So I’m Still…

trying to figure all this out. LOL

I get asked a lot of questions.

What’s your favorite color?*

Who’s your favorite band?**

Do you prefer Pepsi or Coke?***

Why do you always wear bandanas?****

For the most part, I just answer the question and keep it pushin’. But there’s one question that makes me cringe when dread whenever it’s asked because I never know how to answer it.

What do you do for a living?

UUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

Now you might be wondering, “Kim, why is this question so hard? Surely you know how you make a living!”

Well, yeah, of course, I do. But explaining it to people…

UUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!

So, why is answering this question so difficult? Let me show you:

Person: Hi, Normal Person, what do you do for a living?

Normal Person: I’m an accountant.

Person: Oh, cool.

—————————————-

Person: Hi Another Normal Person, what do you do for a living?

Another Normal Person: I’m an attorney.

Person: Oh, okay. Cool.

———————————————————-

Person: Hi Yet Another Normal Person, what do you do for a living?

Yet Another Normal Person: I’m a teacher/ mechanic/stylist/Walmart Greeter’

Person: Very good.

———————————————————-

Person: So, Kim, what do you do for a living?

Me: Do I tell them I’m a writer? If I say I’m a writer, which kind do I tell them? Copywriter? Articles? My books? Do I tell them I’m a mystery shopper? A former teacher turned craft pro? A YouTuber? What? WHHHAAAAATTTT?!?

Person: You DO know what you do, right?

Me: <laughing nervously> Of course I do! I’m an animal anesthesiologist.

No, I’ve never actually told anyone that, but I’ve been sorely tempted. It would be easier for me to fake my way through that conversation than to explain how one person has five different professions (with countless subsets). Because that’s just not normal.

Yeah, I know, neither am I, but that’s not what we’re talking about right now.

Or is it?

Sometimes, and especially when I have my planner sitting in front of me, I wonder why and how I manage to juggle all this. Some days are better than others, but for the most part, I manage it. (I’m kinda taking a break from YouTube at the moment until I can upgrade my equipment or at least settle on a place to film on a regular basis.) I guess I am not a one job/career kinda person. I’ve got too many interests and way too short an attention span to just do one job every day for the rest of my life. I thrive on trying to write blog posts and articles, complete mystery shops, and still have enough time to get my items made so I can sell them (and donate part of the proceeds to charity). I’m no longer in an actual classroom anymore, but writing, YouTube, and even mystery shopping to an extent help to educate people. I cannot imagine my life without all of these things in it.

So, instead of fighting the steering wheel, I’m going to turn into the skid. The next time someone asks:

Someone: Hey, Kim, what do you do for a living? I’m going to respond with:

I’m an unconventional educator who uses words, videos and covert operations to inform the masses. Oh and I make and sell stuff.

Then while they’re unpacking all that, I’ll run away.

*Red

**Too many to choose.

***Coke

****Stay tuned…

 

On the Horns of a Dilemma

Ok, not really — just always wanted to use that phrase as the title of a blog post. LOL

I am, however trying to make a decision — and I am enlisting your assistance.

In my writing life, I have three basic nonfiction passions: Small business consulting, social media and renters’/real estate assistance. I really enjoy writing about those three areas. There is some overlap between small business and social media, which is cool — it’s like killing two birds with one stone (I’m all about the cliches tonight, folks!).

So, I’ve been thinking of honing an area or two for my specialist bent, and I know it will be one, if not more than one of the three above-mentioned areas…

I just can’t decide which one would be the most advantageous.

So I’m going to explain my idea for all three areas, and then I’m going to ask you which area you think would be the best one to launch. Like I said, I’ll eventually write about all three areas, but I have to start with one.

Small Business Consulting

• helping entrepreneurs develop their business ideas
• helping entrepreneurs research and compose their business plans, marketing materials and grants
• general advice on starting a business (licenses, locations, determining target markets)
• Question and answer segments when readers have questions.

