This is an excerpt of Write Your Way Out of the Rat Race…And Step Into a Career You Love by Linda Formichelli.
You want to be a writer. You know that.
But what you don’t know is what the heck you want to write about.
And there are so many choices it can leave you feeling like a kid confronted with all 100 flavors of Ben and Jerry’s.
I’ll help you figure out the best path to take. And don’t worry: You can develop more than one niche, and if one type of writing doesn’t work out for you, you can choose another. It’s not do or die.
Dream vs. Reality
You dream of writing articles about gardening, or blogging on travel topics for a large audience, or writing case studies for non-profits focused on children. Worthy goals!
I know you don’t want to start out writing on topics you’re not passionate about. But I need to tell you that you’ll have the best luck ramping up your writing business fast if you leverage your job and educational background to start getting samples—and money—coming in.
There is room for passion projects. Of course! And you can develop a niche in any topic or field that interests you. But my goal is to help you get gigs and money flowing in as quickly as possible so you can leave the rat race, and that means building a portfolio of work you’ve done for clients.
You’re more likely to get those clients if you have some sort of expertise in the industry you’re targeting or in the topic you’re pitching for a blog post or article.
I’m very passionate about what I do, but I have absolutely had to write about topics that aren’t that interesting to me to keep the checks coming in. That’s the difference between being a business owner and a hobbyist: You do what it takes to make a living.
In any case, I believe a key quality of a successful writer is that you can become interested in almost any topic. Find something about it that excites you. It may be that your client’s enthusiasm for the topic is infectious, even if you don’t share his feelings. Or that you love writing and the freelance lifestyle so much that it makes even the most boring assignments look like total winners. (I like to say a bad day at freelancing beats a good day in the office!)
For example, most recently I had a great time writing an article about—get ready for it—cold-water carpet extraction. I managed to locate one source who loved the topic so much that we ended up talking for 45 minutes about the pros and cons of cold-water vs. hot-water extractors.
I’m certainly not advocating you write on topics you loathe and never want to think about again. But try to find an intersection between passion and practicality.
So don’t freak out when I ask you to consider pitching businesses and publications in fields you already know about. If you have time as you do this, you can work on breaking into your dream markets as well.
Mine Your Job
Surprise! You already know enough to break into all kinds of lucrative markets.
You’re in marketing, PR, HR, law, communications, customer service, finance, or tech? You can write for trade magazines (these are business-to-business industry publications; more on trades below) in just about any industry. Leaders in most fields want to read about how to better market to their customers, make the numbers work, stay out of legal trouble, find new tech gadgets that make their business run more smoothly, hire and communicate with great employees, and so on.
You have a background in teaching? Here are some options: Approach teaching industry trade magazines and university communications and marketing departments. Pitch articles about how to help your kid excel in school to parenting magazines. Start a blog for special ed teachers and use it to sell information products like e-books or courses. Write an e-book for parents who are helping their kids choose and get into universities.
Are you a server in a restaurant? Opportunities include writing marketing materials for restaurants and restaurant suppliers, targeting the many foodservice trade magazines, becoming a specialist in writing menus, writing a book that rounds up the funniest—and most horrific—situations servers have encountered with customers, and starting a blog for servers or restaurant execs where you’ll sell e-books addressing their most pressing problems.
You’re a doctor, nurse, or medical professional? You can write health and nutrition articles for national and custom magazines (more on custom pubs later), target hospitals and clinics, write for healthcare marketing firms, start your own health blog, or write (or ghostwrite) a consumer book on a health topic.
I could go on. The point is, whatever your background, there is likely a good market for you.
Get Schooled
The same goes for your educational background. (Yours may be unrelated to the career you’re holding now, as is the case with so many people, like yours truly.) A degree in a particular topic makes you especially qualified to write about that topic.
For example, I have a friend who earned an MD degree but decided becoming a doctor wasn’t for her, so she ended up writing on health for some big-name websites.
No degree? No worries. As I mentioned above, you don’t need one to pursue a career in writing.
Make Your Hobbies Pay
Maybe you love to knit, go mountain biking, brew beer, bake, sail, take nature photos, or bargain hunt. Whatever hobby you pursue, you can probably find like-minded people, publications, and companies to build your writing business around.
Just think of all the homemaking, money saving, and cooking blogs out there making a mint. The books on hobbies ranging from martial arts to hat making. And the businesses that cater to all these hobbyists. These are all potential markets for you!
