All Posts Tagged: Freelance Psychology
When Was the Last Time You Met a Travel Magazine Editor?
I’ve previously attended the Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference and I’m always delighted to see the seats full of writers, who already have a flourishing business with travel writing as their full-time occupation or are on their way there.
But even more than hearing their stories of taking the leap, quitting their previous professions, and making travel writing work for them, I loved seeing them interact with editors.
It is so easy to have an “us vs. them” mentality about editors as a freelance writer.
Join Us for Free Travel Writing Lessons on Photography and Writing Guidebooks
In the two years since we began running regular one-hour travel writing classes, we’ve covered more than 80 topics, including:
- how to land free trips
- how to get paid really, really well for your writing
- how to get on magazine editors’ good sides
- how to navigate every step of the process to land travel content marketing work, including phone calls and proposals
- how to keep your hourly rate down so your bank account goes up
- how to get work done on the road
- how to write, step-by-step, 15 different types of travel articles
- how to land guidebook and other traditional publishing deals
You can grab access to all of our past webinars (and a ton of other resources you can’t find anywhere else) with a subscription to our Dream Buffet or grab them one-by-one when you need them in our On-Demand Webinar Library for a set with the video, audio, transcript, and slides.
But we also air a free replay of one of our travel writing classes each and every weekday.
My Favorite Takeaways from Our New Detox + Reset Retreat
At 10 a.m. on Saturday, armed with thermoses of freshly-brewed espresso and milk from local farms, cups of housemade yogurt and plum preserves, and slices of walnut-studded fresh sourdough smearer with spiced maple plum better, we began.
On a mountain ledge, looking out over the plains between the famous rock climbing cliffs of the Shawangunk and the Hudson River, we began clarify how to determine the values that direct us which decision to take in every situation before moving into describing our most ideal work environment and brainstorming what to do back at home to create it.
This was just the first morning’s activities of our new Detox + Reset program that we wrapped up this week.
Want to Hit the Ground Running with Travel Content Marketing? Check Out Our New Series on Perfecting Your Cold Pitches
Sales. Ugh, right?
I know. I know. Everyone hates it.
Especially writers.
The problem though with that situation though, is that sales, according to the Oxford Dictionary, means:
the exchange of a commodity for money; the action of selling something.
So, if we want to have a writing business, or any kind of freelance business (the practice of making one’s living by engaging in commerce–again via Oxford), we’ve got to exchange some things for money.
For most writers, the question then becomes:
How can I get money without having to do the icky sales exchange bit?!
The Travel Writers’ Detox + Reset: Announcing Our New Retreat!
You have spoken! We asked if you needed some time to re-center where you’re at with your work and travel life, and the response was clear.
We’ve been noticing a trend lately, from conference talks to our coaching calls, that freelance travel writers are being pulled in too many directions.
You can call it the by-product of not having a clear separation between work and life or decision-making overload from the sheer number of possible things to do anytime you open your computer, but we’re seeing a serious problem:
- How do you prioritize?
- Or do everything?
- Or decide what you should do in any one moment?
Where Will This Summer Take You? (And Your Travel Writing Career Goals?)
Something I love about the summer travel season is the uncontrollable and unavoidable return to essential enjoyments:
- The feeling of the sun on your skin on a beautiful dry day.
- The cooling barrage of a steady breeze during a beautiful hike on a humid day.
- Finding berries and eating them fresh off the bush.
- A juicy peach or plum that reminds you what fruit is meant to taste like.
- Sitting on the grass, or the beach, or any other place outside where there is no plastic or concrete between you and the world.
- Sitting with friends or family late into a fresh evening enjoying a moment in which nothing else matters and it seems the morning will never come.
- The view of the ocean and artistry of the clouds from an airplane window reminding you how big the world really is.
Whether it’s the weather, kids off from school, or simply the many holidays that encourage us to take vacation, summer has a way of forcing us to remember what really makes us happy and the outsized value of small pleasures.
Calling All Digital Nomads (or Future Digital Nomads): What Is Missing From Your Best Writing Life? Let Us Know and Win a Very Productive Prize!
Lifestyle design, as it was frequently referred to back in the day (this was popularized by Tim Ferriss’s The 4-Hour Workweek, but pre-dated him to my knowledge) before internet anywhere in the world was just a matter of switching your cellphone plan, focuses on your lifestyle.
In theory, at least.
You know, that whole be-in-control-of-your-schedule-and-live-wherever-you-want-doing-tons-of-travel-to-interesting-places-while-earning-a-full-time-living-and-only-working-part-time dream.
I’ve noticed, however, that when embarking down that very idyllic-sounding path, people are often stuck choosing between the lifestyle part and the work/supporting themselves part.
(Want to jump to this week’s survey? Head here.)
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Get Your Travel Writing MBA with Our New 16-Part Series
I don’t know about you, but when I was in my 9-to-5 job imagining and dreaming and finally planning my escape to be a full-time freelance travel writer, I never once considered getting an MBA in travel writing.
Before I made the leap, I did spend every commute and probably many idle hours in the office reading up on the hows of making it work as a freelance writer. And I spent more than a year building up clips and gigs before leaving my job.
But I never thought there would be any reason to study how big corporate businesses make things work. Isn’t that what we gleefully give up having to care about when we go rogue freelance?
“I’m nervous about speaking on the phone with a potential travel content writing client, what can I do?”
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.
“I’m nervous about speaking on the phone with a potential travel content writing client, what can I do?”
Before the call, get some talking points noted down such as why you’re on the call, how you found them, and how you can help.
How to Take Ownership of Your Freelance Travel Writing Success
When I was first asked to coach other travel writers on how to meet their business goals and finally get their dreams off the ground, I spent a long time thinking about it, observing writers I knew, and taking stock of the marketplace.
The 18 months of research that led to The Six-Figure Travel Writing Road Map actually centered very specifically on one question:
What is the difference between the writers who have normal careers as if they were in any other field, earning a great amount of money, buying houses, etc., and those that never seem to be able to crack making this into a viable, stable, long-term career?