I used to love and hate school.
I loved that I got to discover new things every day, following threads of information down rabbit holes that led to unexpected places.
I hated that I had to sit behind a desk for eight hours, five days a week.
I loved to challenge my brain, push my limits, and learn about myself by learning about the world.
I hated getting up early – imagine me wading through snow for my 7 AM class during a harsh Czech winter – and arriving home exhausted, with brain fog and a headache.
(At nine, my doctor told me my migraines were most likely from “academic stress and a noisy school environment.” I still had fifteen years of formal education to go.)
The older I got, the more enamoured I became with learning; but the more I disliked the idea of one day leaving school just to repeat the same daily routine, except in an office building. Following a strict schedule, in the same place, for most of my waking life, sounded like hell.
What I actually wanted was to:
- write and learn for a living, in a way that made a difference
- on a schedule that suited my natural energy levels so that I could perform at my best
- from anywhere I liked, depending on the day (be it an office, a cafe, my living room, in Czechia visiting family, or on the other side of the world)
What I wanted was to own my time and space. And when I became a freelance writer, I achieved exactly that.
The trials and tribulations of a freelance writer
I started my freelance writing career at university before making it my full-time job following graduation. For many years, I enjoyed my newfound freedom while writing on topics ranging from psychology and brain health to travel and finance.
There was only one thing missing: impact. And by extension, purpose. As the years went on, I found that much of the content I was hired to write did not lead to visible results.
Some of it was too repetitive, with the obvious intent to bring readers to websites filled with ads by targeting the same trending topics over and over again. Some of it was a rehash of other articles on the SERP, and working on these pieces sometimes felt like adding a drop of water to a river that kept on moving while I stood still.
Many articles that did bring value and that I’d put a lot of effort into weren’t optimised to rank – and even when they did, I had no insight into traffic metrics or influenced leads.
I also found myself craving a sense of stability. At times, I got the sense that writers were the last priority for companies that needed to churn out quick content before letting everyone go, which meant a lot of constant hustling on my part.
Writing for Mint
When a friend sent me a job ad for a freelance writer position at Mint Studios, I immediately knew things were different: the job ad itself educated me on content marketing enough to pique my interest, and I spent the next hour perusing the Mint blog to learn about the agency’s BOFU methodology.
After an interview and a test, I was hired as a content writer. The first few months were intimidating and refreshing at the same time – at Mint, we focus on quality over quantity, and we typically write on complex financial topics based on interviews with subject matter experts.
I wasn’t used to creating such in-depth articles, but I loved the challenge. What’s more, I got to see my articles rank high for keywords that mattered to the business, as well as receive information about which content brought in leads and deals.
Mint offered the best of both worlds: stable monthly work on intriguing topics that made a difference, as well as remote collaboration where I stayed firmly in charge of my time.
Becoming a content strategist at Mint
After a few months of writing for Mint, I started to feel an itch to do more. As someone who always follows where curiosity leads, I was eager to expand my skillset and learn more about content marketing as a whole.
What was the best way to pick the right SEO keywords? How could I effectively analyse website traffic? And where did AI fit into all this?
Thanks to the progression opportunities at Mint, I was soon able to evolve into a full-time content strategist. For the past half a year, I have been regularly:
- Conducting keyword research, creating content plans in direct collaboration with our clients, working closely with writers on article drafts, and publishing BOFU content that converts readers into customers
- Tracking and reporting on KPIs like Net New leads, Multi-touch leads, website traffic, and LLM visibility across tools such as GA4, Google Search Console, Hubspot, and Peec
- Creating “GPT articles” under our AI visibility framework to help our clients grow in visibility across LLMs like ChatGPT and Gemini, and taking part in AI experimentation sessions where we test new tools to create meaningful content grounded in critical thinking
- Constantly learning about content marketing through online courses, books, and workshops
…all while working remotely and on a flexible schedule. It never gets lonely, either: with a co-working space membership, I can meet other Glasgow-based Mint strategists any day of the week, and we also go away on a yearly team off-site (this year, we cooked paella and ate tapas in Alicante).
What I enjoy most about content strategy is that I can now see the full picture and orchestrate the entire process behind it, from keyword research all the way to reporting. This means I can take more ownership of my work and feel all the better when a piece I have decided to create and collaborate with a writer on actually does make a measurable impact.
What’s more, I feel more involved – with the company, the clients, and the work itself. As such, I find my job genuinely rewarding: not only do I have a much better idea of where and how my efforts bring value, but I also feel that I’m part of a team. As it turns out, this was something I missed a great deal as a freelancer without even realising it.
Finally, I really value that our communication at Mint is based on respect. We trust one another to get the job done and to do it well. We build systems that work. And we create content that converts, which is the final piece of the puzzle I’ve been searching for in my career: to make my words count.
If this sounds like the kind of work you’d enjoy, see our open positions.