And don’t worry if your favorite hobby seems like an overfull niche (knitting, anyone?)—that just means there are lots of opportunities for writers and many people who want to read on that topic.
From Generalist to Specialist
Sometimes you really, really, really can’t choose a niche. You’re just interested in too many things!
This is what happened to me: When I was starting out, I wanted to write about whatever I felt interested in at the moment.
The bad news about this is it’s more difficult to break into a market if you have no experience in the industry or subject. The good news is, once you’ve proven you can write about pretty much any topic, that barrier will crumble.
Also, even if you’re writing about everything under the sun, you’ll eventually find yourself falling into niches as you develop expertise in different topics and learn what you enjoy writing most.
For example, even though I started out writing about pretty much everything, over time I developed very lucrative niches in marketing, health, and women’s interest, with smaller niches in nutrition, credit union issues, the restaurant industry, personal development, and pet health.
No one said you can’t write in more than one niche! It’s just easier at first to focus on one so your head doesn’t explode and so you gain momentum writing in a certain area. But if you’re like me and you love writing about different topics, and can’t imagine limiting yourself, don’t be afraid to start out as a generalist.
How about you—have you chosen a niche yet, and if so, what is it? And if not, what niches do you think will work best for you?
Image: mckaysavage
These are all good suggestions.. to the point where I’m left almost as confused as I was when i started reading.
But at least I have a better general idea of what to write about. Now I can research what pays better, and try to specialize more.. and carve out a little niche for myself.
I could do health, not that I’m a doctor, but I have experience losing 80 pounds, and it’s something that I like to write about because of the offchance that I’ll actually help some people. I don’t have an MD though… haha.
Personal experience can also help you pick a niche — so you could definitely choose health and weight loss!
Thank you Linda, there are some great ideas in here, some I hadn’t considered. I might have to invest kn you book I think.
I created a bit of a niche by developing a self-improvement project based on TED Talks. It wasn’t designed to be lucrative (and hasn’t been so far) but it has allowed me to improve my writing and now I’m starting to leverage it for other things. The other thing in particular is a business, dinkylune, and one of the products is ebooks based on what I learned in the year.
Now I do have to work harder to get all of that out there, it’s finding the right blogs for the content – which shouldn’t be too hard.
What a cool idea to start a personal development business based on TED talks!
Hi Linda,
Great read and helpful for those just getting Freelance Writing, without a clue what to write about. Myself, I have the opposite problem, with every ideas and backgrounds. I escaped corporate life in San Diego and now live and love life in Oregon where I have become over years a Wine Consultant. This was where my writing career started, and morphed into a travel blog, as I extensively traveled the world, mostly for wine events. Now I have narrowed to mainly travel articles. I still manage to work in some wine, to either the articles, iron my glass..at least.
Would love your e-books BTW 😉
Clink Clink,
Gary
Sounds like you nailed down the perfect niche! And you can always have sub-niches…like your overarching niche is food and travel and a sub-niche is wine.
I left the rat race two years ago, when the newspaper I edited went out of business. I had been working in a small rural Alaska community where I wrote at home and set my own hours; it was pretty much like freelancing. The idea of returning to cubicle life depressed me to the point that I intentionally messed up job interview after job interview. I couldn’t handle the idea of sitting all day behind cheap particle-board listening to co-workers complain about their jobs.
So I began freelancing. I did this tentatively at first, and it’s still a struggle. I don’t have much money at this point and I feel tied to my computer some days. But it’s MY computer and I can step away whenever I like to take a run or dance around the living room to an 80s song.
Best of all? I’m a night owl and produce my strongest writing after midnight. Freelancing allows me to set hours around my natural bio-rhythms, not what a corporation demands or expects.
What a great story! And dancing around to 80s tunes sounds a lot like what goes on in my house. 🙂
Linda, this definitely opened up my mind to some new avenues and ideas, so thank you! I left the rat race a little over a year ago and started writing for the wedding industry. I had never written anything about weddings, but found that I loved it and I’m still doing it today. Even better, I get to freelance write on a tropical island! Dreams do come true.
Linda, I come from an artsy background: music, fine art, literature. Anyway, a great opportunity opened up for me to write about webhosting. At first, I was nervous that I’d be unable to cut the mustard writing for such a practical audience. I rolled up my sleeves and got busy researching. Fast forward three months, I ended up learning so much from writing for the industry that now I feel like an insider. You are giving great advice. Your readers should say to themselves, “I can do this.”
