It was 2013.
I just finished teaching English in Korea.
Teaching was super fun, and for a 21 year-old freshly graduated knuckle head, Seoul was bad-ass.
The culture was amazing — especially as a half-Korean kid that was never really exposed to it beyond my mom’s cooking and the dangly flag ornament on my rearview mirror.
I came very close to returning to Korea for another year of teaching (LOOK AT THOSE FACES), but alas I returned to South Florida.
Didn’t start great. I worked a couple odd jobs (including selling meat - ask me about it) until eventually I decided to try and get back into marketing.
I grew up as a tech nerd and did marketing for a company called Roomsurf in college, so I thought why not.
I applied and got a job at a publisher known as The Sovereign Society. Turned out to be a multi-million dollar publishing company.
Even cooler — it was a subsidiary of Agora, a multi-billion dollar publishing empire.
My official title was “Digital Content Strategist.”
And that’s what I did.
PPC ads, email marketing, conversion rate optimization, landing pages, sales page, sales letters — you name it, I learned it.
And it was mind-blowing.
With The Sovereign Society I saw how a company could make millions of dollars without having a single physical product.
And at the core of it all was copywriting.
Specifically, direct-response copywriting. You know, those legendary sales letters that make $20 million just from a couple email sends.
After helping market and distribute some huge campaigns, I shifted over to the copy side. Got some GREAT experience.
Working at Agora was awesome, but…I couldn’t stay. I’m a mover.
1) I wanted to get back to California and 2) I wanted to not have a boss.
So, I quit my job, secured my first freelance client, and moved to Los Angeles.
(Now the story speeds up a bit.)
After starting and stopping and growing and killing a whole mess of digital marketing projects (while also growing my copywriting business), I got up and moved again.
In August 2017, I sold everything in my apartment, gave my car to a friend to hold onto, and bought a one-way ticket to Medellín, Colombia.
I didn’t know it at the time, but that was the start of a nomadic life, living in Colombia, Bali, and across Europe.
I’ve been speaking, hosting copywriting workshops, working in sexy coffee shops, and meeting entrepreneurs from all over the world. Can’t beat it.
So yeah I’m still a copywriter, but now I’m doing more teaching and speaking than actual writing.
I wanna help the huge segment of our generation that
has something to say
wants to run their own business
likes money
Because, well… there is zero barrier to this freelance writer thing.
Even if you don’t necessarily want to make a career of writing, it’s not a bad gig while you figure things out and, more importantly, enjoy your muh-fuggin’ life.
Since starting my freelance writing career 5 years ago, I’ve lived in 7 different countries, been involved in various creative projects within my real interests, and scheduled my day as I pleased. I want to help others do the same.
Anyway, that’s my story.
If you want, hit me up on Instagram (why not) or email me - ty@tylerjkoenig.com.
Talk to ya.
Tyler