Thinking of freelancing?
In addition to other skills essential to working as a self-employed writer, you need tenacity and a thick skin. You’ll need both because on any given day you may have to chase down:
- An editor to respond to a pitch.
- A source to set up an interview.
- A source to reschedule the interview they forgot about, or got too busy to do.
- A source to talk about things they don’t want to talk about.
- A source to restate what they were talking about in plain English so you can understand what the heck they’re saying.
- An associate or section editor to respond to a story you wrote and submitted.
- The same editor to respond to the rewrite she asked for.
- Accounts payable for your check.
- Your hosting service to find out why your website crashed.
- Your website designer to follow up on the redesign they were supposed to have finished weeks ago.
- A less-than-ethical blogger for stealing a blog post or scraping the contents of your blog and republishing it on their own site.
Being a self-employed writer is no job for wimps. If you’re the kind of person who takes no for an answer, it might not be the right job for you.
But if you can ask anyone anything and not stop until you get an answer, welcome to the club.
Spot on Michelle! I was just writing a similar post but you beat me to it. Now I can link to you instead 😀
Freelance writing is so much more than just writing. Heck, some day I don’t do any writing because I’m too busy handling the miscellaneous business stuff that crops up.
But I have to say, I enjoy those days as much as the ones I spent writing. So it’s pretty much a win-win for me 🙂
Agree with you 100 percent. The days I can spend just writing are few and far between, especially now that I spend most of my creative time editing instead of writing. The bigger your writing business, the bigger the admin side of your business, which is why a lot of successful freelancers I know have virtual assistants or outsource some work to outside services.
MVR
I’d never thought of freelancing like this, but it’s so true! Thanks for reminding me that I have a thicker skin than I give myself credit for 🙂 Being a freelancer has helped me grow in so many ways as a person, because of all the reasons you pointed out.
Never thought of it that way, but yes, being dogged in pursuit of your goals – whether those goals are getting to a source or getting paid – is definitely a means to personal growth. Thanks for sharing that perspective.
MVR
Truth! I especially like your notes on chasing down sources. All fun, right?
Actually, that’s part of the job I like a lot.
MVR
I don’t mind chasing down sources, so long as I nab them before my deadline. Otherwise, it’s sheer aggravation.