From Registered Nurse to Copywriter- Are You Interested in Taking the Leap?

Are you thinking about copywriting as a career change? The world of copywriting provides excellent flexibility, versatility, and financial stability. It’s fun and rewarding, too! Finding peace, happiness, and fulfillment in your career is important. It's also important to be treated and compensated well. If you currently aren’t finding these things in your work environment, it's no wonder you’ve begun to look elsewhere. 

In this blog, I’ll be transparent with you about my freelance copywriting journey. I’ll share my story, wins, and struggles with you. I know you’ve heard a ton of success stories from well-established copywriters well into their careers- now it's time for a realistic peek into what it's like when you haven’t been in the field for forever and a day. 

Read on to find out why I chose this path, what it looks like, and what life is like ten months into my copywriting journey!

My Nursing Background and Experience

I graduated with a nursing degree in 2008 and immediately began working in a pediatric intensive care unit. To start, and for a long while after, I LOVED it. I wanted the sickest patients, the adrenaline rush of critical situations, and above all, to know that I was making a difference. I was part of a skilled team who saved children’s lives- and what could be better than that? 

As time passed, I gradually shifted away from desiring these situations. I’m sure part of it occurred naturally over time- It can be HARD to sustain the constant stress of any bedside nursing specialty, especially one as demanding as pediatric intensive care. 

This shift also happened because of changes within the healthcare system. As the years passed, resources and support staff were constantly cut away. Already stressful situations became infinitely more stressful- because we no longer had the staff and resources to navigate them well. All healthcare providers were expected to do more with less, and our pay barely budged. 

As I became more experienced, I was also encouraged to take on roles with more responsibility. I taught new nurses, began doing charge, joined all the committees, and constantly picked up extra shifts on a chronically understaffed unit. Still, my pay barely budged. I was repeatedly asked to keep giving more and more to a meaningful cause, but also to a broken system that provided me a mediocre paycheck and a lot of stress and anxiety in return. I was tired of giving at my own expense.    

While I will always be thankful for my experiences as a PICU nurse, I knew something had to give. My body no longer worked nights and twelve-hour shifts as easily as it did when I was younger. I wanted a job that I could just leave at work. To not take home the heavy emotional toll of a demanding specialty within an overtaxed healthcare system and then let it adversely affect my life and relationships. But I still wanted flexibility. I didn’t want to work a 9-5, and I didn’t want to give up extended periods of time off that I regularly enjoyed as a bedside nurse. 

First Steps to Becoming a Copywriter

So, here’s what I did- I cut my hours to part-time in late 2022 - yay, nursing flexibility! I started researching non-traditional nursing jobs, work-from-home nursing jobs, remote work, and other work-from-home jobs. I saw a few ads from several courses online. I thoroughly looked into each of them but decided on Sarah Turner’s copywriting course, Write Your Way to Freedom.

I signed up, paid, and got started on my copywriting journey. I learned a ton in my copywriting course and leveled up my writing skills, I was excited to use what I gained here in a new career path that would be a better fit for this stage of my life. And I had many qualities from my nursing career that I hoped would make me a great writer (spoiler alert- my hopes were correct)! But why copywriting? There are a ton of different types of writing out there.

Why Copywriting?

There are so many options for healthcare professionals interested in freelance writing. First, let's take a step back and learn a little more about each of them, their similarities, and their differences. Many writers move seamlessly between these styles of writing. Then, I’ll tell you how I made my choice. 

Copywriter

A copywriter specializes in writing that compels a reader or target audience to take action. That action could be selling products or services, signing up for an email list, or more. Some copywriters use SEO or search engine optimization to write blogs and webcopy. SEO helps move their clients towards the top of Google search results. Copywriting is a form of marketing. Copywriter’s work also appears on social media platforms, in email marketing, and almost everywhere online. There are many natural options for nurses to choose from if interested in copywriting: 

• Medical copywriter

• Health and wellness copywriter

• Copywriter for doctors or other healthcare providers

• Mental health copywriter

• Women’s health copywriter

• And more! You can stick with a healthcare niche or try something totally new. Endless opportunities abound with copywriting. You can be a copywriter for almost any subject imaginable. 

Here are some other types of writing that professionals with a healthcare background tend to transition to. Heads up- there’s a lot of overlap between these categories! 

Nurse Writer

A nurse writer is a nurse who also writes. I can call myself both a copywriter and a nurse writer. Nurse writers may be copywriters, or they may not be. Some nurse writers move more into content and medical writing, become nurse journalists, or write educational materials. 

Content Writer

Content writing is writing to provide information or education without persuading the reader to take action. Copywriting and content writing overlap, and I have taken on some content writing work in my journey as a writer. Think of content writing as purely factual- such as textbooks, educational, and other instructional materials. 

As soon as there is a persuasive spin on or a specific brand is being promoted, it is technically copywriting. The choice of content writer versus copywriter isn’t a hard and fast decision you have to make. I often feel as if I am doing a little bit of both at the same time. 

Medical Writer

Medical writing can be either content or copywriting! Medical content writers specialize in writing material for medical textbooks, pharmaceutical companies, health education materials, medical journals, scientific papers, and research-based documents. To write textbooks and research materials, you typically need an advanced degree such as an MD, DO, PhD, or PharmD degree.

