Please share a bit about your journey to becoming the entrepreneur you are today. Looking back can you see any signs when growing up that this would be your path?
Oh gosh. I often joke that my journey was a long, wandering one that mostly happened quite by accident! Especially as I actually came from a 20 year accidental career in emergency medicine. Interestingly, though, life has gone pretty much full circle. When asked what I wanted to be as a young kid, I always answered "writer". It definitely took me a long time to finally get there, though.
My background has definitely had an impact on my experience. I was born to an English dad and Maltese mum and, when I was 13, we left the UK where I'd grown up to move to Malta. I struggled living in Malta though, so when I got the chance to move back to the UK at 19, I jumped at the chance and left home to head back there and make a life for myself.
Living alone and so far from my parents meant I put aside any thoughts of a writing career at that stage and did whatever job I could to make enough money to pay my rent. I went from job to job in that first year but when I stumbled across an ad for a position as an emergency call handler with the local ambulance service, I figured that sounded interesting and would be a good job to do while I figured out what I wanted to do with my life.
That stop-gap job turned into a 20-year career in the ambulance service, during which time I progressed from call handler to emergency medical dispatcher to paramedic and along the way I actually stopped writing entirely. I joke now that it was a decade-long writer's block! A few years into my career, though, I realized I was really missing having a creative outlet so, after a lot of trial and error, I discovered photography.
It was while I was training to be a paramedic that I got asked to photograph a wedding, which I initially declined. The weight of responsibility was too heavy! But after a lot of badgering, I finally agreed to it and I'm glad I did because I absolutely loved the experience. I quickly went on to set up a wedding and portrait photography business which I ran alongside my full-time job.
That stop-gap job turned into a 20-year career in the ambulance service, during which time I progressed from call handler to emergency medical dispatcher to paramedic and along the way I actually stopped writing entirely. I joke now that it was a decade-long writer's block! A few years into my career, though, I realized I was really missing having a creative outlet so, after a lot of trial and error, I discovered photography.
It was while I was training to be a paramedic that I got asked to photograph a wedding, which I initially declined. The weight of responsibility was too heavy! But after a lot of badgering, I finally agreed to it and I'm glad I did because I absolutely loved the experience. I quickly went on to set up a wedding and portrait photography business which I ran alongside my full-time job.
It was running that business that brought the writing back. After setting up my business and building my website, I spent time writing the copy on my website, the blog posts and, later, the social media captions for my work. It reminded me just how much I enjoyed writing, and then I learned there was this thing called copywriting! Throw into the mix an accidental signing up to do a Creative Writing degree in my spare time and then making an off-hand decision to leave the UK and move to Canada with my now-husband and that pretty much covers it. Once I arrived in Canada, I went full-time with my business as a copywriter and brand photographer and I'm now expanding my services to incorporate support services for authors and other writers (because creative writing is where my heart mostly lies, even after all this time!).
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I suppose, at the time I didn't really see there being any signs growing up that I would be a business owner. But after recently being diagnosed with ADHD, I think it's hardly surprising this is where I ended up!
How did you learn the many skills needed to work as a copywriter, photographer, podcaster, etc.?
A lot of trial and error! I'm self-taught with most things, but as I mentioned, I did also get some education along the way. I did a part-time Bachelor's degree in Creative Writing and English Language through the Open University in the UK from 2017-2021, passing with a First Class Honors. I've also taken a few photography classes along the way. But mostly I'm a child of the internet and it turns out that if you put your mind to it, you can find out an awful lot online! I've since come to realize that if I get really excited about a topic, I'll dig in and learn everything I can about it which has probably served me well over the years!
What are some of the difficult challenges you've faced on the way to establishing yourself as an entrepreneur? Do you have a favorite story you can share?
Honestly, I feel like if there's a mistake to be made, then I've probably made them all! I am a person who learns very much by making mistakes.
