“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”
–Maya Angelou
Worried about the threat of AI on your writing business? Anxious about a possible recession and its impact on your income?
You’re not alone. There’s enough happening in the world to keep everyone up at night. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my 30-year career is that how you respond to the current and potential challenges will determine how well you come out on the other end.
In this episode, I discuss the four different scenarios you might be in right now, and what each of them asks of you. I then lay out three high-level strategies for shoring up your business and becoming stronger, better and more resilient.
The notes that follow are a very basic, unedited summary of the show. There’s a lot more detail in the audio version. You can listen to the show using the audio player below. Or you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts.
00:01:59 – Overcoming Fear and Uncertainty in Times of Crisis:
If it goes unchecked, you can really get into a lot of trouble because your inner critic will run wild with whatever ideas you give it. And the inner critic feeds on fear.”
00:04:18 – Surviving and Thriving in Challenging Times:
“We can only control ourselves, and more specifically, how we respond to every challenge and every situation in front of us.”
00:17:17 – Expanding Your Audience:
“In fact, this gives you a great advantage because if you know the higher ed market and you write for these clients, you would be a valuable resource for a company that tries trying to get in the door or works with higher ed clients because you understand how this prospect thinks and what they look for.”
00:29:02 – Pivoting as needed:
“Just because something is hot doesn’t mean that this is where you should go. This is really more about pivoting as needed and carefully and strategically and reframing and clarifying your message and how you add value in this environment.”
00:31:16 – Transitioning from a Freelancer to a Consultant:
Think of yourself as less of an order taker and really more of a trusted advisor.”
00:35:40 – Strengthening Your Authority:
Right now we’re at a point where, hey, if you can build your authority in terms of creating new content, making a bigger investment in some of your better social media channels like LinkedIn, this may also be a good time to write a book. Don’t think of a book as having to be a full length 75,000 word book. You could take something you put together that’s 20,000 words or less and call it a book. Essentially something with some core ideas, something that’s relevant to your audience, that demonstrates your thought leadership, how you think, how you work, and so forth.”
00:36:59 – Viral Topic:
Investing in New Projects and Opportunities. So now if you have extra time and again you have the financial runway to invest in a project like that, this could be the time to do it. Same with things like podcasts. If there are podcasts that your audience listens to, this may be the time to invest in pitching the hosts of those podcasts on you coming in as a guest to talk about two or three different specific things.”
00:37:24 – Refocusing Business Offerings: “And for those clients and prospects who are cautious, maybe you ask yourself, okay, how could I help them with lower priced offerings that are still high margin for me? Meaning content calendars, content repurposing, which I mentioned a minute ago, things that, hey, this is not a $5,000 engagement, maybe it’s 1000 or 1500, but it gets me in the door. It’s something that I find enjoyable, it adds tremendous value to them and it could lead into other things.”
00:43:09 – The Power of the Future Self:
“I’m better, stronger, and smarter than I was ten years ago. So my past self was not as good as my current self…if that pattern keeps repeating, what makes you think that in ten years you’re not going to be better, stronger, smarter?”
00:50:44 – Finding Strength in Dark Moments:
“Sometimes it’s during our darkest moments, during our moments with the biggest fear and anxiety that we can muster all the resources we need to actually turn our business around.”
By the way… whenever you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you grow your freelance business:
- Grab a free copy of my book.
It’s called Earn More in Less Time: The Proven Mindset, Strategies and Actions to Prosper as a Freelance Writer. The title says it all. 😉 — Click Here - Join my implementation program and be a case study.
I’m putting together a new implementation group this month. If you’re earning $5k+/month (or the part-time equivalent) from your freelance business … and you’d like to grow your income quickly with better clients … just email me at [email protected]
- Work with me privately.
If you’re a 6-figure writer who’s trying to earn more in less time, with less stress, I might be able to help you get there faster than you think. Just email me at [email protected] and put “Breakthrough” in the subject line, and I’ll get back to you with more details.
