I’m slowly building up to better-paying gigs but finding them is a challenge. It’s definitely about the networking. Most of my best clients have come to me through word-of-mouth.

Easier said than done, but I am trying to shift my focus. It’s easy when caught up in the constant struggle of day-to-day running a household, the never ending bills, and worrying about teens, to dismiss accomplishments as just doing what needs to be done.

I’m going to print this reply off and frame it next to my desk! 🙂

Mary, you said: “I think part of my reluctance to call myself “expert” is what Jen warns against- amateurs leading other newbs. I still work 10hrs a week in retail for a steady paycheck because freelancing is so sporadic.”

Get out of your own head and your own way. Let’s switch up your perspective: You are an entrepreneur with a growing consultancy (freelancing) and a part-time gig until you get the business full liquid. It’s all about the spin. 😉

And what Jenn talks about with the insta-experts are the people who try teaching other writers how to do jobs they themselves haven’t done. That’s different from your situation. You’re writing about an area you clearly understand and are living.

Mary, sounds like you’re more than qualified to be making a lot more! I have a degree in business communications. That helps with corporate clients, but it’s not required. Everything I do I could have learned on my own (and much of it I did learn on my own).

Katy, I have a friend who has a degree in finance. She’s a writer. Yes, she writes about finance, but mostly about marketing. Your degree can be a stepping stone, but it doesn’t have to pigeonhole you.

Katy, welcome to the blog. Happy to have you participating!

Jenn addressed beautifully the “authority” part, so let me speak to the niche. Truth? You don’t need one starting out. Yes, it makes life TONS easier later on (and marketing becomes easier because you’re now focused in a particular area), but if you don’t know what your niche is, don’t stress. Just write. Believe it or not, some niches come by happy accident. Mine did. You’ll see yourself eventually leaning toward certain areas, and maybe you’ll be interested in following.

Trying to force a niche before your ready will frustrate the hell out of you. What do you like writing about? Start focusing there for now.

Hi Katy! Like Mary said, it sounds like you already have a foundation you can build on if you choose to focus on those areas. But more important is this — you do not HAVE to be an “authority.” Not yet. You can freelance before that. You can make decent money before that. My concern is when people try to teach before that. That’s when a freelancer is just playing games with other people’s livelihood to make a buck. And that’s a huge problem these days.

Here’s the thing. “Authority” used to mean something. Now? It just means you’re (temporarily) well-ranked in Google, and people are naive enough to think that means you’re an expert. It used to mean legit expertise and a certain trustworthiness.

The latter is what you should still be focused on building. That’s how you’ll get to the point where you’re THE writer in your specialty area that clients seek out — if you want that.

And the things you’ve mentioned, like using your network, are fundamentals. They’ll never go out of style. What tends to change are the tools. Focus on the fundamentals and you can adapt to those kinds of changes faster than most. Ignore the tricks like things to manipulate search engine rankings. They don’t last, so you end up stuck in a perpetual game of playing catch-up.

So, in your case, I’d say focus on a niche if you can. But forget authority for now. It’s important. And you’ll get there. But there’s no substitute for simply doing the work. That takes time.

Is history something you’d like to tie into your freelance career? Given your professional background in educational publishing, have you considered writing things like textbook supplements? If that’s something you’re interested in, you should look into John Soares. That’s a specialty of his, so connecting with him might help. He’d be a good person to get some background info from. 🙂

A History degree and 3.5 years in publishing? Sounds to me as if you have a solid foundation already!
Honey, I came into this with nothing but a few writing conferences under my belt, years of scribbling awful poems, and a novel that had never seen the light of day. No degree until 2013, and now I have only my Associates in Literature and Writing.

If I can do this, you certainly can. Bon chance! 🙂

Also, please excuse my typos. Hit “submit” too soon!

Thank you, Lori and Jenn, for such great content. You both have fantastic platforms for advice!

I’m not necessarily unique, but I do feel much the same as Mary who commented above. I’m single, in my 20s, and I enjoy writing, but have never done it professionally. My degree is in History. I work in and educational publishing & technology company, but have only been there for 3.5 years. Before that, I worked retail and fast food service. I would like to write professionally, which is why I’m reading this kind of content and have been doing so for the past few months. I’ve seen so much of what you’ve described, Jenn, and have fallen for a couple of the traps. My bad.

That above was to say that I, too, struggle with “authority” and finding a “niche”. I want to write to help supplement my income, but also to help hone two of the most transferrable skills I have: writing and researching. Not trying to say “woe is me”, but there’s just SO MUCH content to sift through that it’s overwhelming at times to see what’s right and what’s not. It’s refreshing to hear that some of the older methods – finding local publications, using your network – aren’t dead. (I may be pulling some of Lori’s older content with this comment, but it’s what’s at the front of my mind right now.)

Aw you gals are awesome. You’ve definitely given me some things to think about. It’s so easy to focus on survival- as I said, blue-collar background- my parents worked so we could eat, and I have much the same mindset. My sister was the first in my family to complete college, that sort of thing. The idea of purposefully building a business is a bit foreign, but necessary to keep growing.
I figured I’d succeeded the day my Mom asked when I was “going to get a real job,” and I answered “Mom, I can’t. I can’t afford to take work that pays minimum wage, or I lose money!” It seems it was more of a milestone than a destination. There is still adventure ahead. 🙂