The biggest challenge, though, has most likely been me. By which I mean having ADHD and also being a very introverted person. These parts of my personality have made running a business and being a business owner pretty tough. I've had to spend a lot of time learning how to develop my business and brand in spite of these challenges. It turns out that it is doable, just maybe not in the way that I was always told when I first started my business!
Where do you find clients and what can they expect when working with you?
Ah yes, the eternal question. Where to find the clients?! Over the years, the majority of clients have come from referrals and word of mouth, which is pretty awesome. My other main source is through my website, which has improved over time as my SEO efforts have been helping. More recently, I've spent a lot more time on my mailing list. I've been building the list over the last couple of years and I email my subscribers three times a week which sounds a lot, but I make it a practice to keep my emails short and enjoyable to read. Honestly, finding clients is a lot of trial and error and seeing what works. But when you find something that works, make it the best it can be!
Ah yes, the eternal question. Where to find the clients?! Over the years, the majority of clients have come from referrals and word of mouth, which is pretty awesome. My other main source is through my website, which has improved over time as my SEO efforts have been helping. More recently, I've spent a lot more time on my mailing list. I've been building the list over the last couple of years and I email my subscribers three times a week which sounds a lot, but I make it a practice to keep my emails short and enjoyable to read. Honestly, finding clients is a lot of trial and error and seeing what works. But when you find something that works, make it the best it can be!
I pride myself on giving my clients a unique-to-them but highly professional experience. I want them to feel like they're in the safest of hands, that they can just get on with being the awesome business owners and authors they are while I work on their words and photographs. They can expect lots of open communication, my bright and vibrant enthusiasm to learn about them and their brand, flexibility to work with them in a way that works with their neurodiversities (I seem to attract a lot of neurodivergent clients!) and the feeling that I really get them and help to bring their uniqueness out in their brand.
How does creativity come into play as you approach a new job? How much creative freedom are you given to step out of the box and offer something unique?
Given that creativity is one of my brand's core values, it really is at the center of everything I do. I knew, early on, that I would call myself a creative copywriter. I wanted to work with creative service providers and I started writing copy from a place of creativity and stories from the beginning, long before I understood it was a recognized technique in personal branding. I've also known for the longest time that I thrive on creativity. I can't function without some kind of creative pursuit as part of my world. I think all my clients understand this about me and know that working with me is a creative experience that'll always offer something unique.
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What are you looking forward to in 2025 and/or in the next few years? Any new directions you are hoping to add to your repertoire?
I'm really excited actually, because I've been rethinking a lot of my business in the last few months. Last September I hit a point of feeling like I wanted to "burn it all down", not because I was fed up with it or wanted to do something completely different, but more from a place of curiosity to see what would regrow. It's led me to realise I want to work more with authors and creative writers, partly by supporting them with copy and brand photography, but also hopefully with mentoring and book editing services. I'm going back to the very beginning - I was always a writer before anything else and I'm excited to be getting back there again!
I'm hopefully going to be building a community of writers through 2025 and the next few years. I'm not sure exactly what it'll look like just yet, but I'm excited to see what happens! I also want to build in more of a focus on my own writing. I'm working on a novel right now and I want to start submitting and publishing other pieces of work too.
Yeah, I'd love to share something that I kind of wish I had known when I was first starting out. For the longest time I was really upset and regretful about how long it had taken me to get to where I am now. I saw myself as a failure and kept asking myself where I could have been now if I'd only pursued my dreams a lot sooner. But in the last few years I've come to realise that I clearly wasn't ready back then and that I needed to do all the things I did to help serve where I am now. It's been a big mindset shift but it's one I would have done well to remember years ago!
Social Media Links -
- Website - https://sarahwayte.com
- Facebook - www.facebook.com/SarahWayteCreative
- Instagram - www.instagram.com/sarahwaytecreative/
- Creative Reboot Podcast - Spotify - Apple
- LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/sarahwaytecreative/
- Substack - https://sarahwayte.substack.com/
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