“Edster,” said my sister.
She’s older than me. “How’d it go?”
“Oh,” I said. “I fugged it up.”
My HubSpot interview was years ago—after college, before VeryGoodCopy—with then-VP of Content, Joe Chernov. I sent a cold email to the content department. It was forwarded to Joe. He read it.
A recruiter got in touch:
“Hey, Eddie,” she said. “We’d love to schedule you for an interview with Joe.”
“Great,” I said. “Thanks!”
Never miss a VeryGoodCopy Micro-Article: SUBSCRIBE
We met on the phone:
“Hey, Eddie,” said Joe.
“Hey, Joe,” I said. “Thanks for taking the time.”
Joe shuffled some papers around. “Your resume says you speak Russian?”
“Yeh, it’s actually my first language.”
“Oh cool, well, hey…” he said, “what’s my last name remind you of?”
I took a beat. Chernov sounds like ‘chorni’ — the Russian word for black.
“Black?” I said. “The color black?”
“Yes!” he said. “Yeah, that’s exactly right… the color black.” The line was quiet for a moment. “Oh-kay,” he said, and asked another question. This time about writing.
I took another beat. Then I said what I thought Joe wanted to hear.
My sister called the next day. She asked about the interview:
“How’d it go?”
“Oh, I fugged it up.”
“Really?” she said. “You don’t think it went well?”
“I dunno,” I said, “he big-wigged me out.” We laughed. She started humming Under Pressure. We laughed some more. It was a nice conversation, distracting. After we hung up, I drew my curtains and blacked-out my bedroom and went to sleep early.
The recruiter emailed me in the morning:
“Hi, Eddie,” she said. “We’ve decided not to move ahead with the process. We truly appreciate your time and will keep your resume on file.”
“Great,” I said. “Thanks!”
Then I opened a new tab and wrote Joe a ‘Thank You’ email. He promptly wrote me back. “Hi, Eddie,” he said. “Thanks for the note.”
I took a screenshot of his actual email:
In hindsight, it’s among the most valuable messages I’ve received.
Because back then, it gave me confidence. Confidence enough to register the VeryGoodCopy dot com domain the very next day. And some drive. Drive enough to start documenting my copywriting education consistently, and then obsessively.
I’m grateful for this, for the kindness Joe showed me in his email. It was a gift, really. And it’s served as a personal reminder to prop people up, to encourage folks whenever possible.
Because words carry weight.
And the right words at the right time can change someone’s life.
LEARN TO PERSUADE
✅ Join thousands of email subscribers
✅ Less than 0.4% of readers unsubscribe
✅ Never miss a Micro-Article or -Interview
✅ Get instant email access to VGC's founder
✅ Be first in line to get new, free Micro-Courses
Hey there, thanks for reading. :)If you want more “micro” content, feel free to explore 100s of articles, interviews, courses, and series — all free. Enjoy!Eddie Shleyner
VeryGoodCopy, founderP.S. If you like VGC, you’ll love VGC Plus. Instantly unlock every post right here.
