Are you ready to discover what to say and how to say it to magnetically attract your dream clients or superfans? Then you need actor-turned-copywriter Marisa Corcoran in your corner…
In addition to writing the words that get landing pages converting at 60% (or higher!) and crafting personality-filled emails, Marisa is the creator of the wildly popular Copy Chat summit and helps coaches and creatives craft their uncopyable message inside her program, The Copy Confidence Society.
Grab your free spot at The Leave ‘Em Wanting More Masterclass
Multi-Passionate Artists Podcast with Actor Turned Copywriter Marisa Corcoran on Crafting Personality-filled Copy
TRANSCRIPT:
Hello and welcome to episode 78 of Multi-Passionate Artists. I have two incredible opportunities for all you fabulous artists out there. Whether you’ve been following me for a while or we’re new to each other, I am here to help you get on an empowering path toward a thriving career in the arts.
I’ve given myself the challenge to give away 30 free coaching sessions over the next 30 days for multi-passionate artists, musicians, and actors who want to make a greater impact and income.
I want to educate, motivate and empower you to embrace your authenticity and purpose because as artists you have the power to change lives with your talent.
If you are ready to stop letting fear and a lack of knowledge hold you back from achieving your dreams head to https://dianefoy.com/booking and snag yourself a free session.
If you are listening to this later I expect the sessions to continue until about mid-March. I hope that you are listening now as my next opportunity for you is happening Feb 15, 17, and 19.
****
Are you ready to discover what to say and how to say it to magnetically attract your dream clients or superfans? Then you need actor-turned-copywriter Marisa Corcoran in your corner…
In addition to writing the words that get landing pages converting at 60% (or higher!) and crafting personality-filled emails, Marisa is the creator of the wildly popular Copy Chat summit and helps coaches and creatives craft their uncopyable message inside her program, The Copy Confidence Society.
I am a member and for all you multi-passionate artists, musicians and actors out there, The wonderful thing about having Marisa as your copy coach is that she uses her acting experience and lots of pop culture references in her work.
I draw on a lot of storytelling tricks I have learned from her in my own coaching.
I want to invite you to a free training she is hosting called The Leave ‘Em Wanting More Masterclass.
This is the perfect class to attend if you feel like you sound like everyone else when working on your copy or you want to “write like you talk” but don’t know exactly how to do it.
You’ll learn the 3-part framework to whip up irresistible words with creativity and chutzpah.
Marisa’s skilled at helping you create personality-filled copy that dazzles. I’ve learned a TON from her and I know you’ll love this free class.
Click the link HERE to grab your spot.
Now finally, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Marisa about her journey from actor to copywriter, and she gave us some great tips along the way.
[00:04:15.750] – Diane Foy
Hello there. Welcome to the show.
[00:04:18.750] – Marisa Corcoran
Hi, Diane. Thanks for having me. It’s always great to just chat with someone that you already know. You’ve been a part of our community and the Copy Confidence Society, and I’ve gotten to know you. So it’s always fun to do this with someone you know.
[00:04:30.890] – Diane Foy
Yeah. And you’re an expert in something that a lot of people struggle with is copywriting. And I find that when you stare at a blank page, you have no idea where to start. So the Copy Confidence Society has been great for having a template and how to come up with stories and then how to relate that story to your audience, which has been really helpful.
[00:05:00.810] – Marisa Corcoran
Good. I’m glad.
[00:05:01.890] – Diane Foy
So I thought today we’d talk about because you were an actor. Tell me all about that. Tell me, what was it when you first were attracted to acting and what made you want to make that a career?
[00:05:16.350] – Marisa Corcoran
That’s a good question. I didn’t know to be anything else. So I think from the time I was a kid, like a really little kid, I would play certain things in my room. So my mom will always tell the story. Like if we went anywhere, I would come home like my grandfather had to have. I think now maybe it was cataract surgery or something where he was in the hospital. So we were there visiting. And then when I came home, I was like playing hospital in my room. And I also loved the movie Awakenings as a kid. So one of my favorite movies with Robin Williams and Robert De Niro is one of my favorite movies. And I thought I was Eleanor, the main nurse in that, who is like the voice of Marge Simpson, I think. And for some reason I can’t think of her name. She’s an incredible actress. And I thought I was her and was like setting up my room to be like Awakening or if my grandma would go get her hair cut, I would come back and be a hairdresser. And I never wanted to be a doctor. I never wanted to be any of those things, really
[00:06:13.800] – Marisa Corcoran
I just wanted to play them in some way. So it just made sense that I would be an actor. And my father was a really incredible singer, so I’m told. And so I sang from a really young age. So it was the idea that theater just seemed like the next best step for my mom to put me into. And it became I started doing theater when I was I started taking singing lessons really young, but I started the first show I was ever in was Jesus Christ Superstar, just my favorite musical to this day. And I was in that when I was eleven. And from then on out, I was never not in a show. I was never not in some sort of performance all the way until I went to high school. And then that’s what I studied. So it was always like, that was it. That was the path. There was no other kind of choice. I never even thought, even for a moment to be anything else.