Great post and food for thought. I think looking to your personal experiences as well as professional is such a great way to add value and real authenticity to a blog or blog post. Brainstorming potential niches can uncover more areas than you might think on an initial peep.
Thanks for sharing 😉 x
Congratulations Linda! And first, I’d like to say that you don’t need to include me in the raffle because I already got your book. I can’t resist since I was learning a lot from your other ebook – The Renegade Writer. Thank you!
Regarding your question, I left the rat race not to become a freelance writer but to become a virtual assistant. I think freelance writing found me. And like you, I was a generalist. It’s just this year that I have chosen to focus on writing about freelancing, blogging and online marketing because I’m not only exposed to that kind of work everyday but I also chose to study more about it. But still the temptation to write about other things like language teaching and parenting haunts me.
Actually I never considered writing as a career. Originally I was a psych major, which ended up turning into a career as an educational consultant working with LD and special needs kids.
Unfortunately I’m just not finding that it pays enough, since my move from the U.S. to another country, and it occurred to me to consider writing professionally. What’s funny is that in all of my previous jobs everyone always said, “You write well, you should do it professionally.”
I never took it seriously; I guess due to some weird prejudice that said if it’s too easy, then it can’t be something to take serious.
I do now though! I’m enjoying the leap to freelance writing immensely. Would love your book Linda: I follow your blog (and Carol’s) and would like to upscale things so I can really make a living with this (re)discovered talent.
All these comments giving further examples just seem to make this post even better.
I’ve been trying to avoid drowning in this information overload for the past few months now and have found that identifying a niche can be quite complicated if you don’t get your mindset straight to begin with.
Things are gradually starting to condense into specific ideas now, although I think I may be one of those people who don’t start with a single specific niche.
Thank you for this information from somebody who has been through this before, it was more helpful than I expected.
Dominic
Where to start? That’s always the question. And you’re exactly right in saying, ‘you want to write, but you don’t know what’. I’ve published a book on my infertility struggle for over five years. I guess I could start there? But then there’s always the element of doubt that creeps in and my ever-lurking ‘Are you good enough to do it?’ question. Oh boy! And how does one translate what you’ve done in a book to a blog? I used to work in the corporate world as PA to top directors. Guess I could cover that. But then do I have enough info that would sustain the longevity of a blog? See too many questions. So your ebooks would be so valuable to me. Would shed some light on the maze of questions I am wandering through. 🙂
“Am I good enough” is the question that MOST writers face! The answer is that the only way to find out is to just start. The good news is that most of us start out pretty rough (hand raised) but we get better as we go along!
Linda!! So awesome to see your sage advice on here. I’m very fortunate that I’ve been pursuing writing so long I know what I love and am best at – personality profiles and features. Recently I took a big step and emailed someone I met at a conference (hooray networking!). He does video documentarues profiling corporations. I hope to work with him soon.
Just wanted to say hi. Don’t enter me in the contest. I already have 2 of your books.
Whoops that’s documentaries. Doing this on a new phone LOL
Hi Linda. Thanks for all the ideas. I’m just getting started in writing. I’ve been toying with doing some training e-books on knitting and crocheting and maybe digital scrapbooking techniques. I also love to read, so I enjoy writing about books I have read.
Thanks, Linda. I posted this on Twitter, and shared it with my daughter. She’s a budding musician, songwriter, and supports her music with food service jobs. She’s also a talented writer. Your article gave me the idea that she could share some funny, anecdotal stories about being a waitress, getting preferential treatment from the Brazilian cooks, because she speaks Brazilian-Portuguese, and how to convert restaurants from farm to table–all part of her experience. Many thanks!
Jane Renzi
‘What’s-Next?’
Discover & Launch Your Life’s Work!
http://www.whats-next.biz
Hey Linda great post!
I’m well on my way to leaving the rat race, I’ve started targeting niche’s that as you suggested are related to my experiences. For me that’s technology and dating/relationships. I’m also considering the more specific niche of technology for restaurants, POS systems, online marketing etc.
Linda you’ve given me a lot to think about, and now the ideas are flowing, thanks!
I left the rat race to pursue freelance writing full-time because I place my personal freedom above buying material things. My day job was creating none of the former in exchange for some of the latter. Now I spend my days writing and travelling the world and I love it. I’d say travel is definitely my niche as I write for people like Flightcentre and Viator, but I also have to write for other niches to pay for all those plane tickets. 🙂
Thanks for this great post Linda. I’m sure the book is already inspiring many writers to take action.
