Living the Writer's Life:
Brad Dunsé
By Mindy McHorse

Brad performs original songs at the Maple Grove Farmers Market
just outside Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Brad Dunsé took ownership of his unique life circumstances early on when he decided he was the only one who’d ever be in charge of his daily tasks and time. Then when writing surfaced as a new opportunity, he found a way to not only fold it into his own musical interests but use it as an avenue for helping others in situations similar to his, so they could also enjoy the same freedom-filled lifestyle. Read on for inspiration …

Can you share about life before you found copywriting?

I grew up in a family business, so I had a lot of the freedoms and flexibility that maybe people that come from corporate or nine-to-five jobs might be looking for. But eventually that family business closed. My dad had gotten older, and that’s when I found out I had visual issues. I’m now a blind individual. Then I worked for six months in stock billing for a company and made some mistakes with the stock billing. My boss understood that, but the president didn’t, and he fired me. And I said, “That’s not happening again.”

From there, I started a food service business. I still do some of that today. But the thing of it is, it has constraints that I want to get away from. With writing, it’s just a lot more portable. So I’m moving to more full-time writing.

How did you discover AWAI?

I first heard about AWAI back in ’99, and I saw the letter of, “Can you write a letter like this?” And I thought, Eh, that’s probably not me. That’s something I would do different if I could go back.

But fast-forward about a dozen years or maybe 10, 12 years later, and I started with the email program and really enjoyed it. From there I worked with some accessibility stuff, some not-for-profit stuff, and things like that.

What kind of writing are you focusing on these days?

I’ve been doing a newsletter for songwriting for some time, but this year what I’m really excited about is that it’s going to turn into a paid newsletter so I can monetize it. So in preps for that, I’m writing newsletters for independent professionals and creators so that I can have that base down.

How do you plan to monetize your newsletter?

I’ve actually monetized it before just on my website with a Stripe account. But now I’m going to be exploring Kit, which used to be ConvertKit. It’s an email distribution service, with tools for monetizing content. They pretty much cater to creators.

How has your AWAI training helped you at this stage in your career?

When I started using Kit, I noticed that there were some accessibility issues. And the things that I’ve learned in persuasive writing allowed me to be able to reach out to them. Because as I said, I’m a blind individual. I use screen readers, which sometimes don’t read the same as what’s on the screen. So you have to have some codes and different things that make that accessible for people like myself.

Kit was pretty accessible, but they had some issues, so I met with three of their engineers and one of the quality designers, and they really want to make it just a total accessible product to be able to suit the needs for creators such as myself. And I can tell you from experience, it’s pretty rare to be able to get that far into a company and have that kind of effect. I attribute a lot of that to my ability to communicate with them through copy.

What can entrepreneurs who have websites do to improve their sites and newsletters for accessibility?

Always using header tags, and alt tags for the graphics. Use text anchors that don’t just say, “Click here,” but have action words, like “Click here to subscribe” or “Click here to purchase XYZ.” Those kinds of things. I wrote an article for AWAI on accessibility and found that around 26% of the population has some sort of a disability. I think 10% of that is dyslexic people. And you wouldn’t think it, but Times New Roman font is horrible for that because it has all the little fancy marks on the lines.

If a blind individual who was interested in getting started in the writing world came to you for advice, what would you tell them?

When it comes to a disability in the blindness field, there’s like a 70% unemployment rate among blind individuals. And as much as we don’t like to say it, there is some discrimination where people don’t understand. They look at jobs and say, “How could you possibly do this?” But with writing, you have the ability to control your own needs. I know others with disabilities that are more mobility related, and writing would just fit right in. Of course, you have to do the work. You still have to show up.

Brad's story was featured in December’s Barefoot Writer magazine issue.

Every month, Barefoot Writer magazine brings you over 30 pages of motivation, inspiration, and practical advice for turning your writing dreams into reality.

You’ll learn things like the best opportunities for writers, where to find clients who value your skills, how to rock your writing assignments so companies call on you again and again … and a whole lot more.

Again, you can have ALL the confidence-boosting bonuses and 12 months of Barefoot Writer magazine for just $12 when you go here.