Copy that Compels with Macaira Smith

SPEAKERS

Rita Suzanne, Macaira Smith

Rita Suzanne  00:01

Welcome to the Mom Owned and Operated Podcast, the podcast about moms and for moms, where we have candid conversations about running a business, raising a family, and remembering ourselves. I’m your host, Rita Suzanne, a single mom of four, digital strategist and provider of no nonsense business strategies and tactics.

Hi, this is Rita, Suzanne, and this is Mom, Owned and Operated. Today I have my guest, Makara, with me. Makara, I’m so excited to chat with you and talk about all the things. Please tell everyone all about you, your family and your business.

Macaira Smith: 0:45

Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I’m really excited as well. So, yeah, like you said, my name is Makara Smith. I am a mother to a wonderful but so independent and so sassy little toddler. She is in a couple days she’ll be 19 months old, so almost a two year old, and while I have no idea where the time has gone.

Macaira Smith: 1:08

Currently we live on the East Coast. My family is a bit nomadic, so we’re stationed in Pennsylvania right now, but honestly, that could change, that could change at the drop of a time. So, but we’re, I’m from the east coast. Um, my husband is originally from down south, so him, moving up to you know what he would call nor’easter winters has been an interesting, uh, change for our family. But you know, yeah, and uh, I am a launch copywriter. I specialize in sales pages. I’ve been doing this for just over a year now, and I was started doing this part-time and finally left my nine to five back in December, and I’ve been freelancing full-time since January and it has just been like the best, the best switch that could have happened for me first, first of all, and then for my family as well. So it’s a very, very quick overlay of of who we are?

Rita Suzanne: 2:08

Yeah, so what has been the most exciting, like what has been the best part of the transition for you?

Macaira Smith: 2:17

Yeah, it has been really life-changing to be the one to call my own shots. You know I’ve. I understand that a lot of people are in situations where they can’t be their own boss and you know you have to do what works best for you and your family. I completely understand that. But for me it was just, it was killing me not being able to you know, I guess, selfishly live how I wanted it but at the same time not being being able to be there for my daughter without worrying.

Macaira Smith: 2:54

You know, I had an hourly job, so anytime she because she started daycare last summer and up until she started daycare she was, she had no sickness, like she was perfect in that regard. And then, as soon as she started daycare, from July to December, every everything came and then she would get it and then we would get it. You know how it goes and so you know worrying about not having the enough sick time to take so I can take her to the doctor and then having to take off. You know, every month I would have, you know, four or five days I’d have to take off to just be there for her. And you know, of course, I’m going to do what I have to do for my daughter?

Macaira Smith: 3:35

Um, there’s no question about that, but then along comes the well. Will I have enough money to pay rent? Will I have enough money to buy her diapers, buy her clothes, buy her food? Uh, she was formula fed, so that was a whole nother expense as well. And, um, you know, freelancing full-time hasn’t necessarily been the easiest, but at the same time I have the freedom to make it work for us and that’s just been like this huge load off of my shoulders and, um, it sounds corny, but I really do think it’s made me a better mom. Just because I’m, I feel more myself and again, there’s there’s been hard days, but at the same time, I’ve just I’ve just seen the switch in who I am and how I am, who I am as a mom too, because I, I have that freedom and I, I it’s almost like a confidence boost as well to being in charge of my life.

Rita Suzanne: 4:36

Yeah, yeah, definitely. It reminds me of the whole reason that I started my business. I started because I wanted to be home with my sons and I would drop them off at daycare, and I hated it. I would cry and I just, you know, I just didn’t like it and I had went through like five years of infertility. So to me I was like you know, I went through all this trouble and now I’m over here, you know, paying for somebody else to spend all this time with my son, and you know it was so I was like I have to find something that I can do. I have to figure out what it is that I can do best. And so I taught myself web design and that was just what I decided that I was going to do. What got you into copywriting and specifically launch copy? Because that I love that. You niche down, you know, into something so specific, because a lot of times people won’t do that. So what got you into that?

Macaira Smith: 5:35

so, um, about two years ago is when I was first introduced to copywriting because I knew I was in a career at the time where I knew I wanted, I wanted out, but I didn’t know what was the next step. So I first first looked at like VA, because I just didn’t. I have no like design skills, I’m not, I don’t know how to program like code, which is what my husband does, and all this stuff. So I was like, what am I going to like what? I don’t know anything, what can I do? So thank God for like targeted ads, because somehow, some way, a copywriting course came up on like Facebook for me and I was like you know what? There’s been one constant in my life I’ve been writing papers because at that time I was getting my master’s. I was like I’ve been writing papers since you know, birth at that point. But I knew that I could do it. I knew the basics of writing and I knew that I could learn how to copyright, yeah, and so that’s really what got me interested. I then purchased the course and really just fell in love with it. It just really aligned with all of my skills and all of my assets.

