Tag Archive for: creative resources

Tanking economy. Up-and-down stock market. High and growing unemployment. The end of the world as we know it. Etc, etc, etc. How’s all this affecting your commercial writing business? Perhaps less than you might imagine…

Okay, rest assured, I’m not here to say that all the economic turmoil is just a mirage. It’s not. But I am here to say that you’re in control of how you view it, and in turn, the extent to which you allow it to affect you.

I thought about offering a collection of tips on dealing with your commercial freelancing clients in tough times, but others, like Mike Stelzner are doing a good job of that. Instead, let’s talk about our thinking….

When you watch the news (Mistake #1), do you go into a sort of trance-like state, mumbling to yourself along the lines of,

Ohthislooksbadallmyclientsaregoingtostopreturningmycallscutbackorgooutofbusinessaltogetherwhichmeanslessworkforme
IshouldlookatgettingajobwhoamIkiddingtheyrelayingoffrightnownothiringmaybeajobworkingatthemallduringtheholidayswaita
minutethatwon’tworkeitherbecausenoonewillbebuyinganythingIknowIsurewontnextstopstreetcornerwithasignwillwriteforfood
whatwasithinkinggettingintothisstupidbusiness
… STOP!!

Okay, that’s called flabby thinking. Understandable, perhaps, but still flabby. Let’s toughen it up a bit. No mind-control hocus-pocus here. Just a few facts. During tough times, will businesses stop marketing, stop communicating with employees (internal communications), stop trying to reach new customers (ads, direct mail case studies), stop building web sites or updating existing ones, and all crawl into holes and wait and hope for things to get better? The very idea is ludicrous. And incidentally, I’m busier than I’ve been in a long time…

Will some businesses cut back on outside resources and perhaps bring projects in-house? Yes. But many can’t because they don’t have the in-house resources to do them.

And if there will be some cutting back, does that mean that bigger companies who’ve been using pricey ad agencies, design/PR firms and marketing companies might be cutting back on them? Yes. At which point, might the idea of hiring a far more economical, but-just-as-if-not-more effective freelance writer/designer team sound much more attractive? You bet it will.

And how much effect does the economy truly have on ONE person’s quest for financial self-sufficiency and freelance success? Given that that ONE person needs to garner only a tiny sliver of the entire universe of possible lucrative commercial writing work out there? Not much.

And don’t forget: there will be a certain chunk of your competition who will buy all the gloom and doom, will blink and run, opting for something they perceive will be more secure, and will leave you with less competition.

Feeling better yet?

If you’ve been around the block a few times, what are your thoughts?

What other tough-thinking strategies can you suggest?

What are you seeing from your clients?

What do you see as the keys to getting through tough times?