CopyRobin gives me the freedom to choose when and where I work
CasesIt’s a beautiful, cool autumn day in Sweden, where I am spending a week in an idyllic and typically Swedish little house. I occasionally walk outside to split some wood for the soapstone stove, but it’s enjoyably calm and quiet in every other way. In fact, it’s so remote that moose and other wildlife often wander by the tiny home. At the exact moment I decide to take a walk, closing the door behind me, the sound of my mobile phone suddenly breaks through the silence...
This call from Eric isn’t entirely out of the blue. Earlier that week, I had signed up with his company CopyRobin to start writing content as a freelancer. We have a great conversation, in which Eric explains more about CopyRobin and the way the company operates, and he ultimately shares with me that the copywriting department will immediately start pairing clients with me. At the time, I am in my final 24 hours of work as a content marketing employee and hard at work expanding my own content marketing company. Writing copy for CopyRobin is an excellent complement to that work.
Keeping things simple with shared folders in Google Docs
After my telephone conversation with Eric, things move quickly. That same week, I receive a clear manual for freelancers and I spend time on the sofa by the wood burner in the Swedish house writing my first assignments. This content is for KPN. It’s fun to jump into writing for such a large and well-known organisation. It would generally be much trickier for a self-employed person to get a foot in the door there. The completed text content is easily delivered via Google Docs, in a shared folder assigned to me by the CopyRobin editorial team. In my case, I like to write documents on my own Google Drive first, then transfer them to the shared folder and deliver them to CopyRobin.
Clients are assigned a designated writer
In the following months, CopyRobin swiftly links me to new clients and the number of projects increases. As often as possible, freelancers are assigned work for the same client consistently, depending on the client’s chosen subscription and the accompanying number of credits. Practically speaking, one credit represents about 15 minutes of work. In your freelancer profile, you simply indicate your available monthly hours and which topics you are interested in or specialised in. Personally, I enjoy writing about sustainability and electric transportation, financial and technical subjects, and marketing- or business-related topics.
Assignments with varying levels of complexity
When an assignment comes in, the level of difficulty can vary from ‘Standard’ to ‘Creative’ or ‘Expert’. In practice, these ratings are more a reflection of the time spent on them than the level of difficulty. A ‘Standard’ assignment is a project you can complete based on your existing knowledge, sources available online, or any input included in the briefing. ‘Creative’ means that you will have to do a bit more research, and ‘Expert’ will often mean speaking directly with CopyRobin’s client on the phone for an interview to gather more information about the subject matter. In particular, the interviews and the personal contact with the CopyRobin clients make the work quite varied. I often view the more complex projects as a kind of puzzle to be solved gradually while I write, transforming it all into a piece that flows nicely.
Swift communication with CopyRobin
Think of a question or comment while you write? Run into an issue? An email to the editor can provide a quick answer. You stand a good chance of meeting Suzanne Robbe, who is always very kind in her emails and understands exactly what’s going on with freelancers and clients alike. In practice, freelancers like myself frequently connect with CopyRobin’s clients directly. That makes for an efficient process.
At the same time, clients will often email me directly about a question or assignment before adding the new project to the CopyRobin dashboard. The client then links it to a deadline, allowing me to add the assignment to my schedule. Once a new assignment has been created, freelancers receive an email with the project description (the briefing) and its proposed deadline. At that time, you can choose to accept or decline the assignment and indicate whether or not the deadline is achievable. This is nearly always the case. As the go-between, CopyRobin takes a lot of work off your plate, and the editorial team seems to almost have a sixth sense for how busy you are at any given time.
Valuable feedback on your writing and final copy edits
Another excellent plus of working with CopyRobin is the final edit they perform on each submitted piece. In Google Docs, you can see any corrections made before CopyRobin delivers the finalised text to the client. I usually read through those changes. While you might have a different opinion about a particular sentence structure, the edits are always instructive and allow you to further improve your copywriting skills. Avoiding passive sentences as often as possible is one of those key improvements. I find that type of feedback very valuable. Occasionally, clients will request an addition or change to a submitted piece. As a tool for self-improvement and development, CopyRobin offers a lot of support in terms of search engine optimisation (SEO) and writing ‘catchy’ content. In those areas, I highly recommend the instructional videos posted by Eric van Hall.
Solid earnings
It’s been two years since I first started writing for CopyRobin and I really enjoy the collaboration. Email contact with the editorial team is always fast, personalised, and full of positive energy. When you get started as a writer for CopyRobin, ‘Bronze’ is your initial ranking, but as you continue to write and prove that you can meet deadlines, write at a professional level, and in the desired tone of voice, you progress to ‘Silver’ and then ‘Gold’ tier. The writing work itself doesn’t actually change, but you will invoice up to 40 percent more per credit at those higher tiers. In my case, I bumped from ‘Bronze’ up to ‘Gold’ within six months, and writing for CopyRobin now delivers great earnings in addition to my other work activities.
At the end of each month, you send an invoice stating all the work you’ve submitted. To make that extra simple, CopyRobin works with a dashboard that lists all of your completed assignments. At the end of the month, you simply download a monthly overview that you can copy into your invoice. The invoiced amount will often show up in your account within 14 days. A month ago, I even received the message that I was the copywriter with the highest number of assignments that month. A wonderful honour! (And, of course, an equally wonderful invoice! ;))
It’s all about freedom
While I mainly work from home, writing for CopyRobin still grants me a lot of freedom. It is so valuable to me to be able to live as a ‘global citizen’ and simply get away any time I choose, while earning an income in any location, as long as there is internet access. In the coming years, I want to continue to expand my online income, including passive income from dividends, semi-passive advertising, affiliate income from websites, and, of course, active writing for clients like CopyRobin. The perfect mix.
The great thing about writing for CopyRobin is that it’s scalable: have a busy week ahead, or want to take a real holiday without working? Send an email and CopyRobin will take that into account. That way, you can always create the perfect balance.
In a nutshell, I consider my work for CopyRobin to be one of those income sources that provides precisely what makes life as an online freelancer so lovely: the freedom to work whenever and wherever you want! If that’s what you’re searching for, CopyRobin is the place to be.
Want to get started as a freelance copywriter?
Simply head over to the application page and sign up.