I’ve found that the best freelance entrepreneurs have a passion for certain topics yes, but more importantly they have a passion for solving problems.
That’s why I started my own business. I enjoy the process of coming up with solutions for peoples’ problems.
This came after several years of working in politics-where people mostly find problems so they can blame them on other people. That just wasn’t the approach I wanted to take in life.
And don’t get me wrong, I want to get paid as well, but I also believe money follows passion, not the other way around.
As you say Linda, you have to walk through some muck to get there.
But as that muck will be there no matter where you go, why not do it as your own boss? 🙂
Thanks for this great post Linda. I left my corporate job so that I could spend more time with my family. I am working on starting my freelance career as a writer and your advice makes so much sense. I already have plenty of knowledge in the field I was in so that’s a great place to start. Thank you!
Hi Linda,
Great post but I’d like to give a small note of caution.
I left my admin job two years ago after 14 years. My passion had always been writing and I thought that was enough to be a success. I had many, many, many topic ideas (too many to choose from really!) but unfortunately I had no real idea what I was doing. I had to re-chain myself to a desk last year as I ended up with absolutely zero income.
There were some issues at the workplace so I made the decision to leave and try again earlier this year. I’d read tons and tons of advice about freelancing/writing (until my head was spinning) and thought this time I knew what I would do. But again now I’m struggling and seeking ‘normal’ jobs once more.
Definitely I’d advise anyone thinking of becoming a freelance (in any field) to try idea(s) out first before escaping the day job.
I haven’t, and won’t ever, give up trying to be a successful writer/freelancer – I’ve just learned the hard way that sometimes it can take a while to make it happen.
I’ve been working online now for seven years. For most of that time I’ve worked with a partner. I just recently went out on my own again – 100% freelance – as opposed to managing a content provider service that spun its wheels for five years.
As a published fiction writer and poet, I am in love with good literature. I’m working on finding a way to increase my income doing more of that. But I also have a passion for legal topics, though I’m not a lawyer. I’d like to parlay my experience as a newspaper reporter and researcher into ghostwriting for lawyers and perhaps other fictionators. I’ve done a little bit of fiction ghostwriting and hope to do some more.
Although I will probably specialize in the future, for now it feels right for me to be a more of a generalist. I am just starting my freelance career and I like trying out all kinds of new topics.
Honestly, I haven’t left the rat race, and I hopefully never will. That sounds like a ridiculous statement to make, but I feel comfortable saying that because I was never part of the rat race to begin with. I’m a seventeen year old high school student, but I am a freelance writer.
I decided to become a freelance writer because I’ve always had a love for writing. Writing came naturally to me at an early age, and a love for technology and gaming came with it as well. I do what I love by writing about things that I love. It’s a perfect mix!
I’m not a popular freelance writer. I’m still new to the business, so I search for clients left and right like my life depends on it. But even though I’m not well-known in the industry, even though clients don’t come to me, and even though there’s a possibility I may not succeed, I still took the initiative and decided to do what I enjoy. I’m proud of myself.
Wonderful article! You gave me hope. I’ve been struggling to decide on a niche or two, since I am interested in so many things.
I became a freelancer 3 months ago and I am struggling a bit since most of the jobs I can get are for ghost writing, which means that I am struggling to build up samples to show other clients.
Becoming a freelancer was a decision that took me years to make and I was so relieved to escape the 9-5 drudgery. It just became too much, mostly because the hours I worked was not 9-5 but more like 6-6 and then an hour’s commute each way.
Linda, I would absolutely LOVE to win this amazing prize you’re offering. It can really change my writing career. I clicked on the link to buy your book. Your article says that it is up for $1.50 for the next day or two, but the Amazon link comes up with a price of $3.50. Is that because I am not in the US?
I left the rat race because it was quite simply making me ill. I left a very stressful career in education because I couldn’t take the mental stress. I was so stressed that when I left the job on Friday, I would count how many hours I had until I had to get back to work — not a healthy way to live. I’ve been a full time freelance health writer since May 2013 and I will never look back.
Wow, now THAT’S stress. I sometimes get that way with writing — and then I know it’s time to change up the way I work or who I’m working for. And thankfully, as a freelancer I have the power to do that!
