The life of a freelance copywriter, especially at the beginning, is anything but consistent. You may get jobs once a week or once a month. 

This means you can’t rely on paid jobs to keep your skills sharp. You have to incorporate copywriting exercises into your daily routine. 

Why you should practice copywriting.

Writing daily is the #1 thing to do between gigs. 

Now some of you may think you don’t need the practice. But if basketball players only touched the ball during game time they wouldn’t be very good. 

Same goes with copywriting. We have to exercise that muscle in our heads. 

If we only wrote when we were paid to, we probably wouldn’t produce that great of work.

But where can you find material ?

It’s all around you if you know where to look.

Best Places to Find Copy.

1. Use a junk email.



Create a junk email and use it to subscribe to tons of newsletters and email lists. Within days you will have tons of content. 

Content you can talk about, critique and dissect at your leisure. 

You can go a  level above and subscribe mainly to the niches you want to work in. It helps you understand the group by continuously exposing yourself to the content.

2. Help other copywriters.

If you’re part of a copywriting community you often see others posting their copy for critique daily. 

Simply browse the forums and add your two cents when applicable. Also take a look at what other people are saying about the piece.  I take 15 minutes out of my day just to critique and chat.



Some great groups to look into:

Copycourse.com: 

  • 365$ a year. 
  • I’ve been part of it since 2020 and there is content put up daily from other copywriters.

R/copywriting: 

  • Free. 
  • It’s reddit so take everything on it with a grain of salt. But good for a weekly browse.

Cult of Copy Facebook group:

  • Free. 
  • Colin, who runs it, has a unique way of looking at copy so you get a fresh perspective. 

3. Rewriting copy on companies’ websites.

Websites are full of copy just waiting to be rewritten. Sales pages, blog posts, landing pages, email signups, oh my. 

Even when your just shopping. When you see a piece that sticks out to you; save the link and work on it later.

This is good for building niche awareness on top of exercising your copy skills. 

For example: If you want to write for the beauty niche. 

Some websites you would look at would be:

  • Sephora
  • Ulta
  • Imarais

3. Looking through your (physical)  junk mail.



I put this last because it is not reliable on a daily basis. Nonetheless I have created good content from the junk mail. 

I once found 3 pieces of similar copy from different companies. This gave me a great opportunity to compare and contrast. You can read that HERE.

What to do with it?

So now you have all these places to exercise that brain of yours. Here’s what you can do with it.

  • Rewrite it using a different voice. 
  • Rewrite it geared towards a different audience. Is the copy about a coffee cup for fishermen? Write it for soccer moms.
  • Rewrite it stressing different benefits.
  • Rewrite it around a different offer.
  • Write a piece from scratch using the content you find.
  • Break it down into its base parts.
  • Turn it into content for your audience (website, social media, etc).
  • Compare it to a similar piece of work. How does it hold up?
  • Fit it into known formulas. Does it check all the boxes? Or could you add something to make it even better?

At first you may be uncomfortable sharing your work. That’s ok. It comes with time. The important part now is that you train your mind to be in copywriter mode consistently. 

When you do get the confidence to get feedback. The work you did previously then becomes another stream of work you can improve.

Do you practice between gigs? If so, how?

Let me know below and have a great day.