Macaira Smith: 6:52

Launch Copy I found a program. It’s called Sales Page Prep school, run by an amazing launch copywriter, danny page, and her honestly, her sales page got me just talking about how these I at that time I had been given the advice like, don’t niche down because you want to be marketable, you want to show people that you can do X, y, z. Because they were like you know, if you only say you do this one thing, you’re missing out on 10 opportunities to be hired. And you know, I, I understood that and I see the merit in it. But thinking about up leveling and thinking about making this a viable career, it just made sense to specialize in something, and sales pages are something that, while it is a niche, so many people need it and so many people need launch copy.

Rita Suzanne: 7:46

And I took the plunge and here I am and yeah, I love that and I think it’s interesting that people were saying don’t niche down, because it’s almost the advice of everyone is to niche down, and I get maybe they were saying that so that you could, especially because you are new, so that you could kind of figure out what was best for you and figure out where you wanted to hone your skill set, and maybe that was the reason why. But yeah, like niching down, especially for someone newer, will help you to get more clients right, because you’re focused in and you’re targeted on who you’re going to sell to for yourself. So who is your target audience? Who are you working with the most?

Macaira Smith: 8:34

So I work primarily with people in the birth space. So fertility coaches, prenatal nutritionists, sleep consultants or those who have sleep courses, doulas et cetera people yeah.

Rita Suzanne: 8:50

And how did you like get into that niche?

Macaira Smith: 8:53

Yeah, it honestly just started with cold pitching. I was, you know, obviously to get started. That’s that’s how I was doing client acquisition. And you know, just one day I looked and I was like I’m pitching a lot of people who are like doulas or have a sleep course and all that. So maybe this is just you know, where, yeah, where to stay. And I, you know, since becoming a mom, I feel like that’s something I can relate to in certain ways, you know, but it just just all kind of fell into place.

Rita Suzanne: 9:27

Yeah, I think that’s. I think that’s good For me. It was interesting because when I first started doing design and I was always into health and wellness but I ended up working with a lot of health and wellness coaches, and it wasn’t that I sought them out, it just so happened that one of the first, or you know, a couple of clients that I got were health and wellness professionals, and then it just ended up that’s who I started working with. So it’s very similar in that aspect. So does it make it challenging for you to kind of do research on those sensitive topics, or is that something that you’re more comfortable with?

Macaira Smith: 10:12

I would say it’s a good mixture, you know, for example, like working with a fertility coach. I have, you know, I have my own. I had my own struggles with infertility, but certainly not, you know, I don’t and I don’t mind saying this I had a miscarriage before I was pregnant with my daughter and it was completely unexpected. But I got pregnant very quickly after I had that and I know, just in my own personal circle that’s not the case for many women dealing with infertility.

Macaira Smith: 10:45

And so when I’m thinking of, you know, copying or write, for that it’s I’m comfortable in the sense that I can understand, you know, that devastation, that pain that comes with that loss, but at the same time it’s not easy for me to understand going through that cycle multiple times. And so that’s really where, you know, it’s kind of like I have a somewhat of a good foundation and I have to really press into my research to round out the picture, because I dare not speak for an experience that I can’t understand. But at the same time there are elements that I that I went through in my own, in my own journey. So it’s it’s really where I rely heavily on, you know, like voice of customer research, to help, help fill in, fill in those gaps research to help fill in those gaps.

Rita Suzanne: 11:41

Yeah, I think that it’s important to be able to understand those pain points and, based on your own personal experience, that helps you to kind of dive into it, and yeah, that’s important. So I want to just ask, because I feel like it’s something that a lot of copywriters probably are dealing with now and feeling in that is the whole AI situation. Like, how do you feel about AI as far as like, do you think it’s going to take your job? Do you think you can be replaced with AI? Do you think you can be replaced with AI? What are your feelings.

Macaira Smith: 12:19

I don’t want this to come across as presumptuous or anything, but I don’t think it will replace my job. I’m not worried. I see technology as something that is a huge asset and can be a huge time saver. Personally, I don’t use it much in my copy, but I know a lot of copywriters who utilize it because it saves them time and that is anything that’s going to help you save time. That comes across still as what the client wants and what speaks to their audience. You know, I see no harm in that.

