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Can
you write? Well, if you do say so yourself, you know
how to put a decent sentence together. AND more importantly, you’re not the
only one who thinks so. Women, men, at-home moms…interested in turning that
talent into a flexible, lucrative home-based business? Tired of giving your
time, energy and life to a corporation? Long to run your own show and recapture
some precious quality of life? Read
on…
Corporate
America Wants Freelancers - Full and Part-Time!
10 Reasons to
Pursue Freelance Commercial Writing
As
I passed a cubicle in the office of my biggest client, the regional telecom
giant, the nameplate looked familiar. I stuck my head in. “Did you used to
have an ad agency?” “I did,” was the reply, “but thanks to the huge
recession in the creative industry back then (a
fact I was blissfully unaware of at the time), I had to shut my doors.”
Ah…now
I remembered her. She was one of several people who told me, that with no
industry experience or writing background, I’d have a heckuva time making it
as a freelance commercial writer. “Thanks for sharing” I recall thinking. I
hit financial self-sufficiency in four months that very year.
Why
pursue freelance commercial writing? There are tons of reasons.
YOU
LIKE TO WRITE AND ARE GOOD AT IT Just
making sure…
THE
TIME IS RIGHT FOR
FREELANCERS
In the last decade, two huge
trends have sculpted the corporate American landscape: downsizing
and outsourcing
. Corporations across the country and
are doing more with less. Fewer people, less resources, smaller budgets.
Consequently,
many organizations rely on freelancers heavily to get their work done --
and not just because they have to. There are many solid benefits of
dealing with freelancers
: no salaries, vacation time, sick
days, health insurance or benefits. Not to mention that a variety of talent can
ensure a consistently fresh writing perspective, often a challenge with
full-time staff writers.
EASY
ENTRY As
writing fields go, commercial writing is one of the easiest to break into and,
for even a moderately talented scribe, one of the most lucrative (which I’ll
get into shortly). All you need is a computer, fax machine (or fax software),
internet access, a reasonably good grasp of Microsoft WORD, a business license,
and you’re off. It’s one of the lowest start-up investments around.
BRILLIANT
WRITING NOT REQUIRED You
just don’t have to be incredibly talented to make it in this field.
There are plenty of industries, such as
healthcare, banking, manufacturing, insurance, high technology and many, many
more that need oodles of clear, concise copywriting that just simply doesn’t
have to be a work of art. As a matter of fact, they don’t want
a work of art. They simply want to convey information, simply. Bottom line, there’s more than enough work for the
less-than-brilliantly-gifted. If you are crackerjack, you’ll get into the fun
creative arenas like ad copy and edgy CD-ROM scripting, amongst others.
HIGH
DEMAND FOR TALENT Check
out my web site (www.wellfedwriter.com, then Testimonials) for a whole series of
comments from corporate writing
buyers sharing their thoughts on the
demand for good writing talent in this field. Suffice it to
say, there IS a demand.
UNLIMITED
WORK
Marketing brochures
, corporate image pieces,
advertisements, newsletters, direct mail campaigns, industrial video scripts,
trade articles, press releases, educational/industrial CD-ROM scripts, radio
spots, TV commercials, event scripting, business letters, sales promotion
material, marketing manuals, technical manuals, corporate profiles, annual
reports, product documentation, product spec sheets, proposals -- shall I go on?
And every single one of these have to be written by someone.
A
manager with a huge telecommunications firm in Atlanta noted, “Most people
would assume that a company of our size would do the bulk of our writing
in-house, and they’d be wrong. It’s amazing now much writing we outsource.
My writing needs these days are pretty steady, and I pay anywhere from
$65-85/hour, depending on the writer’s experience.”
BE
YOUR OWN BOSS In
the 9-5 working world, schedule-wise, you’ve pretty much got to march in
lock-step with the rest of the troops. If you’re a night owl, your time (so to
speak) has come. Want to sleep from 2-9 a.m.? Go for it! Of course, in the
beginning, you’d better be meeting clients when and where they want. Once they
realize that they can’t live without your awesome talents, you’ve got a lot
more scheduling freedom.
