There’s an interesting discussion going on over at Peter Bowerman’s blog right now about becoming self-sufficient at your writing career. You can find it here.
The trouble I see, the trouble I often see, is that writers are willing to put enough effort into the career to get it going, but don’t realize that it takes ongoing effort to keep the career going. I’ve found this out the hard way, as I suspect some of you have. You cruise along, busy as a bee, then a few days, weeks later, nothing. Not even a nibble. You market, but you’re marketing to the same people, aren’t you? When was the last time you widened that search? Okay, tougher question – when was the last time you widened that search beyond your comfort zone?
A few people on Peter’s site were discussing how the jobs simply weren’t there anymore. It made me wonder where these folks are looking, because I had a similar situation. The jobs dried up in that particular industry, albeit a temporary drought. But it forced me to make a hard choice – dare I go beyond the comfort of the familiar into uncharted territory? If I wanted to eat, the answer was yes. I did. It worked. Jobs were there and plentiful. And yes, I expect that eventually, this new area will show signs of stagnation; that’s when I go into another new area.
Devon Ellington posted a wonderful response on Peter’s blog. She’s echoed what I’ve said here a number of times – if you treat this job like your CAREER and not like the dream you want to live, you’ll have the incentive to work hard at it. You’ll take the chances and you’ll stick your neck out because your existence depends on it. It’s true – if you treat this career with kid gloves, afraid to upset the uneasy balance you’ve created with the few jobs you’ve scored, you’ll be juggling the rest of your freelance career, which I predict will be short. If you go into this with both feet and you have the chops to work a marketing plan, revise a marketing plan, and look for work in new places, you just might make a career of it.
Great post. I agree 100%. 🙂
I see it time and time again, the people who treat freelancing as the “dream job” but forget that while living the dream is nice, it’s still a job. But you also get to decide the kind of job you want. You can be in the fast food industry or you can be middle management or a car salesman, focusing on that one big assignment to get you through the month.
Lori,
I agree with you that to be succesful, you have to be willing to continually market yourself and follow the money, even if it’s not in the area you want it to be. The issue that I’ve had recently in my attempt to cast a wider net is figuring out what’s a stretch/challenge and what’s so far outside my comfort zone I’m going to hate myself for getting in over my head. I bet that a lot of other writers have had that experience, too. Any thoughts?
Susan
What makes you think you can’t handle it, Susan? I bet you could. If not, you’ve tried, right?
I wrote a long and hopefully pithy response to this last week that Blogger ate.
Let’s try it again.
If you rely on job boards and bidding sites, no, the work is not there.
If you do the extra legwork up front, find places that actually interest you and convince them they can’t live without you, you land better assignments, both on a creative level and a pay level.
I constantly land jobs out of my comfort zone. I enjoy it, because I get to learn. I’m lucky in that I have a fast learning curve. Last year, I had two weeks to go from not knowing anything about sailing to covering the America’s Cup. So what did I do? Went to Newport, talked to people, got my hands on former Cup boats, the whole thing.
My outsider’s perspective meant that I could objectively comment on the internal politics and silliness I witnessed; I’d also learned enough about how the actual boats work to communicate it effectively in my coverage — the beauty, the skill, etc.
I think the worst trap most freelancers fall into is this branding and specialization crap.
By NOT specializing, I get much more interesting and varied assignments, and I make decent money. I’m not rich, but I’m happy. And each month, the finances improve.