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Disturbances

Posted on by lwidmer

Thanks one and all for the participation and camaraderie that helped make the 3rd Annual Writers Worth Day a success! I’ve heard from a few writers who have said this day and our efforts have stopped them from taking content mill jobs or jobs beneath their value. In my eyes, that means we’ve reached our…

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The 3rd Annual Writers Worth Day

Posted on by lwidmer

It’s here – Writers Worth Day, the one day a year we writers collaborate on increasing our expectations and our business savvy! This year came up on me unexpectedly, I’ll admit. But it’s never too late to celebrate the fact that you have a marketable set of skills and deserve to stand up for them….

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Worthy Tip: Use Common Sense

Posted on by lwidmer

Oh, we have common sense, but isn’t it human nature to believe what we see because we need it to be true? We’ve all done it – fallen for a lousy offer because we let down our guard for one minute. Truth is the lousy job postings out there are easy to spot. We’ve been…

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Worthy Tip: Don’t Pay

Posted on by lwidmer

Starting out is tough. You know you want to make a career of it, but you’re not always sure where that first, or even fifth client will come from. And you’re nervous. Either you’ve quit that job and must make it work or you’re marking time and can’t take the full leap until the workload…

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Worthy Tip: Redefining Work

Posted on by lwidmer

Four more days for you to send or post your worth-inducing advice and qualify for the Writers Worth Day contest – don’t forget to either post your tip here or email it to me. Remember, it has to be a tip that inspires writers to improve their earnings potential, draw their professional boundaries, or in…

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Writerly Tip: Know the Signs

Posted on by lwidmer

Welcome to the first weekly celebration of Writers Worth Day! As promised, this will be a week of tips and advice to help you frame your career in a more positive light. I ask all of you to join in. In fact, this year’s contest requires your interaction. All week I’ll be asking for your…

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The Widget

Posted on by lwidmer

For those of you planning to spread the word about the 3rd Annual Writers Worth Day, here’s the widget. I can’t embed any URLs thanks to my new hard drive minus PhotoShop. If any of you want to take a stab at it, I’d welcome that. Post it anywhere you like. Link back to here….

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How Not to be a Networking Twit(terer)

Posted on by lwidmer

A reminder – next week starts our official countdown to Writers Worth Day on May 14th. Mark your calendars! I promise tips, sage advice, and maybe even a prize. I’ll get you a widget soon – I’m without my PhotoShop and I need to find out how to get a URL embedded. I say here…

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The Third Annual Writer’s Worth Day

Posted on by lwidmer

It’s that time of year again – time to celebrate the value and skills you bring to your clients and the writing world. The Third Annual Writer’s Worth Day is next week – May 14th. All next week we’ll be celebrating by encouraging each other through worth-inducing tips, advice, and sharing of experiences. Please make…

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Do You Have What It Takes?

Posted on by lwidmer

We can talk all day about the feast-and-famine cycle, the unruly clients, the non-paying clients, and the aversion we have to marketing or billing. But at the root of it, we love what we do because it fits us. The cycle of freelancing is part of what we do just as our ability to work…

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  1. Mridu Khullar Avatar
    Mridu Khullar

    I'll add that you have to be able to deal with rejection on a daily basis. If you crumble each time someone says no, this job will be very hard on you emotionally (and financially).

    Reply
  2. TheNormalMiddle Avatar
    TheNormalMiddle

    What a great post for me to read! I've been doing a little bit of freelance off and on for the last 8 years. Some of it has been heavier at times than others. It has always been my desire to write full time as my real "career" but I've always been too afraid to jump ship in my career path.

    As of June I will no longer be a classroom teacher moonlighting as a writer, but a writer who hopefully has to moonlight as a GED teacher 2 nights a week ONLY.

    Your post was timely for me because it reminds me of several things my gut already knows. It is going to take time and hard work. It will not happen overnight. Rejection and nonpayment will come and I will have to learn to weather the storm with grace!

    What a great post for folks like myself. Thanks Lori. Loving your blog!

    Reply
  3. Lori Avatar
    Lori

    Glad you're here, NormalMiddle! It's a tough first step, but if you do a little work ahead of time, you'll be fine. You've also got the summer to get your feet wet, assuming you'll still be collecting a pay check. Stick around! We're here to help.

    Excellent point, Mridu. You have to separate the rejection of your services from personal rejection. It's not – it's business.

