As a person, I wear many hats. As a writer, I'm starting to try more of them on for size and it's great. It mixes things up a bit and it's helping me grow as a writer plus I'm getting to help people that have helped me in the past.
Lately I can wear a writer hat, a manager or editor hat, an affiliate marketer's hat and the hat of a consultant. It's working out well and as a one-woman show, I need to also wear hats I'm not crazy about so I can sometimes act as collection agent, secretary and kick myself in the butt and be a drill sergeant too.
It's pretty interesting how things have changed since I first got started as a writer. Because I was such a sponge looking to soak up everything I could, I gathered a lot of knowledge from many places. Today, that's paying off because I'm getting to pay it forward and benefit from the way I've conducted my career. I'm now consulting to one of my first clients who taught me a lot in my early days and have been able to help a mentor get back on their feet by helping them find work after some unfortunate setbacks.
Because I decided to focus on getting knowledge in specific areas such as search engine optimisation and social media, I am now in a position to mentor some of my early mentors. It's wonderful to be able to give back to some of those who helped me get my start and I am also the type who believes in paying it forward so I'm doing some mentoring of my own.
-I have a mentor who has recently started taking work from me.
-I also have a new seo client who used to teach me about writing effective keyword articles now using me for helping them increase their search engine rankings.
-I have been mentoring new writers on how to start a writing career.
-I'm consulting to a new client on helping him to launch his business.
In my previous life in a professional consultant position, I consulted people every day and loved helping people solve their business problems. Today, I'm wearing the hat of writer but because of my choices, I haven't had to put the consultant persona away and I'm loving it. Not only do I get to continually work at mastering my writing skills but I'm also putting old skills that made me feel fulfilled to good use.
I have a friend who's a lawyer and she decided not to practice law any longer. She wanted to pursue freelance writing. Today, she's carving out a niche in legal writing. It won't be long before she's earning as much or more than I am. If you've got specific knowledge or skills, you can find a way to capitalise on those skills so that you can use them in your writing career for creating a niche or specialising in something very unique that sets you apart from other writers.
The purpose of today's post is to tell you that if you're getting into writing or even if you're now a seasoned writing professional, there's no reason why you can't do more than be a writer. It's very fulfilling to pay it forward and it's great to use my old skills as complimentary to my newly acquired skills. Continually learning and growing your skills is, in my opinion, the best way to continuously get job satisfaction.
Showing posts with label writing career. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing career. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Figuring Out The Best Time To Do Your Writing Work
This morning I read a post by Problogger about doing tasks in batches and what he said made a lot of sense. I also had a light bulb moment shortly afterwards.
I recently wrote about my batching my freelance writing admin work on Sundays so I keep on top of my books and have a lighter day in the week. I was already doing a few things Darren talked about but he goes a step further than I and some of his tips make a lot of sense to me.
Darren's advice includes the fact that instead of writing a blog post once a day you might choose to spend one morning a week writing out the posts for the whole week and post-dating them. Instead of checking e-mail every five minutes, you might pick a few times a day to handle tasks like e-mailing and responding to instant messages. Great advice, Darren Rowse! I've often written about multitasking and how it can actually harm your productivity if you end up with Writer's ADHD.
Beyond benefits of batch processing and productivity traps I'm also learning that there are times when I'm better equipped to be successful.
This morning I had to do something I normally do every Thursday night for a client. It was an enlightening experience. This task involves writing several articles and then submitting them to nine online locations. It involves a lot of cutting and pasting and tweaking. I've tweaked my methods for this task several times and have found ways of cutting the submission times but it never fails to become arduous for me.
I love the subject matter and enjoy writing the articles but every single Thursday night you'll find me at my computer and probably with a grumpy face. I toil with the cutting and pasting. It feels like it takes forever and the result is that I'm often making silly errors like pasting the keywords for one subject into the section of the other one and making mistakes in signature lines that result in broken links. I always go back to make sure I haven't made errors but it takes ages to finish the task. I always feel exhausted at 11:pm or 12:am on Thursday nights getting this done. Because I don't love the submission process, I procrastinate until literally the 11th hour. I've decided I'm now going to do this task on Thursday mornings.
