Ep: 16 Building a Sustainable Copywriting Business Without Burning Out with Andrea Shah

Written By Emylee Williams

“The economy might suck, but that doesn’t mean your business has to.”

Andrea Shah

If you’ve ever tried to plug in a USB and wondered why it only fits one way, you already know where this conversation starts. Andrea Shaw and I went from ranting about terrible dongle design to talking about designing a business that actually fits your life.

Andrea’s a copywriter for wedding professionals, but not the surface-level “romantic vibes” kind. She’s helping creative entrepreneurs build businesses that look as good behind the scenes as they do on Instagram — and we got real about the messy middle of that.

Whether you’re a service provider in weddings or any creative industry, this episode will hit home if you’ve ever struggled with niching, pricing, or what the hell to do when things get quiet in your business.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode

  • Why Andrea refuses to own “ugly” appliances (and how that same mindset applies to branding)

  • How she went from translating film scripts to writing luxury website copy

  • The surprising way she broke into copywriting (and what she learned as a junior writer)

  • What the wedding industry can teach all service providers about pricing and positioning

  • How to survive the slow seasons — without burning everything down

  • Why you can’t be timeless (and why that’s a good thing)

  • The danger of “whale clients” and over-relying on one referral source

  • Why the prettiest businesses are often the most strategic

The Power of Pretty: Function and Form

Andrea and I both admit it: we care about aesthetics.
If it’s going to sit on the counter, it has to be pretty. If it’s going on the website, it has to look and sound intentional.

That “Libra energy,” as we joked, isn’t just vanity — it’s strategy. Because when something looks and feels aligned, we’re more likely to use it, promote it, and sell it.

Andrea put it perfectly: “If it’s pretty, I’ll use it. If it’s not, I won’t.”
That’s not just home decor talk — it’s a business lesson.

Your systems, your offers, your website — they all have to feel good to you if you want to actually keep using them consistently.

Building a Niche That Works (and Pays)

Andrea’s story isn’t one of overnight success — it’s one of iteration.
She started as a translator, pivoted during COVID, landed a junior copywriting role, and slowly niched down into weddings. Two years later, she looked up and realized she was already in her niche.

The kicker? She was scared to niche down because she thought fewer clients would find her.
Spoiler: the opposite happened.

When she started talking directly to the wedding industry — attending events, rewriting her site, and networking offline — her pipeline filled with dream clients who valued her creative process and paid for it.

What Happens When the Market Wobbles

2025’s been a weird year for wedding pros (and for most service providers, honestly). Economic uncertainty trickles down fast when you’re in a luxury-adjacent industry.

Andrea got honest about that — this year hit like a brick wall. But instead of panicking, she’s using the time to refine her systems, refresh her messaging, and diversify where her clients come from.

If you’ve ever been burned by one big client or one referral source disappearing overnight, you’ll feel this. We both ranted about the “whale client” trap — when one person or platform accounts for half your income. It’s easy, but it’s fragile.

Her take: “Don’t coast too long. Don’t assume what worked three years ago will work again. Things change — fast.”

Weddings as a Business Masterclass

Here’s the part I loved most — Andrea’s clients get the psychology of selling high-ticket offers.

Because they are luxury service providers themselves, they already know how to price for transformation, not time. They understand that experience, aesthetics, and emotion are all part of what they’re selling — and they bring that energy to every investment they make.

There’s a reason this niche works: it’s full of people who value creativity and profitability.

Chapters

00:00 – The USB rant that started it all
01:45 – When “making life easier” is worth the investment
04:00 – Why pretty things are practical
07:00 – Can we bring walls (and doors) back to homes, please?
10:00 – How Andrea went from translator to copywriter
15:00 – Pivoting into weddings — and realizing it later
19:00 – How to price creative work without resentment
21:00 – The power of working under someone else first
24:00 – Niching down and rebranding with purpose
27:00 – Weddings, luxury clients, and shared success
33:00 – What timeless actually means (and why it’s a lie)
38:00 – The danger of “whale clients”
43:00 – The long game of entrepreneurship
46:00 – How to use downtime strategically
50:00 – Predicting 2026 and the next evolution

About the Guest

Andrea Shaw is a copywriter for wedding professionals and creative entrepreneurs who want website copy that feels like champagne — luxurious, celebratory, and totally irresistible.

Connect with Andrea

Interested in Being on the Show or Working with Emylee?

Are you a service provider with a bold perspective to share? Apply to be a guest.

Ready to transform your service into a productized, scalable offer? Apply for Sold Out Services.

If you’d like to see a library of all published episodes in a gallery with easy-to-find links to all listening platforms be sure to check out the Sell The Damn Service Episode Library.

Emylee Williams
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Ep: 15 The Truth About DIY vs Done-For-You: Why Clients Still Want Experts