[Behind the Selfie] with... Belinda Mountain

A selfie squared – Belinda and baby

1. Where do you live, work and play?

Mountain: Jozi, which has been home for the last six years.

2. What's your claim to fame?

Mountain: I'm the co-owner of a niche digital copywriting agency, www.black-mountain.co.za, as well as a parenting blogger at www.makingmountains.co.za.

3. Describe your career so far.

Mountain: I always knew that I loved the world of words, which is why I began my career working in the book publishing industry in the UK (for Penguin and Harlequin). After seven years there I returned to SA, where I continued in publishing for a bit before taking the plunge and starting Black Mountain with my business partner Catherine Black in 2012.

4. Tell us a few of your favourite things.

Mountain: Snacks, I love snacks and hate breakfast. Good books, good grammar, good manners. Gin. Gardening. Dancing. Open spaces, open minds. Windmills. Aloes. Symmetry. People who do what they say they will.

5. What do you love about your industry?

Mountain: I love the variety. One moment I'm writing about jewellery or juicing and the next it's car insurance or cruises. I also like helping clients put their best selves forward and build better businesses too.

6. What are a few pain points your industry can improve on?

Mountain: South African companies are taking a while to realise the huge value there is in high quality content. They will spend large amounts on the design of their new site but then completely neglect the content or their SEO. It has taken us a while to convince and demonstrate the return on investment when it comes to producing high quality SEO content for your website.

7. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists.

Mountain: Every day is different, which is why I love it! A typical day will involve a meeting with an existing client and possibly pitching to a potential one. Then there will be various admin tasks to complete, like invoicing or chasing up on outstanding information. The meaty part of the day will include doing keyword research, writing a blog post or a press release, interviewing someone in order to ghost write an opinion piece or brainstorming tag lines for the home page of a new website.

8. What are the tools of your trade?

Mountain: As a business owner working on the move, you need a good laptop, a smartphone and access to the internet at all times. You also need an excellent invoicing system - we use FreshBooks - and a good accountant. There are various programmes that we find very useful like Garageband, which we use to record any interviews so we can concentrate on the subject and getting the most out of our time, instead of trying to take copious notes.

9. Who is getting it right in your industry.

Mountain: The people getting it right are the small guys who are focusing on what they do best and then doing it really well.

10. What are you working on right now?

Mountain: Currently I'm working with a few clients in the financial services industry on various web projects and digital advertising campaigns. I'm also working with an exciting new publishing initiative (print) in the travel and property space, which I can't reveal too much about at this stage.

11. Tell us some of the buzzwords floating around in your industry at the moment, and some of the catchphrases you utter yourself.

Mountain: If I have to hear another person utter the word "authenticity" I may lose my sense of humour! This seems obvious to me and should come naturally to brands, although I know it doesn't. We help brands find their voice and communicate this to their target audience.

12. Where and when do you have your best ideas?

Mountain: Just before I'm about to fall asleep, which is not always very helpful.

13. What's your secret talent/party trick.

Mountain: I have a really good singing voice and have been known to belt it out after a few glasses of wine!

14. Are you a technophobe or a technophile?

Mountain: I love the digital world and social media in general, but don't ask me to reconnect your printer!

15. What would we find if we scrolled through your phone?

Mountain: Photos of my kids, my husband, my dogs and my vegetables. I have a garden and am very proud of my carrots.

16. What advice would you give to newbies hoping to crack into the industry?

Mountain: If you want to be a good writer, you need to read and you need to practise writing - a lot. In order to write for businesses, you also need a fair bit of business acumen, so a marketing degree or business qualification can also be very handy.

17. Plug your contact details, punt yourself - list all the places people can find you/your work online...

Mountain: Find me on Twitter and on Instagram as @belindamountain.

You can read more about what Black Mountain does at www.black-mountain.co.za and Mountain's parenting exploits at www.makingmountains.co.za.

*Interviewed by Leigh Andrews.