My Story: I quit my job in August when my parental leave was up to stay home with my 3 young boys (4,2,1). Childcare was a rip-off for 3 so it was the right decision for me, and the right time… but I didn’t prepare as much as I should have. I have literally, dove into the online world of blogging and freelance writing. I set up my blog, am always looking for freelance gigs and am taking an online course and setting up a 2nd blog (more prepared than the first one)…
I am going to watch some other kids during the days to bring some $ in more immediately while I establish my presence online, and figure out all the ins/outs… so life is chaotic and will get more so, but honestly I seem to do better in LIFE when I am busier so I will make it all work.
I am interested in writing about almost everything but have focused on transitioning to an online life, and then the new blog is an HR/personal development/productivity type ‘community’ that will focus on workplace issues… OH, and my background/Degree is Criminology/Justice System so I have lots of experience with Investigations and research so I really feel equipped to put in the work and write on multiple topics… Your post is wonderful to help us FOCUS on how to make the most of our ‘already ingrained’ strengths and gives us hope and initiative to grow as writers!
I am a physician who left the increasingly insane hamster wheel of practicing primary care medicine in the U.S. I have always been a writer at heart, and it is my new dream to earn my living as a writer. The obvious niche for me is medicine and health, but I also enjoy inspirational and spiritual writing. I’m in the process of developing a blog that will focus on wellness and personal/career development for physicians who are struggling.
I like your writing so much. Thank you.
I left the rat race after suddenly loosing my job as a recruiter for over 20 years in New York City.
Silently I was relieved because it was a way out of the stress of business but I fell apart too because I didn’t know what else I could do.
Helping people to be happy in their jobs – to be expressed and find work they loved was my passion. I saw that going way because I didn’t know how to do that any other way than staying where I was.
I was afraid…BUT a great friend stepped in, a real guardian angel who guided me towards becoming a Life and Career Coach and that’s what happened. YES! I’m doing what I still love only it’s much bigger and far more useful and valuable than I ever dreamed.
Writing is a new part of this adventure for me. Something I hated to do all through school and life.
Why does it work now? Because I’m not judging myself. My ego is out of the picture. I’m focused, impelled, compelled, driven, energized, passionate about enabling other people to live their happiest life; the life they dream about, wish for, imagine…ache for.
Writing, and I just began in April of this year, is a vital and surprising part of my work now. I get to use my knowledge and my own life, in written words, to connect with someone else and create change for them…to give them hope and new possibilities. I see it happen each time I post a blog…someone likes something, finds meaning and feels good.
I’m doing all I can to learn to write well, say what I feel and share my life knowledge. It gives me boundless pleasure and purpose.
There are many people who can’t afford my services but I know that if I write about coaching; giving examples, principles, assignments and simple ways to live better that they will learn and grow and try and change. That’s the purpose of my writing and as I said, I’m so surprised by this new opportunity, this chance the world has given me and so grateful to try and hope to be up to it.
Thank you so very much for asking this question.
I need to find my niche. The rat race doesn’t work for me because I find it difficult to conform and impossible to advance. I’m a writer at heart. If I could just find a way for my tongue-in-cheek style to strike a chord with people – I’d go to events and live Tweet and make a book out of it if I felt I could. I’m the one holding me back. Linda seems to get that. I love her Morning Motivation emails, too.
Thank you for an informative article that was more than just a rehash of “Write What You Know About in 1000 Words or Less”. Adding your own personal examples lets me know that you faced many of the same obstacles and hurdles that the rest of us face as well.
I opened and ran a women’s recovery home for more than 20 years, which closed in 2011. Everything that I wrote for that curriculum translated into 1000-1800 word articles for several sites; then learning how to use images, U-Tube, quotes and linking to improve them.
Not a lot of money to begin with, however, the exposure, views and comments have been the encouragement that I needed to write the book.
As an individual with 25 years of abstinence based recovery, I know firsthand the struggles, obstacles, stigma and difficulty of recovery. I also know and write extensively about the rewards of recovery as well.
My niche was already there when I branched out to a non-captive audience. That was the biggest fear; what if the public does not like it and the women only liked it because they had to?
As I said earlier, getting positive feedback on either Hub Pages or Wikinut demonstrated that others found value in my writing.
I believe that each person has a unique way of conveying the same information. Given that some of us are visual teachers and others are audio learners, we need more people writing from their perspective to reach the greater audience.
Risking ego deflation and actually writing for sites has led to additional recovery coaching with individuals, facilitating recovery groups, working with an HIV positive population, and lets me dictate my hours.
