Hello, I’m Danielle Styles.

My story 

Painful beginnings and not-ideal clients

When I started out in 2012, copywriting was something I did while I was trying to figure out what I actually, really, and truly wanted to do with my life.

I knew I did not want this. An angry email from one of my very first clients, incensed because I hadn’t responded to him immediately. “I don’t know any other creatives who don’t work over the weekends when there are deadlines to meet!” This email came hot on the heels of his declaring that the initial design my brother had created for his new website was ‘crap’. (At the time, my brother and I were working as a creative team.)

I may be biased, but my brother AD is one of the most talented designers and web developers I’ve ever met! Even at that early stage of his career, he was doing a stellar job. 

As for me, writing was one of my gifts. I needed to earn a living somehow, and copywriting seemed to be a feasible and creative way to do it. But no aspect of this situation sat well with me. Not the client’s lack of respect, not the product I was writing about, and not the ‘writing to try to persuade someone to buy something regardless of whether it’s the best choice for them’.

It was painful, and a million miles away from what my true self was calling for. And, if there’s one thing I can’t bear, it’s not being myself. 

I sought ways out. Could I make money from writing a novel? Why not become a facilitator of creative writing for therapeutic purposes? As I took action on these ideas and encountered roadblocks, I slowly began to figure out ways that copywriting itself could feel better.

Becoming a purpose-driven copywriter

My first step was to become ‘purpose-driven’, which meant choosing to work only with values-aligned clients. (An angel named Gary Dunstan helped me see that it was actually possible to say no to prospective clients who weren’t right for you. Mind blown!) At first my like-minded clients were mostly charities, later they were social enterprises and other kinds of purposeful businesses too.

I realised then that copywriting doesn’t have to be about persuasion and manipulation. When you come from the heart, with respect for your reader, copywriting can transform into a means of telling the truth about things that matter.

I’d love to tell you it was all sunshine and rainbows from there. In reality, having like-minded clients wasn’t enough on its own to stop me from experiencing copywriting as a draining and frustrating process.

The problem I experienced with conventional copywriting

Very often, when I sat down to write copy, my time and energy would be sapped by trying to choose between all the different word choices and routes I could possibly take, without actually having the input I needed to properly choose between them.

Why? Because the client, aka ‘subject matter expert’, owner of the copy, and ultimate decision-maker, wasn’t working alongside me.

What’s more, the client was rarely clear on their underlying strategy – mostly because they didn’t have the time, knowledge, or awareness they would need to get clear. This lack of clarity would feed into the unclear brief that I’d attempt to base my work on.

So more often than not, my client would review my first draft, realise it wasn’t right, and ask me to do an extensive rewrite. 

It was exhausting!

Embodying a truer version of myself

As copywriting continued to frustrate me, it was becoming increasingly obvious to me that I wasn’t just a writer. I wasn’t designed for sitting in front of a computer typing for seven hours a day. 

I had discovered capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian art form combining martial arts, dance and acrobatics, which dropped me firmly into my body and into the present moment. In 2017, I answered an inner call to explore my embodied voice deeply through singing and vocal improvisation. Within a few years I had become a vocal artist, writing my own songs and facilitating courses for other singers. I was learning what it was for my true self to be much more fully expressed. 

None of this was really new, it was more a return to the dance and music my life had revolved around – alongside creative writing – when I was a young child.

Reinventing my copywriting career

The more-authentic-me also had ideas about how the copywriting process could be different. I began to experiment with running ‘collaborative copywriting’ workshops, where I’d sit side-by-side with a client and we’d write their copy together. Eventually this evolved into the process I love best: copywriting coaching. Working as a copywriting coach allows me to support the conscious business owner to uncover their own authentic voice and write for themselves. It’s the way of working that feels most true to who I am and what I value. 

The coaching process can still involve writing collaboratively, but the emphasis is different. With coaching I am equipping the client to think and write like a conscious copywriter – to express their own voice and take ownership of their copywriting going forward.

(For now, I still do conventional copywriting/content writing for select few clients, while I am building up my coaching work.)

My first ‘client’ success story

After a while, the penny dropped that I’d actually done a version of this coaching thing years before. In his student days, my youngest brother James used to come to me with his undergraduate essays and ask for my help. He had recently been diagnosed with mild dyslexia, which helped to explain the struggles he’d experienced with writing. Although his writing was thoughtful and intelligent, I could see that he wasn’t always writing the words that would join the dots in his arguments, and make them easier to follow. 

I’d annotate his first drafts with comment boxes and make suggestions. He took what I said on board. He really got it. He recognised his writing patterns and applied new approaches. His essay writing began to improve out of sight. 

He came out of university with a first class degree in Sports Science. I was such a proud big sister!

James wasn’t a one-off;  I’ve seen this kind of thing happen many times with my copywriting coaching clients. People can move from being stuck and overwhelmed with their copy to feeling empowered and in flow. Some will describe being really excited about copywriting by the end of the coaching process, reporting that this thing that they used to stress and procrastinate over is now something they love doing.

I understand, because now I love writing my own copy too – and I love coaching other people to write theirs. Finally, after 13 years, I’ve found a way of working with my copywriting skills that feels just right. 

This, I believe, is what happens when you listen to your inner voice and figure out how to express it in your outer life.