Different ways to get your story started

Writers (of fiction, non-fiction, online, print, and so on) know that beginnings are important. Without the right beginning, the chance for retaining a reader declines rapidly.

So, what type of beginning is best? There’s no perfect answer, of course, but do you have a habit of starting stories, articles, or blog posts the same way? If so, or if you’re unsure, now is a good time to evaluate your writing and see if there’s a way to refresh your beginnings.

Exercise: Pull out a few stories, articles, or blog posts you’ve written recently. Note how you started them. Did they start with the same part of speech? Do you lean on nouns, verbs, pronouns, or adjectives every time?

If not, you already have variety in your beginnings. Bravo!

But if you notice a tendency to open with a certain part of speech  (I favor starting with ‘The’), consider trying something new with the next piece you write.

Here are some examples of ways to start a sentence:

• Adjective – Bright lights can show more than you want seen.
• Article – The best way to manage your time is to schedule it.
• Adverb – Sometimes clients know what they want, but not what they need.
• Conjunction – But you may not find the answers if you don’t ask the questions.
• Gerund - Crossing your arms is a sign of disagreement.
• Noun - Jess made her way to the stage to accept her award.
• Preposition - On the ropes, the boxer glanced at his girlfriend and winked.
• Pronoun - She bought the antique clock after taking its measurements.
• Verb - Start now and celebrate the milestones.

Practice opening your sentences in different ways to see if anything new works for you.

Give it a shot, there’s nothing to lose, and only refreshed writing to gain.

Lisa J. Jackson loves working with words in her own work and with businesses. She also loves New Hampshire and is focused on completing several 5Ks in 2013 as a way to get off the couch consistently. You can connect with her on LinkedIn, Biznik, Facebook, and Twitter. 

Read Full Post »

Secrets of Successful Freelance Writers – Part 2 of 2

In the first part of Secrets of Successful Freelance Writers, we talked about the importance of finding the right work, learning to accurately price writing projects, and releasing your inner project manager. In today’s post, we tackle four more secrets that can help you build the freelance writing business of your dreams so you can make money from home … in your pajamas.

Here we go!

Study your craft.

You will never be done learning about writing. Whether your goal is to write feature articles or marketing copy, there is an infinite collection of resources and references that will help you hone your craft. From traditional books to blogs, online courses to community college courses, mentorships to internships, there are literally hundreds of ways to improve your skills and confidence.

In my case, I leaned heavily towards online sources. I became a voracious blog reader, devouring post after post, storing choice bits in my Evernote files, and putting my new skills to work as quickly as I could (lest I forget them). You can self-educate however you prefer, but don’t ever stop being hungry for more knowledge.

ACTION ITEMS:

• Do a search for blogs on your particular area of interest. Load a few into a reader (with Google Reader closing in July, I just switched to Feedly and I’m loving it!). Read them regularly.
• A great initial resource for anyone considering life as a freelance writer, Peter Bowerman’s Well-Fed Writer series are a perennial favorite – chock full of great advice and helpful templates.

Create your system.

There’s a reason that the assembly line had such an impact on the industrial revolution. Systems help you replicate and streamline a process so that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel each time you tackle a particular task.

In addition to being more efficient, systems give you and your clients a greater sense of confidence. You know how to break a project down so you can get it down. Your clients feel like they are in capable hands when you have a clear and defined plan to get them from Point A to Point B.

Like pricing, expertise with creating systems will come with time and practice; but you can get a good head start by studying other people’s systems and thinking consciously about what works well on your projects.

ACTION ITEMS:

• Keep a running log of the steps you take to manage a project. After only a few times doing this exercise, you’ll begin to see patterns for what works and what doesn’t.
• Formalize your system by giving each phase a name. Familiarize yourself with the optimal flow for a project and then share that with your client as you work through the process.

Pay attention to the details.

They say don’t sweat the small stuff. When it comes to writing, I disagree. In writing, you’re better off remembering that the devil is in the details.

In a perfect world, we’d each have our own private editor who would proof and polish our work for us before we release it to the client. However, this isn’t a perfect world, so that’s not usually possible. There are, however, two tricks you can use to help improve the quality of your work.

