Part I of this post examined how doing too much can make you hate your writing career – and how you can combat that.
Here, in Part II, two more reasons you may hate your writing career will be examined – and offer solutions to the problems.
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2 More Reasons You May Hate Your Freelance Writing Career
Working on Projects I Don’t Care For: Lately, I’ve been working on a lot of projects that just don’t excite me.
To be honest, a lot of what I do doesn’t excite me, per say, but it’s work I don’t mind. During my slump though, it just seemed that the projects – one after the other – were things that I just didn’t like at all.
It was mentally exhausting gearing myself up to work on them.
The reason I’ve been taking on practically any and everything is I want to get out of debt within the next two years – all except for my mortgage. Read about that goal here.
While I have a reason for buckling down and doing work I really don’t enjoy, it was taking a toll on me mentally.
Solution: Either reset goals, or change your mindset. I opted to change my mindset by refocusing on my goal and really ingesting how it’s going to feel to be debt free except for my mortgage.
Now, I have to admit, this is hard -- really hard. And, this is where being a Type A Personality really comes in handy. We’re really good and setting goals and achieving them – no matter the sacrifice.
Putting Dreams on Hold: During this whole process – taking on projects I didn’t like, doing too much – I wasn’t doing anything that gave me personal joy. I was putting my dreams on hold. Eg, training for this year’s marathon.
I had a car accident in February that’s interrupted my training schedule. I don’t know if you know anything about athletes, but when we’re unable to work out, we can get cranky and depressed.
I’d forgotten this. Even though I’m only able to train at a measured pace, now that I’m back on the track, I feel joyous again!
Solution: Do something just for you; chase a dream. This is particularly important when you’re going through trying times.
The Most Important Thing You Can Do To Break Out of a Writing Funk
One of the things I’ve noticed is that I get frustrated when I work without a plan. Many of us go through life without one. We just kind of do our thing – day after day, week after week, month after month.
But, have you ever stopped to think, “Where is this road I’m on taking me? Where do I want to be in 3 years, 5 years, 10 years?”
If you don’t have a life plan – get one – now! It can center you like never before. I talk about how having a life plan helped me make a decision when an “opportunity of a lifetime” was dropped in my lap. Read about it here.
Planning forces you to focus on what’s really important to you. If you’re in a writing funk, it usually has nothing to do with writing, and everything to do with your life.
Here's hoping you never "feel the funk," or get out of it soon if you're already there.
Monday's Post: How Googling Your Name Can Lead to Cash
EXCERPT: There are billions (yes, billions!) of websites on the Internet. Getting noticed is extremely difficult -- if not impossible. Googling your name and leveraging those contacts who already know about you can go a long way to increasing your income. We'll examine three ways to leverage this name recognition -- and put cash in your pocket!
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Copyright Notice: May be reprinted with the following, in full: Yuwanda Black is the publisher of InkwellEditorial.com: THE business portal for and about the editorial and creative industries. First-hand freelance success stories, e-courses, job postings, resume tips, advice on the business of freelancing, and more! Launch a Profitable Freelance Writing Career in 30 Days or Less -- Guaranteed! Log on to InkwellEditorial.com.
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Thursday, June 14, 2007
I Hate My Freelance Writing Career! (Part II of II)
Monday, June 11, 2007
Editor-in-Chief Job Opening: An Opportunity of a Lifetime, Or Not?
I recently had what some would refer to as the opportunity of a lifetime. My blog led to an Editor-in-Chief’s job offer. Read about it here. I turned it down. You can read why here.
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Don’t be a schizophrenic entrepreneur: As I said in the aforementioned post, I’m somewhat of a schizophrenic entrepreneur. Meaning, I like to try many different things.
Many freelancers/entrepreneurs/small business owners fail at this one simple thing. They flit from one thing to the next – hoping the next idea will be “the one,” never giving their all to any one thing – over a period of time.
Think of it this way, if trickling water – over time -- can reduce a mountain to pebbles, why would you assume it couldn’t make you successful?
Form a plan, work it consistently and watch your business grow. That's the real key to success.
And this is fine – just make sure the change is something you want because it will lead to greater happiness, not because of the opportunity at hand. Why? Because if, for whatever reason, the opportunity doesn’t pan out, you still have your life plan to contend with.
