Hello world, we’ve just entered 2025, and I feel ready to start my own blog. Ironically, it took me writing more than a hundred long-form articles for clients to feel this way.
Since 2015, I’ve been getting assignments, submitting drafts, processing client feedback, polishing copy with native-speaking editors and turning in final drafts. Hardly ever have I been let in on the business impact of my work. So, all I could track was how long it took me to write each piece. Not much to share in a blog, I thought.
In 2023, I had to step out of the shadows. The war in Ukraine, followed by the rise of generative AI, shook the landscape, forcing me to search for new clients. But the way I used to find my first freelance work in 2018 didn’t work anymore. I had to figure it all out again.
The steps I took in 2023 led to a 2024 full of novelty. This prompted me to start my blog by wrapping up the year we have just left behind. Let’s dive right in.
The Year of Languages
As a linguistics graduate, migrant and copywriter, I speak four languages. My English, German, Russian and Bulgarian all came in handy in 2024.
Overall, I noticed that national languages are increasingly replacing English in marketing communications. Consumers want brands to address them in their own tongue, and brands can now do that with greater ease than ever.
Demand for Content in National Tongues
More and more people are going online. This includes two large groups:
- People who didn’t learn English because they grew up in the analog world
- Young people who have yet to learn a second language
These consumers have money to spend, and it makes no sense for international brands to wait until they grasp a lingua franca. This drives companies to localize their offerings.
Availability of Native Language Expertise
COVID lockdowns forced many businesses to part with obsolete beliefs. No, you no longer need to open an office in a country before you can localize your product or service. Yes, you can trust a remote provider.
In addition, and it is my subjective observation, people are moving around the globe more. For instance, a Bulgarian company no longer has to look for a native Dutch speaker in the Netherlands because they can find one in Sofia.
Finally, the latest AI models took translation to a whole new level. Sure, they are still far behind humans in language fluency and may never catch up. But you can rely on AI to translate standard elements like UI/UX copy.
Pinning the Map
In 2024, I completed projects for my clients in the USA and Cyprus that started one year prior. At the same time, my business geography expanded like never before.
Armenia
In January, a long-time colleague and friend referred me to a new software development company in Armenia.
SpaceGoat was looking for a copywriter to help write their slogan, their homepage copy and three case studies.
I also helped them put together a buyer persona, develop an outreach strategy and write sales enablement copy. Let’s hope they put it to good use!

North Macedonia
In February, I was contacted by an organizer of an iOS development conference in Skopje. They were interested in advertising on the event platform Meetup.

For context, I run the Meetup group Tech Talks Balkans for regional events on technology. I was happy to collaborate as this let me tap into insightful lectures and meet some great professionals.
It also gave me a good reason to discover the neighboring country!
The Czech Republic
In June, I got to know the team of a brilliant Czech startup.
I was writing bilingual UI copy for a crypto trading simulator app. To manage the two languages, I used Localazy, a handy localization tool of my client’s choosing.
Eventually, Localazy’s team reached out to me for a product review. And I was happy to write one because I liked the software and had hands-on experience to share.
That paved the way for an exciting partnership. Localazy’s blog now features stories of my bilingual UI copywriting and business development.

Romania

In August, I discovered that an exciting conference on cyber security was taking place in Bucharest in November: DefCamp 2024.
Without hesitation, I contacted the organizer about helping promote their event on Meetup. They liked the idea, and we had a wonderful collaboration!
Austria
I’ve never relied on Upwork as a source of work because of pertinent scams, lowballing, the 10% fee and the platform’s notoriously unclear tax filing system. But this time it connected me with a very special client: a nice Austrian couple who founded a promising startup. These days, I’m working on a blog article in German for them.

Montenegro
Since 2023, I had been setting appointments with travel agencies for my long-time client based in Cyprus. The successes of this service inspired me to develop it further and offer it to other companies.
Venn Tour, a Montenegro-based inbound travel agency, was the first to see the value of my offering. We began working together in December and have already reaped some benefits of this collaboration.
Bulgaria
I moved to Bulgaria, the country of my ancestors, in 2022. And it took me more than two years to start working with local companies as a copywriter.
It turned out even Bulgarian businesses operating internationally are easier to reach in their native tongue. However, when I first settled in Sofia, my Bulgarian was extremely limited. It took time to learn and immersion into the language environment to change that.
As of this publishing, I have worked with two clients here, one in commercial real estate and the other in digital marketing. But I also signed a contract with a Bulgarian travel operator ahead of 2025.
From Copywriting to Business Development
In 2023, my long-time travel copywriting client OLTA Travel Cyprus asked me for an unusual service: appointment setting. And that was the beginning of a new chapter in my career.
First Steps in Setting Appointments
Olga is OLTA’s director of meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions. She asked me if I could find MICE agencies in Western Europe and arrange Zoom meetings with their managers for her.
I welcomed this opportunity. Finally, I could provide immediate measurable results – something you don’t get to do often as a freelance copywriter. I could write email copy, track its performance and prove I can drive business value.
Over the course of 13 months, I managed to hit 13% in conversion rates for this client. Simply put, every seventh-eighth company I contacted accepted the invitation to meet my client on a Zoom call.

