What’s on the iPod: Raglan Road by The Chieftans with Joan Osborne
I want to thank Sharon Hurley Hall for today’s post on her blog. Sharon reviews my ebook, Marketing 365. Thank you, Sharon! Please give her some comment love.
I think I’m ready. The brochures are printed, the wardrobe is sorted, and the shoes are lined up. Conference time next week. I picked up the brochures, shopped for a suit, and then did a bit of marketing. I got my personal writing in first, so I felt like I’d done something just for me. That always starts the day out well.
Anne and I worked on a joint project, then I talked with my daughter about her starting her own business (photography). If you’ve not heard, the unemployment rate for those ages 18-24 is a stinging 16 percent. Jen Williamson wrote a brilliant post about this on her CatalystBlogger blog. With two un-/under-employed in our house, it’s a living reality.
In talking with daughter, I was struck by how money-conscious she is. True she’s been paying her way for a while — 3 years of school (she finished early with a major, minor and .01 off a cum laude — proud mama here!) and still handling all her bills on a part-time waitressing salary. But when I said she needed a website, she reacted to the price. “You paid $24 for your blog. I can’t afford that.”
That’s a roadblock. Sure, she’s got a tight budget, but I showed her that $24 stretched out over 12 months was just a $2 monthly investment in her career. There were other roadblocks, but this one was the most manageable from my chair.
We do this too, you know. We find reasons — excuses — for not marketing, expanding beyond the familiar, doing the bookkeeping (that was my big hurdle), actively engaging clients… you name it. So this is a reminder of how to knock down roadblocks and get into a more lucrative earnings potential:
Spend on your career/business. It’s a business. Businesses take some maintenance. Maintenance is money. Look at each outlay of funds from these filters — must haves, could be useful, want more than need. My daughter’s example — she needs a website. She also needs business cards. A better camera could be useful, but the one she has is sufficient for now. The laser printer that most print shops can’t afford? No, not necessary.
Plan — it makes all the difference. Right now, she’s getting gigs from friends and coworkers. But once those are over, what then? Planning where she wants to be financially and client-wise will help her then formulate a plan for getting there. Same goes for you. What are your financial and professional goals?
Get active — the passive approach begets passive results. If you think searching for work on the job boards is the only way to get clients, you’re missing out on huge income potential. You’re also limiting yourself to that small circle of clients who bother to put up the lousy offers, and to those writers who are fighting to underbid you. Who else knows you’re a writer? Get active and get vocal — tell everyone, including all your contacts on social media outlets.
Don’t be wed to your own ideas. I remember thinking a free blog was fine, and it was. Then someone anonymously blasted me on someone else’s blog for having a freebie. While it was indeed the chicken-shit way of telling me, I took heed. If that was staining my credibility, I was going to spend to fix it. It’s fixed. Same with your ideas — you love that website interface despite five people telling you it’s bland, impossible to navigate, or just plain boring. Know that others have good ideas, too. It’s okay to listen and heed whatever advice fits.
Listen to the answer. I can’t tell you how many people ask the same question. I can tell you that from my experience, only a handful of those people actually act on the answers. I don’t have all the answers, nor does any other writer. But if the advice fits, try it. Chances are you won’t fail. Not trying means you’ve failed by default.
Be persistent. Don’t come back in a few weeks bemoaning “It doesn’t work!” Of course it didn’t — you have to be consistent and determined. Keep at it. Like they say in hockey, the more you shoot at the net the higher the likelihood that you’ll score (or maybe I just say that).
What roadblocks did you knock down and how?
What current roadblocks are still dogging you?
Trying is important. So often, when faced with a new way of doing things, the excuse is, "That's not my process." "That doesn't work for me." Until you have a track record, you don't KNOW what works with you. Know the difference between resistance and when something ACTUALLY doesn't work. Which means you try it for more than 5 minutes, and you don't quit the minute it gets the least bit hard.
What's still dogging me is working on my own projects. I've gotten much better and am now trying every Friday to work on my projects.
I always love Devon's admonishment to do 1,000 words/day BEFORE any other work. But, somehow I do it for a while and then fall back into bad habits of placing it second.
Like Cathy, I still have trouble making time to work on my own stuff. I have begun to do this more times than I can count, but always end up putting them behind client work. Maybe it's time for a new approach …
My biggest roadblog was the fear of starting my own business. I had tried it before and it didn't work financially ( too many low-paying jobs, not enough confidence to go for quality assignments). So I was afraid to try to again, afraid to lose my steady income. Eventually I had to weigh the benefits of being self-employed against the potential gains, I took a leap of faith and I am so glad I did.
Another road block I had to deal with was making time to work on my own projects. I seemed to be more motivated when the job was already contracted, but was "too busy" to make time to work on my own projects. I read Devon regularly and she's very firm about doing 1000 words on her work before starting client work. Eventually it dawned on me that books don't write themselves (yes, I was slow:-)
Technology is, was, and likely will always be my roadblock. It changes too quickly for me to keep up with, and some of it is well beyond what I can afford (at least when you consider how often you have to upgrade to stay current.) By the time I figure out how to use any form of technology it's obsolete.
Case in point: I hosted Easter. My 8-year old nephew was wondering why he couldn't get their iPad to work. Um, everyone doesn't have WiFi, kiddo. No XBox, Nintendo, Wii, or PlayStation, here either (really, what's the point with a 19" CRT TV?). And one of my phones even had a cord.
I swear, my nephew and niece must think I'm as outdated as I thought my Grandma was because she didn't have cable, a stereo or a food processor.
Yes, my cell phone is "dumb" and my digital camera is as old as dirt, but I am slowly entering the 21st Century – new computer, DVR, digital voice recorder.
Devon, having just listened to someone complain after I'd taken time out of my day to answer their question, I completely agree. If you can't try, quit now. Inertia will net you nothing.
Cathy, if you're like me, the running lists in your head get in the way. Same here. I may not do my personal stuff first, but I do it at some point in the day. Maybe evenings work better for you?
Agreed, Sharon! It's never too late to change it up and find a better way. 🙂
Paula, technology can be a roadblock. I'm facing a Dreamweaver roadblock, and lord knows I had enough troubles with WordPress. I'm solving it by watching the tutorials, reading the help section, and I've even put up a WordPress blog. Go figure. Even I can be taught. 🙂
In theory my writing comes first… but then there are these… roadblocks like clients and earning money…
Lori, how can we get you comfortable with wordpress?
I need to write a WordPress manual for Lori. 🙂
Hey, can you write me one too? My thought is that blogger is owned by google and they control the search engine… just a thought.
PLEASE! Anne, Cathy, if you can, that would help lots of people (like Wade and me).
Cathy – add me to that list, too. I'm still trying to figure out some things with WordPress.
— generic cialis online
— [url=http://buycialisonlinetoday.com/#mwww.blogger.com] cialis no prescription
[/url] http://buycialisonlinetoday.com/#32596 — generic cialis online no prescription
— generic cialis no prescription
— [url=http://buycialisonlinetoday.com/#54146] generic cialis no prescription
[/url] http://buycialisonlinetoday.com/#27089 — buy cialis online no prescription