Julie Marateck, freelance copywriter, photographer, and public speaker

[00:00:55] Sanjay Parekh: Today's guest is Julie Marateck, a freelance copywriter based in Atlanta, Georgia. Julie has worked with big brands such as Delta Airlines, Coca Cola, and Chick-fil-A, to name a few. On the side, she's also a photographer and stand-up comic. Julie, welcome to the show. 

[00:01:11] Julie Marateck: Hey, Sanjay. I'm so happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

[00:01:14] Sanjay Parekh: So, we've actually got a lot to talk about, because you do a lot of things as side hustles, but before we get into that, give us a little bit about your background and what got you to where you are right now. 

[00:01:25] Julie Marateck: Yeah. So I actually started in film, but I don't think I timed it right because I was working in film in Atlanta 20 years ago, where there was no film in Atlanta.

I was like a trendsetter, but just at the wrong time. So really didn't have a lot of opportunity at the time doing film in Atlanta. I think things would have been different if I had graduated from college now. So I started working at the High Museum of Art because I love art and I joined their marketing team.

And I would say that was like my first adult job. And that led me to the advent of social media taking off. And that's really how I got my start as a social media copywriter. 

[00:02:08] Sanjay Parekh: Oh, that's awesome. I love that you got your start at the High Museum. I'm heavily involved with the Woodruff Arts Center, love what they do. A shoutout to Woodruff Arts, a great organization here in metro Atlanta. Okay, so now you do copywriting, but you've got a side hustle being a stand up comic. Tell us about that. 

[00:02:27] Julie Marateck: That's right. I'm all over the place. Yeah, so I have been doing copywriting and been an associate creative director for a couple years now. I've been doing copywriting for a long time, but I've been an ACD for a few years and honestly, the comedy was random. I always wanted to take a stand-up comedy class. That was always really important to me, just like the fear of getting up in front of people and telling jokes. And I would say about six or seven years ago, I had one of those turning point years.

I had a breakup and then, the job and the company I was working for went under. So lost my job, lost my girlfriend and I was sad and lonely. And after a couple of weeks of being sad and lonely and eating Ben and Jerry's ice cream on my couch, I was like, "I need to do something fun to lift my spirits up."

And so that's when I decided to randomly take a stand-up comedy class. And I really just thought it would be a class. I thought I would take the class, move on with my life. But what ended up happening was I actually love stand-up and realize I was actually pretty good at it, too. So, it became, definitely, a passion for me and a side gig.

[00:03:42] Sanjay Parekh: So was it an improv class or was it like telling jokes? 

[00:03:46] Julie Marateck: It was strictly stand-up. Yeah. So, there's obviously like two fields of comedy. There's improv and stand-up. I have taken improv classes before, and they're wonderful and amazing, but stand-up is really where my heart is. And stand-up is what I use to be a better storyteller and marketer. 

[00:04:08] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah, that's fascinating. The serendipity of it all is fabulous and great. Okay, you take this stand up class and you're like, "Okay, I want to do this regularly." How do you do that? What do you do? 

[00:04:27] Julie Marateck: You really start figuring out who's running shows and you start. It's much like a business. You start networking, right? You start. I was the new kid in town at the time. So, nobody knew who I was or anything about me. And the Atlanta stand-up scene is actually, pretty big. It's a really great scene here in Atlanta. So really you start networking, right? And you start just going networking to people's shows and just showing up and a lot of them are late at night and that is one challenge of stand-up is, it's usually at night and it's usually in a seedy, sticky bar at midnight. So, I wouldn't say it's like the most glam thing you can do. But you just start networking and then you just get up there and try to start telling jokes.

And then eventually the goal is that you start actually getting booked on shows. So there's open mics where anybody can show up, Sanjay, you could show up, you could tell a few jokes; those are called open mics. And then there's actual booked shows where you're booked on a show. 

[00:05:33] Sanjay Parekh: Okay, so open mics, I take it, you're not getting paid for that.

[00:05:36] Julie Marateck: Correct, you're not getting paid, it's more where you go, you practice, you practice out jokes, things like that, hang out with your peers, get a beer. And then shows are where you're actually booked, you get paid, you're one of six or eight comics on the show, so that's how that works.

[00:05:58] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. Okay. So, you've done shows then before I take it, because you've been doing this for a number of years.

[00:06:03] Julie Marateck: Yeah, I've done shows. I've actually run my own shows too. I've produced several shows in Atlanta as well where I was the producer and also the host of the show. And I booked the comics on the show. So, I've been at it from pretty much every angle.