Macaira Smith: 12:55

There are always going to be people who are, for lack of better terms, taking shortcuts, and so if someone wants to use AI to write their whatever copy, that’s great, but know that it’s not. There’s always going to be shortcomings with AI because while it can generate stuff like that, it cannot, it’s not, it’s not human, it can’t understand, it can’t empathize, it can’t relate, and that’s really what value a copywriter brings, and you know it’s. Yeah, they can come up with strategy as well, which is something I do as a launch copywriter, but at the same time, it’s it it it collects data.

Macaira Smith: 13:37

it collects data. It doesn’t have that experience, you know, working with a customer through all of that, and so I think it’s a great tool and if you you know, I bring no judgment to people who utilize it, but I’m not scared of it.

Rita Suzanne: 13:51

Yeah, I feel the same way, you know, because I use, you know as far as like for strategy and I tell my clients and things it’s OK to use it and I think that it is good in some instances, but you have to know how to use it Right. First you need to develop your brand strategy. You need to have that clearly mapped out and then you don’t just go in there and say, hey, push me out a blog post about, I don’t know, uh, chickens, I, you know, I, you know, I don’t know you. You don’t just go in there and do that. First you need to start with an outline. You need to have, like you know, there has to be a flow and then, regardless of the results, you need to read through it and then you modify it and then you add your personal touch.

Rita Suzanne: 14:41

And the same thing with the strategy and any type of copy. I just think that oftentimes people feel like, oh, I’ll just go to AI and I’ll just push out any type of content and then it comes off where you can read it and you can tell this is, this is not right, it doesn’t. It just doesn’t connect, it’s so disconnected, you know, and sometimes even if I’m using it and it’ll spit out something I’m like I would never use this word. What are you doing?

Macaira Smith: 15:11

You bring up a really good point. If you don’t know how to use it, it’s just, it’s, it’s useless, because there is, there’s a certain method to the madness. I’ll say and um, you know, you have to know how to use the prompts and you have to know how to. Um, I, I can’t remember who, but I heard um someone explain ai is like you know, you’re walking it through, you know, say you’re at like um, some like office, and you’re walking it through the office, showing them, introducing them to each person, showing them what each room does and what function, and then then, after you’ve shown them everything and given them everything, that’s when it really pumps out that that info. If you just show up at a building this, you know, this office building and say, okay, you know, chat, tell me, fill a report out of everything. For me it’s not going to do what it’s designed to do. Yeah, fill a report out of everything.

Rita Suzanne: 16:00

For me, it’s not going to do what it’s designed to do. Yeah, and I think that’s what people do. They just go in and they’re like, yeah, give me this report about this house. And then they’re like, okay, it’s 300 square feet, you know, you know the the very basics.

Rita Suzanne: 16:12

But I and that’s what I try to tell people is like, if you’re going to use it, it’s not going to be quick either. It’s going to be a process, right, because you’re going to have to go through, like you said, every single room, every single thing, and it’s going to be a process for you. So you know, yes, it’s going to be faster than you sitting down and maybe doing it yourself, but it’s still going to be a process and even then, your results may not even be effective. They may not even convert. I’d love to see a test of like what you know to, to say like AB test results against each other to see what would convert better. That would be interesting, yeah, so, since you are focusing on launch copy, what do you recommend for a successful launch? Like, what have you seen really works?

Macaira Smith: 17:02

Yeah, I see success when people are prepared. It sounds like the most basic thing. But there’s so many components to a launch and it can easily be overwhelming. And sometimes, when you know if you’re anything like me, if you’re doing something that’s overwhelming, you tend to let things go to the side because you’re like they just. You know I’m laser focused, so I only need to focus on this thing.

Macaira Smith: 17:31

But with a launch, there’s so many different components. First of all, you know you need to decide what sort of launch. Is an ever, an evergreen launch, or are you going to do like a live launch? And then you have to decide what’s going to. You know how am I announcing this? Am I doing a webinar? Am I doing like an email series? The options are endless, but you have to decide. So you have to have all of the components lined up into place so that you can move forward and be prepared. And you know you have to consider like can I do this on my own? Do I need to hire a web designer? Do I need to hire a copywriter? Do I need to hire a marketing consultant? You know what will I need? It’s kind of like what do they say, chefs when they’re creating. They do the mise en place. You know they have everything they need right there so that they don’t need to go anywhere when they’re cooking. They just everything that they need is in front of them, and that’s really what I think sets someone up for a successful launch.

