In this interview hosted by Alex Cattoni, a South African mother of three now living in a small Irish town shares her rapid transformation from earning ā¬120 a week babysitting and writing lowāpaid Upwork dogāname lists to becoming a partātime copywriter making $5,000 in a single month. She recounts her preāLaunchpad lifeānew motherhood, breastfeeding, and a failed prior courseābefore deciding to join Launchpad Season 5 after a conversation with her husband. Despite having only past experience as a content writer, she learned sales copy, managed a sleepādeprived schedule, and worked focused morning hours (9 amā12 pm) while juggling childcare. Her first major win was a $5k month in August, four months after the program ended, which shifted her mindset from doubting success stories to believing she could achieve them herself. The conversation highlights the flexibility of copywriting, allowing her to set her own hours, rates, and client choices while balancing family responsibilities.
Chapters
Where are you from and what season of the launch pad are you from?
I'm a South African living in Ireland in a tiny little town in the countryside. And I was in season five this year.
So we're now just seven months out from Launchpad season five. Where were you when the idea of copywriting popped into your mind? What were you doing before all of this?
Oh, gosh, before this I was earning ā¬120 a week, minding three children. And I was supplementing that income writing lists of dog names on Upwork for 4 cents a word. And actually that was better paid. So I had just had a new baby. I was breastfeeding around the clock. It was chaos. And I actually did another course first and it was just terrible. After spending time doing it, I had no idea how to write copy. I couldn't get any jobs. So I'd kind of been lurking for about two years. And then I phoned my husband. I was like, I did a thing today and he was like, what? I'm like, I signed up for Launchpad.
Did you have any experience at all copywriting?
I had been a content writer many, many years ago in South Africa, but I had no experience writing copy sales pages, emails. It was brand, brand new to me and how I managed to do that with my sleep deprived brain is a wonder.
You are a force of nature. You went from babysitting and making $100 a week to now being a copywriter. Share with everybody what your journey has looked like since the launch pad. What are you doing now? What?
Well, I don't hate getting up in the morning.
That's a huge win. Let's be honest.
I've had so many wins, alex. I had one 5k month in August and the biggest thing about that wasn't the money. I had always had the mindset. You know, I watched all these success stories and it was like, okay, but that's them. Am I just chasing a dream? And in August, for the first time, I actually believed that I could do happened for me. I had earned $5,000, right? Only four months, can we just say.
Only four months after the launch pad ended.
That is freaking massive. I'm only working part time because I work in the morning from hoppers 9 until 12 when I have to fetch my kids. That's all the hours that I actually have to put into it, like focused hours. And then the afternoons are spent trying to do it while I'm cooking and cleaning and juggling and I'm thinking about what I'm right tomorrow.
And here' thing, right? The reality is. Another beautiful thing about copywriting is the flexibility. You get to decide how much you work, when you work, who you work with, what you charge, who you say no to, all of it.