This Thursday I was zonked from another assignment so my client told me I could finish later so I planned to do it Friday night instead. Late last night when I planned to do it, I got turfed off my pc early due to a thunder storm so I did my submissions this morning. This morning I was bright-eyed and bushy tailed and I think I cut the submission time in half and they were error free the first time I did them. Valuable lesson learned!
Not only is batch processing a great idea from an organizational perspective but figuring out when you are at your best for certain tasks could increase productivity and result in more polished and error-free work.
I recently wrote about my batching my freelance writing admin work on Sundays so I keep on top of my books and have a lighter day in the week. I was already doing a few things Darren talked about but he goes a step further than I and some of his tips make a lot of sense to me.
Darren's advice includes the fact that instead of writing a blog post once a day you might choose to spend one morning a week writing out the posts for the whole week and post-dating them. Instead of checking e-mail every five minutes, you might pick a few times a day to handle tasks like e-mailing and responding to instant messages. Great advice, Darren Rowse! I've often written about multitasking and how it can actually harm your productivity if you end up with Writer's ADHD.
Beyond benefits of batch processing and productivity traps I'm also learning that there are times when I'm better equipped to be successful.
This morning I had to do something I normally do every Thursday night for a client. It was an enlightening experience. This task involves writing several articles and then submitting them to nine online locations. It involves a lot of cutting and pasting and tweaking. I've tweaked my methods for this task several times and have found ways of cutting the submission times but it never fails to become arduous for me.
I love the subject matter and enjoy writing the articles but every single Thursday night you'll find me at my computer and probably with a grumpy face. I toil with the cutting and pasting. It feels like it takes forever and the result is that I'm often making silly errors like pasting the keywords for one subject into the section of the other one and making mistakes in signature lines that result in broken links. I always go back to make sure I haven't made errors but it takes ages to finish the task. I always feel exhausted at 11:pm or 12:am on Thursday nights getting this done. Because I don't love the submission process, I procrastinate until literally the 11th hour. I've decided I'm now going to do this task on Thursday mornings.
This Thursday I was zonked from another assignment so my client told me I could finish later so I planned to do it Friday night instead. Late last night when I planned to do it, I got turfed off my pc early due to a thunder storm so I did my submissions this morning. This morning I was bright-eyed and bushy tailed and I think I cut the submission time in half and they were error free the first time I did them. Valuable lesson learned!
Not only is batch processing a great idea from an organizational perspective but figuring out when you are at your best for certain tasks could increase productivity and result in more polished and error-free work.
Friday, June 13, 2008
What's Your Writing Niche?
Do you have to establish a niche as a freelance writer? No, but you should.
I write about a lot of different subjects. My google page alone hasn't even been updated in months and has a very long list of subjects I've been paid to write about. I joke that I've become a Cliff Claven with many useless and little known facts. I surprise people sometimes when I begin spewing knowledge about an obscure subject. I think it's been great for my brain power in the last few years.
Despite my ability to write and research just about any topic, my defined niches are health writing, writing about writing, self-improvement, working at home and internet marketing writing and blogging. I've chosen these niches for several reasons. First, they interest me. Second, I enjoy researching them and third, they help me with my own success.
Reasons Behind Choosing A Writing Niche
By learning about health, I can be healthier. By writing about writing, I hone my skills and continue to learn how to be a better writer. With self-improvement...duh? (LOL)and being an internet marketing writer lets me learn skills that will help me improve my income levels and my goal of internet domination.
(I do aspire to build a monopoly and be known as an online tycoon. Don't think I can do it? Just watch me!
)
The point of today's post is to tell beginner writers that while it's great to have a wide breadth of subjects you can write about so you can get enough experience and enough earnings in the bank, it's a very good idea to build your niche as soon as possible.