    Reply
  4. Paula Avatar
    Paula

    I stared sort of backwards. Blame it on my dad. He was a graphic artist/cartoonist who worked most of his career for companies that paid their artists and copywriters less than their salesmen (emphasis on the men). I was maybe 14 or 15 when he was laid off – he was in his 50s and couldn't land another full-time job, so he went freelance. He always said that was the best thing that happened. He found his own clients, set his own terms, had more free time, less stress, and really enjoyed his work.

    Knowing I wanted to be a writer, straight out of college he said he'd give me two years to see if I could carve out a freelance business. I did. Not a huge income, and with the current state of freelancing being what it is (overrun with content mill "writers" and others underbidding the rest of us)I'll probably never earn what many of my contemporaries do in the corporate world, but how many of them really love their jobs?

    That support from my dad so early on is probably along the lines of people who quit or lose their jobs and go freelance while relying on their spouses to help out. Only I didn't have the health insurance. LOL.

    Reply
  5. Paula Avatar
    Paula

    BTW – I doubt any/many of my contemporaries would consider my annual income to be a decent wage. A starting salary, maybe. Decent wage? Not by most of their standards.

    As long as I can pay my bills, that's decent enough for me. Having a little left at the end of the month or year? That's gravy.

    Reply
  6. TheNormalMiddle Avatar
    TheNormalMiddle

    Thanks Lori 🙂

    My name is Lindsey. For whatever reason, blogger won't let me sign in today in any other capacity.

    I have a little writing blog in the works, nothing fancy.

    http://www.lindsey-writes.com

    I thank you for your encouragment! Eileen is mentoring me and she pointed your blog out to me a few weeks ago and I've enjoyed it very much.

    Reply
  7. Milton Avatar
    Milton

    Hi Lori, Muttie went freelance again after losing her job two months ago. It's taken her a wee while to build up contacts (she was a freelance journalist for five years before going into PR for eight years) as most of the commissioning editors had moved on. She also found the job has changed so much today. Most of the time she's writing for on-line sites and not printed newspapers. She didn't have savings but rented her flat out and moved in with Paw. She'd make more money if she didn't sit reading blogs for a huge chunk of the morning!

    Milt x

    Reply
  8. Lori Avatar
    Lori

    Paula, what a great dad! You're not missing a thing. I've been in the cube farm – shudder to think how I'd be if I were still captive.

    Hi Lindsey. 🙂 I know you told me once before, but thank you for the reminder. I forget things. You've got a great mentor in Eileen – she knows her stuff!

    Milton, I love your posts. 🙂 I smile every time I read them. Hope Muttie an Paw are doing well. 🙂

    Reply
  9. Katharine Swan Avatar
    Katharine Swan

    Lori, I started freelancing full-time with virtually no planning. My job as a technical writer was going in a direction I didn't like, so I quit and turned my part-time freelancing into a full-time job. The first few months were VERY slow — I think I made a measly $300 the first month! Luckily, though, my then-boyfriend (now-husband) was willing to pick up the slack until my income picked up.

    I have to admit though that I'm terrible at planning ahead — I don't have anything in savings (though he does). If you go to my blog you'll see how that affected me when everything blew up in my face in April. :o(

    Reply
  10. Susan Johnston Avatar
    Susan Johnston

    When I first started freelancing full-time, I had a ton of work lined up (that was part of why I left my full-time job when I did). But eventually, those projects finished and I reached a lull. Could have been my inexperience (I was marketing but maybe not as effectively as I could have) or it could have been the economy. Fortunately, things have picked back up again, and I'm one busy bee these days! I agree with all the requirements you mentioned, though.

    Reply
  11. Lori Avatar
    Lori

    Katharine, I'm sorry to hear about Prince. You have what it takes. It's just a speed bump, okay?

    Susan, I made the same mistake. I was cruising along and thinking my career was set in stone! The only stone were the rocks in my head. LOL

    Reply
  12. Walker Avatar
    Walker

    I'm fairly new to this, having left a job to write 'the book' then deciding that freelance writing was for me. I'm plugging away at freelance marketing and promotion while the book/memoir collects dust.
    Your suggestions are so timely! I found you via Get Paid to Write Online.
    I have gotten 3 jobs in this past month, small ones and not what I'm worth but I consider it like "interning". I'm learning to walk away from jobs that would cause me sense of self-worth to crumble! Ha!
    Long hard road and I'm living on my retirement but I know it's worth it. So!! Thanks for the wonderful insight.

    Reply
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