VOLUME 16, ISSUE 12 – DECEMBER 2017
THIS MONTH’S MENU:
I. APPETIZER: THE MOST PROFITABLE WRITING NICHE OF 2018?
Yours Truly: There’s No Such Thing (Unless You Develop New Skills…)
II. “FIELD” GREENS: REIMAGINING INSURANCE!
Two Unconventional Options to Traditional Health Insurance for Freelancers
III. MAIN “MEAT” COURSE: THE WARRIOR WRITER
LA FLCW/Single Mom is Poster Child for Multi-faceted Effectiveness and Competence
IV. DESSERT: SWEET SUCCESS STORIES & TIPS
Indiana FLCW Loves His Labor & Parlays It into Labor of Love
TIP:11 Copywriting Tips to Turn Marketing Drivel into Serious Sales Copy
I. APPETIZER: THE MOST PROFITABLE WRITING NICHE OF 2018?
Yours Truly: There’s No Such Thing (Unless You Develop New Skills…)
I’m basically lazy; I don’t want to work any harder than I have to. Who does? It’s only natural to seek the path of least resistance, the shortest distance between Point A and Point B (even if logic dictates it’s just not that easy). Shortcut-hunting is just part of the human condition, so it’s no surprise that we see plenty of it in our field.
This business of ours is a bona fide opportunity, but as anyone who’s built a successful practice can tell you, it ain’t easy. It can be a long, hard slog to get established, even under the best of circumstances. So, any edge, any leg up, any inside track that can grease the skids a bit can be most welcome.
Got a note from a reader recently, checking in with some kind words about my book and how it’d helped, and then asked this:
“I’m curious…what do you think is the most profitable writing niche in 2017-18?”
There we go. A sincere and seemingly logical question. Until, of course, you examine it a bit more closely. My response:
If you’re talking about a niche that’s open to anyone who shows up, I say it doesn’t work that way. I don’t believe there IS a “low-barrier-to-entry” writing niche that would be “The Most Profitable.” If there were, everyone would be doing it, and, pretty soon, it wouldn’t be profitable anymore. 😉
Far better to simply follow your own interests and skills and carve out a writing life doing what YOU enjoy well enough (“passion” not necessary*) what YOU are good at, and what YOU have discovered that enough clients will pay well for. Period.
Do that and you’ll do fine, and better than you’d do trying to chase the hottest trend, etc.
No one hands out money for nothing. For something to be “the most profitable,” there has to be a reason it is. And when you’re talking about a particular writing niche as offering up that elusive bigger pot ‘o gold, the reason is that you’re bringing an uncommon skill to the table—a skill that warrants a bigger paycheck.
There are indeed more profitable arenas of freelancing, but, by definition, they demand extra training, experience, and expertise. It’s not a matter of just showing up in one of those niches and reaping those higher profits. As noted, if it were that easy, it would soon cease to be a good opportunity.
But, even that “reality-check” response of mine underscores the fact that you can indeed give yourself a raise by boosting your skills so you can compete in those higher-paying circles. It’s still a meritocracy. On that happy “cause-and effect” note, let’s eat!
NOTE: Speaking of “developing new skills,” if you haven’t checked out Well-Fed Craft, my self-paced course that will upgrade your skills in writing the most common marketing-writing projects, check out all the details (including a free 10-minute sample AND a pile of pretty strong user testimonials) at https://wellfedwriter.com/well-fed-craft/.
II. “FIELD” GREENS: REIMAGINING INSURANCE!
Two Unconventional Options to Traditional Health Insurance for Freelancers
Atlanta FLCW and business coach Ed Gandia sent me this most timely and valuable piece on health insurance—a subject on the minds of freelancers everywhere. You might just have more options than you think. Thanks, Ed!
The health insurance situation in the U.S. has never been this challenging—especially if you’re a freelancer with no access to insurance through a spouse or partner.
Premiums continue to rise unabated. And millions of Americans are being forced to drop their coverage because they can no longer afford it.
Two months ago, I’d had it with rising insurance premiums. And after my insurance company denied coverage for a $2,700 procedure my son needed, I decided to look for other options.
I realized that if I wanted to find a real solution to my problem, I needed to change the question I was asking myself. Rather than asking, “Where else can I look for coverage?”, I started asking, “What are my options?”
My search led me to two unconventional options to traditional health insurance. After doing extensive research, I dropped my regular coverage and signed up for a hybrid option.
My monthly premiums dropped by nearly 50%.
I recently published a detailed podcast episode highlighting two unconventional options to traditional health coverage. You can find it here. That page includes detailed show notes and a PDF resource guide.
These options are NOT for everyone. But if you’re fed up with out-of-control premiums and subpar coverage, you owe it to yourself to visit this page.
III. MAIN “MEAT” COURSE: THE WARRIOR WRITER
LA FLCW/Single Mom is Poster Child for Multi-faceted Effectiveness and Competence
Got this wonderfully inspirational story of…call it “overachievement by necessity,” from LA-based FLCW Robyn Kurdek. Read this story and tell me this woman isn’t a warrior. Good for you, Robyn.
And she’s right; no matter how big you have to dream to create the life you need to create, it all starts with believing it’s possible. She did and it’s happening.
In November 2016, I was working in a corporate marketing J.O.B. I hated. I had only been in the role about two months, but I recognized that it wasn’t a good fit. I knew I had to find something else, pronto.
