I've been thinking a lot through the past months. I see new writers in the forum I frequent talking about how hard it is to find work. How excruciating it can be to get themselves out there. To find a niche and brand their style. I spoke with Bob Younce from FreelanceWritingGigs in an email concerning branding tactics.
Bob, if you stop by, while I may not have agreed- I get it. Really, I do.
A little over a year ago it became apparent that my writing career was moving far too fast to handle. This can be scary, especially for a freelancer that, while they have talent, their skills in organization fall short of the mark. Like many new to the business, I took on far too much work. In my defense, I had a houseful. Many of you that are close friends know that we had a house full: 3 children, my ill mother, and 4 extras-the Inlaws.
It was too much to deal with, then add in a freelance schedule that grew from a few blog posts a month to writing product descriptions, web site content, SEO, keyword articles, a few magazine articles...and then...(drumroll)...a positive pregnancy test.
Everything came crashing down. Gayla Baer from MomGadget (bless her heart) was my channel manager at b5 Media. I'd applied for and landed a cooking blog- Robust Cooking. Oh, did I have plans. Plans that I couldn't keep. If you're a writer and you've taken on too much, you know exactly what happens. You begin to hide. Each morning you grab your coffee and stare at the computer trying to force out anything, anything at all. If you're experiencing true burnout, nothing comes.
Gayla prodded gently in emails. "I'll get something..I promise" was my reply. Eventually we both came to a conclusion, I had to go. The same day I was sending out resignations all around, I received an email from her letting me know I'd lost the gig. That was the saddest week in my career. It all had grown so fast, but in an uncontrolled way.
You new guys are probably doing one of two things: nodding because you understand or shaking your head and wondering what the heck I'm getting at.
The point is, don't take on too much. Know your limits.
Second point, you can rebuild- if and only if you know what is happening and have the sense to step away and admit you're defeated for the moment.
Today my career has grown in a manageable way. I don't take on too much. I apply for a few jobs a day or week, depending on the workload I already have. Instead of sending out multiple pitches for articles, I send out one or two.
You may have heard that freelancing is feast or famine. This is all too true. The trick to avoiding the famine is having things on the side that can help get you through the lean times. Two years ago I applied to Demand Studios. While accepted, I never used the account until this past week. Today I received my first payment for articles I wrote that will appear on eHow. This is a valuable resource because even if I do not use the account often- it remains open.
I'm not big on revenue share sites, but my views are softening. I've always said, if you have something you can't sell- post it on a revenue share. eHow sends me a little present monthly- all from just a few articles I posted in 2007. It isn't much, but it comes in like clockwork. The same with Associated Content, though they bring in far less. HubPages is another place to post. You get to plug in your own Adsense publisher ID, Amazon code, and more. I personally know one person that brings in enough that I could live off of and remember I have a family of six!
I think I've rambled enough, but I did want to get out this story for new freelancers who might be worried about what happens if they don't make it the first time. There really isn't a first, second, or third time. Your career as a freelance writer is constantly evolving. You grow and your job grows with you. Even if you have to tear it all down and begin again.
2 comments:
This resonates with me because I left freelance two separate times (to take full-time editor positions). I stepped back a little (less time working) when I had my daughter, to come back to a completely new world of freelancing, where print publications are cutting back and blogging is growing exponentially.
My freelance clientele looks a lot different than it did this time last year... yet another way of "rebuilding." While it wasn't quite from the ground up, it's been a challenge and, nearly a year later, I *finally* feel like I'm back in the swing.
Thanks for sharing this heartfelt, open and honest post, I'm sure it will help many freelancers out there in letting them know that it CAN be done and showing them how to grow a business, slowly, manage-ably.
I can so relate to this - I feel like I could have written this post (minus the inlaws, bless your heart!).
I started freelancing full-time two years ago. Business took off like a rocket; there was little time to think let alone to set up systems that could have made MANAGING all of the business coming in much easier. I'm a wife and mother of four kids under nine (one with a chronic health condition)and often found that I was doing myself in by taking on more and more assignments thinking more about the pay I'd receive than the time I had to get everything done. Overwhelmed is an understatement.
I started questioning what I was doing and whether or not I was really a good enough writer. I concluded that I AM capable of running a quality web writing business, but I needed to start over and do a few things differently.
I still have some of my regular clients so I'm not starting over from scratch exactly, but I am stepping way back and taking time to plan my business and establish a few simple systems to keep me from falling into the "all or nothing" cycle again.
Thanks, Julie for sharing how you feel. You're by no means alone.:~)
Post a Comment