[00:07:08.160] – Diane Foy
Wow. Interesting. So many of us are, especially in school. It’s all academics. And what are you going to be when you grow up to go to University and all that stuff? So you always kind of knew that’s what you wanted to do. Was it more theater or did you have wanting to be in films and television and all that?
[00:07:34.290] – Marisa Corcoran
I like the idea of films and television, but really it was theater for me.
[00:07:38.780] – Diane Foy
Yeah.
[00:07:40.410] – Marisa Corcoran
To me it was like, okay, if I could be in a movie or anything, a music video. I just wanted to be performing and be in that community I loved. But the sense of community inside of theater and the playfulness and that it’s new every night in an audience, that’s what I grew up in. And so that’s what I absolutely loved. So for me, it was theater. And I was fortunate to be raised by a mom and in a family that really supported that. I never really was around anybody, really, except for my third grade teacher. You know how you have those teachers that you’re always like, oh, you’re like, oh, my gosh, I remember it was yesterday. We were like going down the stairwell at my elementary school, and one of these kids in my class was saying something about, oh, Maurice is always talking about how she’s going to be this. And she’s going to be like, I was annoying him, I’m sure, about me. I was going to be saying this one day, and I remember my teacher being like, oh, I wanted to be a ballerina when I was little, and Marisa will grow out of that.
[00:08:41.230] – Marisa Corcoran
And I remember going home and telling my mother that. And my mother was pissed. Like, my mom was mad. So I was really lucky to be surrounded by most of my teachers and people and my mom and my grandparents and people who really encouraged me to do that. I never encountered what we hear so many people say where your parents or your family is like, no, you have to get a real job. In fact, when I stopped acting, I think it’s probably the saddest moment in my mom’s life. For real? For her, it was like, wait, what do you mean? So I definitely had the opposite experience, I think, than a lot of people.
[00:09:15.640] – Diane Foy
That’s amazing. How did that career go? Like, you went to University?
[00:09:21.390] – Marisa Corcoran
Yeah, I went to Undergrad for theater, and I also studied English. So it was really when I got into College in Undergrad that I really started to feel like I wanted to explore other things, not because I wanted to do that. But sophomore year, my best friend Christina, we were both theater major. She’s still my best friend. We get to have sophomore year, end of freshman year, we were, like, picking our classes, and Christina was like, I’m going to take a couple of speech path classes, like speech pathology. I remember, like, sitting in her room, and I was like, oh, I was like, I was thinking about taking this English class I saw on the Bronte Sisters. And she was like, you should do it, and I’ll do this. So it was the first time that either of us had tiptoed out of that. And today, Christina is an audiologist in Rochester. So she ended up going in that speech path route and then through that became an audiologist. So it was weird. That was such a turning point. So that was my first in the English Department, where I ended up loving it. There so much I did that I added it on as a second major.
[00:10:27.930]
Right.
[00:10:29.070] – Marisa Corcoran
And that was my first time where I was like, oh, this is but still, I just got to read books and write about them. Yeah. So I still was like, oh, you can use this as an actor. I still didn’t. There was a while where I thought, oh, maybe I’ll leave this. I remember, like, junior year of College, and I’ll go be, like, some English Professor. But deep down, I think I was maybe just, like, nervous. And I quickly kind of got over it after a few months and went. By the time senior year came, I was like, oh, no, I’m going to go and act. And I got my first summer stock gig. Very typical. Like, a lot of people. I moved to New York. I started acting. I waited tables, and I kind of went in that trajectory for a few years where I was just, like, auditioning a lot. And then about a few years into that, I was like, you know what I really want? My MFA in acting. And that’s when I applied for school, and that’s when I went to grad school for acting.
[00:11:24.430] – Diane Foy
All right, so what was the learning when you were doing that auditioning? Was there anything discouraging? I guess not since you wanted to pursue your.
[00:11:36.600] – Marisa Corcoran
No, extremely discouraging. I remember getting to New York and having this idea, like, you hear people, okay, you have to go on 50 auditions to get a yes. All these rejections. Like, there are all these things. I was like, I’m prepared. I’m ready. But I waited tables in Times Square at a place called the Brooklyn Diner, and I would have to be there at 07:00 A.m. And I would be exhausted. And I picked up as many shifts as I could so that I could pay for myself and pay for lessons and pay for everything. So I was trying to juggle that just as like, everyone does. And I remember just getting to a point after about three years of that, where I was like, this isn’t really fun anymore. And I would make it really close to certain things and then not get them. And that was really heartbreaking for me. And I wasn’t very good at coming out of that. Like, it could just destroy me for a week. If I didn’t call back to be the end of something and I didn’t get it, I would be destroyed by it. And I got to this point where I was like, I need to give myself some sort of, like, ultimatum.
[00:12:40.000] – Marisa Corcoran
And the ultimatum. I came back from doing a show. I was doing manoval, Mancha. And when I came back, I was, like, on the subway platform, and I thought to myself, I’m going to give myself this ultimatum. I’m going to apply to grad school. If I get in, I’ll know that I should keep doing this, and if I don’t, I’ll be done, and I’ll leave, and I’ll go home, and I’ll figure out where I want to go from there. And both options seemed equally cool to me at the time.
