The Broom Method of Building a Business

Have you ever heard the expression that if you put enough pieces of straw together, eventually you will have a broom? That expression has been floating around in my mind recently, and it led me to think about building a successful freelance writing business.

It is possible to build a business by starting off with small jobs first. When you first start working with a new client, they may start off by giving you a single article or a small assignment. This is a chance for both of you to get to know each other. You can turn it in and if you would prefer not to work with that person again, you don’t need to. (You can always say that you are fully booked if the client gets in touch with you again, if you have to.)

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Some Thoughts About Balance and a Freelance Writing Career

Some blog posts just beg to be written, and this one has been rolling around in my head all day. I was talking to a client on Skype recently and he was asking about how I balance my work and having a family and stuff. (He has recently taken the plunge and quit working for someone else to work full time for himself.) It made me start thinking about the idea of balance, since it is something that we are told we should be striving for in our lives.

Here’s the thing: I don’t think that it’s possible to have everything perfectly balanced all the time.

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You Can Lead a Horse to Water…One Writer’s Journey

Note from Jodee: Freelance writer Spencer Spellman shares his thoughts about freelance writing and the importance of perseverance and marketing your services. Enjoy!

by Spencer Spellman

It was about 18 months ago when I decided I would dabble into writing. I had recently been laid off from a job and had moved in hopes of finding better work, but instead found myself finding something worse. After months of putting writing off, I was going to write one article, just to get some feedback on it. That one article began a snowball effect that is still building.

I never did get feedback on my article. However, I did get an email from the magazine’s editor, a week after I submitted it, telling me they needed a short biography to include with the article in their next publication. Now just a year and a half later, I’m an editor for an online travel publication, as well as a part-time freelance writer. I don’t tell you this to flaunt my achievements, but to inspire you.

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Freelance Writing: Working Without a Net

I’ve been asked more than once how I deal with the lack of security that goes along with working as a freelance writer. Since I’ve started freelancing, I’ve come to understand why actors and other creative types are said to be insecure. You are only as good as your last performance (gig), and there are no guarantees that you will get another assignment. Talk about working without a net! At the same time, I feel more secure as a self-employed freelancer than I did when I was working for someone else.

Why? It’s quite simple, really. When I work for myself, then I’m in control of my business. I can decide whether I have enough on my plate or if I need to devote more time to applying for freelance writing jobs or pitching potential clients. I have been in the position of being laid off from an office job due to circumstances that were beyond my control and that had nothing to do with my job performance. I would rather succeed or fail based on my own efforts than work for someone else.

Does that mean I always feel secure? Not at all. But then again, I didn’t feel particularly secure when I worked for someone else. (At one place where I used to work, the woman in charge of Personnel liked to fire people on Friday afternoons, so a lot of us made a point of not answering our phones after lunch that day. The logic was that if she couldn’t find you to summon up to her office, she couldn’t fire you….)

I guess the bottom line here is that we can all control how we feel about who we are and what we do. Security is something that comes from within, even though it can be a struggle to feel that way at times. Just like the lady in the photo here, if we focus on being afraid and think about whether we are going to fall, we are setting ourselves up for failure. Even if we don’t feel particularly secure at any given time, we can project a confident image (which is half the battle) to our clients and potential clients.

Do you feel secure in your freelance career or is that something you struggle with?

Four Tips for Starting your Freelance Life

Note from Jodee: Freelance Writer Meaghan Campbell has contributed today’s post. I know you will enjoy reading it.

by Meaghan Campbell

After two years of technical writing I was itching for more creative work. To escape creative annihilation, I started The Word Boutique, my very own freelance business. These best-practice tips I’ve learned will help any freelancer along the way.

1. Build your network, whenever you can.

No writer stands alone. I didn’t have a leg to stand on when I started freelancing, but I built my network wherever I could. I asked former classmates to critique my samples. I joined list serves and commented on every blog and freelance networking group I could. Sometimes my networking was accidental. When I emailed an old colleague to find talent to create my website, he offered to do it for free.