Your niche will help you earn more and help you write quickly because you become a fountain of knowledge. Whether you're earning more because you're writing quickly, earning more because you've attained expert status and can command higher rates or a bit of both, it becomes very rewarding.
I once wrote twenty six articles about synthetic rubber in 3 days. It wasn't fun. It served a purpose because it got me a gig with a new company that brought me experience and money. I do still occasionally write about subjects I'm less than passionate about but after over 2 years of doing this, I'm doing that less because I'm making more money writing about subjects that excite me enough to get up and write before the coffee pot is finished brewing.
Every writing mentor and expert I come across tells people to carve out a niche for themselves. What are your niche(s) and why?
I write about a lot of different subjects. My google page alone hasn't even been updated in months and has a very long list of subjects I've been paid to write about. I joke that I've become a Cliff Claven with many useless and little known facts. I surprise people sometimes when I begin spewing knowledge about an obscure subject. I think it's been great for my brain power in the last few years.
Despite my ability to write and research just about any topic, my defined niches are health writing, writing about writing, self-improvement, working at home and internet marketing writing and blogging. I've chosen these niches for several reasons. First, they interest me. Second, I enjoy researching them and third, they help me with my own success.
Reasons Behind Choosing A Writing Niche
By learning about health, I can be healthier. By writing about writing, I hone my skills and continue to learn how to be a better writer. With self-improvement...duh? (LOL)and being an internet marketing writer lets me learn skills that will help me improve my income levels and my goal of internet domination.
(I do aspire to build a monopoly and be known as an online tycoon. Don't think I can do it? Just watch me!
)
The point of today's post is to tell beginner writers that while it's great to have a wide breadth of subjects you can write about so you can get enough experience and enough earnings in the bank, it's a very good idea to build your niche as soon as possible.
Your niche will help you earn more and help you write quickly because you become a fountain of knowledge. Whether you're earning more because you're writing quickly, earning more because you've attained expert status and can command higher rates or a bit of both, it becomes very rewarding.
I once wrote twenty six articles about synthetic rubber in 3 days. It wasn't fun. It served a purpose because it got me a gig with a new company that brought me experience and money. I do still occasionally write about subjects I'm less than passionate about but after over 2 years of doing this, I'm doing that less because I'm making more money writing about subjects that excite me enough to get up and write before the coffee pot is finished brewing.
Every writing mentor and expert I come across tells people to carve out a niche for themselves. What are your niche(s) and why?
Monday, June 9, 2008
Your Own Writing Site - The Next Step on Your Travels To Success
Writers need websites to get to the next level. I started for free and you can too but when you're ready to take your writing career up a notch, you need your own website. If you're on the fence about it and worried about taking the plunge for technical reasons or for financial reasons, this post is being written to talk you into starting your own website. Trust me, you will not regret it!
Yes, the link below has my affiliate button for Host Gator. Host Gator costs me $10 a month through Paypal. I pay quarterly. The Baby Croc plan was recommended to me by a fellow writer and I'm so glad I took the plunge. I now have 7 different sites hosted on it. I can add unlimited sites to it provided I stay within bandwidth limitations and I am having no issues whatsoever with my 7 websites, eight blogs and two forums. I've had to stifle my URL buying not because of my hosting service but becuase I'm running out of time in terms of having enough time to build and maintain all the sites I have ideas for. Not only has Host Gator given me a professional services website for my freelance writing business but it's helped me do more than dabble with affiliate / internet marketing too.
This is what those sites are doing for me:
I have DanaPrinceWriting.com. This is my main site on the hostgator account. I now have a professional services website. I used to point potential clients to blogs and my free google page and e-zine articles but now I have a place to show them my work. I also host a customer focused blog on this site for no extra charge that helps me get search engine traffic for specialties. I have had this site running for just a few months, have a high page rank and am getting clients from it that are finding me.