Thank you for this post, it helped me in a way. I’m a lawyer specialised in Banking and Foreign Investments, however, I’m more interested in the property investments YET I don’t feel I’m passionate enough about law to write on it, makes me feel like I’m turning in an essay *cringe*
However, I have a soccer blog and menswear blog in one, don’t ask me, I don’t know how that happened but, those are two of my passions and I lumped them into one blog and felt that since more men watch soccer, they may once in a while check out my menswear articles. The competition here is stiffer though than if I had a law blog talking about stuff I’m not very interested in but I hear I could make more money from having a law/property/investment blog, maybe I’m just freaked out because I don’t like school or academic that much…*sigh* I feel I’m too laid-back and comedic for all that serious law stuff.
Sorry for the long post but I would love your advice. thanks
Linda, thank for these wonderful ideas. I’ve written fiction, writing articles for a variety of venues, and essays, but I never thought about using hobby topics or cooking topics to write. I guess I always thought of nonfiction as doing tons of research rather than writing about things you’ve done or experienced as a person not just as a writer. I’m going to start making a list of my own knowledgeable topics.
Thanks for all your comments, and a special thanks to those of you who have bought and/or tweeted about my new ebook! I’m loving reading your stories.
Linda, I much enjoyed reading your post. My #1 reason for saying so is its believe-ability. You’re not talking about planning to climb a mountain, you’ve climbed it and now are here to tell us about it. For lack of a better word, call it the “truth factor”. Or as Einstein put it, “The only source of knowledge is experience”.
With which the talking heads disagree – “Knowledge is a piece of paper with words on it” – but talking heads don’t count, because this about who comes up with the words in the first place – writers.
The way I look at it, “Quit the Rat Race”, “Discover Your Niche”, “Wanting To Be A Writer” and “Make Money Writing” while related are quite independent each in their own right.
Needing to quit the rat race implies you’re currently in it. Meaning also all your past attempts to quit have failed. Maybe in the past the rat race seduced you with guarantees, or the career you love didn’t appeal because it offers no guarantees, only risk. Regardless, regardless also of how long it’s been going on, more than anything, quitting the rat race requires a leap of faith, or in my book, a leap of action.
Discover your niche, at this stage, I feel is overrated. My seemingly endless niche-finding ended only after I reminded myself that Columbus discovered America by looking for India. Not everyone can be as lucky as Columbus (I should know!) … the point I’m trying to get across: Just stick with “discovery”, don’t worry about “niche” too much. As long as you’re in discovery mode stuff WILL show up, maybe even niches, too, but understand they may be different from what you anticipate.
Be a writer? Write. Initially, and for quite a while after that, I thought this was just too simple to be true. Show me the small print. What’s the secret? Where are the short-cuts? But of course I was only just next in line to finally understand it is that simple. There are no secrets, no short-cuts. Just do it – just WRITE.
Make Money Writing – in this context, I found the importance of niche is underrated. Why? The way I look at it, the difference between writing and making money writing, is the same as between cooking and making money cooking. It’s one thing to cook for your family and friends, but it’s an altogether different ball game to cook for money. Ditto for writing. Writing for writing’s sake only requires to discover or otherwise choose your niche, but I find that writing to make money demands that I STUDY, UNDERSTAND and VALIDATE my niche(s) – to speak their language. Lots of work, and if I get it wrong there’s no way to fix it, except to start from scratch again with a different niche.
Maybe I have this overrated/underrated view of niches only because I personally did both, but have got a hunch I’m not the only one.
Anyhow, my two pennies worth.
Re-reading my comment I realize just how thought-provoking your post really is, and how much writing I got done as a result – so thank you :-]
I suppose my niche so far is life… mainly life humor, with occasional emphasis on tragedy, spirituality, or Miley Cyrus.
I worked “out there” in the world for 20 years. I performed such jobs as packing onion rings, graphic arts, selling caskets, customer service, teaching computer classes, and being a low paid, high level executive secretary.
I had a string of terrible relationships, but I finally found a good man ten years ago, settled down, and adopted and raised his children, taking a welcome break from the working grind. However, I yearned to return to work someday. After many years out of the workforce, I found it was not as easy as I thought it would be to just jump back into the working world. Despite my vast experience, companies didn’t seem interested in interviewing a middle aged woman who hadn’t held a position at a company in 8 years.
My husband suggested I try to find some work online. I started out doing surveys for pennies, then found a content mill, then doing Facebook page updates and ad copy for a real client, then I started a blog, and began to realize I could make money with my hobby of writing, the thing I enjoy the most, after being selected for a paid feature on BlogHer.com.
