So, I concocted a proposal, called them up and pitched it today. Now is the waiting game to see whether they go for it or not at the price I quoted. If they don't, oh well. I felt good that I tried it anyway.

Thanks for the little cyber kick in the butt to give it a shot.

LOVE your ideas! I'm going to see how they apply to some of my current projects.

Devon, you should write a book on the ins and outs of expanding the client base. 🙂

After writing a few local color pieces and human interest stories for a local paper, I started writing business articles for a national trade. I didn't have any business experience, but that didn't stop me. A story for them was loosely tied to a popular PBS series. The show's publicist mentioned that repeats of that series had been repackaged for off-net syndication, making it the first PBS show to do so. I pitched that idea to a TV trade and 13 years later I spend roughly 80-percent of my time covering the TV industry for some of the top entertainment trades.

It doesn't stop there. I spun a press release on how sniffer dogs are being trained to locate large shipments of CDs and DVDs in order to combat movie piracy into a feature about for a dog magazine. So what if the trainer was in Northern Ireland? That's what e-mail is for.

Early on, I combined business articles with my love of dogs – and TV. I learned that the production office of one of my favorite shows was dog-friendly. Even the casting director brought her big, intimidating dog "Baby" to auditions. I wrote at least two articles about the pros and cons of dogs in the workplace.

I also spun my love of knitting into an article for the TV trade after hearing that a lot of actresses spend downtime on the set knitting. (I also got some great knitting tips!)

Quite often combining unusual topics is the best way to get the job.

One of the areas I'm expanding into that's out of my comfort zone this year into next is environmental issues, and next year, I want to write more about aeronautics and space.