Freelance writing friends, I get it now.
Not long ago, I remember bristling at the thought of describing myself in any way other than an actively working professional writer and editor. I shunned any suggestion that I mention my phasing out of working and cutting down my hours. In fact, I wrote a post about it, still afraid that mentioning my part-time or whenever-time status would drive away business.
How wrong can one person be?
Right now, I’m inches from the finish line of this career and already working on making a switch to a more literary/poetic career. Things I’ve put off. Things I want badly to pick up again. I’ve been easing into this situation for about three or four years now, but last week was the first time I publicly said it on Bluesky.
“I’m a semi-retired freelance writer and editor, suburban Philly…”
Who is this person and what has she done with me? Well, she’s still me. She’s simply realized that sometimes the signal you want to send is that you’re not taking on more work. For that, I have my dear chum Cathy Miller to thank (and to apologize to for not believing in the power of owning your own reality). Cathy was the first person I knew who used the term “semi-retired” in public. I should have known to follow her lead — Cathy is an extraordinary businessperson and someone who understands the value of simplicity in messaging.
But you, my freelance friend, are not ready to retire yet, are you? How then will you describe yourself to potential clients? It’s something I’m going through right now as I redefine myself in a new area.
Start here.
Get to know yourself.
Right now, think of four things about your freelance writing career that you think is pretty cool. Write them down. Let’s use an example:
Jackie Mack writes a lot of consumer-facing articles on healthcare. She also writes for a popular fitness and wellness blog. She enjoys writing about preventative actions to improve health, and she’s been working with a supplement manufacturer on writing product descriptions for their catalog and website.
So how is Jackie going to create an image from that? Well, I can see her boiling her experience down to a quick elevator pitch like this:
Jackie Mack is a veteran healthcare/wellness and fitness writer working with both B2C and B2B entities.
If Jackie needs a quick qualifier to put on her website or her business card/email signature, she could add this:
Jackie Mack, healthcare, fitness, and wellness writer
Lead with honesty.
My chum Cathy knew the importance of being upfront with trusted clients. If you have clients and you’re thinking of easing up on work or transitioning into a new area of focus, tell them. I let my favorite clients know that I was easing up and that I was trying to focus more on the literary side of writing. To the person, I got congratulations, sorrow that we were no longer working together, and requests to be on call should they need me. I did get one client who tried to push past the boundaries, but I simply stopped responding. Just because they’re knocking doesn’t mean you must answer.
Market yourself based on the image you’ve outlined.
Let’s go back to our friend Jackie. Because she gave a hard look at what she does and what she wants to do, she’s now able to target her marketing efforts much more effectively. Because these are topics that she loves writing about and ones she’s already written about successfully, she can now look for publications, companies, and ancillary vendors who do business in consumer healthcare, wellness, fitness, and supplements. Basically, Jackie can market to everyone in each of those food chains.
How much simpler her life just became!
There are other ways to improve your image, which I go over in this post.
While you’re at it, try brushing up on habits that can improve your freelancing results. I promise, they’re easy mind shifts.
Writers, what’s your take on how image impacts your freelance writing career?
What image are you trying to project? How are you doing it?