What a journey. Who knew? And here I am. I still have a long way to go, but I’ve got a great start. I have ideas on every subject. Like you, I could probably write about the most mundane thing in the world if given the assignment.
Niche? I have only selected life humor because I’m forced to say what my niche is when I fill out forms sometimes. Life, baby. I just write about life. It’s what I know best.
Dear Linda,
Born and raised in Southern California, I met my Dutch husband in 1981 in the Netherlands: we played in a band together, he was the guitarist, I played keyboards and sang backing vocals.
Within a year we were married and had our honeymoon in Laguna Beach, CA. I moved to Holland with two suitcases, a BA in Music and a thirst for adventure.
Anno 2013 we’ve travelled to dozens of countries, raised two kids
( also professional musicians), written, recorded and produced songs, childrens’ music and pop records, taught music and ESL in schools, started our own music school and music studio, mentored hundreds of kids and young adults.
I’ve workshopped, organized tours, given seminars, performed and played, lead worship and spoken in churches.
Burnout seemed inevitable to everyone but me but in June
this year I finally crashed big time.
After months of an empty agenda and plenty of time to think I’ve discoverd I don’t wnat to organize events, workshops, tours or classes anymore.
This month I am dedicated to studying Handel’s The Young Messiah for an 8 city tour next month and preparing for a 5K Color Run in Los Angeles in 2014. I leave in December to spend some quality time with my family and friends on the West Coast.
I want to become a freelance writer.
I want to make a living blogging for others.
I want to help others with the skills, experience and knowledge I have accumulated over the years.
I want to be mobile and free to travel while working.
Help me make the transition to becoming a mobile freelance writer.
My niches? Music. Children. Europe. Art. Travel. Spirituality. Food. Culture. Nutrition. Women 50+. The 70’s 😀
This is my first post ever.
Thanks for listening.
Lee Ann
I have been a stay at home Mom scheduling our window cleaning business for years, but now the sons are out in the world raising their own families and my husband of 43 years had a stroke and I have become a full time caregiver. We need me to write for money, but I cannot figure out what to write. My life has been full, college, volunteering, coaching, traveling, reading, journaling (of course), but I’m stumped. I’ll work it out I’m sure, AND I am hoping to win your books to help us on our way……. Thanks Linda for all you do for us, your blog is wonderful!
Hi, Linda. Very reassuring piece. Writing is all about who we are, so I’m good with all topics. Understanding the industry is the challenge most of us newbies face, so I’m grateful for people like you to guide our way. As for leaving the rat race — well, it followed me, but that’s okay, as now I see I can easily feed off it for a change. Thanks.
After spending the better part of the last decade as a consultant, I am rejoining the rat race (one of those offers that was too good to pass up). This article did give me some food for thought as to which way to start and get my writing career off the ground. I’m in IT tech support and a client (a senior) was caught by the tech support phone scam, I can do a whole lot with that one incident alone.
Writing about what you know is really the best advice you can give, Linda. Naturally, learning comes with a curve; sometimes a steep one.
Recently, I have been trying to assemble an ebook of short stories. Since I began blogging ten months ago, I have discovered that writing non-fiction (personal true stories AND factual, content articles) is MUCH EASIER for me than crafting the next fictional bestseller.
Although I plan on editing my stories and making them “sell-worthy” in an ebook, discovering this early on has led me to believe that I am best suited for freelancing.
Another event that has reinforced this is my recent acceptance of a guest post from Carol Tice at Make A Living Writing. Although it won’t be published for a couple of months, having it accepted proves that freelancing is something that I should be doing.
I’m planning on doing more of this.
I’m also happy that I was able to figure this out early on – instead of wasting my time and efforts trying to write the next NY Times bestseller… 🙁
Hi Sophie,
I want to leave the rat race and become a freelance writer for the flexibility and the potential increase in income it can provide. I’m interested in the food and education niches. I’m sure Linda’s books would help me out!
Best, Sherri
Darnnit I’m late!
Anyway better late than never I suppose.
Why do I want to leave the rat race?
One word: Freedom.
Freedom from office politics.
Freedom to choose the jobs that I want to work on.
Freedom to make a much better salary than I am at present
Freedom to engage in something I’m passionate about
Freedom to be my own boss, and to only make coffee for myself
Freedom to build new relationships with people I enjoy talking to, who share my hopes, dreams, and thirst for success.
I know it won’t be easy, and that there’s hard work involved.
But the freedom to choose my own path?
That’s priceless.