First, build “breathing room” into your development schedule. Too often, we are rushed. We write right up to the deadline and have to send our work out without giving ourselves time to walk away for a little while and then come back with a fresh eye. Whenever possible, make sure to give yourself enough wiggle room to let your copy “set” for twenty-four hours. You’ll be amazed at how many improvements you’ll be able to easily make even after that short a respite.

Second, read your work out loud. There are lots of things that look good on paper, but sound lousy when spoken aloud. Reading your work out loud makes it obvious when a certain word or phrase doesn’t work. Never skip this step.

ACTION ITEMS:

• To convince yourself of the efficacy of these tactics, go back to a piece you wrote a while ago. First, edit it just on paper and then read it aloud and edit it again.
• Adjust the list of tasks and template schedule you created to include “breathing room.”

Provide over-the-top service.

Finally, nothing strengthens your business like stellar service.

When you engage with clients, try to make the experience fun. Smile even if you’re meeting via conference call (people can hear smiles, you know). Keep a positive and upbeat mood. Be responsive to customer inquiries. Be a true collaborator. Be polite and helpful and respectful. Go the extra mile.

One of the best things you can do for any customer is make her life easier. Whether your clientele is made up of corporate marketing managers or solo entrepreneurs, everyone loves to work with someone who makes the work easy. Find little ways to take things off your customer’s plate. Become an irreplaceable resource.

ACTION ITEMS:

• Think about the types of customer service experiences that have wowed you. How can you incorporate some of those types of experiences into your own workflow?
• Then think about the worst service experiences you’ve had. How can you ensure that you never make those mistakes with your customers?

So, there you have them – my seven favorite tips for becoming a successful freelance writer. So far, they have served me well. I hope they will do the same for you.

Questions? Lay ‘em on me and I’ll do my best to answer them.

More tips? Don’t just sit there – share! 

Jamie Lee Wallace is a writer who also happens to be a marketer. She helps her Suddenly Marketing clients discover their voice, connect with their audience, and find their marketing groove. She is also a mom, a prolific blogger, and a student of voice and trapeze (not at the same time). Introduce yourself on facebook or twitter. She doesn’t bite … usually.

.

Image Credit: seeveeaar

Read Full Post »

The Trick to Getting More Freelance Work

Many of us writers pitch our articles and blog posts. We do all the right things for those pitches, we identify the audience, explain why our article fits the publication, and we include the word count and resources we’ll be quoting. Perfect.

And when our pitch is accepted, we are overjoyed. We set about writing the article and we send it in, knowing that we’ve done a good job. We’ve finished the job and it’s time for a celebratory beer, right?

Photo credit: FontFont

But not so fast. If you’ve forgotten to include this one single trick when you pass in your article, you’re missing out on easy opportunity to consistently get more work.

That trick? Always be sure to include a suggestion for another project.

“Like this article on the behavior of local bears at the dump in the winter? How about another one on how the local fox population is dwindling due to residential development?”

“I’ve included a blog post on the best way to use social media, how about another follow-on post on best practices for using social media to create a network?”

I *never* return a project without suggesting topics for new ones. In fact, I have one editor with whom I rarely even return an email without pitching another story. Fortunately, she and I have a good working relationship and I know what kinds of stories she is looking for.  But still, I’m not going to wait around to be assigned a story especially if I have a few ideas in mind.

I want the work now.

The same goes for marketing work. Whenever I submit work (website content, blog posts) I’ll always include suggestions on how to make something else better.

“You know your “About Us” page? It’s not clear exactly what it is you offer your customer. Want me to take a look at that to make it stronger?”

“Here are 4 blog posts, want me to get started on another 4 for next month so you’ll have a queue ready?”

When you make additional project suggestions, not only are you seen as a go-getter, but you are also viewed as someone who is a critical thinker. Someone who is always wondering “how can we make this better?” and “what will keep the audience engaged?”

Editors tend to like those kinds of people.

I don’t know of an editor or a marketer who doesn’t appreciate additional article and work suggestions. In the case of the editor, you are helping to fill the publication. You’re actually making her job easier. In the case of the marketer, you are helping to sell work, and guess what? Marketers like to sell work, that’s their job. When they know you can upsell like that, they are going to come back to you for work.

Again and again.

