Breaking Free: From Corporate To Creative

Sam, our wellbeing warrior, tells all on his move from HR editor to creative copywriter as he celebrates one year at Making You Content.

Over the past year, I’ve discovered that the biggest difference between working in a corporate and creative environment is pace. Once you’re in an agency, you’re building things every day – rather than navigating an organisation’s time-honoured methodology (typically meaning red-tape, multiple emails and endless board meetings).

Agencies have to be agile. You have to be able to put yourself in the shoes of an entrepreneur in one instance, and the boots of a construction worker the next.

That’s actually why I came to MYC. Like Mr Benn, one profession wasn’t enough for me – and copywriting here offers variety in spades. But there were a few key principles to embrace before I really started to flex my creative muscles…

Watch your tone

You get pretty good at walking on eggshells when you work in HR. The tone of voice you use day in, day out is cautious. I guess my heart was ready before my hands were when I made the move to MYC; it took me a little while to adjust to the polyphonic nature of an agency and bend my voice towards more ‘brazen’ clients.

My previous experience of copywriting was based around legislation. I had assumed that, for most B2B clients, it would be a similar situation. But at MYC, things are different. A company’s vision determines the kind of content they put out, and we’re always looking for ways to enhance that vision.

A copywriter here isn’t simply trying to keep your business in the public eye by commenting on every market change. We’re helping clients lead conversations or tackle the more contentious topics that are harder to dissect for their inundated in-house marketers. I had to learn to loosen up formalities and be braver with tone and sentence structure in order to align myself accordingly.

“Do you read?”

During my trial day at MYC, the incorrigible Joshua Potts asked me the subtitular question. I thought naming a couple of authors would help keep my head above the water, but I came to see a different meaning in what he said. At MYC, you need to – and will – always be reading. Each member of the team is so plugged in to the newsfeeds of various markets and niches, you’d be forgiven for thinking they were industry plants.

Various magazines, writers and journalists are constantly being mentioned and shared across the team. It’s this cohesion that allows us to stay at the forefront of product innovations, legislation updates and market research. I learnt to appreciate and see the art in good copy, quality press releases and solid reporting.

In fact, thanks to Kelly and the team, I am 100% a better writer – in both a professional sense and in personal endeavours. Thanks to an office buzzing with ideas, you’re constantly supported in any efforts to experiment or work on clients in industries you’re less familiar with.

Integrate your ambition

I came to MYC with a long-term dream of working in counselling. Kelly recognised how that could be applied not only to writing, but also to the agency as a whole. Within months of me being here, each writer was given a ‘Head of…’ position, helping improve internal processes and encouraging personal development.

As Head of Wellbeing, I was able to intertwine creativity and commercial experience to work towards a future in wellbeing support. Almost immediately I was given a means of progression that met my expectation of an ideal career. Not to mention, I’ve been given a number of clients that operate in the healthcare and psychotherapy sectors.

I’ve spoken to therapists, wellbeing coaches and pharmacists, and written content I could only have otherwise produced at a senior stage in a medical career. Choosing creative over corporate didn’t just mean I was enjoying a more dynamic workload – I was able to work on myself as well.

The best is yet to come

MYC has become more than a team of copywriters. We’re a multi-faceted content agency where individuals (including every member of the team) are taught the nuances of persona and communication.

Thanks to the team and the processes in place, I was able to realise my creative strengths in spite of a corporate background. With the ability to work on clients that matched my aspirations, MYC offered a seamless transition from the two dramatically different ways of working.

I’m excited for the future too. We’re continuously honing our specialisms – so much so that I fully expect to be delivering increasingly unique solutions and ideas for distribution as we grow.

Curious to learn what makes MYC unique? Find out more about our story.