[00:13:07.360]
Yeah.
[00:13:08.200] – Marisa Corcoran
I was like, I’m just going to work my ass off to do really well in these gradual auditions. If I get in, I’ll know this is the sign, and if I don’t, then I’ll be like, okay, I’ll go do something else. I was totally open to what that would be.
[00:13:21.870] – Diane Foy
Yes.
[00:13:22.670] – Marisa Corcoran
And then I worked really hard to audition, and I did get it, and so I went and I gave it my all in grad school.
[00:13:33.670] – Diane Foy
And then when you finished?
[00:13:36.910] – Marisa Corcoran
When I finished grad school, I went to the American Repertory Theater at Harvard, and that was a great experience. I love my experience there. And I had I say I had a really great experience there. I’m like, how much time do we have? Grad school is rough for anybody who’s ever done grad school as an actor or anything. It’s just like you’re rolling around for three years, just like feeling your feelings all sorts of and dealing with. There was only 18 of us in the program, so you get to know people really intimately, and everybody’s stuff is coming up, and we’re all like, and you go, you study abroad together. We went to Russia. I actually learned a lot about myself as a person, and for that, I am truly grateful. I wish that I don’t know a lot of other programs where you get to have that kind of I learned so much about myself from what I needed to eat to sustain me through the day and how I could manage stress, and that I was really good at memorizing things, and I was really magnetic doing these kinds of things versus this. And I made some of my dearest friends there as well.
[00:14:40.910] – Marisa Corcoran
And then when I graduated, I had an agent. I went back to New York, and then I started auditioning and doing it again. I felt like I thought maybe something would change. It was like, all of a sudden I found myself back again, and I was like, I can’t go back to waiting tables. And I was nannying for a family, and I love that family, but I was like, I can’t keep doing that. I don’t know if I can go back to me. I thought it would change it, and it really didn’t. And that’s when I really started writing. That’s when a friend of mine suggested that I had this undergrad this other major in English and writing, and maybe I could use that. And my friend was a coach with a parent coach online. And that was like, 2013. So the online world is a little bit of like the Wild West, but it was when, like, actors and artists, which she was, were starting to kind of have these side gigs and having these kind of coaching things that they were doing. And she was like, these people need help with their writing that they need for their websites and their emails and social media, but it was still like the wild, Wild West.
[00:15:50.510] – Marisa Corcoran
And I was like, I could do that. And so she got me, like, my first few jobs, and slowly I started to build that up where I could let go of the family I was nannying with. And it became that if I wasn’t auditioning, I was writing on the side, and that took about two years for that to happen, but it happened. I was just writing if I wasn’t acting.
[00:16:14.330] – Diane Foy
Yeah. The job, I guess, is more flexible, too.
[00:16:18.050] – Marisa Corcoran
Way more flexible. I can make my own hours. I could do it. That was hard for me, though, because I was like, well, what are my hours? I didn’t know when I worked best. When I wrote best, it was weird because I was used to like, oh, I nanny at this time. I auditioned. My lessons were at a certain time, and all of a sudden it was like, oh, if I didn’t pick up Ally from school, that was bad. But if I had to write for somebody at a few days, it took me a while to get into the groove of where did I write best? And I lived in this. We lived in the studio, literally. There was a wall, but it was a studio in Astoria. I had this little desk, like, right off the kitchen. And it was like, when I’m talking, the desk was looked at a wall, and it was, like, in a corner by the hallway. So I had to teach myself what my process was going to be to write good copy for these people that were hiring me and balance that for a while.
[00:17:13.020] – Diane Foy
Yeah. And at what point did you just not want to do acting anymore?
[00:17:18.330] – Marisa Corcoran
Yeah, that’s a great question. So I had an audition. I would say this, like, Winnie the Pooh broke me, which is kind of like comical because I do understand that auditioning is part of the process as an actor. Right. And I’ve listened to so many podcasts now, cause I love to listen to podcast of creative people and artists and actors. Way more than listening to, like, business coaches or, like, in the online world. I was like, maxed out on that. And last year I shifted it and it was a game changer. So now I listen to actors and I’m like, oh, everybody goes through this. Lots of people feel this way about auditioning. Nobody told me. I was like, where were these podcasts in 2013 for me? But again, you asked me before I wanted to do theater. I wanted to do theater. And I had an audition for Winnie the Pooh to play the character of Rabbit as a children’s show in the theater. But I knew that was kind of a gateway to getting more opportunities at this theater, and I really just wanted to do theater. So I worked so hard on this character of Rabbit, creating all sorts of character choices for Rabbit.
[00:18:29.120] – Marisa Corcoran
And that Monday came and they called me and said that no longer that there had been a miscommunication about my equity stat, all this stuff, and they didn’t need me to come in. And I was just devastated. And I remember just staring at my husband in the kitchen. I don’t know why this hit me more than anything else, why Winnie the Pooh was it, but it was it. And I had these overalls on because I thought that Rabbit would wear overalls. I just decided that that’s what they would wear.
[00:18:52.650]
Yeah.
