I’m Alexander Smith, and I’m a writer. Being a writer means more to me than just a job. It’s an important part of who I am.
•When I met my wife online, I wooed her with my written words.
•Content I created has reached millions of customers both in-store and online.
•And it doesn’t hurt to know how to write a good letter to fend off a greedy landlord.
Before I get into what I’m working on today, let me tell you where I came from.
I entered the job market during the Great Recession.
Opportunities were scarce. All my classmates were struggling to find work. So I took a different path, deciding to pay it forward for a year. I enrolled in AmeriCorps and volunteered to teach English and math to middle schoolers as a City Year Los Angeles Corps Member. In addition to classroom support, I ran an after-school program with my teammates.
I was the writer in the group. I led creative writing workshops with the kids. I wrote short stories and poems. My teammates liked to joke about it.
So when I heard that bestselling author and City Year board member Ben Sherwood was coming to talk to us about his latest book, The Survivors Club, I was excited. The entire corps of nearly 200 volunteers sat in the audience as Ben Sherwood talked about the bestselling book. It explored how people survive traumas like cancer, bankruptcy, divorce, and extreme situations like bear attacks and plane crashes. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it.
I was enthralled. And when he finished the talk, I knew that I had to learn more. So I found his contact information and reached out. He told me about how he was creating a website to supplement the book. I persuaded him to hire me as an editorial intern. Within three weeks, I became a staff writer. This was the first time in my life I was being paid to write. It was a major accomplishment for me. I was on my writing journey. But what good is a journey if there aren’t a few obstacles along the way?
Ben Sherwood was hired for a job at ABC News and had to shut down the website. I moved to New York City. Jobs opportunities were still scarce, but I found work editing online content for an on-demand video provider.
Two summers later, I rented an SUV, packed up my Brooklyn apartment, and moved to Florida.
I lived in a single-family home outside of Orlando. I took a job that paid 100% commission. But no matter how hard I worked, I couldn’t close a deal, so the commission check did not come. Before long I was struggling to make ends meet.
I needed a change desperately. But I didn’t know what to do. So, I did the only thing I could. I wrote, journaling until I came to an answer. I dug deep into myself to find what I wanted to do next. I asked myself questions. I read books. I took self-development classes. I kept going until an answer came to me. And when it did, the answer was as clear as day. I was a writer.
I had gained valuable writing skills working under Ben Sherwood. I could write headlines. I could create emotionally-engaging content. I studied more and practiced more, learning the ins and outs of marketing. Then I quit my commission job and declared myself a copywriter.
Within a week, I landed my first copywriting client. Then I got another, and another. Soon I was doing better than I ever had in my life – and I was doing something I loved. Writing.
Today, I am a senior copywriter at a Fortune 10 health care company. I am also the author of two books with a novel in the works.
Writing is more than a job. It’s more than the ink markings or pixels on a screen. It’s a string of words, a story, a journey, built one character at a time like bricks in a road. The words we write are a statement to the world. A declaration. This is what I stand for. This is who I am.