Medical copywriters write material for doctors, healthcare providers, and healthcare companies that promote a particular brand, action, or service. I am also a medical copywriter. 

I chose to focus on copywriting due to the flexibility and variety involved. Personality can shine through way more in copywriting than the other types of writing out there. By its nature, pure content writing can be drier and less personal. On the other hand, copywriting is filled with opportunities to be funny, creative, and engaging.

Since effective copywriting promotes a brand or product, great copywriting can make a client a significant amount of money. Because of this, copywriting is valuable. It is worth more than other types of writing, and great copywriters who have data to back up their success can charge premium rates for their services. So how do you get started?

Getting Started Writing

Getting started with copywriting is often the most challenging part. It was for me, but I felt super supported by the comprehensive copywriting course I was doing in my own time. Write Your Way to Freedom, or WYWTF, isn’t just an online course- but an entire copywriting community dedicated to your success. With this course, I had (and still have) access to editing services, all course materials, and two live coaching calls a week. I also have a huge community of copywriters I can go to for support, for advice, and to ask questions. Along with teaching you how to be a copywriter, WYWTF gives you a step-by-step guide to it all, including:

• How to get started writing

• How to build a website

• How to find clients 

• What to charge

• How to branch out into different types of copywriting 

• And more! 

After working on my skills in my copywriting course’s workbooks, I wrote a few personal blogs and a freebie blog for a friend’s business, and I was happy to get positive feedback from WYWTF’s editors. I then felt ready to begin looking for clients of my own. I made a portfolio of the few pieces I had under my belt, finished my website, and got to work doing client outreach! 

Day to Day Life as a Medical Copywriter

Client acquisition was slow for me in the beginning, as it is for a lot of people. I began seriously looking for clients in the spring and had my first paid client booked about a month later. I spent the summer working on smaller, short-term blog and web copy projects with a range of clients- health education websites, substance abuse counselors, an online nursing platform, and a medical marketing agency. 

While working on these projects, I finished my WYWTF coursework and became a WYWTF Certified Copywriter.

Two of those smaller projects have turned into larger, more consistent clients! I write blogs and web copy for a travel nurse agency, and I also write blogs and web copy for a healthcare information website. I love the work that I do, I am content with my workload, and I love the clients that I work for. They are kind, communicate well, and above all, they run businesses that I am happy to contribute to and proud to support. 

My clients value and appreciate my work, and I love seeing my copywriting contribute to their growing businesses. Here are a few other things that I love about copywriting: 

• I currently work anywhere from 10-15 hours a week. I paid off the cost of my copywriting course with a few months of part-time work. 

• I’ve made up for and exceeded the income I’ve lost by going part-time in my nursing career. 

• My work is flexible and easy to work around my current nursing schedule and life. If I need a week off, I communicate that with my clients or squeeze more work into the other weeks throughout the month. 

• I can work a few hours in the morning, afternoon, or evening as I chip away on a client’s project. Work is no longer an all-consuming, 12-hour physical, mental, and emotional marathon. 

I work from a laptop at home over the hours that I choose. While writing has its moments of stress- it's nothing like the life-or-death situations I encountered almost daily as a nurse in the PICU. So am I ready to ditch nursing altogether and go copywriting full-time? Not quite yet, but I’m happy to have it as a realistic possibility in the future!    

Where I’m Heading with Copywriting

I knew I needed to do something different, and I’m thrilled to have found medical copywriting as a career option for nurses. Here are a few more wins and what I’m looking forward to coming up: 

• I'm happy and proud to have an income stream outside of bedside nursing care and the means to earn income from my laptop- it’s freeing to know that I can work from anywhere in the world and make money while doing it. 

• The overhead cost of starting and running my business is super low. I paid for the class, my website, and a few subscriptions to grammar-editing and SEO analysis tools that are instrumental in improving the quality and value of my writing- that’s it! 

• I plan to expand my client base in the coming year. I look forward to continuing to provide my current clients with valuable copywriting that grows their businesses while advancing my copywriting skills. 

• With some copywriting work experience under my belt, I am confident in my ability to find clients and write great blog posts and web copy. I also look forward to branching out into other types of copy, such as email marketing and white papers. 

But most importantly, I feel healthier, happier, and more content. While I still work as a nurse, I’ve moved away from PICU nursing and towards another hospital nursing role with better hours and less stress. I’ve learned that I don’t need a high-stakes, high-adrenaline career to feel that I am making an important difference in people’s lives. I have more time and energy for the people, activities, and relationships that make me happy.

I can continue growing my copywriting business around the stability and benefits a nursing job offers- and then choose to jump into copywriting full-time when I am ready. I’m not exhausted, stressed, or anxious, and I don’t dread going to work for my next shift. Instead, I’m proud of my work, look forward to new projects with my clients, and can’t wait to see where this is headed! 

Please reach out if you have any questions about the transition to copywriting from a nursing or other healthcare role! 

Recommended Copywriting Resources

• Sarah Turner’s copywriting course- Write Your Way to Freedom

• David Garfinkel’s book- Breakthrough Copywriting

• Robert Bly’s book- The Copywriter’s Handbook

• Amy Griffin’s resource- Guide to Creating Claim-Free Copy (a MUST if you choose to copywrite for non-FDA approved supplements or treatments)!

• Krista Frahm’s Copywriting Blog
  

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