[00:18:52.970] – Marisa Corcoran
And I just started taking off the overalls one by one. By the end of it, I swear to God, I was just, like, naked in my kitchen sobbing to my husband. And I was like, I don’t want to do this anymore. I felt like my life, all my choices were dictated by someone else. I felt that I had no creative spirit. I couldn’t figure it out, and I just didn’t want to do it anymore. And that was it. And then a couple of months later, I woke up and I was like, well, wait a second, what am I going to do now? And I still kept writing for people. I was very fortunate. I still had my writing clients by that point. I had people on retainer, and I was okay. But I was like, wait, what am I going to do with myself? Like you asked me in the beginning of this, I never thought I would be anything else. Yeah, like, ever. So I was like, well, what do I do now? And so that’s when I decided, okay, well, what if I could take all the things I learned from acting and apply it and make myself known as a writer?
[00:19:45.640] – Marisa Corcoran
What if I could do that for people? And that’s what I did.
[00:19:50.230] – Diane Foy
Yeah. I think it’s something that multi, passionate artists go through is that when we’re interested in something, we go all in. Nothing else in the world exists. We will obsess learning everything we can about it. And then sometimes at some point, we just like, yeah, I’m over it next on to the next thing because there’s so many other things out there that we can explore. So that made me think of that. Is that a multi, passionate thing?
[00:20:22.990] – Marisa Corcoran
Yeah, 100%. And I’m finding myself in the last because that journey of transitioning to kind of like writer Marissa and starting the company and everything. I’ve been writing, like, freelance before that. But really, when this began was like 2018. And so I really took 20 18, 20, 19, 20 21 was really devoted to building the business and getting it to this great place. And lately, especially this year and towards the end of last year, I started to think about even because I’ve definitely incorporated my acting like, that multipassionate into the writing. I think it’s something, like, unique that we do inside of the copy confident society as well. But I’ve started to think about ways that I could bring back some of those things. Like, I found myself wanting to sing again.
[00:21:17.170] – Diane Foy
Right.
[00:21:17.790] – Marisa Corcoran
And outside of the dance parties I put on in our house or finding myself wanting to bring back some of that. I was always really great at characters and accents and voices and finding a way to bring them in even more so, like, I do them on my Instagram stories for fun. Like, I have a couple of these characters, but really trying to bring them in more and more and bring back some of that.
[00:21:38.910] – Diane Foy
It’s all about video and characters on Instagram reels and everything.
[00:21:43.340] – Marisa Corcoran
I can’t see my Instagram reels. I’m like, well, what the hell?
[00:21:46.460] – Diane Foy
I’m like the opposite. Not a performer. So I’ve been avoiding reels.
[00:21:52.260] – Marisa Corcoran
And I’ve been avoiding it too. Even though I’m a performer.
[00:21:54.500] – Diane Foy
That makes no sense.
[00:21:55.940] – Marisa Corcoran
I know it’s like it’s made for you. I know this. See, people say to me and I try to tell all my people in this society, I try to be as transparent as I can. Oh, you do it all. You just feel like I’m like, no, there’s things that I’m absolutely like, reals have tripped me up.
[00:22:13.570] – Diane Foy
Yeah.
[00:22:14.230] – Marisa Corcoran
But I’m like, Why? And then I watch people do this, and I’m like, wait, this isn’t me. This is what I was so great at. I’m dipping my own toes into the real game, so I’ll let you know how it goes. But trying to bring back some more of those performance aspects and even more so than just kind of mentioning it or being part of my bio or what we call the credibility store in the copy confidence study, like bringing in your past stuff and how it influences you now, but taking a step beyond the credibility star and just actually singing again.
[00:22:46.430] – Diane Foy
Okay.
[00:22:47.170] – Marisa Corcoran
Yeah, that’s cool.
[00:22:49.320] – Diane Foy
And I think bringing that in, it helps attract your people, too, because I joined because, yes, I needed copyrighting help to figure that out, but it also was a draw that you get my people, you understand artists, you understand actors, you understand musicians, singers. So it helps to have someone that kind of gets the world that I’m in. And so maybe we could help some of the listeners.
[00:23:25.250] – Marisa Corcoran
Totally.
[00:23:25.870] – Diane Foy
They’re mostly artists and musicians and actors. Why is copywriting important for what they do?
[00:23:34.440] – Marisa Corcoran
Yeah, that’s a great question. I think that for artists, it’s interesting because we hope that people will come in through our art. Right. Music, the songs we’re playing, the visual. If we’re a painter, whatever we do, we hope that people come in that way. But we also have this added opportunity through whether it’s social media or website, keep people engaged between those things or make them even a bigger fan or someone that like, I always talk about these three Rs that people will remember you, rave about you and refer you. So if I fall in love with an artist and then I go to their Instagram or I go to their website, I think there’s a powerful opportunity with our words or to really kind of create a community of these fans in between the art and also bringing more attention to that, into your own values and to the multi, passionate things that you have. I love to see if musicians, there’s a singer that I love or, like, if I see a singer that I love and like, oh, they’re also a painter. They have other things that they do. I like seeing that.