This past week I was contacted by an editor who sent me a request for an article idea I had submitted last summer as an attachment to a finished project. She couldn’t use the idea then, but she did want me to write the article now. Could I still do it? She asked.

You betcha.

Not only will I do it, but you can be sure that when I send the finished article over, I’ll be pitching a few additional articles ideas for her consideration.

***

Wendy Thomas is an award winning journalist, columnist, and blogger who believes that taking challenges in life will always lead to goodness. She is the mother of 6 funny and creative kids and it is her goal to teach them through stories and lessons.

Wendy’s current project involves writing about her family’s experiences with chickens (yes, chickens). (www.simplethrift.wordpress.com)

How about a post next week on the top 5 questions to ask when writing content for a website?

Read Full Post »

Writers and taxes

Self-employed/freelance writers, have you done your taxes yet? The correct answer is: “Of course!”

There are still a couple of weeks to get them done, if you haven’t. And if, by chance, you haven’t started them yet, I found a great post on this very topic by a certified public accountant (CPA) – not mine – that is worth sharing. The site itself is focused on several artistic types, including writers.

There are downloadable checklists and worksheets, and a wonderful (and brief) detailed outline that hits on the main topics that writers need to consider when doing taxes.

I have to admit that I haven’t found the perfect strategy for getting everything in order. I track income and expenses monthly on a paper ledger and use Quicken (am switching over to Quickbooks this year as it really is better tool for a small business), as a double-check to make sure I haven’t missed anything.

Here are a couple of recommendations if you’re new to doing taxes as a business:

• Tracking mileage for anything and everything job related needs to be a habit – if it’s travel to/from a business meeting, or to Staples to get supplies, or to the Post Office for stamps, track that mileage.
• If you haven’t already, get a separate business account and debit/credit card so that you don’t have to spend time sorting through household accounts for business expenses each month/year.
• And if you keep on top of your income and expenses at least quarterly (monthly is best), doing the taxes can be almost painless and you won’t feel the need to procrastinate.

Like writing stories and having the details matter, doing taxes definitely requires paying attention to the details and making sure nothing is overlooked.

What method do you find best for keeping track of expenses and income? A software tool? Paper ledger? Sticky notes attached to receipts?

Lisa J. Jackson makes a living helping businesses express themselves with words. She also loves writing and talking about New Hampshire and plans to complete several 5Ks in 2013. She drinks iced coffee year-round, and needs a stash of Peppermint Patties in the fridge at all times. Connect with her on LinkedIn, Biznik, Facebook, and Twitter. 

Read Full Post »

Are you a “where” or a “how” writer?

I know of some writers who can’t start a project until they have the “perfect” title. Although I do admit, I’ve have stumbled across some title-worthy phrases (like “The Joy of Six” as a memoir title for our family of 6 kids) I have never really understood this approach.  Pardon my bluntness but for *me*, these writers seem to have it literally ass-backward.

I think that a more effective approach to writing stories, articles, and blog posts is to come up with the ending first and then create the story to justify that conclusion.

Remember the brilliant and hysterically funny movie “Blazing Saddles?”(Seriously is there anyone who didn’t fall on the floor laughing over the beans scene?)  I’m convinced that one of the reasons Saddles was created was so that Mel Brooks could film the ending. From the final dialog with the town’s people to the breaking of the fourth wall by having the actors get off their horses and enter a limousine. Brooks lets us know that although he makes some strong social statements, in the end, the movie is just that, a movie. Let’s all have a good laugh.

Every line, every scene led up to and justified that final gotcha image.

 

 

 

I suppose it comes down to whether you are a “Where do we go from here?”  type of person or a “How did we get here?” kind.

The “where” people’s stories tend to go all over the place, they never know what their characters are going to do or say from day to day. There is a certain freedom in this type of writing and I’ve spoken to many successful writers who use this method. They sit at the computer and let their stories dump out of their brains.

Others (like myself) are the “how” people. We know where our characters are going to finally be, but we need to work backwards in order to make sure that all steps lead to the ending. I have created what often look like reverse flowcharts for my stories.

Is this approach a little too analytical? Too stilted and restrictive of creative freedom? I don’t know. I’ve tried to work like a “where” writer and I always find that I get lost, I go down rat holes and spend time on material that ends up being cut in the end because it gets my characters nowhere. I tend to waste a lot of time.  But is that such a bad thing? Sometimes those who wander are not lost.

