each week together. We do like a once a month meeting and plan the next four to five weeks, and then she'll go and write and outsource whatever to our intern, and I don't even go back to approve that stuff anymore. If I see something like when it's live, I'm like, Hey guys, let's not do these floral elements anymore. I hate this. Or I'll just, I'll send them those messages that I totally trust them. We've been working for so long, but emails I'm still kind of a very involved with. Yeah, that makes sense. Oh my gosh. That is so good. I have a million more questions I want to ask you, but respect for your time. Oh my gosh. I so appreciate you just letting us in on on your world and how it works, and I feel like you gave such a good picture of what it is like to work with a copywriter, and how helpful it can be to free up your time and when you person that you can trust, who can learn your voice and really nail it like that is so, so powerful able to do what you've been able to do and have your level of success and really, like truly only work part time hours and be present your sweet little ones. Caroline, yeah, can I just say one more thing, yeah, as as a copywriter, one thing I wanted to share with you guys is sometimes like for me, staring at a blank paper is so intimidating, like that blinking cursor. I'm like, What do I want to say? And sometimes, like, I know, Stacy will go and write something, and then she'll send it to me, and I'll go and change it. And so by the end, it looks like she's like, you changed everything, but, and this has happened less and less, but sometimes, like, the goal is to have that finished product. And a lot of times, like, I know what I want to say, and I can but I don't know how to necessarily always share that. And so if you're sending stuff to clients, and they're like, oh my gosh, this is awesome. Thanks so much. And they go and change it. It's not necessarily like anything you're doing wrong. You can have that conversation with clients if you want. Thanks so much. You just ate. She just Yeah, yeah. She just ate. And so don't necessarily take that personally, like, Oh my gosh. They hate my work or whatever. It's just like the end goal is to get that that finished piece. And sometimes having that draft, that initial working draft, helps me be like, This is what I wanted to say, and it just helps me get it done. And that's that for me at least. I guess every client's probably a little bit different, but that's, that's what matters to me, and so always have that open communication with your clients. Hey, I noticed, you know, I've the last couple weeks, I've, I read, I wrote these emails, and then you went and changed a bunch of things, like. Is there? Do you have any feedback for me so that I can, you know, there's less changes that you're making in the future, or if you would like to just Voxer over to me the changes that you make or want made, so then I can learn, you know, kind of start to learn and hone in on your voice, your style, more. Let me know if that works for you, and just just having those open conversations, yeah, that's so good. It's not taking it personally and using it as an opportunity to grow together. Because, as you said, like, if you feel like you're making a lot of changes at first over time, as you keep giving them that feedback, they learn and hone in on your voice so much better, and sometimes to the point where, like, you said that better than I could have said that. That's exactly what I every email Stacy writes. Basically, I'm like, This is so much better than what I could say. Like you took my thoughts and made it coherent. Yeah, yeah. I'm not sleeping. I got little kids. I'm like, I have these ideas and thoughts. I can't turn them into anything coherent right now. Please help yep, I love it. I love it. I love that experience. And I feel like I operate the same way as you do with your copywriter. So that's that's awesome to hear. I'm so, yeah, thank you. Good. Oh my gosh. Okay. Well, tell us, where can people find you, online if they want more. Yeah, Instagram at Michaela dot Quint is my instagram handle. Send me a DM. Thank you for tuning in to the copywriting for coaches podcast. If you've been enjoying these episodes, let me know that you're listening and what you love about it by clicking on the copywriting for coaches show in Apple podcasts and leaving me a review. Be sure to subscribe while you're there. So it's easy to catch new episodes every week if you want digital resources to finish that copy project you've been working on, the links are all waiting for you at copywriting for coaches podcast.com you.