Inhouse copywriter Jon Lamphier joins Kira and Rob for the 78th episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast. We’ve known Jon for a few years now and really admire his ability to get readers to care about his writing. And he’s a lot of fun to hang out with. We talked with Jon about:

•  how socializing at a trivia game led to a job as a copywriter

•  what it’s like to work as at an agency and his terrifying first days

•  when he first realized that copywriting was what he wanted to do (and that he was good at it)

•  the kinds of work he took on as an agency copywriter

•  how he developed the ability to throw out funny one-liners

•  how he breaks down the creative process to get to the right idea

•  what the day-to-day work looks like at an agency

•  the dark side of agency life (the knife someone on the first day analogy)

•  how he balances freelance and a regular copywriting day job

•  how he gets himself into the mindset for coming up with good ideas

•  the big career mistake he made on the way to an important pitch

•  how a mastermind made him a better writer and agency employee

•  what Jon is doing today as an in-house copywriter

•  what he learned from moving his family to a new city for a new job

•  his two-word advice to writers going through the job search process

We also talked about why he doesn’t limit himself to a single niche, where he sees himself working in sixty years (okay, maybe not sixty years), the books and other resources he loves as a copywriter, and the #1 mistake he sees copywriters making (and the opportunity it presents to those who are ready for it). To hear it all, click the play button below, or scroll down for a full transcript.

 

The people and stuff we mentioned on the show:

McDonald’s

George Clooney

Joanna Wiebe

Copyhackers

David Ogilvy

Aaron Sorkin

JRR Tolkien

Neil Gaiman

Lianna Patch

Kira’s website

Rob’s website

The Copywriter Club Facebook Group

Intro: Content (for now)

Outro: Gravity

 

Full Transcript:

Kira: What if you could hang out with seriously talented copywriters, ask them about their successes and failures, their work processes and their habits, then steal an idea or two to inspire your own work? That’s what Rob and I do every week at The Copywriter Club Podcast.

Rob: You’re invited to join the club for episode 78, as we talk with in-house copywriter Jon Lamphier about how he became a copywriter; the ends and outs of agency life; what he does to stay creative; and how he got so good at writing great headlines.

Kira: Jon, welcome!

Jon: Hey guys.

Rob: Jon.

Kira: I can’t believe it’s taken us this long to get you on the show.

Rob: Yeah, seriously.

Jon: What? Why? You guys have had so many famous copywriters on the show, I am the opposite of that!

Kira: Laughs.

Rob: Maybe not famous, but every bit as talented, and certainly a better friend than most of them are to us.

Jon: All right, I’ll take....I’ll take that. I’ll take that; I appreciate it.

Kira: Laughs. So why don’t we start with your story, Jon? How did you end up as a copywriter?

Jon: All right. Well, I had a past life in another career, but, when I went to a trivia night one night after my wife and I had moved to Greensboro, North Carolina... Showed up at that trivia night, and made a friend who was actually the host. Told him I thought he did a great job, and we got to talking over a couple of adult beverages, and you know, he started talking about how he was overloaded at work. One thing led to another, and I picked up a freelance gig working for the agency that he was working for; I knocked it out of the park, and sort of fell in and realized that this is what I should’ve been doing all along, so...

Rob: So you’re not the kind of guy that grew up wishing to be a copywriter? You weren’t watching Darren Stevens on Bewitched, or you know, any....

Jon: No....

Rob: ....Thinking “copy’s for me”?

Jon: No, I wasn’t. I mean,