[00:24:52.160] – Marisa Corcoran
And I think we can do that a lot through our words or stories or things that we tell in a place. Like, instead of looking at, like, old people say, I need to have social media or I need to have this, like, taking more ownership over that. And I think that’s what coffee can really do for you is help you take ownership over it and do it in a way that’s really exciting instead of just like, oh, yeah, I have to post or need to know about me.
[00:25:15.250] – Diane Foy
Yeah, all of that is basically why I got into coaching in the first place. Like, my career as a publicist, musicians and artists, they just kind of wanted their art to speak for themselves, and the world is just going to come and make them rich and famous. But that’s the lottery. But they didn’t know that foundation part. It’s like they finished the project. I’m an actor, I got a part in a film. I have a new music to release. And then, okay, everyone says I need a publicist. So let’s go hire a publicist. Let’s hire a marketing. Social media, marketing. Get someone else to do my social media. And then they wonder why there’s still a disconnect. And I noticed there’s this missing link. It’s like I can’t get you pressed unless you have an active social media. And in order to get an active social media, you need to share more about yourself, share more. Your stories tell. There’s all that personal branding stuff that comes in, and that’s what makes you successful. So storytelling is another way to connect. It’s like connecting with people. That’s what’s going to draw people in. And I always say, like, artists that you love, you probably love them for more than just their art.
[00:26:44.490] – Marisa Corcoran
Yes.
[00:26:45.040] – Diane Foy
You love the way they dress. You love the way their personality. You love that they are so open and vulnerable with their stories and you connect with them on so many different levels. And copywriting is like that important piece of that even to come up with. Even if you’re going to speak on a video or a podcast, it’s still stories. So the copywriting, you can still kind of use the copywriting as like a script.
[00:27:17.430] – Marisa Corcoran
We talk about this a lot in the society. As you know, Diane, it’s not just the words that you write. It’s also, if you’re speaking, what we’re doing right now is copy. Right. And it’s being able to share these kind of little micro moments and something that we do in this society. And you can tell me, Diane, if it was helpful for you, if you remember in module one, we talk about, like your motifs. And I think it’s important for people to think about our artists and multipassionists to think about different kind of we ask questions like where can we find you on a weekend morning? Or what are the favorite outside of the art? What are your other things that you love to do? And it’s important to know what you’re not going to share. I think what trucks people up is they think I have to just share everything and all the things. Yes. And that’s not true at all. But what are the things that you do want to share? Do you want to talk about? We kind of talk about like what are those outside of the business or in this case, of the art that you do love to do?
[00:28:16.890] – Marisa Corcoran
Sharing even more. What are some things about your art that you love to kind of show other people or teach or break down or what are some aspects of the great things people are saying about it that we call it like social proof, but you can do the same thing for your arm. What the rate, the reviews and stuff that you’re getting about what people are saying? In fact, I was just thinking about this because my brother and his partner just bought last year this gorgeous property in the Berkshires, and it’s like a fairytale there. And I was kind of explaining this to them because it’s a little bit different. Like, yes, they have a business, but it’s a little bit different. And I was showing them, like, on the Airbnb. They have all these reviews or things that people have been saying about staying there. And I was like, you need to share this on social media or share this in the newsletter. Yeah, that’s an aspect I think a lot of times if you’re an artist, you think you just got to keep creating from scratch. But the littlest there are these little moments of somebody who’s reached out to you and, like, sharing the way that it’s making an impact and thinking of it like that a little bit more than like, the slog of, oh, I have to share stuff.
[00:29:25.420] – Marisa Corcoran
And I think that’s important to sit down and think about what are your motifs, as we call them, or those themes or those buckets of things that you can share about your art may break down and talk about a little bit more, for the lack of a better word, more of like an educational or like a teaching standpoint. And then how can you share what other people are saying, other things that you love to do outside of that art and playing with that a little bit more.
[00:29:54.660] – Diane Foy
Yeah. My favorite part of coaching artists is the beginning, the first few sessions where we talk about, like, what is your vision, what are your goals? And then why do you want that? The why. I’m really big on the why it’s always my favorite one session, because it’s a breakthrough, because people don’t stop to think about why are you doing this? And I think getting clear on that and going through coaching, on limiting beliefs and core values and all that inner work makes the rest of it come a lot easier because I’ve had coaching clients that want to skip that, just get to the part where you’re going to teach me about social media and publicity. But it’s going to be so much easier if we do this in our work first. And I think then it’s not as easy to or not as hard to come up with things to write about on social media because you’ve already processed it all. You’ve got a really clear vision of why this dream of being an actor. Why do you want this so badly? And it also helps you keep going when the obstacles come up, because there’s a lot of struggle, and that all comes when you’re doing the copywriting.
[00:31:18.810] – Diane Foy
You’ve already explored these things, so it’s a little easier to share them because sometimes it’s vulnerability that you’re sharing and it’s hard, but it kind of builds up your comfort zone.
