When the ball dropped ending 2010, were you praying? Did you wish for a sudden change to your business? A wealthier 2011 with better paying clients and jobs? You were not alone. I was with you too. But here we both are. Sitting in front of our computers with the same issues, concerns and worries that we had in 2010. It’s not bad luck or the economy. It’s us. The only thing you did wrong was believing that somehow your wishes would unfold over night. If you’re like, instead of a bag of wishes fulfilled you ended up with a…
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{photo credit} These days everyone has a gadget, gizmo, strategy or idea that can help you turn your business into a gazillion dollar money-making machine. But how true our their claims? And how much of their “strategy” depends not on real, hard work, but on your own hard earned cash? It’s 2011. It’s time for your business to shine. But be careful what you invest your time and energy in. It could be that all you need is to brush up on your marketing or grammar skills and that “amazing” new program that everyone is talking about is just an…
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{photo credit} This is it! It’s December 31st, 2010. We’re just hours away from the end of the new year. Before 2011, I wanted a chance to give you one more gift. And since it’s the last one, it has to be BIG. So here we go! TIP #8: Live BIG! I don’t know if you noticed, but I haven’t been writing here very often. I actually haven’t been writing anywhere. I stopped writing. Stashed away my laptop. And even put away my pen and notebook. Why? The Importance of Shutting Down I got sick. In Eastern medicine, the cause…
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{photo credit} I used to write the way it felt to run against the wind or swim against the current. I wrote to please. I wrote to entertain (and I hope I still do, knock on wood). And I wrote to prove something. I wrote against what felt natural to me. And it was a struggle. But recently I used my calling to write. And when I did, my fingers worked like rapid fire on the keyboard and my words poured out from my heart. A few times, I wrote an entire story in one day and had a cramp…
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Hear me out. Nobody likes bad luck. And I’m sure most of us would rather not be published than have something difficult happen in our lives. But not only do I believe writing is one way (and a healthy one I might add) to express yourself in the midst of hardship, I also believe that if you are a writer, this is a good opportunity for you to transform your bad luck into good luck by being able to write about your experience. Think Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat, Pray, Love or Laura Munson and her memoir This Is Not The…
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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…
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Hope you’ve been enjoying my quick tips for Christmas. Here is another one. Hide Your Desperation Clients can smell fear and desperation miles away. If you feel anxious and doubtful that you will ever be able to make it as a writer, hide it quick. Your worries will only attract other desperate people. It will make you take jobs that are beneath you. It will make you compromise on your values and ethics. And it will get you that much farther from your dreams. Do you remember the guy you couldn’t stand in high school? The girl who you couldn’t…
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It’s Day 3 of my gift to you writers out there! A lot of writers believe that they are out of the game because they are lacking in experience. But here’s my next Christmas gift tip for you: Find a loop hole. Think about what you have to offer a potential client that your competition can’t. Think about the time you can give, the passion you have for the position, your “I’ll try anything” attitude, and you might just score yourself a job and steal that ball away from those with more experience than you. Here’s how I did it:…
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Quickie Tip #2: Be Easy {This is only good for freelance writing and other career-related endeavors of course.} {photo credit} Here’s what I recently realized. I’ve found one of the greatest inventions ever for writers and journalists. HARO. Doesn’t it sound Star Wars worthy? It stands for Help A Reporter Out. Basically, it’s a win-win situation where journalists get quotes from leading experts in the industry and leading experts get free PR for their business. I’ve been using it a lot lately and have gotten several pitches returned from potential experts. Pretty exciting! But here’s what all that long-winded chatting…
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{photo credit} Everyone’s been blogging about the best gift to get for writers. I’ve thought about doing it. Heck, I did it last year. And even outdid myself by writing about the things we writers wished we got for Christmas, but didn’t. You can see that post here. So I was going to write another one of those Christmas wish list post for writers. But then I thought, “If everyone else is doing it and I’ve already done it, then maybe I should pass this year.” Especially since the only thing I REALLY REALLY want for Christmas (besides good…