Good for you to be a drum-major in the Let’s March Outta This Funk Band! I often think of you when I read gloom and doom news and your assertion that the more companies cut back on staff, the better it is for independents.

In my January newsletter to our spa’s clients, I exhorted everyone to join us in saying every morning in the mirror – Better Again in 2010! We have nothing to fear but negativity itself.

Another positive thing that dovetails with your piece on Groovera: I agree that songs without words are better when you’re plucking your own from the ether. I love Pandora and am customizing more and more stations for myself. Today I’m listening to Philip Glass, but if you’re looking to get more upbeat, Mendelssohn, Bach, and Mozart are scientifically proven to boost productivity.

If you’re just straightening up your office or paying bills, however, it’s great to tune into the music of your halcyon days. I love cranking up Led Zeppelin, Vampire Weekend, and Coldplay or dialing back with The Roches, Joni Mitchell and Karla Bonoff.

My negative behavior I’m leaving in 2009 is letting everyone else take my reins. I got my bit in my teeth and I’m heading MY way on the highway!

Thanks for being a force for good in the world!

All the best to you and all your followers,
Jemille

For a couple of years I’ve been writing a quarterly newsletter for one of Iowa’s leading retirement communities, which relies on an agency to handle its other marketing work. During a meeting in late 2009, the marketing director at the retirement community asked if I would be interested in helping them with the organization’s advertising. As she explained, “We’re not a Fortune 500 company and don’t have unlimited marketing budgets, so we’re trimming costs by moving away from our agency.”

I jumped at the chance. Now I’m assisting this client not only with the quarterly newsletter, but monthly advertisements, sales brochures, newspaper columns, the annual report, photography and more. Everyone wins, because the client gets the work done at a more affordable price, and I get more projects, while earning my full rate.

Peter, I totally agree with your assessment that it’s time to stop thinking of ourselves as freelance writers and start promoting ourselves as problem-solvers. After all, companies that are surviving in this economy understand the value of good copywriting and are willing to pay for it—because they know it’s still a bargain.

I’m with you. I can’t remember the last time I watched the news, and yes, I read the newspaper, but mainly to see what’s going on around town. I move right past the negativity (which, yes, is MOST of it!). Years ago, I heard something that likely was one of the catalysts to my own personal news blackout. Some motivational speaker said, in essence, “What do most people do right before they go to bed? Watch the news! So, the last thing they hear before laying their head on the pillow is murder and mayhem. Mankind at its worst. And all night long, those words are getting etched in their brains. Is it any wonder that most people wake up gloomy and pessimistic?”

Simplistic perhaps, but a lot of truth to it as well. We really have a lot of control over the input we allow into our psyches, and few people exercise that control. Anyway, don’t want to veer off into woo-woo, but good points, methinks.

And yes, I can think of several writer friends specializing in magazine writing who are in the exact place you describe: supremely P.O.’d that they can’t make the living they want HOW they want, and not at all happy about having to find other ways to do that. For me, it’s always in large part, about the lifestyle, and living life on my own terms. And most writing won’t get you there. But, of course, ours will.

And Ron, sorry I just noticed your comment (#2, from 12/28, awaiting approval) this morning. You wrote: “But ‘writing is the alpha and omega of all business’?
How do you explain that to a group of programmers who think the world revolves around their code? How do you explain that to the sales staff who claim that their ideal client is “someone who’s dumber than me and pays his bills on time.” Good questions. And I wasn’t suggesting we all troop into our next meeting with programmers or sales staff, claiming the primacy of writing above all else. You WOULD likely get some strange reactions. More importantly is that WE as writers get that (and I truly believe it with every fiber of my being; none of the other happens in the absence of words) so we truly grasp the importance of what we do.

PB

Some may view the current economic climate as the emergency or distress, but I view it differently. I know I’m in distress when I can’t seem to focus, begin to procrastinate, or start overthinking everything. That behavior is a clue that I need to let something go–even if that “something” is just in my mind.

Bottom line: my life has improved. Dramatically! You know…times have been much worse than this. And yet people prospered — at least the ones who stopped focusing on what was wrong and instead looked for opportunity and stayed on course.

For us writers, the opportunity is so incredible, I’m constantly amazed at how many people complain about the economy. Here’s the thing. To do well, you may need to step outside of your comfort zone. You may need to get away from magazine articles that no longer pay well. But so many writers want prosperity AND want to be able to choose where that prosperity is going to come from.

Doesn’t work that way. If things aren’t happening in your regular target market, do some thinking and strategizing. Figure out where they’re happening. And go there.

Go…there’s nothing stopping you but yourself.

Hope everyone here has an amazing year. And that you surprise yourself with what you’re capable of!

1. The “secret weapon” – Reliability. I just landed a full website facelift with a winery outside of St. Louis, Missouri. The owner was bummed because copy changes she had requested from the previous writer in November were still NOT made this week (January). Amazing! In addition to writing new copy … I will oversee the new graphics by teaming with a designer. Cheers!

2. Market myself as if my life depends on it. Because it does.
I am currently in a peak & valley cycle. Though business was very good in 2009 … I’m looking to achieve even greater success in 2010. I plan on utilizing many of the techniques from the book … including more targeted cold calling. Yum!

In other news …
I had the pleasure of meeting PB at a St. Louis event over the holidays. What a great mix of inspiration & information. Thanks again, Peter! If you get the opportunity to do the same … don’t miss it.

Best wishes to all FLCWs for a successful 2010.

I like to think of copy as the infantry that actually does the work after the artillery (graphics, photos, etc.) has softened the field.

Cheesy…but true. Ha!

With all the talk of business beginning to pick up, now’s the time to ask clients if they are ready for the recovery.

Happy New Year to all,

Robin Halcomb