[00:31:31.170] – Marisa Corcoran
I so agree. Yeah. I’ll refer to it as, like, your skin in the game, you know, like, what are you doing it for? And even myself. And I’ve been thinking about doing the reels. I’m like, I don’t want to do reels. I want to go read my book, my book every day or, like, watch yellow jackets or do something and then I’m like, no, my skin and aim. What am I doing this for? Ok, I got to go back to it. And what am I hoping that it’s going to bring me and play with it a little bit first before I decide it’s not for me or throw it out. And that skin in the game always helps me connect back to what I’m doing it or what the next level of what we’re trying to achieve inside of the company is. Yeah.
[00:32:13.410] – Diane Foy
I love following Jasmine Star because she so do the work that most people won’t do. And she would even say, I don’t want to be dancing in these reels. I don’t want to be doing any of this video stuff. She’s actually an introvert. And the thing is, her dreams are bigger than her comfort zone. So I always tell myself that it’s like I don’t want to do any of these things. I don’t want to be on video. I don’t want to be telling my stories. But if that’s what I got to do to get where I want to go, okay, let’s step up.
[00:32:50.480] – Marisa Corcoran
I agree. And I think there’s a balance, too. So I was just talking about this yesterday in the copy chat Facebook group. I was talking about this in a live. I think there’s a balance between it like, to me, I’m really great at letting myself be bigger than my comfort zone. I mean, that’s how the business was built was just me literally flying the seat in my pants. And I was terrified for about a year and a half, like straight. Just like a year and a half straight. I’m just like, what am I doing? And I think now I’m in a place where I go, okay, I want to keep doing that. But I also look and go, okay, is this something that I actually do? Because a lot of people will say, oh, yeah, Facebook groups. Oh, that’s the thing. And we have a very successful free Facebook group. So just talking about this yesterday, but I always tell people, if you’re not going to like it, if you’re not going to keep up with it, people are going to sense that.
[00:33:42.930]
Yeah.
[00:33:43.380] – Marisa Corcoran
So you got to know that a Facebook group is a commitment, and you got to at least like it or be willing to like it. And if you don’t, then don’t do it. There’s other ways that you can call. There’s no one right way to do it. So it’s like finding that balance. But people love to just go to this first. Oh, yeah, I’m not going to love it. So I’m not going to do it. Wait a second. But why don’t you give yourself a chance to try it first? So I’m always kind of as a consultant and a mentor, like writing that with people, people just like they want that out. But it’s like, wait a second, you didn’t even try and do it.
[00:34:16.120] – Diane Foy
Yet. I love the Facebook groups that I’m in and the programs I’m in. So I love Facebook groups and I have my own. But I always first admit that I suck at it right now because again, like all last year, I was avoiding being on video. I was avoiding trainings and things like that. And it’s like, why would anyone come to my Facebook group? There’s nothing there.
[00:34:45.230] – Marisa Corcoran
You’re great on video.
[00:34:46.870] – Diane Foy
I’m trying.
[00:34:48.790] – Marisa Corcoran
Yeah, no, you’re great. It is so weird. We put that on ourselves so much.
[00:34:52.600] – Diane Foy
Yes. It held me back for so long. And then now when I actually do a video, I’m fine. It’s not even that. I think it’s do. I know what to say on video, and the technology drive me insane, but I’m figuring it out. Next week, I’m going to be a video creating machine. Good. Finally.
[00:35:18.250] – Marisa Corcoran
Yeah. And I’ve done so many things. I’ve knocked over my laptop. You name it, I’ve done it technically. And by the way, most of those videos I have never even taken down in the Copyright Facebook group. So it’s not just me saying. It like, you can see videos where I literally knocked over a laptop. The camera has done this. It’s gone out. It’s been like, I’ve done it all. And I’m always like, okay, I’m still here. People are still here. Yeah.
[00:35:41.180] – Diane Foy
And then also, maybe another reason why I was drawn to the copy confidence society. Is that okay, well, if I don’t know what to say in video, let’s go over here and learn how to tell stories, how to do this. The only thing that I think I’m really stuck on now is my brain doesn’t work in three easy steps to do this.
[00:36:06.850] – Marisa Corcoran
Right.
[00:36:07.590] – Diane Foy
And that’s kind of what they say you got to do on real and trainings. And my brain doesn’t work that way because I don’t want to give you false impression that, oh, yeah, it’s so easy. You just have to do these three things and you’ll succeed. I want to sit you down and tell you everything I know from beginning to end.
[00:36:29.050] – Marisa Corcoran
Right.
[00:36:29.450] – Diane Foy
Which is why I like everything.
[00:36:31.210] – Marisa Corcoran
No, totally. So have you ever thought about just practicing with that? Because I’m the same as you.
[00:36:36.880] – Diane Foy
Yeah.
[00:36:37.520] – Marisa Corcoran
So I will say, like, yesterday I gave this live basically on what we’re talking about now, this idea of what’s the difference between I was talking about creating content. It’s the bulk of your marketing when you’re a business, in that sense when you’re a business owner. So it should take time. It should take time. Everyone’s trying to get it done in minutes. But I always try to preface by saying, obviously we can’t touch on everything here. But what I do want to do is start you with one or two things, whether it’s to Dos or ideas, like shifting those beliefs to try. And I always just preface, I think as long as we just are narrating, that for people and helping them understand, I only have you for so many days. I only have it for 20 minutes. Today when people coach with me, we cover every aspect of this. But today I want to just give you one or two things that have been really helping in supporting my clients. And sometimes looking at it in that way.