Olga was happy with the results. But there came a point when I had exhausted prospecting opportunities in the target countries. As OLTA Cyprus’s team was busy developing the relationships I helped start, I set out to upgrade this service and offered it to others.
MICE Business Development as a Service
I live in the Balkans, a travel destination that differs from Cyprus in logistics, culture and opportunities. DMCs in this region aren’t competitors to OLTA, so it was only natural for me to start by reaching out to them.
Venn Tour, a Montenegro-based company that also operates in Serbia, Albania and Croatia, was first to respond positively. Since we began our collaboration in December, I have introduced them to five Austrian and German agencies. Today, I’m working on a follow-up strategy that can benefit all parties.
Another company that liked the collaboration idea was a Bulgarian tour operator. We are now preparing presentation materials for online meetings.
More Services – New Brand Name
Business development as a service is all about thorough research and clear, persuasive messaging. And this is something a professional copywriter does every day! But there are two major differences.
First, I don’t just write copy to pass it to the client. I put it to use myself, starting a dialogue, and keep the conversation going.
Second, I introduce people to each other. I participate in each meeting, mostly by listening to discover how the new relationship can be meaningful to all parties. And then I move on to helping develop that relationship further.
Eventually, Chistopolov Copywriting no longer reflected the nature of my services. This is why I changed the brand name to Chistopolov Communications.

If you are ready to make new business connections, drop me a message.
Making Meetup Available to Event Organizers
A website and mobile app for events, Meetup has been around for over 22 years now. It has a great domain authority (92/100 according to Ahrefs) alongside a large audience, making events advertised on it show high in search results. But there is a problem.
The Problem with Meetup
To announce an event on Meetup, you need to run a group. When a user RSVPs for your event, they automatically join your group and you can email them with further announcements.
It was only recently that Meetup made it possible for first-time organizers to run one group (with extreme limitations) free of charge. But if you want to unlock more features and run up to three groups, you need to pay a monthly organizer fee.
Meetup is now owned by a company that doesn’t seem to care about organizers’ needs. In 2024, they more than doubled fees without providing much value in exchange, and you never know whether they’ll do it again or cancel free groups at some point.
So, if you run free events or events that only take place once a year, it makes no sense to pay for Meetup. But the advantages of advertising on this platform are still there.
From Event Organizing to Promotion
My relationship with Meetup started by hosting a series of events in 2023. After it was over, I kept running two groups: The Balkan Hustle for entrepreneurial events and Tech Talks Balkans for technology-related gatherings.

I didn’t announce any events with my groups until iOSKonf24 organizers reached out to me in 2024. The success of this collaboration prompted me to work with twelve other organizers from Bulgaria and Romania.
So, if you have a tech or business event in the Balkans to advertise, you know who to contact.
Sneaking Behind the Scenes of Generative AI Training
In October, I got an unusual message via Upwork. A US-based company was looking for an experienced copywriter to help train its clients’ AI models in Russian.
“Wait a minute, you want me to help you steal my job?” was my first thought.
Why I Agreed to Shoot Myself in the Foot
I took a pause to consider this opportunity. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that if I didn’t do that, someone else would. It would be wiser to be part of it and get an insider view of where generative AI is headed. So, I accepted.
What awaited me was endless unpaid courses, training, assessments and very few actual tasks. I was also included in a forum where other trainers exchange their experience.
What I Discovered
So far, my concerns about generative AI taking my job away have been alleviated.
I discovered how challenging it is to train an AI model. First of all, you need many native speakers who know their language exceptionally well. And someone has to organize their work on a reliable platform.
Furthermore, you need objective assessment criteria, timely updated training materials, training for trainers, assessors, assessors’ assessors…
Whenever you point out issues of generative AI, its apologists will bring on their mantra about the technology being in its early stages. I was always skeptical about this argument, and seeing the training process from the inside cemented my skepticism.
I saw that technology has little to do with the plateauing progress of generative AI. But that is material for a whole new article.
The Final Chord of the Year
The business year concluded for me by writing website copy for a Bulgarian construction products conglomerate.
I had to study websites of four companies making up this conglomerate and create a consistent narrative of sustainable building and innovation.
It was a challenging yet rewarding experience. Today, I know much more about sustainability in construction than I ever did!
Talk Is Cheap
This year reminded me that people will say all kinds of things for all kinds of reasons. And this applies to business relationships as much as to personal life.
Some said “I promise” and never lived up to their word. Others went as far as to set decision deadlines for themselves and then disappeared. Some even signed agreements and then pretended they hadn’t read them properly.
What can I say? We are all people. And we live in an unpredictable world. In 2025, we can make it less so by respecting each other’s time and trust.
The Most Crucial Lesson
The main lesson of this year remains the same as that of 2023: complacency kills.
Before moving out of Russia in 2022, I did little to market my business. I had three clients that supplied me with work and was satisfied with that.
It would be wrong to say I did nothing at all, though. I got professional certifications, created my website and put together templates. But when disaster came knocking, it turned out that hadn’t been enough.
Nine days after the war broke out, I grabbed my backpack and took a one-way ticket to Sofia for an egregious $2000. I had never been to Bulgaria before, even after getting citizenship by naturalization in 2019, and hardly spoke the language.
From there, everything went downhill.
The war disturbed the business landscape. Some of my clients went radio silent. Others kept paying rates that worked for Yekaterinburg, but not Sofia.
In Bulgaria, I didn’t just face higher living costs. I also had to deal with more expensive social insurance and twice the taxes I was used to.
Then came generative AI, disrupting the industry once again, because misery loves company and things can always get worse.
To this day, I struggle to get my pre-war lifestyle back. This is the price I pay for flying under the radar for too long instead of investing in sales and marketing. Too long I was preparing for growth, but not growing.
Had I invested more creativity, time and money in building an online presence and business relationships, things would have turned out differently for me.
In 2025, don’t repeat my mistake. Don’t let yourself rest on your laurels until a crisis shakes you awake.
Start growing now.