I’m not saying that either approach is better or worse, in the end if you are successful, then whichever method you use is the best. What I am saying is that you, as a writer, should be aware of how *you* compose a story. Do you tend to compose forward or backward? Identify which approach works best for you and then the next time you write something, don’t waste time with something other than what works best for you.

***

Wendy Thomas is an award winning journalist, columnist, and blogger who believes that taking challenges in life will always lead to goodness. She is the mother of 6 funny and creative kids and it is her goal to teach them through stories and lessons.

Wendy’s current project involves writing about her family’s experiences with chickens (yes, chickens). (www.simplethrift.wordpress.com)

Yes, I keep a flowchart on my wall of the book I’m working on. It helps me see where I’ve been.

Read Full Post »

Secrets of Successful Freelance Writers – Part 1 of 2

So, you wanna be a freelance writer. You want to work from home, make money writing, build a business in your pajamas. You can write, but do you know – really know – what it takes to succeed as a freelance writer?

I’ve been freelancing for more than five years. It was something I’d always thought about, but was afraid to try until I found myself facing divorce and single motherhood. Adversity has a way of helping us find courage we didn’t know we had. Happily, in addition to my courage, I also discovered a few serendipitous connections that helped me get set up with a couple long-term contracts.

For the first eighteen months, I wasn’t writing. I was a freelance project manager who helped web development companies herd their proverbial cats. I handled budgets and schedules, corralled various resources, and managed client expectations. I wrote a lot of meeting notes and a lot of emails, but nothing more creative than that.

Then, a year-and-a-half into my freelance journey, I got my first chance at a writing project. One of my clients needed some web copy written. When he asked if I knew anyone we could hire for the project, I offered up my own services. I had no idea what I was doing. I had no samples to show. I did, however, have the trust of my client. They gave me the shot and I never looked back. About six months later, I had enough experience under my belt to confidently call myself a “freelance writer.” Six months after that, I joyfully turned down a project management gig saying, “I don’t do that any more.”

Over the course of my adventures in the land of freelancing, I have learned many things. I have been hired for a wide variety of writing jobs: professional blogger, ghost blogger, marketing writer. I have written all kinds of content: essays, website copy, emails, newsletters, corporate ebooks, case studies, award submissions, brand identities, messaging frameworks, and more. I wear a lot of hats, but no matter what role I’m in or which kind of content I’m working on, there are seven “secrets” that have consistently contributed to my success:

Learn where to find work.

When you’re first starting out, it’s tempting to take jobs that you find on sites like Craig’s List or oDesk. While I’m sure there are some viable gigs that you can find through these sources, my personal experience was depressing – the quality of the clients was low, the pay was low, my chances of landing the job against the many other applicants were low.

Instead of searching these sites as a stranger in a strange land, think about how you can use your personal and business networks to make connections with potential clients. Your chances of getting an introduction to the right person are much higher when you have a personal contact. Your chances of getting stiffed are much lower (assuming your friends aren’t jerks).

Don’t overlook the value of the relationships you already have.

ACTION ITEMS:

• Make a list of all your contacts and make a commitment to reach out to a few of them each day. Share what you’re doing and ask them to let you know of any opportunities that come up.
• One site that I did find helpful in the early years was Freelance Writing Jobs. Though I didn’t ever land a job through the site, perusing the daily job postings was a great way to begin getting a feel for what types of jobs were out there and even what people were paying for certain types of writing.

Learn to price projects properly.

One of the most common pitfalls awaiting new freelancers is inaccurate pricing. You land a new project, but you’re not sure what to charge. You end up throwing out a number that winds up being way off the mark. End result: you work your tail off, but your profits dwindle away to peanuts.

Knowing what to charge comes from experience. You need to know the market value of the work you’re doing as well as how long it will take you to do the work. When you’re just starting out, there are all kinds of unforeseen tasks that will eat away at your budgeted time like Uncle Ned at a Las Vegas all-you-can-eat buffet.