[00:06:17] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. So, do you like that part of it more than producing, or the...?

[00:06:22] Julie Marateck: I love running my own shows, honestly. I love running my own shows more than… I love being on other people's shows, and it's always such an honor to be asked to be on anybody's show. Like it's just like always such a happy feeling.

But running your own show is a great way to learn a little bit of entrepreneurship. And to basically run a show, I'm booking the comics, I'm hosting the show, I'm telling them how long their time is on stage, I'm paying them, so there's a lot. I'm finding the venue. So there's a lot behind the scenes.

[00:07:01] Sanjay Parekh: Okay, so I know nothing about this world, so I'm super curious. So how does the money flow work? You're doing a show like this, patrons are paying something to show up to the show and then that's the money you're using to pay all of the performers. Is there anything left over for you at the end of the night? Like how does this all work? 

[00:07:19] Julie Marateck: Bare minimum. So if anybody would like to go to my GoFundMe, I will send them the link. But it happens a lot of different ways. So, let's say I was like, you know what, I want to run a show at this venue. I would email the venue and I would pitch the show and I would pitch why it would be beneficial for that space, whether it's a gallery or a brewery or a restaurant, or a theater, why it would be beneficial for them to do a comedy show. And usually you work it out on the back end. So you can either, the venue can pay you to run the show and then you can use that money. So let's say the venue pays you 200 bucks a show, then you could use that money to divvy out to the comics.

Or you do ticket sales. So then, a percentage of all the sales, maybe 60 percent goes to the venue, 40 percent goes to you and the comics. And usually the host, it's kind of tradition, the host takes the last remaining amount. It's more important to pay the comics really, and so that's how that all works.

So it can happen a lot of different ways, whether it's a set fee or whether it's ticket sales. And then obviously you have that tip jar up there hoping people will throw in an extra 5, 10, 20 bucks. And then at the end of the show, you divvy that up with the comics as well. 

[00:08:47] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. So, the numbers you're sharing make it sound like, it's not that lucrative.

[00:08:52] Julie Marateck: No, I don't recommend anybody do this. No, it's amazing. It's amazing. And it can lead to lots of money. And I have friends that do it full time and have quit their full-time jobs, but you really have to hustle. That's the thing about stand-up comedy is, you need to be out every night, you need to be showing your face, you need to be grinding, and it's a hard life. And I wouldn't say that it is like when you're just starting out, or you're doing it more casually, that it is a revenue generator in the sense that you could just right away quit your job, but you could work up to that point.

[00:09:32] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah, so, okay. So you're doing this, and you're starting out the first time you're producing a show. Something made you nervous, I'm sure. What was it? How did you overcome it? How did you deal with whatever issues happened? 

[00:09:48] Julie Marateck: Well, it's hard to host a show because you are up there in front of everybody and you're the energy generator at the start of the show so, you really have to get the party started up there and it's really nerve wracking to host a show. What if your comics don't show up? What if one of them goes way over their time? What if they're not hitting it with the jokes and the audience, you start getting nervous, the audience isn't having a good time and there's a lot of — anything that's live is going to create a different sense of anxiety than anything that is planned or where you can edit after or put a filter on, but that's the beauty and the anxiety of stand-up comedy is it's all live. There's no going back. 

[00:10:40] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. That point that you made there of comics not showing up, that would be my fear right there, is that somebody doesn't show up.

[00:10:47] Julie Marateck: Yeah. There's plenty of times that you text your friend and you're like, "Oh my God, so and so didn't show up. I need you here in 15 minutes."Or you could give the other comics more time to take away from that time. And mostly, most of the time comics are pretty reliable, every once in a while, the last minute it'll be like, "I'm hungover or I booked another show that pays me better." There's all sorts of things that can happen.

[00:11:15] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. Do you blacklist those people that bail because of another show just paying better? 

[00:11:19] Julie Marateck: I'm going to read their names on this podcast and I want everybody to troll them. 

[00:11:25] Sanjay Parekh: I would, find that pretty insulting personally. Like just because I get it that more money, but come on, you committed.

[00:11:32] Julie Marateck: Yeah. it definitely, you definitely don't forget, I guess is what I'm trying to say. You don't. I'm very much like if I commit to something, I generally do it. I would say most comics are like that. Occasionally you get that one or two comics that's, "Oh, I booked this for more money." So, peace and then you… 

[00:11:52] Sanjay Parekh: So they become never on the list to ask first...

[00:11:54] Julie Marateck: Right, they become like the backup comic, right? 

