The last day of Writers Worth Month is here. Thank you for coming along with me on this journey of awareness and improvement.
Today, the advice is simple:
[bctt tweet=”Give freelance writing everything you have.” username=”LoriWidmer”]
If you want to improve — really improve — your freelance writing career, you have to put the work and brain power behind everything you attempt.
Don’t half-ass it.
Don’t lean on excuses.
Don’t let fear hold you back.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.
Don’t make excuses when you do.
[bctt tweet=”Most importantly, don’t wait for your freelance writing success to happen. Make it happen.” username=”LoriWidmer”]
Today, find one post from this past month, or any other Writers Worth post from the past, that resonates with you. Sit with that feeling until you start to feel it changing something in you — your attitude, your approach, your confidence, your actions.
Make this work. For you.
Writers, what was your turning point?
9 responses to “Writers Worth: Your All”
My turning point was my divorce.
After over a decade as a SAHM, I was left with two teenagers, a 200yo farmhouse that eats money, and little to no support from my ex. Within a year, he’d left the state, and we were on our own.
Freelancing went from being a part-time income to a necessary money generator. I’d been out of the workplace for over a decade. I had no degree, and no career experience to speak of. Like most of my family, I married young and worked retail, waitressing, and janitorial jobs until it became necessary to homeschool my son.
I learned about a content production company with assigned work and guaranteed pay- (As opposed to the “on spec” submissions I’d been used to with fiction writing.) I applied, started writing regularly for them, and started taking my business seriously.
It took a while, and thank heavens for my Mom who has been my rock. I felt I reached “success” when I realized that taking a full-time minimum wage job was out of the question- I can’t afford the drop in income.
I have a long way to go on this crazy journey, but as long as I can feed my kids and keep this old heap going, it’s worth it.
Mary, you and I share a similar turning point. I was a part-time, piecing-it-together freelancer. Then a divorce happened. Nothing motivates like need. From there I went on to a full-time magazine staff job (with no degree, but one in the works), and then I got fired three years later.
Again, the motivation was in wanting to survive. That’s when this full-time freelancing career started. I continued to have epiphanies and turning points, and each one has made me stronger.
You can do it. You’re already doing it.
I don’t think I had a turning point. I started off freelancing. My dad’s experiences in the corporate and freelance (graphic art) worlds showed me he was less stressed and happier working on his own that for a company that didn’t respect or value his talent. So I skipped the corporate part and went straight into freelancing.
Oh! And a huge THANK YOU, Lori, for another wonderful and illuminating Writers Worth Month!
Thank you, Paula! You inspire me to keep doing this, and you always contribute great content.
First, a very big THANK YOU, Lori, for hosting this each year. I know it is a huge undertaking. My turning point (that I’ve often shared) was a “final straw” moment in my corporate career that pushed me from thinking about freelancing to actually doing it. Quitting on the spot felt right but realizing that meant the immediate end of a six-figure income – and benefits – made my decision very real. I’ve never regretted it. 🙂
My wife still talks with horror about the day I came home from my last corporate job carrying The Box. (We’d talked about it for months, but still, I was the only income for a family of four, which made it a wee bit scary. Of course, that also lit a serious fire under my butt to hustle.) Like you, best decision I ever made!
Fantastic Writers Worth Month, Lori–thank you for all you do, and for bringing all the contributors together for daily thought-provocation!
I’m not sure I had a specific turning point, but I’d say surviving the 2001 economic climate was the achievement that made me realize I had the chops to be in business for myself. As you say, I had to “make it happen” when client budgets dwindled and a few disappeared altogether.
Jake, The Box is scary to be carrying too, isn’t it? I remember my box day — I saw it coming, so it was a small box, but it wasn’t any less terrifying.
That’s a definite turning point! That was one tough climate. As you know, very few people were hiring. I’ve no idea how you made it in that environment, but that you did speaks volumes of your business chops, for sure.