What’s on the iPod: Misfits and Lovers by The Wallflowers
It’s been a relatively slow week since Wednesday. I’m rather happy for that as I know next weekend I’ll be putting in extra hours. Normally, I don’t work weekends, but a favorite client has their back to the wall and needs help.
Excellent news on the home front — my daughter has accepted an offer of employment. More money, closer to home, and hopefully, no more bullshit. The story of her decision to leave a job she loves is one I can’t relate publicly, but I can say that when you’re in the firing line of someone higher up trying to secure their own position by discrediting or eliminating yours, you’ll never win.
Except when you leave — that’s when you win because the target is no longer on your back.
I had extra time this week to visit forums and blogs. In a few cases, I saw some pretty slipshod, bad advice being bandied about. In one case, the advice didn’t fit with the question at all. Writer was asking about X — other writer answered about Q.
Right.
Worse, the writer asking the question was all set to take the advice. Luckily, more than one person politely pointed out that in this case, Q doesn’t fit.
Thanks to the Internet and the world of blogs and forums, way too many people believe they are experts in writing. Any writer, experienced or not, would have a tough time trying to cut through the BS and find advice that fits. Even experienced writers have to contend with “experts” who proclaim something as a “MUST DO” area. I remember a case not long ago where the expert was going on about the only way to track website analytics. It took one email from a writer friend who is an expert to dispel the advice. And the expert was attempting to “sell” a webinar on the topics. So why would you want to pay for that?
You don’t. There are so many blogs that offer that advice for free every day. These Friday posts of mine are meant to help you get that info for nothing. So no reason to part with your money just yet.
So how do you cut through the noise and get down to the real advice? Here are some suggestions:
Stop listening to other people. Yes, I said it. Stop listening to other people giving you advice. Think. Not everything about this writing business isn’t hard to figure out. Some of it is common sense, some of it is common business sense, and some of it is intuition. Before you search for answers, look within first.
Start listening to yourself. Weird advice, right? Well, if you want to build a freelance writing business, you have to start listening to that internal voice. That’s where you’ll learn what it is you want to do, how you think you want to go about it, and where you’re going to point your business once you start (or start improving what you have).
Go into teaching mode. To paraphrase the saying, if you want to learn something, try teaching it to someone else. Show your spouse, friend, kid, or aunt how you’re intending to build your business. It’s amazing how much you’ll uncover as you talk it out. Not only that, you’re going to get questions. Questions from people outside your writing world can often be the best unbiased filter for your ideas.
Talk it out. Ask a friend to be your sounding board. Brainstorm your idea, let your friend interject questions or ideas, and make sure you’re taking notes. Bouncing an idea off someone is a super way to see where your plan is weak, what your strengths are, and what you need to study in order to get up to speed.
Search credible sources first. Start with free courses (Coursera, OpenCulture, iTunes University, etc.) to learn basics or to get some serious inspiration. Then look for those freelance writers — the successful ones — who aren’t afraid to give you free freelance writing advice. You’ll be able to spot them — they’ll be the ones giving you unique, original content, not rehashed stuff with a price tag attached. Hint: if you can read through a blog post/forum post by scrolling quickly for that one nugget thrown in three quarters of the way down (past all those bold subheads), that would be a rehashed, unoriginal post.
Search credible blogs and forums next. Credibility may seem tough to spot, but if you pay attention to who’s following the blogger, what career level they’re at, and how many dissenting opinions are allowed to appear on the comments page (strangely, there are bloggers who filter out people who don’t agree), you’ll find the credible ones. Remember to look for original content, too. Oh, and another good test is to see how many links the blogger includes to other bloggers. Fewer links could mean someone less likely to share attribution or build a real
Establish your own support network. Sometimes the best place for advice is from people you trust and respect. You’ll see them in blog comments, on writing forums, and around the writing blogosphere. Ask a question, share some insight, and make friends. Despite what too many writers think, we are not in competition with each other. You’ll know which writers are worth befriending by the way they respond to you.
Writers, how do/did you cut through the BS?
What free resources can you point other writers to (at any career level) that can help them improve their businesses?
My greatest tool for ignoring the You must do it this way advice stems from my own weird self – my middle child of seven syndrome HATES doing something because everyone else is. You'll never see me camping out overnight for the next great iPhone. LOL! 😉 That plus the older you get, the less likely you are to buy into that stuff. Hey – I have to find some good things about getting older. 😉
I also recommend SCORE that offers free small business advice and mentoring from successful business people who do it just because they want to help.
Cathy, we middle kids are quite alike — I don't do what I'm told, either. And I carry an Android. 🙂
Thanks for the resource! I'm going to update my resources list. Mind if I include it?
Sorry to poke a hole in your middle kid theory – I'm the baby of the family and I'm exactly the same way. I'd rather be the black sheep than just an unrecognizable member of the flock. It might just be a freelancer thing.
When I spoke to a group of writers last March, I handed out a list of my favorite writing/freelancing blogs and websites so they'd know where to find solid info from real pros. Lori, Kathy, Jenn, John, Anne, and Jake were some of the writers who made the list.
Not at all, Lori.
Paula, I'd say it was freelancer thing but I've had the affliction long before then. 😉
I was thinking of it more as a trait that made us good fits for freelancing, as opposed to a side-effect of the job.
Stop listening to other people is some of the best advice I have ever heard from, uh, other people. But seriously, that really is good advice and those are all some very interesting points you made there.
EP, maybe I should have put that little tidbit at the end? Sort of a "gotcha!"… 🙂
Thanks for noticing. I love it. And I enjoy your humor. 🙂