Tightrope: Gifted writers have good opportunities
— -- Hi, Ms. Edmunds: Because of the recession, I have been unable to find employment. I read your columns regularly, and I know that you often suggest honing a skill and using it to make a living. My skill is writing. How do I turn my ability to write into a full-fledged business? I have been writing resumes and bios for people and I would love to reach deeper into the writing business. But I am beginning to lose faith in ever becoming successful. — Maria
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Over the past few months I have received many e-mails from folks asking for help and advice on riding out this tough economy. There is no doubt that business has been slow for many, and the economy is still a tremendous challenge. But the worst thing you can do at this time is to lose faith in yourself and your ability to make a decent living. This is no time to forget the many things that will allow you to prosper. There is always a resource to help us when we need it most.
With the countless websites available, it's sometimes difficult to find sites that are truly helpful to a struggling entrepreneur. But, I managed. And again, the Internet proved to be valuable tool.
I had the good fortune to talk with C. Hope Clark recently about the good work that she's doing to help writers make a living. In 1999 her love of writing led her to work for various online companies. A group of aspiring writers asked Hope to do a workshop for them on how to write for the Internet. After word of the workshop's success spread, people started e-mailing her for tips on writing for the Web.
Hope responded by putting together a regular newsletter, Funds For Writers. Among ways writers can make money, as her website Fundsforwriters.com relates, is through writing grant proposals for various purposes. Within a couple of months, she had 1,000 subscribers.
Today, Hope has thousands more subscribers and many more thousands of visitors a month. Her site offers many resources to grants, contests and other income sources. Fundsforwriters.com has been selected by Writer's Digest as one of the 101 Best websites for writers.
When you perform a job that you know how to do and you enjoy doing it, you will find that it's a lot easier to a make a living at it. People like C. Hope Clark can serve as a model for that philosophy. She knows how to write, enjoys it and it has not only brought her an income, but she can now be helpful to others.
There are many resources available that will help you to reach deeper into the writing world. In addition to websites consider listening to podcasts designed for writers. You can easily find podcasts related to writing on iTunes.
Most important, now that you have identified your skill, do all you can to make it work for you.
Gladys Edmunds' Entrepreneurial Tightrope column appears Wednesdays. Click here for an index of her columns. As a single, teen-age mom, Gladys made money doing laundry, cooking dinners for taxi drivers and selling fire extinguishers and Bibles door-to-door. Today, Edmunds is founder of Edmunds Travel Consultants in Pittsburgh and author of There's No Business Like Your Own Business, a six-step guide to success published by Viking. Her website is www.gladysedmunds.com. You can e-mail her at gladys@gladysedmunds.com.