ACTION ITEMS:

• Do some online research by searching phrases like “freelance writing rates” to see what kinds of pricing resources are out there.
• Make a list of all the tasks that go into a writing project: client intake, administration, research, writing, review meetings, revisions, formatting, editing. Create a template in Excel that you can use to help you price out projects.

Learn to be a project manager.

A project manager is the person in charge of creating and managing project plans, budgets, schedules, and resources. It’s an unglamorous role, but an important one. When you can handle these details, you take a great deal of responsibility off your client’s shoulders – you make her job easier. (That is a good thing.)

In addition to accurately estimating your time (and the associated cost) on a project, learn to create a basic project schedule for your clients. Handle all the documentation tasks associated with a project: creating a scope of work (a topic which deserves a post of its own), capturing meeting notes, sending reminders about next steps and deadlines.

By helping to keep the team on track and on time, you will become a more valuable asset.

ACTION ITEMS:

• Think through the basic steps of a project and create a simple project calendar or schedule that you can provide for each of your projects.
• Get in the habit of providing clear, consistent communications (most usually in email) so you can help everyone stay on track.

These simple practices have played a big part in my success. They have kept my clients so happy that they don’t just come back for more, they refer their friends to me. I’ve seen these same principles at work in the successful writing businesses of my colleagues as well. Although creativity and writing excellence are important, you might be surprised at how qualities like responsiveness and reliability can influence your prospects.

Next time, we’ll cover four more secrets of successful freelance writers. Until then, what methods and tactics have you seen work well? How do you build your successful business?

Jamie Lee Wallace is a writer who also happens to be a marketer. She helps her Suddenly Marketing clients discover their voice, connect with their audience, and find their marketing groove. She is also a mom, a prolific blogger, and a student of voice and trapeze (not at the same time). Introduce yourself on facebook or twitter. She doesn’t bite … usually.

.

Image Credit: Jan Willemsen

Read Full Post »

Some resources for small business owners

When you’re starting a writing business, you’ll have a lot of questions. I’ve found some useful resources that are generally available in most (U.S.) areas. They are worth checking into. Many are free or low cost, too.

SCORE – The Service Corps Of Retired Executives is full of, well, retired executives from all industries, who volunteer their time to their communities and help individuals, like us, get on the right track when starting or maintaining our small business. The main site (www.score.org) has links to numerous resources, and if you find an office in your state, or near you, you’ll find even more resources including links to information, affordable workshops, networking events, and more.

Meetup.com – Meetup.com is an online tool to find groups of interest near you. It started out as a social networking site – sort of like a notice board – where people posted activities they were doing and local people could join if they wanted. Now the international site includes those activities as well as specific business, networking, and writing groups.

When I search on “small business” within “25 miles” of my current location, I find groups such as: Local Entrepreneurs, Let’s Get Networked, Let’s Have a Net Lunch, Businesses Supporting Businesses, and many more. You search on keywords and connect with like-minded individuals and have the opportunity to meet them in person.

LinkedIn – I’ve talked about LinkedIn before (specifically LinkedIn for Writers, and LinkedIn for Journalists) and I’ll talk more about it in upcoming posts. It’s a fantastic resource for businesses of all sizes. It takes a while to build up momentum on this site, but it has fantastic groups that you can join (free membership gets you a LOT), to help you build your business, find clients, and find like-minded individuals to talk to and learn from.

Local women-owned business organizations – There isn’t a specific link to this, but it’s worth doing a Google or Bing (or both) search on various keywords to see if there are organizations in your area that are focused on women only (if this pertains to you, of course!) In my state of New Hampshire, there is Women Inspiring Women, Women’s Fund of New Hampshire, and New Hampshire Women’s Initiative. There’s a national org, Women’s Business Development Center, that can be useful too. You can probably find a local resource, or at least online information to help you on your journey.

These are just a few examples. There’s also the Small Business Administration and Chamber of Commerce.

Bottom line is that it pays to look around to see what you can find in your neighborhood. If you haven’t been self-employed before, it’s hard to know what exists. I’ll bet you find a lot more than you expect.

Have you found any groups or organizations for self-employed individuals, or perhaps writers in general that can be useful? Please share in the comments.