Lesson learned: The key to networking isn’t knowing CEO’s, presidents, or editor’s-in-chiefs. It’s about knowing people who can help you without breaking your budget. Tell everyone you know about your freelance business, even if they’re not in your field. You never know when you might need a web developer or graphic artist, or when a fellow freelancer might need your creative mind. Just remember to pay it forward – when that software developer needs someone to write his web copy, return the favour.

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Focus on Substance, Not Style

“Cos we all just wanna be big rock stars….” (Rock Star, Nickelback)

The term “rock star” is thrown around a lot more lately than it ever used to be. I’ve even seen ads in my online travels for job leads where a client actually mentions in the ad that they want to hire a rock star when they are looking for a writer.

Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to hire (or be) a person who rocks whatever it is they are working on. Taking pride in your work and doing your best never go out of style. They may be considered old fashioned values, but they are an important part of your success as a freelance writer.

By all means, get out there and rock it, but don’t confuse style with substance. You can create a brand for yourself and have all kinds of online buzz happening, but if you don’t have a solid foundation to back it up, you aren’t going to last very long. Real rock stars may live life on the edge (at least they did back in the day), but there was a foundation of talent and hard work there, too.

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You’ve Been Turned Down for a Gig…Now What?

Most of the time when we apply for freelance writing jobs, we don’t hear back from the person hiring if they didn’t think we were a good fit. Sometimes, though, the potential client actually does get in touch to let us know that we won’t be working together on the project.

I used to think that it would be better if they didn’t get in touch at all. After a certain amount of time has passed, my attention has move on to other things and I’ve forgotten all about the job in question. There have been a few jobs that I have applied for that I really, really wanted to get that I didn’t. And when you get the word, it may sting slightly or it might throw your confidence off for awhile. (I actually cried over one “Thanks but no thanks” e-mail I received. Then I briefly thought about running off to join the Foreign Legion and forgetting all about this freelance writing thing…..)

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Well, I Quit My Day Job

Note from Jodee: Nacie Carson, one of our readers, wrote today’s post about her transition from the corporate 9-5 to going freelance. If anyone else would like to contribute a guest post, please e-mail me. I look forward to hearing from you.

by Nacie Carson

In June I wrote a hope-filled blog post for FWJ called, “Don’t Quit Your Day Job,” where I agonized over the financial and lifestyle issues that were keeping me from leaving my corporate 9-5 in favor of writing full time. Well friends, I have some pretty exciting news: I finally did it.

That’s right – after six months of strategic planning, saving, and foundation building, I quit my corporate day job in mid-September, and have been officially self-employed as a freelance writer for just about seven weeks. And it has been absolutely fabulous. I love the freedom. I love the power. I love the control I now feel I have in my life. I love the way each day is flexible and can include a medley of activities and projects I never would be able to do if I was constrained by the corporate schedule. I am really learning who I am as a freelancer and as an author, and it has been incredible.

I’ll admit there have been challenges and unexpected aspects to this new life. For one, I never expected my saved post-corporate money would go as fast as is seems to be going. Now I have a little pad of paper next to my computer where I keep tally of how much I have earned for the week and how much I still need to make to come up even. I have to say I’m still not filling my financial tank each week to where it needs to be, but I am steadily making progress toward that number and that is good enough for now.

I was also not ready for time management on this scale; all my life I have been a great manager of my time, always getting business taken care of, making out neat little lists of to-dos, and filling each usable minute of the day wisely. But now that I have fifteen hours or more unstructured all day every day, I realize a blank state it is a lot more challenging to manage than a schedule that has activities and responsibilities to work around. Like my ability to make money, it gets a little better every week, but it has taken some time to really get comfortable with this new freedom.

Each day is a learning experience for me as a new freelancer, and I know a lot of FWJ readers are like me, trying to figure out a way to make writing a full time passion and vocation. For those of you in transition to this life, or thinking about this life, here are the top five lessons I’ve learned in these post-corporate weeks that may help you prepare:

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