Quick Tip 5: Be a Student of Life

No matter how much you pray, beg, and visualize, you won’t get better at your craft unless you do something about it.

That’s where quick tip 5 comes in: Learn something new every day.

I received one of the nicest compliments ever from a client recently. He said that I was open to new projects and I never disappoint. I’m still glowing from his kind words actually.

But after I snapped out of it and got back down to earth, I realized that challenging myself and never getting too comfortable with anything I did, helped me to be a better writer.

People Who Say They Already Know Everything They Need to Know

I sometimes hear writers who say they don’t want to join social media or don’t see the benefit of blogging. That’s fine and dandy if they write novels and make enough money doing everything in print.

But if you want to get ahead and build your business, you need to educate yourself with what’s happening right now.

I can honestly say that I was a virgin when it came to social media a year ago. And while I’m still not an expert at it, I’m under 800 followers in and have used this platform to publicize my business, my blogs and network with other writers. I’ve met a great deal of writer friends that way.

When I was asked to do social media for another company, I took the job even more seriously.

Here’s what I did:

  • I joined several online courses on social media.
  • I read books on the subject.
  • I studied what those who were good at it did.
  • I took risks.
  • I made lots of mistakes.
  • But above all I learned from them.

The bottom line?

Don’t ever get too comfortable with the job you have or the clients you have now. Be open to learning new things and you’ll provide value to your clients and your business.

Brandi-Ann Uyemura is a freelance writer who offers free initial consultations to help beginning writers get motivated, the disempowered and confused get empowered and back on course and gives writing tips for entrepreneurs. Sign up for freelance writing tipsĀ here and contact her at bauyemura at gmail dot com for more info.

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2 Comments

  • Danielle McGaw

    This is really great advice Brandi. When I was teaching I always told my students (adult students), “When you graduate from this class, don’t you dare think you are done. Learning is an ongoing process. Learn everyday. Read. Think. Ask questions. Go to seminars. But keep learning. That is how you reach success.”

  • brandiwplogin

    Hi Danielle!

    Oh you must have been an awesome teacher! I think that’s wonderful that you would tell them that. I think it’s often looked over that once you get the job you want you can rest in your laurels a bit. But in this day and age your job is precious and you should perceive it to be so. Thanks so much for commenting Danielle! And I love your new look of your website.