The format would basically be how-to articles, with the occasional blog post-type article.

Social Media

• All things social media — how to advertise on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
• How to launch a social media campaign
• How to find your target market
• How to build rapport with your current and potential customers.
• The dos and donts of social media
• SEO education
• Answering questions from readers.

The format would also be how-to articles, but more blog post-type articles.

Renters Rights / Real Estate Issues

This is actually more of a database of information regarding renter’s rights in all 50 states. I’d also include information about foreclosures, short sales, dealing with lenders and other helpful advice for people facing losing their homes — whether as renters or buyers. I’ll also take questions from readers.

And there you have it — my three ideas. I like them all, and yeah, I AM leaning toward one of them, but I really would like input from you guys so I know if I’m going in the right direction. So, please cast your vote and let me know what you think. I’ll share my decision once I get the results of the poll and decide.

Just To Reiterate…

For the last couple of hours, I have been reading posts in a clients’ forum. Many of you will know of whom I am referring. Those that don’t, keep reading anyway, because, well, just keep reading. 🙂

Anyhoo…today I’m reading such nuggets of wisdom like:

“The Internet is dead for writers. There is no longer money to be made writing on the Internet.”

“Blogs are dead. You can’t make money writing on or for a blog.”

“Content mills are dead. You won’t be able to make money writing for content mills.”

And from a previous day, “Generalists are dead. You can’t make money as a generalist writer.”

Hum…

So, what, I’m supposed to pick a topic and go door-to-door and ask to write about it for the business? Are you saying I HAVE to return to print media?

Oh, wait — “Print media is dying. Soon you won’t be able to make money writing for print publications.

Uh huh…

Do you all know how utterly idiotic you sound? You are basically saying that soon SOON…a writer will not be able to make a living…ANYWHERE, ANYHOW.

Really?

C’mon folks, enough with the doom and gloom. As long as there are people who need to say things, but don’t know how to say them, writers will have work.

As long as things need to be sold, writers will have work.

As long as people continue to read, writers will have work.

(OK — so that last one if kinda iffy, but I still stand by the statement, for now.)

But my point is, just because the genre is changing and just because the format is evolving, this does not mean writers are going to go the way of the dinosaur. Sure, there will be businesses who decide they can “do it better, since, really, how hard can writing be? I did get a B- in English in high school after all,”…

But the savvy business owner quickly comes to his senses and hires a professional to fix what he created.

Now, yes, this does mean that as writers, you might have to develop a new skill set, but hey, researching and learning new things and writing about them is a large part of what you do as a writer anyway, so this truly should not be a daunting task.

Especially if you’re…*gasp* a generalist. (Or a generalist with a specialist bent.)

So, folks, don’t put down your pens or close your word processing software just yet. We aren’t going anywhere!

Write What You (Don’t) Know

The past couple of days I’ve been extolling the benefits of being a generalist with a specialist bent. Again, as I’ve mentioned, to survive as a freelancer, you have to be able to write about a variety of subjects with authority. For the most part, the key to doing it is having decent research skills.

Now, I pride myself on my ability to find just about anything online. If there’s website, blog post or even a tweet about a subject, I can find it.

Until today.

I’m writing an article on troubleshooting a Kenwood washing machine. OK — first off, I didn’t even know Kenwood made washing machines. I thought they made car stereos and walkie talkies. Didn’t know they were into appliances as well.

Turns out, they are a big European supplier of household appliances. So, there was a new nugget if information for me.

So, now I’m on a mission to find an owner’s manual for a Kenwood front-loading washer. And I’m striking out.

Big time.

Blah.

Kenmore manuals. Everywhere. Whirlpool manuals. A plethora. Want a manual on the Neptune, Elite or Oasis? I got ya covered. But damn if I can find anything on a Kenwood washer. I barely uncovered that they exist.

So, I have a request. If anyone knows anything about these washers, could you tell me where I need to look? I’m not above turning over any stone, but I’m running out of them. So, I’m doing what any good researcher does when he hits a wall. I’m peeking over it and seeing if there’s anyone on the other side.

