Ever see those tweets and posts on social media in which the writer literally asks for work from an unnamed client or fellow writer?
Annoy the hell out of you too, right?
A friend alerted me to one such Twitter ask. The writer asked for someone to throw work their way — writing yes, but odd jobs, you name it. Times are tough.
Apparently, tough enough to drop any pretense of a professional demeanor. When you combine writing with the equivalent of babysitting, you’ve cheapened your skills. A lot.
More alarming than this public cry for handouts were the comments and the ongoing narrative from the original poster. In one of the most open employment markets on the planet, this writer was lamenting not being able to get a single job. And complaining about not getting responses to pitches. I get it — people don’t respond, especially if the job was posted online and 3,000 of your closest strangers also sent their CVs. (And editors are equally overwhelmed. If they want it, they’ll tell you.)
What unnerved me most wasn’t the public display of desperation, but this: Somewhere in the comments, someone said “… the millennial generation has been dealt a terrible hand.”
Cue the sad emojis.
News flash: Every generation thinks they have it:
- Better
- Worse
And they’re right, depending on who they are as humans, not as a generation. As my friend pointed out, yes. It’s so damn tough to make it in a world in which women aren’t taken seriously in the office. Oh wait — that was our generation.
And every generation bitches and moans about their situation. Every damn one.
- Boomers are pissed because they’re not getting hired because of their age.
- GenXers are pissed because they can’t push the Boomers out of the best jobs.
Etc., etc. And every generation of freelance writers is bitching about there being no freelance work. I know because I’ve seen them — as have you — talking about their troubles online.
Welcome to the pity party.
Here’s something every generation has the ability to do:
Achieve personal success.
But honey, you aren’t going to do that by spending time whining.
Let me say this at the outset: No generation has cornered the market on hard times. Every generation, however, generalizes when they can’t get past the starting gate.
It’s not your generation. It’s your approach.
[bctt tweet=”Every generation can create a great #freelancewriting career, but it takes work.” username=”LoriWidmer”]
Moreover, you can create that great freelance writing career without complaining about it online. It’s true. In fact the more you whinge about it, the more you buy into your own sad-assed narrative of how tough it is and how you should be pitied or given handouts or allowed to work from home for any employer….
So here’s your secret weapon for building that exceptional freelance writing career:
You. Or rather, your perspective, shifted.
Before we get to what you should do, let’s go over what you shouldn’t do. Don’t:
- Complain in public about how bad it is
- Hang out in places where people reinforce your negative thinking
- Beg for work — ever
- Expect handouts
Now to the things you should be doing to improve your freelance writing career:
- Revamp your pitches
- Raise your rates and target better clients
- Demand and expect more — of yourself
- Treat this job like you have no other option
- Research how to improve your skills or your marketing, then do it
- Get an accountability partner
Not that hard, really. And I guarantee you this — the more you do what you should be instead of what you shouldn’t, the better your outlook becomes. When that happens, you take yourself more seriously, you realize that you are the only person responsible for your own success, and you are more inclined to push harder to get what you want.
There are times we need to vent. I sure did when I first started my freelance writing career. I would email friends, complain on private forums, call other writers and bitch about it. What I didn’t do — post online about how bad things are. I didn’t generalize my personal experience. If I was having a tough go, I kept it to my own experience. And I sure as hell didn’t wait for others to confirm my bias.
And at some point, I changed how I did things. That made the difference. Not complaining, nor do I think begging for work would have changed anything. I got busy. And I turned things around.
Your turn to turn things around. Get busy.
Writers, how long was your struggle and what was your turning point?
Any advice for struggling freelancers?