SHEER
VARIETY
OF WORK Over the years,
I’ve written about UPS
’s Canadian shipping operations,
BellSouth
’s product line and small business
division happenings, Coca-Cola
’s alliance with The Boys & Girls
Clubs of America, how one event production company would design an entertainment
pavilion for the Olympic
s, the charitable activities of a
prestigious Chattanooga hospital, and on and on.
Variety also means new clients all the
time. No long-term personality conflicts or on-going sticky office politics. You
get in, get the project done and get out.
FINANCE
YOUR WRITING “BLISS”
Maybe you’re a purist
(i.e. “writing” means books and articles) and you’re thinking that
there’s something terribly mercenary about writing for Corporate America,
right? But, w
hat’s the point of going the
“purist” route if you end up moonlighting at something else to make ends
meet? Or working full-time at a job you can’t stand? You might as well be
writing and earning $50-75/hour. Then, with the bills paid, you’ve got the
time and space to pursue your “bliss” – that future Oscar, Pulitzer, Emmy,
or Tony-award-winning screenplay, novel, TV series or Broadway play.
HEALTHY
INCOME
So, how much can you make? If you have
even a modicum of intelligence, ability and drive, you can sleepwalk your way to
$30,000 a year. If you’re halfway decent and reasonably aggressive about
getting the word out, you should easily top $50,000. Build a good reputation,
start getting referrals, and who knows? I know a healthy number of FLCWs in the
business grossing $100,000+ a year.
Interested
in part-time? Well, with those hourly rates for starting commercial writers in
the $50-75 range, depending on location and experience, 10-15 hours a week adds
up quickly. Suffice it to say, making $2000 a month part-time is very do-able.
How
Long Will It Take?
I
started out with absolutely no contacts,
no industry experience and no professional writing background and I was
self-sufficient (i.e. full-time, no moonlighting, paying all my bills) in four
months. Yes, I was motivated. I certainly can’t guarantee how long it’ll
take you to get there. But suffice it to say, it’s very do-able. If you’re
looking for just a part-time income, it’s even faster.
Who
Will You Be Contacting?
Your
two main categories of prospective clients are End Users (EUs) and Middlemen
MM).
EUs are the corporations, large and small that will be the end-users of
the writing. For starters, approach Corporate Communications, also known as
“MarCom” (marketing communications). No “MarCom”? Try marketing, sales,
or finally, HR.
Middlemen
MM
are companies often hired by EUs to execute these projects: advertising
agencies, graphic design firms, marketing companies, PR firms, event production
companies and writing brokers (who place writers in contract jobs), to name the
key ones. Few of these entities staff writing talent, preferring instead to hire
the right talent for a specific job, and only when needed. For all the above MM
clients, contact CDs (Creative Directors - often hard to reach), ACDs (Assistant
CDs - easier), AEs (Account Executives), PMs (Project Managers). Find them
through the actual category listing in the Yellow Pages or through an annual
business listing publication.
WHAT’S
YOUR STORY?
Career-changer?
At-home mom? Journalist? Corporate staff writer? New college grad? Whatever your
goals or your circumstances, this field offers a lucrative and growing
opportunity for those with even modest talent. Isn’t it time for a raise?
Peter
Bowerman is the best-selling author of the critically acclaimed The
Well-Fed Writer: Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Freelance Writer in Six Months
or Less, an award-winning, triple-book-club selection (Book-of-the-Month,
Quality Paperback Book and Writer’s Digest). The book is billed as a meaty,
step-by-step “how-to” for penetrating the lucrative arena of freelance
commercial writing. He has published nearly 200 columns and articles and leads
seminars on writing. Visit his web site at www.wellfedwriter.com
for more info on the book and his seminar tour. Reach him at bowerman@mindspring.com.
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