Living the Writer's Life:
Jeff Stasiuk
By Mindy McHorse

Jeff with his wife, daughters, sons-in-law, and granddaughter at Runaway Bay in Jamaica.

Jeff Stasiuk had wanted to be a writer since grade school. But that dream got shelved while he worked at a traditional job. Read on to discover the confluence of forces that led him to copywriting, and why he no longer has to wait for life to get good.

What led you to consider writing for a living?

Jeff with his wife on a bicycle tour
in the Galicia area of northwestern Spain.

I started as a technical person in engineering. Realized that I’d wasted quite a bit of money on that education because I really didn’t like it. So I went into sales. I was an executive salesperson at numerous companies over a 30- or 40-year time frame. I learned that I liked dealing with people. I liked trying to persuade people that my solution for them was the best verbally.

But the days were long. When you’re leading a sales team across many different time zones, you get up at 5 a.m. because of the Eastern time zones, and you don’t go to bed until you solve all the problems in the West. And that resulted in not really having enough time for myself or my family.

How did that lead you into writing?

Desperation. Panic sometimes. When you’re in sales, you have quotas, and you’re only as good as your last month’s — sometimes the last week’s — results. I really wasn’t getting the support I needed from the company’s fluffy marketing teams, so I started creating my own team’s sales tools. Everything from ads to flyers to talk tracks. Boy, they sucked. I really wasn’t very good at it. But it was better than what I was getting from the marketing teams. Don’t get me wrong, they serve a purpose. But there’s frequently friction between the sales department and the marketing department. Because I ran the sales department, I saw them as the evil empire.

Anyways, that’s what got me into writing. After a while, I realized that I really needed to get better at it. That led me to getting an education in how to write properly. That led me to AWAI.

Was it pretty natural for you to move into B2B [business-to-business] copywriting?

Absolutely. I feel most comfortable in the world of B2B, and focusing down and niching down into tools that salespeople can use to get more sales. Because I lived in that world, and I needed those tools, and I knew what salespeople needed.

I do B2B sales enablement writing now. I have a pretty broad definition of it. It’s not just prospecting emails and call scripts and things like that. It’s everything from lead-gen campaigns to case studies or white papers. There are a lot of tools that salespeople need, and different parts in the process. I’m not a specialist in all of them. Heck, I’m not a specialist in anything. In fact, I still have a bit of impostor syndrome. But I do know what they need, salespeople. I try to provide that.

What does life look like for you today?

It’s great. I mentioned before the long days being in corporate sales. Good salespeople are available all the time to solve their clients’ problems. That’s how you help develop your KLT factor with them [know, like, and trust factor].

But now, my time is my own, and that’s invigorating. I look forward to writing each day, which is very cool. In the evenings, my wife has to yell at me to get off the computer. “Our favorite sitcom is on TV or Netflix. Get over here!” My biggest challenge is pacing myself. I’m like a kid in a candy shop: so much opportunity and so little time.

How has your switch to writing for a living affected your friends and family?

I think I’m a happier person. I was getting pretty grouchy when I had a real job. I’ve learned to live more in the moment because I’ve done what I’ve always wanted to do: I’ve gone into writing. I couldn’t really indulge myself before I discovered copywriting. I had to earn a living, so I thought I had to wait until I left corporate life to become a writer. Now I think I’m a better husband and a better father, and now a granddad.

Do you have any final advice for somebody who wants to dive into sales enablement like you do?

We’re only here for one go-round, so let’s make it the best life we can. Sometimes that means taking a step back, or putting the effort into those evening and weekend courses. But do it, because it’s going to be worth it.

Jeff's Living The Writer's Life story was originally published in Barefoot Writer. To learn more about how you can start living your dream writer's life too, click here.

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