[00:12:01] Sanjay Parekh: So, okay, I'm sure everybody that's listening to this is thinking this too and I got to ask so, how do you come up with your jokes? Like how do you work through them? How do you figure them out? 

[00:12:11] Julie Marateck: Yeah. Well, I have a note, you know in my notes app, since I started a comedy as you can imagine, it's six years later that notes app is a CVS receipt’s worth of jokes, it just goes and goes and goes and goes and goes and goes. So when I think of something that could be funny, just a thought, or I say something to my wife and I'm like, "Oh my God, that could be a really funny bit."

I'll just put it down in the notes app, just to keep it because you always forget, like I don't care. You always think you're going to remember, but you don't, you forget. So that's my first advice to people with any idea, whatever it is, whether it's a telling a funny joke or that could be a cool book idea, or that could be a great headline and just write it down, just put it in your notes app.

And then I will revisit it when I'm getting ready for a show and kind of start thinking, which one of these have some legs. Sometimes you go back and read your ideas and you're like, "What was that?" I have no idea what any of that meant. Or you're like, "That was embarrassingly awful."

And then, occasionally I'd say one out of every 10 or 15 things you're like, "Okay, I could totally, I could try to work with that." And then I just start writing, sometimes I do it by hand. Sometimes I do it in a Google doc. Sometimes I do it right in my notes app. Just depends on my vibe and just start writing out jokes. And then I go to shows and practice. Practice the joke and you always when you do a show that's booked, where you're getting paid, you buffer the jokes that work or that you hope work or have worked more than not. You sandwich those in with the new jokes, so you do a joke that generally does well and then you dip your feet into the new joke, try it out. And then you go to one that like works, so there's like a right method, right?

[00:14:10] Sanjay Parekh: So you don't try jokes beforehand on somebody else before you go to shows? 

[00:14:14] Julie Marateck: Well, my wife will notice when I'm trying out a joke. She'll totally eyeball it. I'm checking out at Publix and I'm like, "Hey, you're my joke." And she's "Oh my God, stop." So she can tell when I'm trying out a joke.

So yes, I do quietly try them out on people or just say them out loud to the checkout lady at Publix and see what reaction I get. But for the most part outside of that, I pretty much wait until the show or like I mentioned, open mics are a great place to try out jokes as well because most of the people in the audience there are other comics.

[00:14:54] Sanjay Parekh: Oh, okay. So, probably a pretty receptive crowd. 

[00:14:59] Julie Marateck: Yeah, it can happen anywhere, at a bar, restaurant, sometimes there's people eating and drinking beer, whatever, but most of the time at open mics, the people that are really paying attention to you, at least, are the other comics, it's not really the people there.

[00:15:12] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. Do they give you feedback then afterwards about what jokes work or not? 

[00:15:17] Julie Marateck: Yeah, people give you feedback if you ask for it. And if my friends are there, I always ask them like, "What'd you think of that? Should I reword that differently?" But I have some close comedy friends that I will check in with them before I do the joke to get some ideas. So that's really how it works. 

[00:15:33] Adam Walker: Support for this podcast comes from Hiscox, committed to helping small businesses protect their dreams since 1901. Quotes and information on customized insurance for specific risks are available at Hiscox.com. Hiscox, the business insurance experts.

[00:15:55] Sanjay Parekh: Okay, so you've got this side hustle, you've got other side hustles too, but you've got to actually work for a living as well. So how do you balance those things? Because you just said, this comedy thing is usually late at night and that's not when you're working. You’re working during the day. And so that doesn't conflict but sleep is in between, so how are you balancing that? 

[00:16:17] Julie Marateck: Yeah, it's a lot. I work during the day and then at night I go out and I do shows. I'm at a place right now, because I have so many side hustles, that I probably don't go out as much as I used to. I used to be out six nights a week, I'd be out, I would be out grinding, I would be out late at night. I would be at like every show. But I'd say nowadays I am more interested in the pursuit of comedy from a business standpoint and how it can help businesses and I still go out. I'm booked on shows and I still go out and do those shows and so I would say I'm not a newbie where I feel like I have to be out all the time.

But I've also explored the idea of, does a side hustle have to be a grind where you are exhausted or is a side hustle something that you just enjoy doing and sharing with other people? And you're figuring out where it goes? 

[00:17:36] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah, so that's interesting and maybe you have a perspective on your side hustle not becoming your full hustle. Yeah, and maybe that's the case there. Is that why you think of it that way? 