[00:37:36.970] – Diane Foy
Like maybe starting to think about things a different way.
[00:37:41.590] – Marisa Corcoran
And then if you want to dig deeper and just telling them there’s no way I could share it all with you, let me just give you this one thing. And it doesn’t always have to be the three. It doesn’t. And as I just get on and another thing that I will do sometimes is I will let people know. And that’s why I like having this content lab. And that’s what the copy chat Facebook group is for me. And I think that what’s really great about things like Instagram or social media is that you can delete the video, it can go away. There’s all sorts of. So what’s great is I let it be like my content lab. So sometimes I’ll go live and I’ll just say, hey, I’m verbally processing this, but this is something that’s been on my mind.
[00:38:21.180]
Right.
[00:38:21.900] – Marisa Corcoran
And I might not have all the connection the dots, but I’m clear on my motifs and I’m clear on my themes and I’m clear on the things that I want people to know. It’s a little bit easier for me to say, okay, I’m going to verbally process this today.
[00:38:33.630] – Diane Foy
Yeah.
[00:38:34.050] – Marisa Corcoran
And invite them to say, pop in the comments, let me know. And it doesn’t have. But I just practice by saying this isn’t going to be perfect today, which gives me permission to just kind of figure it out.
[00:38:44.860] – Diane Foy
I think it’s like with reals because I’ve been starting video with stories, and I guess it kind of makes sense to maybe do the live because I’m fine if I’m talking for a while on different things. But when it’s real, it’s like three easy tips in 15 seconds.
[00:39:03.910] – Marisa Corcoran
Yeah. So maybe it’s not the three easy tips. What if it’s the other things where it’s kind of sharing, like one of those things. Yeah. Or doing something more using that for more of the fun stuff where I don’t who am I? I’m not even a real expert to throw this all out. The real experts can come at me and tell me about using the lip syncing ones where you’re like, speaking or just I was dipping my toes a little bit this summer, but then, as you know, Diane, I had some personal things going on in my life last year. Two very important people in my life die like two months apart. But I was kind of dipping my toes in before the last Copy Convent and Society launch. And one of my best reels that people loved was just this little clip where I was talking about this person who broke into our car and they didn’t take anything. And I was just like, sad that they didn’t take anything. I was like, there were Tic TACs in there. I was like, there’s one of my mom’s jumbo pens in there. There was bug spray.
[00:40:02.860] – Marisa Corcoran
How did they not want any of this? And that was the real. And then I connected that in the caption back to the idea of sometimes not trusting in terms of copy. I connected it back to the business. But the real wasn’t the tips. The real was actually me bringing forth my personality more than it was bringing forth, like, the educational part of me, if that makes sense.
[00:40:25.310]
Yeah.
[00:40:26.590] – Marisa Corcoran
And that brought people in through the humor. And then people were reading it, and I was getting these DMs from people like, oh, you teach copy. They just thought it was a funny real because I put this caption up that said, I can’t remember what it said. I have to go look. It was like someone broke into our car last night. But here’s the wildest part, right? So people, like, watch the real to see what I said. And I was like, they didn’t take anything. And then I connected that back to the business. So I didn’t even do the three things right.
[00:40:53.710] – Diane Foy
Yeah. And I’m good at all. My passions are related to my audience, except for my cats, cats and wine. My cat videos. Got to somehow figure out why. It’s a good idea, too. I love cats. Here’s my buddy.
[00:41:16.270] – Marisa Corcoran
Really?
[00:41:17.950] – Diane Foy
I love that. Cool. So you have a masterclass coming up.
[00:41:24.010] – Marisa Corcoran
So, yes, it’s called Believe and Wanting More Masterclass. So we open the doors to the Copycontent Society twice a year, and we always kick those doors open with the leave them Wanting More master class. So it’s a free Copy master class, and it really breaks down the framework that we teach inside of the Society. So how to bring more of your personality to your copy, which I think that is really powerful for artists because we really talk about it. We talk about it actually using principles from acting called how to Uncover Your Copy Star. We pair that with your messaging, how to talk about what you do in a clear, more concise way. And then we actually give you something straight from our content module called the six post prompts, so you can use those in your social media and some of the kind of tips and stuff that we talked about today. And my goal is that whether or not you join the Society at the end of that class or not, that you can walk away from that free class with a few things that you really can go out and start to implement.
[00:42:17.550] – Marisa Corcoran
That’s my number one goal. And, of course, we also offer you the opportunity to come into the Society. So that kicks off in February, and I give you three different times to come to for the class. And they’re all live. It’s like Broadway, my theater route. So people are like, are you really live? I’m like, yes, they are all really live. I’m there. I’m there to answer your questions. It’s actually my favorite part of anything. I’m like, if I could just teach, believe in wanting more Master classic for the rest of my life. I love it. And we do it in Zoom. It’s not like in a typical webinar format. I can see you, you can see me. I can see how people are reacting. So I know is this landing is it not? And we do it twice a year. So if you’re looking to wanting to write or talk or make that copy and how you talk about what you do with more confidence, more creativity, I’d love to have you at the class. It’s a blast. And I love to show artists how to do this because artists were primed for this.
