Meet Annelise Schoups | Writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Annelise Schoups and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Annelise, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
The idea to start my own business didn’t come to me in a vision and I didn’t decide to do it overnight. The whole process sort of unfolded more organically. I had quit my job at a PR agency to travel abroad for a few months and when I came back to the U.S. I didn’t know exactly where I was going to live. I was flexible, relatively unattached, and I liked the idea of being able to travel whenever I wanted, so I started looking for short-term and remote contracts rather than full-time jobs. Little by little, I stitched together freelance writing work that eventually evolved into a small business.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve been a writer in one form or another all my life. It wasn’t so much that I decided to become one as it was that it seemed I had to be. But it took me a long time to have enough confidence in my abilities to actually call myself a writer. It’s one of those titles that I’m afraid comes with a lot of imposter syndrome, so it wasn’t until I had ghostwritten a book that I even said it out loud to anyone else. So, from that perspective it wasn’t easy.

And I’ve bounced around between different types of jobs, finding my way through a process of elimination. I started my career at Public Relations agencies and then narrowed my focus to just the parts that involved writing, which led me to copywriting for creative agencies and startups, and then I followed one of my mentors to a ghostwriting agency where I started writing books. There have been pros and cons to every iteration of my work, and I’m still (always!) learning about what I like and don’t like.

But I believe that’s what sets me apart, too: I’m driven by a strong desire for near-constant improvement—not just in my work but in my development, my community, and all over the world. I’m always making small changes—through a comma here or a question there—that makes a sentence or a thought or an idea just a tiny bit better, a little more clear. And I think taking that approach makes what I do sort of dynamic; it’s ever-changing and so it always begs for more creativity!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I love Guisados! That’s my absolute must-stop if you’re anywhere near LA.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’ve been fortunate to have some really exceptional mentors—and there have been some especially badass women who helped me carve my path. Shannon Pratuch of This French Life and Krista Morgan of Noble Finch Books are two who believed in me at very pivotal moments in my career. Shannon gave me my first job after I graduated college and Krista took me under her wing when I transitioned from copywriting to ghostwriting. And then there’s Hannah Kang of Lemonade PDX! Hannah has always been a fierce advocate for my personal and professional growth. She taught me how to identify my goals, how to get recognition when I reached them, and how to set myself up for success in the future.

Website: http://annelisewrites.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anneliseschoups/

Image Credits
Killian Whitelock