[00:17:48] Julie Marateck: Yeah, I think that it's conflicting for any artist. I think any artist that you talk to is going to be a bit conflicted about their goal with this said passion, right? Because there are people that, they want it to become their full-time gig, that is what they dream of. They want to be on Jimmy Fallon. Of course, if Jimmy Fallon's reps came to one of my shows and tapped me to come on Jimmy Fallon, I would be there in a heartbeat. But it has been an interesting question over the last couple of years. If I've been doing comedy now for six years and I'm in my early forties now and my wife and I are thinking of starting a family and I have like full time job, what is the point of stand-up?

Is it to do it full time or is it to do it because I love it and I enjoy it? And so I think that's an interesting question for a side gig. I think a side gig and a side hustle can become your full time gig. And if that's what you want it to be, it can totally become that. But I think sometimes there's a lot of pressure, especially for artists, people who act on the side, people that tell jokes, people that paint, "Oh, are you going to do this full time?" And sometimes you just don't even know the answer yet. 

[00:19:02] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. It's really actually an interesting perspective and something to think about for all of our listeners that have side hustles because that is, for a lot of the folks that we have on this podcast, they move from a side hustle into a small business, right? They're like, they're making it that path instead of just keeping it something you do on the side. 

[00:19:21] Julie Marateck: Yeah. I think for me, what I'm intrigued by with stand-up is, you know, there’s stand-up itself. I love producing and running my own shows, but what I'm interested in right now is combining my passion for stand-up comedy with my passion for storytelling and marketing and entrepreneurship.

So really what I'm exploring right now is, how I can use the tenets of stand up and use that? So I've been, I taught at General Assembly, I taught a course there about using what I've learned from stand-up comedy and implementing that into marketing. And one of my goals this year is actually to write a book for entrepreneurs and how to use what I've learned from stand-up into that, because there's a lot of overlap.

And that's what I'm intrigued about is combining both my passions, and making that my side gig into podcasts and public speaking, writing a book and things of that nature. So I guess, sometimes your side gig can grow into something else. 

[00:20:26] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah, I got to say that, comedy in terms of marketing, if it's done well, really knocks it out of the park. The thing that I thought of immediately when you said that, was the old Delta video, the in flight safety video, they had the finger wagging the whole thing, which was really well done. It was very funny. And I think people really paid attention to it because of that. And normally you don’t pay attention to that.

[00:20:52] Julie Marateck: Yeah, and that was the first like in-flight video that implemented humor and it's still the most popular one. And that led to, now when you fly Delta and Delta has been one of my clients, you watch the in-flight video and they're still trying to make them funny and relevant and approachable, because they realize "Oh, people will actually watch these if it's funny."

[00:21:20] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah, another one that does a great job, which is a Delta partner, is Virgin Atlantic. They have great videos as well. Then I end up watching it. I know all the content, but I still end up watching it because, it's just so really well done. 

[00:21:32] Julie Marateck: I didn't know you're such a fan boy of in-flight video.

[00:21:37] Sanjay Parekh: Well, I will tell you of that original Delta one, there was one of the flight attendants, this guy that was on there, I actually had him as one of my flight attendants of one of the flights I took on Delta. And as I was coming on the plane, I was like, "Hey, you're on the video." And I think he appreciated being recognized for that.

So I got some nice treatment on that flight, even though I wasn't up in first class. He treated me pretty well just because I recognized him. But he was a super nice guy and it was neat having a mini celebrity. 

[00:22:08] Julie Marateck: Yeah, for sure, and he probably felt so happy that, you even recognized him.

[00:22:13] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah, exactly. Okay, so you've been doing comedy now for a while. You've also been a copywriter for quite some time. If you could look back at what you've done and think about the things that you've done and go back in time, is there something that you would have done differently?

[00:22:33] Julie Marateck: That's a great question. If I could go back in time and do things differently, I probably would have taken more risks when I was younger in terms of pushing the boundaries of copywriting. You always look back and you think like, especially in marketing, like your journey can be so wayward. It's not, it's not unlikely to meet somebody in marketing who, like I said, I started in film and then got into social media and then got into copywriting and that's led me to be an ACD.

And I think that I probably would have taken more risks as a copywriter and tried to convince clients to push the boundaries a little more of their tone of voice and how they're speaking about themselves, instead of always playing it so safe. Which is also something that I think is similar to stand-up comedy. You could get up there and tell the same joke over and over and over and over again. But, where are the risks and the vulnerability of being up there in front of people and telling a brand new joke and not knowing if people are going to laugh. It's frightening, but it's also exciting.

