What can writers do to future-proof their work and lifestyles?

Whether it’s due to a global pandemic or continuous innovations in technology, the demand for freelance-writers is prone to changes. Sometimes, the changes might involve market lows which mean budget tightening and more strategic moves.

When the going gets tough, you must become creative and innovate to earn and maintain your freelance writing business. For some, this may mean restructuring your offerings and the value you offer. For others, it might mean joining more communities like Week of Saturdays for support, accountability, opportunities, and training. 

When the going gets tough, you must become creative and innovate to earn and maintain your freelance writing business.

There are several ways you can future-proof your writing skills and business. Here are our top recommendations.

Think strategically about your future

The world and culture is more dynamic than ever. Hiring managers and agencies are reactive to trends. For this reason, you must be too. Doing so keeps you up to date with the right tools and best practises to improve your skills, odds and opportunities. 

When you’re better informed, you can think strategically about your career path or business. As a freelance writer, you must not be a follower of trends, but one who stays ahead of the curve. Regardless of the world’s economy, there are always opportunities for writers and creatives to tap into. You should stay aware and consistently think about what is best for your work, today and in the future. 

Identify your differentiating factor

The increasing number of professionals stepping into the freelance and independent work pool means that you must work harder to differentiate yourself as a skilled and impressive freelance writer. 

You create a new market for yourself when you identify your niche-niche and highlight your differentiating factor from other freelance-writers. 

How do you measure up against others within your space? What do you do better than others? Identifying and answering these questions is worth the time and can increase your current rates if done right. When you identify your differentiating factor, your value is apparent and spend less time marketing your services. 

Here are three tips to guide you.

• Deep dive into yourself. Learn as much as possible about yourself, your skills, your interests, your challenges, and the intersection between all of these. When you get clear about what kind of writing makes you happy, makes you the most money, and you can do easily and exceptionally well, you are closer to identifying your differentiating factor that puts you in a space of your own.
  
  
• Get good at your elevator pitch. Your elevator pitch helps you describe your business in a nutshell. It can be in the form of a conversation, pitch presentation, speech, or a proposal. When you work on improving your elevator pitch, you find that you become better at selling your services. You’re more natural as you communicate what you do, and this helps you get the ideal clients you desire.
  
  
• Input results wherever possible. Clients find it easier to choose you if you show more than just work samples. Potential clients and employers want to see how your writing has helped others accomplish their goals.
  

Set targets for yourself

You cannot future-proof your business without knowing what’s next for you. To make progress, you must set real goals for yourself with deadlines and numbers e.g., you can aim to send individualized pitches to ten editors per week or join and engage in three writing communities or agencies in a month. This keeps you focused.

Collaborate

Gone are the days when being a freelancer implied being a lone wolf. Today, with many people doing what we do, it makes sense and is easier to collaborate with others within your niche, or others who complement your skills e.g. an illustrator or graphic designer. 

Gone are the days when being a freelancer implied being a lone wolf.

Upskill

Like we’ve noted, there are a lot more professionals dabbling in freelance-writing today. This should encourage you to push yourself within your niche and improve your skills. Examine your strengths and weaknesses – work on your strengths and collaborate with others to cover your weaknesses. 

If you are unsure of what skills to focus on? You can scroll up to see the hard and soft skills you lack and work to improve them. Sites like Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, SkillShare, and Udemy offer lots of good and free courses. Upskilling may also mean going further to get certified within your niche e.g. if you write in project management and love it, you can take project management courses to become not just a freelance writer but a freelance writer who is project management-certified. 

This would widely increase your value, rates, and even the kind of jobs you take on.