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I left my job as an IT/business consultant in 2011 to make my living as an author, professional speaker and entrepreneur.
It is six years since I quit a good job in I.T. to make my fortune as a freelance writer. My mother still hasn’t got over it. I’m still waiting for my fortune, but I’ve learned some priceless lessons along the way. Here is what I know.
(1) Do the Maths
Let’s start with the money.
You won’t have any to start out with.
It might seem an obvious thing to say, but the first thing that happens when you quit a job to follow your dream is that your bank account goes awfully quite at the start of every month. This can be a bit tricky unless you have incriminating photographs of your bank manager. I don’t have such photos (or a bank manager really) so I had to go out and earn my share of the mortgage.
You need to figure out a way to pay the bills or else the stress will wipe out the enjoyment of your new career. And you’re supposed to enjoy it.
(2) Go for a long good bye
The dream goes like this. You quit your 9 to 5 job on a Friday and write a bestseller by Wednesday week.
That’s fine in Hollywood; I live in Cork. That’s why I made the transition in stages, starting with a couple of articles for a Sunday newspaper that I wrote in my spare time. The editor wanted more so I dropped down to four days a week on the I.T. front, with Fridays set aside for writing. This allowed me to pay my way and check if I still wanted to be a writer. I did. Then we had to do an on-line ethics course in my I.T. job. This involved an animated character called the Ethics Buddy coming on screen to congratulate me every time I got a question right. Here I was in my mid-30s being patronized by a cartoon character. I quit I.T. and made the leap into writing for good. I’d like to thank the Ethics Buddy for making that possible.
(3) Work for free
There is a big debate out there around whether writers should be doing work for free. My advice is keep out of that debate and write some stuff for free.
Why? It’s not slavery, it’s an investment. And it’s free training, where you get to hone your craft.
Write every eight hundred word piece as if it might be read by millions of people. Or just one editor looking for new talent. Because you never know who is reading or listening. I have a regular slot on national TV because a producer heard me talking about the new series of Dallas on a radio show. It’s all very well to have a strategic vision and a five year plan. But you will also need a chunk of luck. And whenever you write and talk in public, you are making your own luck.
(4) Hang on, will this ever pay?
Yes, once you do something that no one else can do.
Here’s the awkward truth – there are far more writers out there than paying writing jobs. You need to stand out. I have made a name for myself as someone who can turn around funny, satirical copy week after week. This exposure has led to ancillary gigs on radio and TV. I only discovered I could write this kind of copy after some embarrassing stints as a business reporter among other things. So keep going until you find your niche.
(5) Take it personally
I suffered a minor emotional collapse the first time an editor sent an article back saying this isn’t good enough. Why?
Because I come from a technical background, where there is an objectively correct way to do things. I wasn’t used to criticism or differences over taste. I am now. Any creative endeavor involves sifting through criticism and judging how much of it to take on board. People say you shouldn’t take criticism personally. People are wrong. You need to take it personally. Otherwise, I don’t think you care enough about your creation. And you need to care.
(6) Get around
Here is my current working week. I write for two newspapers and one television show, appear on national TV and radio, work as a copywriter for a number of ad agencies and I spend an hour a day writing the sequel to my first novel, Keep Away From Those Ferraris.
In the past six years, I have also been a radio reporter, business journalist, book reviewer and travel writer. My career so far has been a series of micro start-ups. Some failed, some worked. The important thing is that I get around. You should do the same. It builds up important networks and gives you some fall-back if one of your gigs comes to an end. And one thing is guaranteed if you work in the media right now – gigs will come to an end.
(7) You need somebody to lean on
It’s not just the regular pay cheque I miss from my old days in I.T. I miss the camaraderie, the chats in the canteen and speculating whether the new Spanish Unix specialist and that guy from accounts have started seeing each other on the sly. (That’s Cork-speak for behind our backs.) You’ll miss it too.
Creativity can be a lonely business. My Grandfather had a phrase – you need to get out and meet the people. It works for business and pleasure. So make sure to join a writer’s group, hire some space in a shared office one day a week, play squash, meet one contact a week for coffee, anything that will get you away from your desk and in front of another human being. If nothing else, the change will get the creative juices flowing.
(8) And finally…
Get out of bed 30 minutes earlier in the morning to do some writing. That’s the clearest, simplest thing you can do to give your career a boost. And you can do it tomorrow morning. So give it a try and let me know how you get on. And good luck.
Have you made your writing pay the bills? How do you do it? Please leave a comment or a question below.
You can find Pat at: www.patfitzpatrick.ie
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Pdfitzpatrick
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BooksAndThingsByPatFitzpatrick
Top image: Flickr Creative Commons money by epsos.de
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1 2 Next »"(5) Take it personally"
from The Godfather
SONNY
You? You, the high-class college
kid. You never wanted to get mixed
up in the family business. Now you
wanta gun down a police Captain and
the Turk just because you got
slapped in the face. You're taking
it personal, it's just business and
he's taking it personal.
MICHAEL
(angrily, but cold)
Sonny, it's all personal . . ..
--In case it is not clear, I agree with you. It's all personal.
Thanks Antares. I'm with you. I don't understand people who say it's all personal. Creative work is invariably personal. As for Michael Corleone - he got to die a peaceful death. That's an achievement in that line of business. So he was definitely on to something!