Help? Please? Hello?

Thanks in advance. Guess I’ll go write about gluing stainless steel plates to a wall now…

Figuring Things Out

Being a generalist with a specialist bent should keep life interesting, and yet I sometimes find myself totally bored with what I am doing. But just because you love what you do, this doesn’t mean you will love it all the time. There are lots of things I enjoy doing that at times leave me cold and totally unmotivated. Not sure why I thought writing would be immune to that.

Like with anything else, you just have to find ways to keep it interesting. I’ve spent way more time on articles than I should have. Methinks it is time to branch out a bit. Remember what ignited my desire to become a writer in the first place. To that end I think I’m going to attempt NANO this year. Except I don’t think I’m going to do a novel per se. It’s going to be the shell of a screenplay instead. I also have a few passions I’m going to pursue as well, such as a website about eviction laws in the US. But that’s still in the planning stages.

So folks, the point to this ramble is this: do the stuff that puts food on your table, keeps the roof over your head, and gas in your car, but don’t forget to do the things that make you happy as well. Life is too short not to enjoy your trip around the sun.

Long Live General Knowledge

So, I got an email from one of my regular clients yesterday, basically announcing that, although the sites I write for will live on, the opportunities to write for them are going to decrease dramatically. This email wasn’t much of a shock, because opportunities to write for this client have decreasing steadily for a while now.

Now, of course, I’m not the only freelancer who writes for them, so getting the email wasn’t a personal affront to me. However, others seemed to view it differently.

For months….months I have been preaching that it is folly and freelancing suicide to depend on just one client, or one type of client for your bread and butter. Companies fold. Companies scale back. Companies execs wake up one morning and decide they don’t like this group of people, and *poof* those people are on the outside, looking in.

I’m not going to lie and say that the scaling back hasn’t hurt. As I mentioned a while ago, I had grown too dependent on this client and other like it, so I’ve been working on branching out for a while now. So, although the news isn’t great, it’s not going to kill me either. I can find work elsewhere. I’ve got skills and enough general knowledge and experience in the freelancing world to make it work.

Which brings me to the reason for the title of this post. A few weeks back, a fellow writer made a statement that ruffled my feathers a bit. She stated that generalists were a dying breed and that the only way to make it as a freelancer was to carve a niche, and stick with it.

Uh, pardon me?

You’re trying to tell me that it’s not a good idea to have knowledge in a variety of areas? You really expect me to believe that it is better to stick to one knowledge base and skill set…as a freelance WRITER?

Um, that’s as suicidal as sticking to one client.

Now, I’m not saying it isn’t good to become an expert in an area and tout that expertise. I do it all the time with my small business knowledge and growing expertise in social media marketing. What I’m saying is that along with that expertise, it can’t hurt to be able to write on a variety of topics. So, yeah, I can write about small business startup concerns and how to launch a social media campaign with authority, but I can also explain how to troubleshoot a washer, how to get rid of a skunk smell in your furnace, and give men 10 reasons why they are still single. As writers, one of our strongest skills is the ability to research and write knowledgeably on a variety of topics. You cannot survive as a freelancer if you only write about one topic. Not to mention, it would make the freelancing gig incredibly boring…

And if I wanted to be bored, I’d go back to a brick and mortar job. To toss out a well-worn cliche, variety is the spice of life, and it’s a freelancers bread and butter.

So, to all my fellow generalists, keep doin’ what you’re doing, and ignore those who tell you that you’ll never make it as a freelancer. If they still want to argue, send them my way. It’s hard to argue with someone whose been doing it since 1996. And to those of you who are niche writers, good luck to you, and I have you have a niche B. And feel free to try and prove me wrong.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have three social media articles to write and then I need to explain how to hide an ugly bay window, remove scratches from a butcher block table, and detail the various sizes of dormers.

Diversity…it’s a good thing!