At the present moment I have soooo many niches I’m interested in. These include:
The environment – it’s something I’ve always been passionate about, and I’m a board member for my local environmental NGO
Dating and relationships – With a degree/background in psychology, I absolutely love this field!
Marketing – I also have a business degree/background, and learning about marketing is actually fun!
Social Psychology – I’ve always been interested in interpersonal relationships, and areas such as persuasion, social cognition, self perception etc.
(PS – October 10 was my birthday, so I think a prize would make the perfect late birthday gift!)
I have started the transition from rat race to writing full time about two years ago. Didn’t start the freelance writing niche until September 2013 (a newbie) so super excited to think about gaining so much information and knowledge from all your books. Thanks for this opportunity!
My interests are in relationships, marriage, parenting from a Christian perspective. I have a psych degree and I’m drawn to helping to build strong relationships and strong families.
Thanks again!
Cheri Swalwell
Those are great tips on finding a niche. I opted for history to get me started since I absolutely loved the research. I still write about it today but I’ve grown into areas that make money. Recently, I found that weddings was a niche that really interested me and I’ve been doing really well with it. If it wasn’t for a one-off piece, I’m not sure I’d have found it though!
I started writing so I could do something that would allow me to be home when we had children. It’s also been great as I’ve gone back to school to do something that I really love. I can easily fit my studies around my work since I get to say when I work and when I stop. I’m not sure I would have done that without working for myself.
Left the rat race to travel the world, write about what I love and homeschool my kids, although we spend more time travelling than at home so we roadschool or worldschool rather than homeschool 🙂 My favourite niches to write about: travel, parenting and alternative education.
We homeschool too! Kind of a cross between unschooling and more traditional homeschooling — a few classes, lessons here and there and then lots of travel and fun!
That’s exactly how we do it, Linda. Sometimes it looks crazy from the outside but it works for us 🙂
OK, this comment contest is now closed! Thanks for all your insights and ideas –you rock.
The winner? Oh, right, the winner. Is… Jessica Hassett! Congrats Jessica, we’ll email you soon about your prize collection of Linda’s ebooks. 🙂
Congrats, Jessica…I’ll send you your free e-books now!
Thank you so much, Linda and Sophie! Absolutely thrilled to discover an email with tons of amazing books in my inbox today!
I wasn’t even thinking of a prize, was just inspired to comment but it goes to show, you never know what might happen when you write!
This is the start of great things, I just know it. 🙂
I love witnessing the start of great things! Thanks, Linda, for donating such a generous prize. And Jessica, I hope it helps you reach that freelance freedom. Email me any time if you have questions.
Hi Linda!
I had wanted my niche to be software development, because that’s been my career. I have a bachelor of science in IT. I hadn’t really planned on doing a tech blog or articles, something I would come up with myself. I had figured it’d be stuff that was assigned. This is where I’m struggling. I really don’t know what I’d blog about in my field. I had thought about doing a blog on the ills of code conversion when I was doing code conversion, but I’m not doing that anymore, so I don’t have much inspiration there. I’d pretty much need to go back to a day job for inspiration and material, I think. If I do end up back in a day job, great! If not, not so great.
Now, a blog about how to cook from scratch and shop for food and what to buy when you have my particular food allergy? I’d never run out of material! And it doesn’t matter how many other blogs there are out there on the topic… I’d bring something they don’t have: me. 😉
Maybe I need to have a different mindset as a freelance blogger than I do as a freelance writer. Maybe I should keep the freelance writer mindset all nice and techie, but maybe the blogger mindset should be more flexible. Hmmmm…
Hey, G. Trigg!
You commented 15 days after the contest ended, but I thought I should reply so you wouldn’t feel like we’d left you hanging. 😉
Keep an eye out for future contests!
Hi Linda, I hope that this line is still open, as the last reply was abolut 2 years ago.
Anyway, the purpose of my question is this: Now that I know what my niches are, how do I begin looking for related blogs. My niches are all related to WW II as well as the Titanic. How and where do I seek out related blogs and/or jobs. I look forward to you response.
Yours,
Jim Hofflandeer
Thanks for the post Linda!
Would I qualify for the educational field? Instead of a BSEd, I have a BA in English. Nevertheless, I have spent 8 years tutoring and subbing for various schools and colleges. Since I’m trying to be a writer and not get a teaching job, it might not make a big difference.
I have noticed a shortage of blogs on substitute teaching–at least when you take into account the people subbing to make ends meet. Maybe a blog with tips on subbing–with online workshops and e-books?