[00:43:11.700] – Marisa Corcoran
You don’t think that you are what you are. You are primed. You already have all the skills you need to do this. We just have to just, like, chip away at it a little bit.
[00:43:19.040] – Diane Foy
Great. I’ll leave a link to the master class to sign up in the show notes. And where else can people find you online?
[00:43:28.270] – Marisa Corcoran
Yeah. So the best place is to come over to the Copy chat Facebook group. That is a great way to see how we talk about copy. We also just talk about what TV shows we’re watching and what books are reading. That’s like, always big inside the Copy chat Facebook group. So that’s a great place to get started is to come into the Copy chat Facebook group. You can just search it on Facebook, and then you can also for the master class. It’s just my name. It’s Marissacorkeran. M-A-R-I-S-A comasterclass. That’s for the Masterclass. Or you can just search the Copy chat on Facebook. And it’s just a great way to see how we talk about copy and our approach to it. Yeah, cool.
[00:44:12.470] – Diane Foy
Actually, I was going to ask what your Instagram handle is. And then I remember I have a question about why that’s your Instagram handle.
[00:44:20.150] – Marisa Corcoran
Oh, okay. So my Instagram handle is at Mtoni. Toni. And to put a nice bow on it all, when I was an actor, my name was M Tony Freddo because people always call me Marissa. And my name is Marisa. And I hated walking into auditions where people would do that because I found myself just on the defense, like, oh, it’s actually Marisa. And I hated doing that. And also my father’s name was Anthony, and he was named Tony. And also my favorite performer and singer and person of all time is Tony Braxton. So from the time I was 13 years old, I was M Tony Frodo. That’s like how much of my own I was walking around saying, my name is M Tony Fratto. And actually, that’s why it’s at M Tony. And I actually been talking to my husband about doing some writing, some fiction writing. And if I do it, I would use M Tony Frado if I was like the fictionme Frato is my maiden name.
[00:45:16.710] – Diane Foy
But, yeah, that’s why it’s at Antony marketing me said it was harder to find you because it wasn’t your name.
[00:45:24.120] – Marisa Corcoran
Sure. Yeah, absolutely. But I think the other ones are taken like Marie Stefano and Marissa Corcoran. And Tony was really important for me to hold on to in a lot of ways.
[00:45:38.370] – Diane Foy
And people can find you when you fill out the name.
[00:45:43.350] – Marisa Corcoran
Yeah, totally. Something else I would also tell people is like, how do I say this? I don’t put all my eggs in, like, one basket. So for me, it’s like that’s part of it. But I could find myself obsessing what my Instagram name is for the rest of my life.
[00:45:59.520] – Diane Foy
Yeah.
[00:46:00.230] – Marisa Corcoran
It’s like, yeah, it’s Adam, Tony, and you’ll find it and we’ll be good.
[00:46:03.790] – Diane Foy
Yeah. Cool. So I always ask, what is your why? Why do you do what you do?
[00:46:11.440] – Marisa Corcoran
Oh, my gosh, Diane. This is deep. This is so good. What is my why? I think my biggest is twofold. I think my biggest why for me really started for me financially, which is to change the financial paradigm of what I’d seen for women in my family. Everyone. Not just women, everybody. I found everybody constantly struggling when it came to money and also watching really super talented people never get to rise to where they wanted to go. And I wanted to see if I could shift that paradigm for my family. So that’s really personal for me. Could I shift that financially? And just like that confidence level that I feel like stunted a lot of the people in my own family that are super talented people. And then kind of the impact is I wanted to raise as an actor, I always just wanted to raise a shit ton of money for organizations and things that I believe in. And we’ve been able to do that in the company. We’ve raised over $70,000 for charity, and that’s big for me. It’s just how much money can we keep giving and putting our money where our beliefs are?
[00:47:18.550] – Marisa Corcoran
We’ve given to incredible organizations, from mental health care for military vets to taking care of the LGBTQ plus elderly community, the senior citizens, these pioneers of pride. And so really putting my money in the company and people get to work on your copy and you get to help humans at the same time. And that’s been really important to me.
[00:47:41.790] – Diane Foy
Oh, that’s amazing.
[00:47:43.400] – Marisa Corcoran
Yeah.
[00:47:44.330] – Diane Foy
Well, thank you so much. This has been so informative.
[00:47:47.400] – Marisa Corcoran
Thanks, Diane.
[00:47:50.130] – Diane Foy
I hope you enjoyed this episode. And I want to remind you about my 30 free coaching sessions, which you can head to dianfoy combooking or link in the show notes to snag your spot and to sign up for Marissa’s even wanting more master class click the other link in the show notes.
[00:48:14.530] – Diane Foy
Thanks for listening to Multipassionate Artists If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with your fellow artists, post about it on social media or leave a rating and review to connect with me. I’m Diane Foy arts on Instagram and in the multipassionate artist groups on Facebook and Clubhouse thanks again.