Fast forward one year later: I’m thriving in my new day job as an online marketing and content strategist, and my FLCW side gig is booming. I currently have two clients on monthly retainers, and two more in the works.
How did I go from corporate shill to rainmaker in just 365 days?
Easy. Okay, it wasn’t that easy, but it wasn’t as difficult as I thought.
In April 2017, I got a wild hair to optimize my LinkedIn profile for my freelance writing niche: The defined contribution (DC) retirement plan industry (mostly 401(k) plans).
It’s a market with a huge appetite for content. Not to mention, there are tons of companies that fit my target market—mid- to large-size retirement-plan service providers.
The DC industry is the perfect fit for my background and expertise. I’ve spent most of my 20-year finance career focused on retirement plan marketing. Plus, it’s different from my day job, where I work with investors, so it keeps things interesting.
I improved my LinkedIn search rankings by adding some obvious key words to my profile, including “freelance financial writer” and “defined contribution industry expert.” In May, I got a message from the editor of a prominent DC industry website. He was looking for a writer with my expertise.
After a few telephone conversations and emails, he hired me to write three articles per week for his website, or about 12 a month. That comes with a nice retainer.
While the work is challenging, I’ve gotten better and faster at it over the past six months, so my hourly rate is even higher than when I started. It’s a great gig, and income I can count on.
My other retainer client—also from LinkedIn—is outside my niche: I ghostwrite two articles a month to support the email-marketing efforts of a boutique consulting firm that works with small business owners. Over time, I’ve gotten a better handle on what I’m writing about, with the same great result—my hourly rate continues to rise.
Additionally, I’m in negotiations with two more clients for ongoing freelance assignments on retainer. Both have enough work to keep me busy for quite awhile, and I’m confident that I’ll have a steady stream of projects from articles to web content to product descriptions coming my way soon.
That crummy corporate job? It’s a distant memory now. Today, I have a day job that I love. I could quit to freelance full time, but I don’t want to.
FYI, I’m a single mom of two special needs children, 11 and 4. I built a lucrative part-time freelance practice while raising them and working full time. My life is a hustle, but there’s a lot of heart behind it. My kids are my inspiration, and they fuel my desire to do my best to give them a good life.
Oh, also, I moved, pretty abruptly, from Washington to California this summer. Needless to say, 2017 has been anything but boring and stagnant.
All that to say, if I can do it, you can do it. I’ve faced a lot of challenges this year, and I think I succeeded in large part simply because I believed I could. People tell me all the time that I’m strong and resilient, and I like to prove them right. I’m thankful for the opportunities that have come into my life; I consider each one a blessing. And you can bet I’ll finish 2017 counting every one.
IV. DESSERT: SWEET SUCCESS STORIES & TIPS
Indiana FLCW Loves His Labor & Parlays It into Labor of Love
TIP: 11 Copywriting Tips to Turn Marketing Drivel into Serious Sales Copy
Got this heartwarming, multi-dimensional success story from Wabash, IN FLCW Darrell Boone. Just reading through Darrell’s initial query to me had me step back from my so-called “problems” and feel grateful for the good things in my life. Thanks, Darrell!
In the early 2000’s, due to a change in my organization’s leadership, the job I’d enjoyed for a couple of decades had turned miserable. I’d heard of freelance copywriting, but it sounded too good to be true.
I stumbled onto The Well-Fed Writer, and also met a successful freelancer. Between the two, I got up the courage to give it a try, and have never looked back.
I found TWFW to be one of the most practical books I’ve ever read. I followed Peter’s instructions carefully and they worked!
I’ve specialized in agriculture and agribusiness (I grew up on a farm, and have a small farm as well). I’ve taken something of a “hybrid approach,” where I’ve done PR and marketing copy for major agribusinesses, but have also done a lot of work writing articles about progressive farmers for farm publications.
Yes, the former pays much better, but I really love doing some of the journalistic stuff too, and feel like I’m doing good work that makes a difference.
For the past 15 years, I’ve had a new lease on life! I’ve felt younger, had fun, and was energized to be learning new things and building my business. I’ve also been truly blessed to be working with some great clients, who appreciate me and my work, and let me know on a regular basis. Call it God-given knack + some writing experience + some people skills + passion for agriculture = Great Second Career.
Then this last year, I used the skills I’d honed as a freelancer to write a self-published memoir, He Made Us Better: A Story of Faith, Family, Friends (and Football). Available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, it’s about our special-needs son, also named Peter, who passed away in 2014.
Peter was born with a severe birth defect and a grim prognosis, but nevertheless managed to exceed all expectations, living a happy, successful, and productive life for 39 years.
Despite his many challenges, Peter lived so joyfully that he really did have a knack for making those around him “better,” by inspiring them to focus less on their problems, and more on what they had to be thankful for.
Having the privilege of being able to tell our son’s story has been one of the great joys of my life, and one of the many ripples set in motion from the opportunity served up in TWFW! Thanks, Peter!
Came across this great little compendium of 11 tips for turning, “Marketing Drivel into Serious Sales Copy,” from Liverpool, UK FLCW Henneke at Enchanting Marketing (yup, just Henneke). To my mind, what made this list stand out was two things:
1) She offers specific examples of the wrong AND right ways to write copy.
2) The tips are grounded in the sales/marketing fundamentals I live and breathe—like audience and features/benefits—and they uniformly view any copywriting from that all-important perspective of a reader.
Check it out here. Thanks Henneke!