I hope you are fired up after yesterday’s blog post—that you are gearing up to seek your fortune in the writing field. If article-writing isn’t your forte, consider doing some freelance writing for local businesses and organizations.
When my work shows down, I will send out letters to local companies offering my services to revise their company manual (I rewrote a bunch of manuals for Toastmasters), write the history of the company or agency (I did this type of work for a couple of local water districts), develop and write a company newsletter (I took over the newsletter for a local company), rewrite their website text (I did this type of work for a local real estate woman) and other such jobs a company might want to outsource.
There are numerous writing jobs within companies and agencies. I once rewrote a contract for a publisher, I’ve done ghostwriting for heads of corporations, I’ve written speeches and commentary for fashion shows and I’ve composed letters for companies.
These are the types of jobs you could get, as well. See if you can find out what a company needs, send them a letter or set up an appointment with the manager and convince him that you are the person to do this work. Supply proof of a track record, letters of recommendation and samples of your work. Here are some additional ideas for finding jobs:
• Check Craig’s List for writing jobs in your area.
• Sign up for Help a Reporter Out (HARO). http://www.helpareporter.com.
• Talk to your friends, family and acquaintances about the writing needs of the companies they work for.
• Read the classified pages in your newspaper.
• Search local companies online. Visit their websites and see if you can determine a need that you can fill.
Good luck! And let me know what comes of your efforts. Remember, though, nothing will open up for you unless you are out there flaunting your skills. Sometimes a company manager doesn’t even know he or she needs a position filled until you point it out to them. Your pitch might get them to thinking that the person they have working double time to get out the company newsletter is really struggling under the pressure of the job. It isn’t actually part of her job description. She is frequently late getting the work done. And it might be cost effective to free up this employee to do her own job and outsource the newsletter to a professional.
The thing is, if you sit home and complain about having no work, you will continue to have no work. If you get out and try to drum up some opportunities, you have a 100 percent better chance of finding work. Contact company and organization heads this week and you might be bringing in an additional $500 or $1,000 or so a month from now.
Let us know how it goes.
Visit me at my websites:
http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com