The opportunity to make a great living doing what you love has NEVER been better.
I’m not saying it to pump you up. I’m saying this in response to the scarcity, fear-based mentality I’m continually seeing out there. A mindset which can be summarized as follows:
• The economy sucks
• Jobs and opportunities are scarce
• Everyone is scared
• No one is spending money
• Therefore, I can’t make a good living doing what I’m passionate about
Ironically, many of these same people are turning to the WRONG place for answers. They’re looking for a job. They’re seeking refuge with employers — the very same sector of the economy that has shed more than 8 million jobs over the last two years.
Corporate America. Not exactly a bastion of job security.
Here’s the thing, folks. This economy demands a different level of thinking. If you want to survive and thrive now and in the years ahead, you have to change your game. You have to look at your passions, skills, value and markets differently.
You have to think long and hard about what makes you different. What kind of value you bring to the table. Who could benefit from your skills, knowledge, talents and experience.
Because if you think of yourself as just an artist, graphic designer, writer, photographer, videographer, developer, engineer or virtual assistant, you’re toast.
You’ll be playing a game that has no winning end. A game filled with daily struggle, fear and scarcity thinking.
You Have to Change Your Game
In his book Career Renegade (one of the best books I read last year), Jonathan Fields explains this better than anyone. He writes:
The simple truth is you can turn nearly any passion into a big, fat heap of money. However, it often requires mining aspects of those passions you never knew existed or bringing them to life in markets and ways that defy the mainstream.
Jonathan offers example after example of real people who took their passion in a different direction. Most of them simply redeployed their talents in hungrier markets — markets that were willing to pay more, and markets where there was less competition.
For instance, he tells the story of Liv Hansen, a fine-arts major who struggled for years after college to make a living as an artist. With her bank account running near empty, she decided to help out her mom in the family’s newly acquired bakery, the Riviera Bakehouse.
For a recent grad, this is not exactly a dream scenario: moving in with your parents and working on a business that has nothing to do with your passion.
But as Liv began decorating cakes and pastries, something interesting happened. She began to see them as much more than baked goods. To her, they were mini-canvasses upon which she could let her imagination run free. Jonathan explains:
Wedding cakes became opportunities to mesmerize, and kids’ birthday cakes turned into storyboards. Through this process something very unexpected began to happen, she was actually starting to have fun.
Demand for Liv’s cakes grew rapidly. People were traveling from other towns to admire and buy her works of edible art. And soon after, Liv and her mom moved their bakery to a building that was nearly four times the size of the old location.
Since then, Liv and the Riviera Bakehouse have appeared in a number of books and TV shows. And its success has enabled Liv to be a mom while making a good living doing something she loves.
Granted, Liv is not a freelancer. But I wanted to share this story because it takes things away from the world of freelancing for a minute and allows us to focus on the bigger idea here.
Which is simply this: If you want to do well as a freelancer or solo professional today, you can no longer position yourself generically and expect to succeed every time. You can’t just say “I’m a freelance videographer and I expect to succeed by shooting commercials.”
In this economy, you can’t always expect to make a great living doing things the way they’ve always been done. You may have to get creative. You may have to look for ways to turn your skills and passions lose in unexpected places. You may have to create other income streams to supplement your main line of work (via information products, teaching, or other related offerings, for example).
That’s especially true if you’re working in a profession that’s been badly hurt by the recession.
Yes, this takes work. It takes a lot of thinking. A lot of creative brainstorming. The answers may not come to you overnight.
But I have no doubt that if you put forth the effort and are smart about how you go about it, you’ll succeed.
What do you think? Am I delusional? Overly optimistic?
Have you been able to turn your business around by changing your business model, your approach or your offerings? If so, how did you do it?
Either way, I’d love to hear from you!
Image courtesy: Renatela on flickr
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Ed Gandia is the co-founder of TheWealthyFreelancer.com and co-author of The Wealthy Freelancer: 12 Secrets to a Great Income and an Enviable Lifestyle.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Great article Ed!
To me it comes down to one important “feeling”…the burning desire that you “gotta want it”. We can all make excuses as to why our businesses can’t grow during a recessionary economy, but instead I’m of the school of finding a way that I can.
We are in the best economy for our business, companies need us more than ever to streamline their communications.
Recession? What recession? I have not had a weekend off since January. I conservatively estimate that my income will double this year. Part of the reason (but only part) is that early this year, I began writing copy for an industry that capitalizes (pun intended) on the recession and people’s fears about it. It’s made me aware of the fact that I need to pay more attention to shifts like this in the future so that I can adapt my business as well.
Excellent article, Ed. For me it came down to, “I love helping people get more from their Websites.” Once I figured that out, everything fell into place.
Joseph – You’re so right. So much of this is the mindset you adopt. Not easy to keep up that outlook every day, but that’s why we must set up ourselves for success — so it’s easy to believe that we’ll continue to do well.
Eileen – Congrats!! That’s fantastic news! One thing I’ve noticed during this downturn is that just because money is flowing in different directions (that’s all that’s happening) doesn’t mean you can’t profit from it. There are always great ways to add value and profit as a result. Thanks for your comments and encouragement!
Dianna – You make a great point in that you have to understand deep down inside what it is you love to do and how that adds value to your clients. Like you, I had a lot of inner conflict about this at one time. I was doing well but was trying to do more of what some of my colleagues were telling me I should be doing (providing a different set of services). I tried doing that, but it never sat right with me. Just didn’t feel like the direction I wanted to take. Once I gave that up and did more of what felt right to me, my business began to take off again.
Hi Ed,
Your blog entry really needs to be digested by many of the naysayers out there, of which I almost became one in 2009. I had coasted along since 2001, six figures plus annually since 2004, writing blissfully for industrial companies and trade publications. in 2009 my clients’ sales were so far off (40-50% in some cases – some even closed their doors) that my own income took a 70% hit for the year. After a solid round of panic, I figured out on my own exactly what you stated above from Fields, how to “redeploy my talents in hungrier markets.” 2010 is off to a good start – I was actually slammed with work in February and March and may return to pre-2009 earning levels soon.
But my reinvention is ongoing. In this fluid political and economic climate I don’t think there will be a chance to coast for some time – if ever again. But sticking to a previous motto I have – a bad day freelancing is still way better than any day in a cubicle – I look forward to creating and accessing opportunities and continuing to move forward.
Hi Steve. Great to hear from you. And so glad to hear this story! You know, the beauty of freelancing is that it doesn’t take that much to go from struggle to being booked solid. Some good strategy and steady action… next thing you know you’re turning down work, where the previous week you were counting pennies! You’re right, though. We can’t rest on our laurels. Need to constantly be re-evaluating and making adjustments. All the best to you this year and beyond!