Nice. I was lucky to start writing historical pieces for an excellent history site while working in a museum. I got paid. But I had also submitted essays and articles to local newspapers and lit mags. That led to invites to write more paid opportunities. I certainly improved my writing resume where I keep track of all the things I've had published. Recently, I was invited to do a 800 word chapter for a historical fiction novel 6 historians are writing for our local newspaper. Pizza was my only compensation, but it was so much fun to be the one to set the hook for the story. The publicity will be priceless.
And hey, pizza is better than nothing! Particularly if it's salami with mushrooms - that's better than most things in my experience.
Nice article! First that is giving me hope to survive in this word... Now just to learn to write English properly, because if there is not very much paied job where are you... well, don't want to know, how little job is in my native language.... :)
I need to get better.. And I definetly need to start seeing other people. Actualy I don't even know how they look anymore!
True Markéta. Good things happen when you get out and meet the people. We spend too much time cooped in the virtual world. Which reminds me - I need a coffee. Good luck with your work.
"Then we had to do an on-line ethics course in my I.T. job. This involved an animated character called the Ethics Buddy coming on screen to congratulate me every time I got a question right."
This made me laugh out loud. I've never had to deal with cartoon characters, but I did work for Worldcom when the massive fraud by the CEO and CFO was discovered. After the dust settled and as part of the re-emergence from bankruptcy, all of the employees had to take ethics training, as if we didn't know right from wrong or had anything to do with the fraud in the first place! It was quite ridiculous.
I know Scott. I must say my experience of working with small businesses and publishers has been overwhelmingly positive. There's usually a good ethic in a one-to-one relationship. Things get murkier as you go up the corporate food chain.
HI Pat
Great post, thanks.
I haven't yet begun to pay the bills, but I fully intend to. I think your advice about finding your niche is key. I tried a whole bunch of things on my blog before i figured what i wanted to do with it and now, slowly but surely, it's picking up readers. I'm not convinced I'm doing anything unique, but I'm getting better at what I am doing and I think that's the aim.
I agree with all your points, and did number eight a few months back. I now have thousand words down before I start work and it's a wonderful feeling. (and stops me getting grumpy around ten or eleven:)
cheers
Mike
I don't think there is any such thing as unique any more Michael - the internet has seen to that. But the more you write the closer you get to finding that corner of the world where you can make a mark. I wouldn't say I'm there yet. And where I am might not be relevant in five years' time. So you have to keep on your literary toes.
Congratulations on your success, Pat. It's always good to hear success stories. I agree with your suggestion to write for free. In my case, I handled social media platforms for some writer organizations earlier in my career and it really paid off in terms of name recognition and acquiring clients. Years ago when I was breaking into journalism, I actually worked as a reporter for free for a couple for less than two months until the newspaper hired me. That strategy has always worked for me!
That's a good strategy Frances. The trick is to find the moment when you work is good enough to attract a pay check. Because at some point it has to pay the bills. Good luck with your reporting etc.!
Perfect!! I just jumped off the full-time job ship last May and have replaced about 2/3 of my take-home pay so far. I agree with every single one of your tips, and can pat myself on the back for having already done most of them. Did some things for free as I prepared to jump, have tried several kinds of writing (still looking for my "niche"), have joined a writing group, and am setting up social time for myself each week. Getting up earlier every morning has not happened yet... wonder why...?
I set the alarm half an hour earlier. Guilt overcomes the hit the snooze button. I knew my catholic guilt would come in useful some day!
Pat, thanks for the great post. You certainly don't beat around the bush regarding some of the challenges of going freelance. I think going freelance is tempting to a lot of writers but, as you correctly point out, you need to develop a niche for yourself. The irony is that, while you mention in your post the need to accept "creative" criticism, your ability to succeed--to find that niche--is straight-out business. I've also been getting up early in the morning to write for many years but I will have to say, I could have paid more attention to the business aspects of my writing in the earlier years. I'm getting there but, as it is for all writers, the process is a long, uphill climb. The balance between creativity and business is a tricky one. Thanks again for your insights.
Glad you liked it Joe. It's hard to view your creative work as a 'product', but the reality is that's how a lot of your readers etc view it. I found with my novel Keep Away from those Ferraris that I had to switch from creative me to salesman me once it was published. That's not easy and I'm still learning the ropes. Good luck with your work.
Very good. I enjoy your style. This is certainly a marathon and not a sprint.
However--you knew there was going to be a catch--you don't take it personally. It is the work. If you can listen to praise, you need to listen to criticism. But you also need to learn to evaluate that criticism--it is just personal bias or is there something there? The other trick is this might be indicating a problem, but the other person might not give the correct solution or even identify the problem. Evaluation is important.
Having worked in technical and creative fields, both actually are just as objective or subjective. There are no "correct" solutions in technology, just efficient and inefficient ones. And those change with the situation. I am very careful not to brush something off as opinion--we all have opinions. Naturally, being inflexible and pedantic is not the solution either. This is really the balance the artists need to find. But if you are trying to do this as a career, then, at some point in the process, you need to consider the audience. You need to apply some critical judgement to the work. A tough, ongoing process, but a really rewarding one.
You are dead right about evaluating feedback, William. I gave the first draft of my novel out to four people to read. The feedback was mixed and contradictory, so I had to make a judgement call as to what I would take on board. Having said all that, I worked hard on that book, poured a lot of myself in to it. I felt the criticism, if I can put it like that. I knew rationally it was a matter of taste, but I couldn't help the effect it had on me. And I wouldn't have it any other way. That pushes me, it makes me a better writer.