One of the best benefits of having a client find you is that a) you quote your rates and they are already interested in you and b) you can set up a payment page or list your terms for up front deposits which helps sift out non-payers from the start.
I've also added a not yet active forum in case my team grows large enough that I need a secure and private place to communicate with them and this site has the potential for being very interactive and useful with other tools I've not even activated yet.
Affiliate Marketing income. I've joined Pepperjam, Clickbank and Commission Junction and am now making money in affiliate marketing. Each of my domains has cost me less than $10 (except for 1 that's a .ca so was $15). I can host all my sites from one panel and it's very easy. I am getting a lot of value for my $10 a month and I'm getting tools to track my keywords and analyze my traffic and SEO practices as well.
I'm not technical and I don't need to be. Host Gator answers all my questions, no matter how silly and a few times when I've messed things up, they have quickly fixed it for me for free.
Main accounts can use a site building tool with many template options and you can also add Wordpress to your site as well as create an e-store with open source OSCommerce tools.
As a writer, I operated for over 1.5 years without my website. I've done a pretty good job of getting my career going with no investment but as I mentioned in the past, there comes a time when you need to invest a little in order to take your writing career to the next level and for a $35 start up fee because I found a coupon code, I got a domain name and three months of hosting. I also know my investments in my website are tax deductible. If you're planning to get started this month, the june hostgator coupon code is BEACH which will save you 20% off.
Yes, the link below has my affiliate button for Host Gator. Host Gator costs me $10 a month through Paypal. I pay quarterly. The Baby Croc plan was recommended to me by a fellow writer and I'm so glad I took the plunge. I now have 7 different sites hosted on it. I can add unlimited sites to it provided I stay within bandwidth limitations and I am having no issues whatsoever with my 7 websites, eight blogs and two forums. I've had to stifle my URL buying not because of my hosting service but becuase I'm running out of time in terms of having enough time to build and maintain all the sites I have ideas for. Not only has Host Gator given me a professional services website for my freelance writing business but it's helped me do more than dabble with affiliate / internet marketing too.
This is what those sites are doing for me:
I have DanaPrinceWriting.com. This is my main site on the hostgator account. I now have a professional services website. I used to point potential clients to blogs and my free google page and e-zine articles but now I have a place to show them my work. I also host a customer focused blog on this site for no extra charge that helps me get search engine traffic for specialties. I have had this site running for just a few months, have a high page rank and am getting clients from it that are finding me.
Let Clients Find You
One of the best benefits of having a client find you is that a) you quote your rates and they are already interested in you and b) you can set up a payment page or list your terms for up front deposits which helps sift out non-payers from the start.
I've also added a not yet active forum in case my team grows large enough that I need a secure and private place to communicate with them and this site has the potential for being very interactive and useful with other tools I've not even activated yet.
Affiliate Marketing income. I've joined Pepperjam, Clickbank and Commission Junction and am now making money in affiliate marketing. Each of my domains has cost me less than $10 (except for 1 that's a .ca so was $15). I can host all my sites from one panel and it's very easy. I am getting a lot of value for my $10 a month and I'm getting tools to track my keywords and analyze my traffic and SEO practices as well.
Bonuses of Host Gator - You Don't Need to be Technical
I'm not technical and I don't need to be. Host Gator answers all my questions, no matter how silly and a few times when I've messed things up, they have quickly fixed it for me for free.
Main accounts can use a site building tool with many template options and you can also add Wordpress to your site as well as create an e-store with open source OSCommerce tools.
As a writer, I operated for over 1.5 years without my website. I've done a pretty good job of getting my career going with no investment but as I mentioned in the past, there comes a time when you need to invest a little in order to take your writing career to the next level and for a $35 start up fee because I found a coupon code, I got a domain name and three months of hosting. I also know my investments in my website are tax deductible. If you're planning to get started this month, the june hostgator coupon code is BEACH which will save you 20% off.
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