Macaira Smith: 18:27

Of course, you’re going to have questions throughout the way, and that’s totally fine. But if you know, okay, I want to do a live launch and I’m going to do a webinar, you know it’s okay to ask like, okay, how do I get this, how do I spread the word? How do I, how do I, you know, leverage my email list to get them on this webinar? You know those questions are okay. But if you know, if you know what you want, it’ll be so much smoother than trying to. You know you’re two weeks out. Oh, I need something to announce this. What am I going to do? Oh, maybe I can just go on my social, do a live and that’ll do. You know, maybe that’ll work, who knows? But it won’t be as successful if you put in the work to prepare and, you know, really set yourself up for that success.

Rita Suzanne: 19:09

Yeah, it takes it really takes a plan and it takes a lot of time, and I think that people don’t realize how much work it takes to put into an actual launch, whether it is, you know, evergreen or not. So okay, so let’s talk, let’s switch a little bit and let’s talk about how it’s been for you, as far as, like the transition, to be working at home now, with your daughter there and seeing clients. How are you able to take care of you? Like, what are you doing for yourself? How are you finding that whole process?

Macaira Smith: 19:47

Yeah, so we, when I quit my job, my daughter was in daycare, and we made the decision to keep her in daycare because we just saw she was growing a lot, even though she was getting sick. Every other day she was, she was growing, and you know, we only have one daughter and she really doesn’t socialize with other kids outside of that. So we just felt, for us, it was important for her to get that time. So, on the other hand, though, though I had the freedom to, you know before, she was there from 8 30 to 5 5 30, you know she doesn’t have to be there that long. Yeah, you know, I can. I have the freedom to pick her up. You know, after she’s had her lunch and nap, I can pick her up in the time with her. You know, um, and of course, um know when she’s sick and all cause that still happens. Goodness, does that still happen? Um, but it really having that time to work at home and meet with clients without that disruption is really big. Um, it really does help, you know. It helps me breathe.

Macaira Smith: 20:55

I don’t want to say I feel guilty about that, because I think, as moms, we find way too many reasons to be guilty, you know, sometimes unconsciously, you know, it just happens. But I know that even though I am a mom, I haven’t. I’m still me. You know, I’m still the same person I was before I became a mom. It’s just different. You know, it’s just this, a new component to who, who I am. And so I do appreciate the time I have to work on my business because that helps. You know I talked about how that builds my confidence but at the same time it helps me feel like I’m making a contribution. You know I don’t like to feel useless. I’ll say and so that does, that does help and give me a sense of purpose. But at the same time, you know I’ve been able to.

Macaira Smith: 21:42

You know, a couple of weeks ago my parents were close by on business and we I took my daughter to their hotel and we went swimming for the day and that was just having the freedom to manage that. You know, fit that into my schedule and you know, not worrying about blocking that day off, not worrying about what’s going to happen if I don’t work, you know, monday to Friday, strictly these hours, it’s, it’s just been really so freeing and I don’t mind sharing this as well. I’ve struggled with depression for most of my life and it was really, really bad when I was pregnant and that’s when I really decided that I wanted to take charge and I wanted to live on my terms. I’ll say and since leaving that hourly job and coming into freelancing, it’s just been, it’s been really good for my mental health and I know that has a direct correlation on you know who I am as a person, who I am as a mom, who I am as a wife, and you know, it’s just. I’ve just seen I’ve been able to enjoy being a mom and I wouldn’t change that for anything in the world, I would not give that up, and it’s just.

Macaira Smith: 23:08

It’s yeah, it’s lovely.

Rita Suzanne: 23:10

I love that. I love hearing other moms talk about how they were able to implement child care in their business life right away, because that wasn’t something that I was able to do because my sons were four and six Now. My one son, he was in kindergarten, but it was half day, and so my younger one, he was in pre-K and that was for like two hours but I had to take him there. So just imagine, you know, so I probably would get a break maybe one hour a day.

Rita Suzanne: 23:46

So it makes it worth it to if you’re able to invest in child care because you’re able to spend that time working dedicated to your business and just focus on that and then when your child is home, you’re able to switch it off and be and turn into mom, whereas when I was starting my business, I would have to stop, start, stop, start, stop, start, and it made it really hard and so I was working way more because I wasn’t able to have that focus time. So I love hearing that you’re able to implement child care right away and I think it’s great for the children because they’re able to socialize and, like you said, it gives us the freedom because if you want to leave or you can leave. You can go and pick her up whenever you, you know, feel inclined and say you know what? I miss my baby.

