2022 at a Glance: Establishing
This year was a big one—not just for the business but for me personally. I got engaged and married, and there was something about bringing everyone from around the world together to celebrate, which made me grateful for having an international life and being able to serve a global community through Copy & Co.
While last year I took on 30 clients, this year, I was determined to work with fewer companies but on a deeper level. Once again, this year there was an unexpected stay in Hong Kong (just like last year) thanks to the pandemic – but the flexible nature of my business continued to be a blessing.
Home in Hong Kong
Q1: Building on Foundations
The year started with a mix of familiar faces and exciting new partnerships, with ongoing projects for specialist PR firm Ecology Media and coding bootcamp Makers. There's something really satisfying about continuing these relationships, and I continued creating press releases, articles, case studies, and blog posts to help them reach their goals.
I worked with Uncapped as they launched in the US, creating blog posts about their new offerings.
I also worked with a female founder on refining her online presence, which brought back memories of helping female founders with their bios last year. While I love working with companies, there's also a special kind of magic in helping individuals see their own stories through fresh eyes.
Q2: Getting Inspired
Back in London, spring felt like a new creative season. In April, I got to attend the London Book Fair — as well as the Writers’ Summit, run by Parul and Matt, of the London Writers’ Salon — which I wrote about here. It was inspiring to be in a room full of other writers as well as publishers and agents.
The collaboration with Uncapped continued. I reconnected with Vestpod, creating email marketing content for their community. Years ago, I first joined the community as a member, and it was great to help them keep breaking the taboo around money and make our money work for us.
I also started working with Forward Partners, a venture capital firm in London, creating a series of blog posts.
The Writers' Summit 2022, by the London Writers Salon as part of the London Book Fair
Q3: Editing Season
The summer quarter brought a renewed focus on individual clients and quite a lot of proofreading and editing work, which I hadn't done much of before, but welcomed.
One of such projects was for Sarah Maxwell, the founder of Chief of Stuff. Her magazine explores innovation, creativity, and discovery, with stories on topics like culinary trends, the metaverse, ancient history, travel, and art, all aimed at inspiring exploration and new experiences.
Another was for a Hong Kong client, helping them with their in-house magazine. I always loved reading magazines growing up, so getting paid to do this felt like a dream!
Q4: Winding Down
The final stretch of 2022 was a whirlwind, as for the first time since starting the business, I properly took time off… to get married, and spend time with everyone who flew into town to celebrate and go on a dream honeymoon in Mauritius.
Right before Christmas, I also got to partner with Viaplay, a leading streaming service in Stockholm, which was particularly exciting. They needed help writing loglines and thumbnails for a variety of their productions, and I absolutely loved getting to create these for them.
Honeymoon sunsets
Looking back on the year, the client load was half of the previous year — I worked directly with 16 clients (and an additional 10 clients via agencies), compared to the 30 clients I worked directly with in 2021 (plus an additional 12 clients via agencies).
There was still a broad range of scope in the projects, and I loved the flexibility of being able to ramp the work up and down around the rest of life. ‘Growth aligned with values’ seemed to be a theme of the year.
As the second year comes to a close, I can see that a common thread among the clients I’m working with is that on the whole, they’re all looking to push the world forwards in some way — and I’m grateful to be helping them share their stories as they do so.