[00:23:55] Sanjay Parekh: Why do you think that is that you didn't take those risks? Is it because you felt like you were just too new? You just weren't comfortable in the role? What was it that made you want to go safe instead of daring? 

[00:24:08] Julie Marateck: This could get into a whole conversation of identity, but part of it I think was being an LGBT woman. I think I am in a very –  even though there's a lot of women in marketing and a lot of women in agencies, the C suite is still very male focused and most of the clients are run by male CEOs and most of the copy that I have to get approved or has to get approved is by men. And back when I started as a copywriter, I wasn't out at all.

I remember my first job at the High, that was from 2008 to 2012. I slowly told my co-workers there after years that I was gay, because it wasn't, the times were different, it was not as accepting as it is now. Diversity was not any part of any conversation of any job I had, where it is now of representing LGBT folks, women, people of color. So it was a different time, even though it really wasn't that long ago, it feels like a long time ago. And so, I think there was a part of me that probably held back my voice a little bit because I wasn't fully being myself. I was told by people like, "Well, I don't know if I would come out at work, like what if they pigeonhole you or what if you change your mind, you're not really gay?"

And, then everyone thinks, just all those sort of scary, frightening thoughts of being yourself. And there's no way that did not hinder myself as a creative at the time. 

[00:25:49] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's great that now, at least that's not the case. 

[00:25:57] Julie Marateck: Exactly. Now I'm obviously, I'm fully open. I'm married. I have a wife. And now diversity is becoming part of the conversation, it's part of the water cooler conversation now, as it should be, and it's a shame that it's taken so long. So, advice for younger folks, younger women, people of color, LGBTQ folks, being authentically yourself will affect your work. And looking back, I don't blame myself, but I definitely see how I've evolved as an artist just by being myself and I think that's really important. 

[00:26:41] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. Well, hopefully it gives you a great foundation to be even better now than you could have been back then. 

[00:26:48] Julie Marateck: And comedy ironically helped that. I would get up there on stage and talk about my queer stories to strangers and that helped me become more comfortable with that part of myself. So, it's all interrelated when you think about it. 

[00:27:05] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. Okay, two questions remaining for you. First, what would you tell somebody who's thinking about starting a side hustle like you or trying to take that leap? And making that side hustle even more, like how you did with producing shows and doing that. What advice would you give them? 

[00:27:25] Julie Marateck: Be independently wealthy. No, I would say, don't do it. No, I'm just kidding. I would say… 

[00:27:32] Sanjay Parekh: I like how you picked the two extremes right there. Be independently wealthy or just don't do it at all. 

[00:27:36] Julie Marateck: Or just literally do anything else. No, I kid. I fully say, do it, 100 percent. Just plant the tiniest seed.

I think when you think about starting a side gig, we go back to what we were talking about, I think there is that pressure to be like, "Well, is this going to be successful? And am I going to make money at this? And am I going to be able to do this full-time? And I'm going to be able to support my family? And are people going to think I'm stupid?" And you have all those internal dialogues, which hinders most people from doing a side gig. And I say, just jump in the deep end, do it, plant the seeds. You absolutely will never regret it, taking chances in life. Nobody on their deathbed thinks, "I wish I had taken less chances in life." 

[00:28:27] Sanjay Parekh: Julie, this has been fantastic I'm sure we could keep telling jokes for another hour, but where can our listeners find and connect with you online? 

[00:28:35] Julie Marateck: Yes, well, they can find me on Instagram @juliemarateck and Facebook, which is also my name Julie Marateck. I'm on LinkedIn, I'm not quite active on TikTok, yet. I know that's where all the kids are, I do want to amp up my comedy representation on the TikTok. So that's my next foray, but yeah, people can find me there and they can find me on my website, which is www.JulieMarateck.com. And on the website, I talk about my clients, my work, and there's also a page on there about my comedy. 

[00:29:15] Sanjay Parekh: Awesome. Thanks so much for being on today. 

[00:29:18] Julie Marateck: Thanks so much. I had a great time and I am very happy to be here. Thanks so much.

[00:29:29] Sanjay Parekh: Thanks for listening to this week's episode of the Side Hustle to Small Business podcast powered by Hiscox. To learn more about how Hiscox can help protect your small business through intelligent insurance solutions, visit Hiscox.com. And if you have a story you want to hear on this podcast, please visit hiscox.com/shareyourstory. I'm your host, Sanjay Parkhe. You can find out more about me at my website, sanjayparekh.com.