Lisa J. Jackson specializes in writing solution briefs, case studies, white papers, other marketing collateral, e-books, and more. She also loves writing and talking about New Hampshire and plans to complete several 5Ks in 2013. She drinks iced coffee year-round, and needs a stash of Peppermint Patties in the fridge at all times. Connect with her on LinkedIn, Biznik, Facebook, and Twitter. 

Read Full Post »

Before jumping ship, make sure you can survive

So you want to be a freelancer and have your own writing business and you know your motivating ‘why‘ that is going to keep you inspired day in and day out.

Money doesn’t grow on trees

Now what?

For me, it was to make sure I felt financial comfortable leaving the corporate world.

First and foremost, I needed to know what the reality was money-wise if I completely fell on my butt in my pursuit of being a freelancer. I needed to know my survival benchmarks.

I looked at scenarios such as:

• How many months can I have zero income and still pay my mortgage and take care of my home expenses (including property taxes) based on my savings?
• How low am I willing to let my savings get before seeking employment?
• Do I want to sell my house to reduce expenses?
• Do I want 1 or more roommates to help me keep my home?
• At what point would my savings have to be before nervousness set in? Before concern set in? Before panic set in?
• How could I lower my current bills? (For instance, a higher auto insurance deductible can lower the monthly premium; did I really need cable TV?)

(Some things to note: I was only responsible for myself, I owned my car, and I only had 1 credit card, which I paid off each month. So other than my mortgage, I was debt-free – and it had taken several years to get to that point.)

After considering those questions (and more), figuring out the answers, and making adjustments to my current bills, my biggest concern became health insurance. It was affordable through my employer. But the COBRA offering did not fit my budget whatsoever. I don’t know how employed people would pay those rates, nevermind unemployed!

Before I could leave my full-time job, I had to have affordable, comprehensive coverage for peace of mind. So, I spent time researching.

• I spoke with a representative from my employer’s EAP (employee assistance program)
• I did some Internet research and found options (eHealthInsurance, Health Insurance for Writers, About.com article on this topic)
• I got quotes for health insurance through writing associations (whether I was a member yet or not)
• I looked through the Yellow Pages (amazingly, yes, I really did) to find local options
• I paid attention to health insurance ads in newspapers

It pays to compare. There were a lot of avenues and I checked out everything I found. And, happily, I found the type of coverage I wanted and a policy that was quite affordable to me.

With that final piece of the puzzle (for me) solved, I moved forward in my pursuit of self-employment.

Everyone is different – some people freelance part-time and build up a clientele. Some folks jump ship, hit the pavement, and move forward without a plan but with an intense drive to succeed, even if it meant not sleeping.

I needed a safety net and a certain comfort level and I didn’t want to work 24-hour days. I was going freelance to be happy, to enjoy life, and to savor each day as I pursued my dream. April 1 is my 7-year anniversary and all is well.

Questions? Comments? If you’re already your own boss, what was your biggest concern before you made the move?

Next up: resources for the small business owner.

Lisa J. Jackson, MBA, is a small business owner specializing in writing solution briefs, case studies, white papers, e-books, and more. She also loves writing and talking about New Hampshire and plans to complete several 5Ks in 2013. She drinks iced coffee year-round, and needs a stash of Peppermint Patties in the fridge at all times. You can connect with her on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter. 

Read Full Post »

Why I became a full-time independent writer

Many people ask me (some version of): Why did you jump the corporate ship and strike out on your own?

Happiness is working from home on my own terms

The very simple answer is: Happiness.

It was time to follow my bliss and save my soul from becoming dark and empty.

A 5-day women’s writing rafting trip down the Colorado River in August 2005 gave me the kick start I needed. Day 4 was white water — 7 rapids to get through. Going through the 5th rapid, my boat caught a wave, slapped up against a canyon wall, bottom first, and stuck there. I tried to hang on, but gravity had other plans. I had to be rescued.

The type of boat I was in

After that excitement, and surviving the 7th rapid, we floated along calm water. As I sat quietly, my mind got back on track and the reality of the danger I had been in rushed to the surface.

I told the 3 women on my boat that tears were coming on, so they shouldn’t freak out. Someone suggested that I look up – somehow looking up helps ease anxiety. Okay. Nothing to lose. I looked up to the tops of the canyon walls and took a few deep breaths. I noticed motion up to my left and I focused on that.