Even if an opportunity only takes you a little farther down that road, at least you’ll be a little closer to your end goal – not off on a detour that takes you farther away from it.
Getting older is a blessing: I don’t know if this holds true for everyone, but I delight in getting older. I see my truth more clearly. Hence, I’m able to choose wiser what is right for me – not my family, my friends, or my professional associates.
Being comfortable in my own skin, which for me, has come with age, has made me treasure and value me – a lot more than I ever did before.
When you think that the earth is billions, perhaps trillions of years old, and we get 70, 80 or 90 years on it – if we’re lucky – you want to make every decision count – towards happiness.
TOMORROW'S POST: How to Divide Your Marketing Budget for Maximum Success
EXCERPT: I was listening to the Dave Ramsey show on the radio one day. The show’s focus that day was on small business owners. a caller asked a really interesting question that I think freelancers could learn from. He said that he had set his marketing budget for the year, and he wanted to know how to spend it for maximum effect.
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Monday, May 14, 2007
Why Downsizing Hurts Those Making 50K+ More than Others
I've been a recruiter since 1997. I owned an editorial staffing agency in New York City from 1997 to 2004. In addition to freelance writing, I still do some recruiting.
I relay this upfront so that you will understand where I'm coming from with the following take on this subject.
In the course of my networking, over the last few weeks I've spoke with two mid-level managers who were down-sized. One worked for 18 years with a large telecommunications firm that was recently acquired. The other worked for 15 years at a Fortune 500 publisher that was recently bought and restructured.
Both were making between 55-65K/year and were lamenting about how hard it is to find other positions. If you find yourself in the same position, following is a market reality you must face as you go about your job search - and tips for landing a new position.
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Soft Skills are Not Valued: The publishing manager was telling me about her people management, team building and project management skills.
I told her that, while valuable, they are not as valued as "hard skills" that add directly to a company's bottom line, eg, software, accounting and market analysis abilities.
Directly is italicized because these are skills that employers can quantify. They use the software that a technician installs, maintains and upgrades; their budgets are set by the numbers that accounting pumps out; they develop products and revenue goals based on a marketing analyst's trend reports.
In short, these touch their daily working lives. Contrast that with soft skills like people management.
The Director doesn't see that it took the project manager to coordinate freelancers in three different time zones, call in a temp to cover a sick employee's time off to keep a deadline and/or recognize and get employees to implement time-saving procedures.
All the Director sees is that the project got done - on time and within budget.
Because middle managers tend to be facilitators, much of their value is behind the scenes. In essence, out of sight, out of mind. So, when a company is acquired, for example, they cut out this layer of "fat," and keep those employees that add directly to the bottom line.
How to Prove Your Worth to Potential Employers
So, what can middle managers do to combat this "layer of fat" mentality. Following are two tips.
1. Get concise: As in, lay out specifics of what you did in your last position - and how it contributed to the bottom line.
For example, the publishing manager told me that she implemented use of a new software on a newsletter her company published. This saved time and money.
Instead of saying it "saved time and money," quantify it, eg, how much time and how much money. Her resume might read, "With the use of this new software, production time was cut by 40%, equaling savings of $10,000 on each print run."
2. Draw a Picture: Human nature is to be lazy. How does this affect your new job search? If you run across advertised jobs that you know you could do, but your skill set is not an exact match, spell out for potential employers how what you did in your last position is transferable to the job at hand.
Use language from their job description. This is a modeling technique taught by the self-help guru Tony Robbins. In essence, you are subliminally seducing the potential employer by feeding their words back to them.
When you've reached a certain level in your career, it's hard to replace that level of job with another. A fast food worker can just move on to the next fast food establishment - and make a comparable wage.
But, for mid-level execs, $50,000/year+ jobs don't just come along. It usually takes some time to land them. Knowing why the market is that way goes a long way towards preparing yourself for the hunt.
Good luck.
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Copyright Notice: May be reprinted with the following, in full: Yuwanda Black is the publisher of InkwellEditorial.com: THE business portal for and about the editorial and creative industries. First-hand freelance success stories, e-courses, job postings, resume tips, advice on the business of freelancing, and more! Launch a Profitable Freelance Writing Career in 30 Days or Less -- Guaranteed! Log on to InkwellEditorial.com.
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