Rita Suzanne: 24:42

I want to hang out you know, you can do that and I think that’s wonderful.

Rita Suzanne: 24:47

And you know, and I completely understand about the you know sometimes the struggles that we go through as far. I always say that you know having a business will help you get through any mental mindset issues that you might have, because you’re able to clearly work through them without the pressure and the stress of your job kind of interfering with. I feel like when I started my business is when I really started to know myself again, like it was almost like I lost myself when I worked in corporate, and when I started my business is when I was like, oh, you’re back, you know, and so I feel like it does give us that time to kind of discover who we are and deal with the problems that we have. And I think that that’s a wonderful like side effect of a business, even though it’s hard. I don’t want you to think it’s not hard, it is hard. Speaking of hard, let’s talk about if some another mom came to you and she wanted to start a business. What would be your advice to her? What would you say?

Macaira Smith: 26:11

I would say you know, give the advice that if you are, whatever sort of business you’re looking to do, whether it be some sort of like VA or copywriting, web design, you need to learn from someone. So find a course, a mentor, someone that you trust and you’re learning from. Find some influencers I guess, for lack of a better word who their content is also teaching you, their content is helping you. But once you find those like four to five people, don’t follow anyone else in that field. You know, sure, make friends and follow them. You know you need that sense of community, of community.

Macaira Smith: 26:55

But, starting out, if you are going to because this is the mistake I made if you’re going to follow anyone and everyone who does, who does what you’re doing, you’re going to fall so quickly into that comparison game and it’s going to derail you because and I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, but like, you can’t compare your step one to someone else’s, step 10.

Macaira Smith: 27:22

And social media is also very good at only highlighting the good. So you’re going to look at someone at least I did you’re going to look at someone in their journey and say, wow, they’re not struggling. I must be doing something wrong and what, what’s wrong with me and then it’s going to keep you from making that progress. So I would give the advice to just find people who are going to help you, educate you, because you need that, you need that education. And then, once you feel confident in who you are, what you offer, that sort of thing you know then expand your network too, because know, following and staying current on you know, trends in your field and all that is very, very essential. But I just think establishing who you are first, so that you’re not you know, you’re not losing your, your joy and your drive, I think is very, very critical.

Rita Suzanne: 28:14

Yeah, I think it’s. I think there’s some good points in that, because you don’t want to listen to too many people, because it, you know, there’s sometimes conflicting advice there and it becomes confusing. Another thing I would just want to kind of clarify is, if you are looking for mentors, like, make sure that they’re not so far ahead of you that they’re disconnected from where you are, because I find that that’s usually an issue is that people will want to hire the big, the big, big, big person, but the big, big, big person really honestly doesn’t understand your struggle. Um, this, uh, you know, because they’re so far away from it and, um, you know, it’s like they can read as many uh, pain point, um surveys, I guess, as they want, but I don’t know that they’ll really understand Um. So, um, where can people find you? Where do you hang out online? Where are you at?

Macaira Smith: 29:21

So my website is probably the best way to get in touch with me, which is macksmithcopycom M-A-C-S-M-I-T-H-C-O-P-Ycom. I figured it was easier to do Mac instead of Makara, because no one knows how to spell that, which is fine. And then you can look me up on Instagram, which is the same Max Smith Coffee or M Smith Coffee, I can’t remember which one, but I will say I’m not always I’m responsible on Instagram. I don’t post a lot on Instagram, trying to be better at that, but at the same time, you know I’m comfortable with what it is, but my website really is the best way to. I’m comfortable with what it is, but my website really is the best way to to get in touch with me.

Rita Suzanne: 30:01

Love it Well. Thank you so much for being a guest. I have loved chatting with you. It’s been wonderful.

Macaira Smith: 30:08

Yes, thank you so much for having me. This has been great.

Rita Suzanne: 30:15

And there you have it. I want to encourage you to remember that being a mom who runs her own business is not easy. We all struggle, but just keep moving forward. And don’t forget to make time for yourself. As moms we are usually the first thing to go to the bottom of the list. If your business is overwhelming you and you need real solutions, not just some sugar coated suggestions apply to work with me at ritasuzanne.com/apply