As I wrote about before, learn from people who did it before. It’s the best way to acclimate yourself to certain skill sets – whether you want to be a judo master, a race car driver, or an astronaut.
I had the opportunity to speak with Deborah Bailey, owner of Writing Services Central (and Rutgers alumni) yesterday. She’s written retail copy for JC Penney and Avon Fashion catalogs, as well as developed, wrote, and edited corporate reports, technical documentation and instruction guides for AT&T, Lucent Technologies, Johnson & Johnson, and AXA Financials. She started WSC in 2005, and hasn’t looked back on the corporate life.
We talked about how to get the most out of your writing, the best ways to expand the business, and how straight-to-freelance writers have an edge over corporate-transitioners:
Focus: Decide what type of writing you want to do. Be very specific and passionate about the topic. If you’re passionate about the topic, when you get up in the morning, it won’t be like going to work. And be focused! Decide what your target is, then hit, and hit it hard.
(Deborah’s talking about USP, of course, and Jennifer Williamson wrote a great post on USP at her blog here.)
Networking: Develop a web presence. Write a blog, comment on other blogs, put articles into different directories, and always be sure to link back to your site.
Always let people know what you’re doing – they’re not going to know unless you get out there and tell them.
You can also make use an affiliate program – a system of referring customers to colleagues. The more you give away, the more you get back. This business is about building relationships.
Taking Risks: When you’re trying to prospect, try things out. Use sites like elance.com or guru.com. See if it works for you – you can decide to put in a 3-month investment. If the results aren’t paying off, then move on. Anytime you can try something, if you can risk the time and money, go for it.
Finances: When determining your rates, know what you have to charge. You’ll have to realistically ask yourself, “What can I afford to charge? How much money do I need to make per hour to afford my lifestyle?”
When you’re in the corporate environment, you’ll be used to spending money. You always know a paycheck is coming in. When you switch over to freelancing, it becomes very easy to fall into the trap of spending. If you’re not used to the money, it’ll be easier to tighten up. This is why it can actually work to your advantage to start fresh, right out of college. You’re used to living on a smaller budget, so you’ll never have to make that transition.
Thanks again to Deborah for taking the time to talk. Follow the link to find more information about Writing Services Central.
Posted by Ming 