Had to be a bird. I watched. No, too small. It fluttered about and kept coming closer. It turned out to be a butterfly.  It was pristine white with yellow striping on its wings. Stunning.

I figured it would fly and journey across the water. It didn’t. It flew toward me. I stretched my arm out and it landed on my index finger. I felt its feet (?) grab on. I shook my head in disbelief. I mean, seriously? This creature flew all this way and landed on MY finger at THIS moment? Really? I had to be hallucinating. It flew off after a few seconds, continuing across the river and disappearing in the reflection of the sunshine off the water.

The 3 women on my raft had been talking to each other this entire time. I said, “Did anyone just see that?” They all had. It hadn’t been my imagination.

The first night of the trip each person in the group drew an animal tarot card from a deck, just for fun, around the campfire. My ‘animal’ was the butterfly. It represented ‘rebirth’.

A butterfly from my yard, not the river

Here it was, mid-August in Utah, in the canyons, on a wide river. No butterflies to be seen until the day we hit the rapids. I saw 2 Monarchs, at different times, before we reached the white water.

I never imagined I’d see the 3rd butterfly after being sucked into the rapids, spit out far from my raft, and about to lose my cool after being rescued.

I flew home a couple days later, and as the plane touched down in Boston, the tears finally came. The message finally received. I knew I couldn’t live in a box (cubicle) any more and I couldn’t be in a job that didn’t satisfy my soul. It was time to create my new life.

I gave myself 6 months to come up with a plan. I gave my notice and was out on my own 7 1/2 months after the river trip. Not a single regret.

It’s incredible how life can change with any 1 decision that we make.

Next week I’ll share some of the (financial) decisions I needed to make in order to feel comfortable with my plan to become a full-time freelancer.

The evening after I fell into the river

.

Lisa J. Jackson, MBA, became a small business owner specializing in writing solution briefs, case studies, white papers, e-books, and more after an amazing rafting trip down the Colorado River. She works with businesses of all sizes across many industries on topics ranging from marketing to small business management to manufacturing. Connect with her on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter. 

Read Full Post »

So you want to have a writing business

If you have a flair for writing and want to make it your profession — on your own terms — I say, Go For It! I did. And I haven’t regretted a moment of it. (Nope, not even those lean periods.)

It can take a while to get established as a professional independent writer, but like any goal, it all starts with taking the first step. Although it may take time to get established, it isn’t all that difficult.

The basics you need to get started:

• a passion for writing
• the discipline to work alone
• a laptop or PC to get the work done
• and, of course, you need reliable access to the Internet

If you want to start your own writing business, did you answer ‘yes’ to all of the above? Being able to stay motivated with no one pushing can be a challenge.

Passion can get you started, but you also need the ability to write. That doesn’t mean you have to get a college degree, but you should have an affinity for writing and know how to put sentences together. Taking a course or two to help you assess your skill level can only benefit you. Professional writers know that spellchecker is a resource, not the end-all be-all for spelling and grammar checking.

The Internet has opened up a lot of opportunities for self-employed writers, especially those who understand and grasp the difference between writing for print and writing online content.

Once you have the above points covered, it’s time to delve into some details.

A key component to becoming a freelancer is deciding what type of writing you are going to focus on. Here are some questions to help you get started:

• What type(s) of writing do I enjoy the most?
• What type(s) of writing am I best at?
• Did something in high school set me on a path?
• Did a college course pique my interest?
• Am I writing anything in my current job that can be expanded?
• Have I received any compliments for my reports or research?
• What do I enjoy reading the most?
• What do I want to write?
• What types of businesses/clients do I want to work with?
• Do I want to meet face-to-face with clients and only work locally?
• Why do I want to be a solopreneur and have my own business?

The last question is the most important. Without knowing why you want to be in business for yourself, it’ll be hard to be successful at it.

I’ll continue to write about starting and owning your own writing business in the coming weeks. Next week I’ll talk about why I’m doing it.

Lisa J. Jackson, MBA, is a small business owner specializing in writing solution briefs, case studies, white papers, e-books, and more. She works with businesses of all sizes across many industries on topics ranging from marketing to small business management to manufacturing. Connect with her on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter. 

Read Full Post »