All Posts in Category: Running Your Writing Business
Vegemite. Waste. And How Real Companies Think
Have you heard of Vegemite?
It’s the descendent of Marmite, if that rings more bells.
Both are classed by most people as disgusting, but something you need to try at least once when visiting Australia (Vegemite) or the U.K. (Marmite) for the first time.
But aside from being a seriously acquired taste (or mouth-puckering, depending who you ask), most visitors don’t really know what they’re putting in their mouth–or why it’s the perfect example of the gap between successful and struggling freelance businesses.
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Business Planning Doesn’t Work for Creatives (or Anyone Really). Here’s What to Do Instead
How do you usually approach planning for your business—either the big picture or the more short-term goals?
I Want You to Experience Coaching So Much I Fought with My Business Manager About It!
What I love about–the reason I have spent a significant amount of money (five figures for real certified training!) and time (I’ve logged more than 600 paid coaching hours in addition to hundreds more hours of unpaid training–that it is THE way to actually ensure people get results.
Use This Coupon for $100 Off The Classes You Need to Build the Most Critical Foundations of Your Writing Business
You are a business.
But how does entrepreneurship really works in such a small scale? Especially with an inherently service-based businesses?
The Single, Biggest Thing That Holds You Back From Travel Writing Success
I know this sounds crazy, but you really can have travel writing success and get yourself officially up and running with a flourishing business in one hour!
Have you tried before? I can feel the head shakes and sighs.
But what makes this process take longer than an hour is not the time required to announce to the world that you are a travel writer, via various forms of social media and your own shiny new website. It’s the decision making.
Which of These 3 Types of Travel Writer Are You?
When I start any conversation with someone who wants to be a travel writer, or has been trying to make a career in travel writing for a while and isn’t getting any traction, first and foremost, I ask:
Why are you doing this in the first place?
WTF Are You Doing with Your Travel Writing Time?
I have to ask.
What did you do today?
Do you know? Is that because it just happened? Let’s try a harder one.
What did you do during your work hours last Monday?
People Die of Exposure – Why Give Away Your Work For It?
I will never stop being surprised that brand new websites and magazines continue to post ads on Craigslist, BloggingPro, ProBlogger and other writing job sites asking people to write for them for free in exchange for “writing exposure.”
Having started websites myself and consulted for many others, I promise you that any website so new that it is hiring people to write its content doesn’t have any more readers for you to be “exposed” to than you would if you just went and started your own blog.
You’d probably have more eyeballs on your own, actually.
You Only Get One First Impression–How Not to Botch It
Do you struggle with how to tell people what you do or how to introduce yourself at networking events (in a travel writing context that is)?
It is an unfortunate paradox for travel writers. On the one hand, we have a job so “cool” that it often seems like everyone wants to do it. But at the same time, a lot of people—often even the same people that say they would love to be travel writers—act like this profession is not really a job…it’s a hobby.
“What questions should I ask when I’m on the phone with a potential travel content marketing client?”
We’ve got a new book out, 101 Things You Need to Know to Make it as a Travel Writer, that answers 101 questions that we hear from travel writers all the time that are holding them back from achieving their Dream of Travel Writing. To celebrate the new book, we’ll be tackling a new sticky travel-writing situation each Monday here on The Six-Figure Travel Writer blog.
“What questions should I ask when I’m on the phone with a potential client?”
Here are seven questions that you can use as a checklist the next time you’re on a call with a potential travel content marketing client. Each of these questions is really important in helping you put together your proposal.