Meet Lauren Jefferson | Copywriter & Entrepreneur

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

Hi Lauren, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
One thing that has transformed my thinking when it comes to balance is that there are seasons. Seasons to ramp up, work until 3am, and grind. Seasons to slow down and rest. Seasons to redirect attention to other areas of your life.

From an early age, I believed success came from working hard. Taking all AP classes, doing all the extracurricular activities, going to a great university, working harder than any other student, graduating early, getting a good job…And it wasn’t until June of 2017 that I was really hit with the fact that life is short.

As I was running on 10 cups of coffee a day, a dream to succeed, and a fear of failure, my boss at the time (who was also a mentor and professor of mine) unexpectedly passed away at the age of 60.

Now while I haven’t always mastered the work-life balance, the book Rest was introduced to me and opened my eyes to what rest could really look like. It wasn’t just sleep and stepping away from work. That’s when I decided that there was no work-life balance. It’s simply balance.

Over the last five years since I started FocusCopy, I’ve had seasons where I worked 18-hour days and 15 months of 7-day-long work weeks. But I then entered burnout in 2021. I had simply worked myself to exhaustion, and it took about 9 months to recover from that. What I learned from this experience is that I have to be intentional about where I’m storing my time.

A mentor advised me at this time to find a hobby, volunteer my time, and get out of the “work”. This helped me renew my spirit, find other things to do besides work, and build a sense of variety in my day-to-day. And I think, ultimately, that’s the balance we’re all striving for.

Along the way, there have been a couple of grounding things that help keep me balanced day-to-day.

• Strengthening my faith through bible study, prayer, and community
• Spending undistracted time with my husband and son
• Building strong connections that I’m constantly in touch with
• Getting outside, usually walking all my boys (husband, son, and dog)
• Finding the perfect coffee beans and lingering in my morning cup
• Changing my scenery when I’m feeling off (i.e. usually going to a local coffee shop)

I highly recommend trying one or all of these as you continue on your journey towards balance.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
FocusCopy® caffeinates your brand messaging to energize your target audience to take action. As a top copywriting and content writing team in Houston, TX, we work closely with entrepreneurs and marketing agencies to develop their brand voice and convert prospects into clients.

We were born out of a desire to fulfill the most time-consuming task in marketing. This was well before the wide adoption of AI writing when there weren’t many solutions other than betting on a freelancer or doing it yourself. And still today, human writing supersedes AI because it exudes authenticity, trustworthiness, and connection. But that took a lot of time for us to learn and understand how AI impacts our business, and how to effectively teach our clients about it.

Outsourcing your copywriting to FocusCopy® frees up your time to focus on other profit-generating areas in your business and equips you with copy that engages your target audience. We do that by working on your:

• Website copy
• Blog content (engagement blogs, SEO’d blogs)
• Email copy (newsletters, nurture campaigns, conversion campaigns)
• Sales copy (landing pages, lead magnet development, conversion campaigns)

Since founding the company in 2019, we have:

• Written for over 140+ unique brands in almost every single industry you could think of
• Built a massive network to be a better strategic partner for our clients
• Launched new and unique products and services successfully into the marketplace
• Developed our brand voice process that allows us to write like anyone with ease
• Trained clients how to splinter and repurpose their copy
• Freed up countless hours of writing time for our clients

The biggest thing that we’re proud of is our systems. And that’s the thing that I believe adds value to a company (especially a service-based company) because it’s something tangible.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Houston is such a vast and diverse city that it can be overwhelming to someone new. Here is where I would take someone throughout the week.

Day 1 | Downtown Discovery
• Coffee downtown and visit Discovery Green park
• Tour the Houston Museum of Natural Science

Day 2 | Fine Arts Exploration
• Milk + Honey massage near Kirby
• Visit the Museum of Fine Arts and Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
• Lunch at Pepper Twins Kirby
• Explore the Menil Collection
• Dinner at The Pit Room or Brisket House for BBQ

Day 3-4 | Outdoor Activities
• Visit Memorial Park or The Arboretum for a calming walk
• Brunch at The Little Hen
• Antique shopping/mall/Uptown shopping
• Afternoon caffeine spot at a local coffee shop
• Bats on Waugh Bridge experience at twilight
• Los Tios/Pappasitos/Sylvia’s for dinner

Day 5 | Zoo Day
• Coffee and breakfast in the Historical Heights area
• Houston Zoo
• Local cuisine options to explore Houston’s food scene like India’s, Caracol, Kiran’s, Rainbow Lodge, Kau Ba, whatever you like – Houston has it

Experience Texas (seasonal)
• Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo
• Nutcracker Market at NRG
• Bluebonnets and Texas wildflower photography
• A variety of concerts and shows
• Astros baseball at Minute Maid Park
• Texans football at NRG
• Rockets basketball at the Toyota Center
• Bayou City Art Festival
• Houston Cinema Arts Festival
• Azalea Trail
• Zoo Lights
• Lights in the Heights
• Being self-proclaimed coffee aficionados at FocusCopy, here are a few of our favorite local coffee shops:
+ Tout Suite
+ Campesino
+ Slowpokes
+ Luce Ave
+ Coffee House at West End
+ Roast & Brew
+ BHBG Coffee
+ The Yellow Cup Coffee & Tea

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Every step of the way, the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship (WCE) at the University of Houston has been there for me. Not only did they invest their time and resources to develop me as a student, but they have also become:

• A network for me to connect with (and even do business with)
• A place for me to mentor the next generation of entrepreneurs (I just graduated my third mentee back in May)
• An extra brain for me to access when I run into a problem or need extra help
• A community that supports me wholeheartedly

The faculty, alumni, and students are the best in class. I would trust these people to steer me in the right direction, lift me when I’m down, and hold me accountable to my values and vision.

Website: https://focuscopy.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/focuscopyllc/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/focuscopy/

Twitter: https://x.com/focuscopyllc

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/focuscopyllc/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@focuscopyllc

Other: https://www.pinterest.com/FocusCopy/

Image Credits
@emilygayephoto