Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch Debacle Spells Job Security for Freelance Writers

September 15, 2008

This morning (Monday, September 15, 2008), the world awoke to the dire financial news that Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch were in trouble. Lehman Brothers is filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch is being sold for $50 billion to Bank of America.

Lehmann Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac & Bear Stearns Cost American Taxpayers Billions

Lehman Brothers is a 150-year-old financial institution. Merrill Lynch is one of the biggest investment banks on Wall Street. And, the bad financial news doesn’t end there. AIG (America International Group), the largest insurance company in the world, turned to the Federal Reserve for help (read “bailout”). The Fed turned them down.

After all, it just bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at a cost of $200 billion to the American taxpayer. The Bear Stearns bailout a few months ago cost taxpayers some $29 billion.

How Does the Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch Disaster Spell Job Security for Freelance Writers?

In Stop and Sell the Roses, Jim McCann the founder of 1-800-Flowers said, “The only career constant is change, change so fast it can give you whiplash.”

The Lehman Brothers/Merrill Lynch Disaster highlights this perfectly. If there is no job security at a 158-year-old company (Lehman Brothers), the world’s largest insurer (AIG) and a mainstay on Wall Street (Merrill Lynch), then there is no such thing as job security – it simply doesn’t exist.

How to Create Job Security in a Global Economy

Job security in a global economy is created by individuals who take charge of their careers. This usually means starting your own business (full-time) and/or creating a Plan B (eg, freelancing part-time).

As a freelance writer, when I hear about firms like Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, AIG and Bear Stearns either going bankrupt or being sold off, I’m more glad than ever that I control my career choices, hence my financial security.  

Freelance Writing: The Perfect “Job Security” Career

Freelance writing is the perfect career to create job security for the following reasons:

(i) You are never dependent on one client. At least smart freelance writers aren’t. Instead of a few clients, you may have 15, 20, or 30 clients on your roster. If one drops you, you just market for more.

(ii) You can write in several different niches. There are as many niches in freelance writing as there are professions. In my professional career, I’ve been a real estate agent, a mortgage broker and a recruiter.

Drawing upon this history, I market myself as a Real Estate Writer, a Mortgage Writer and a Career Issues Writer. If I worked for Lehman Brothers or Merrill Lynch, I’d market myself as a finance writer. If I worked at AIG, I’d market myself as an Insurance Writer.

(iii) You can offer many different types of services. There are certain services that are compatible with freelance writing, particularly in today’s Web 2.0 world. As an SEO writer, for example, I also offer article submission as a service. I also offer meta tag writing.

When you’re searching for job security, you have to change with the market. As a freelance writer, it’s easy to keep abreast of the changes and simply update your service offerings accordingly.

A Word of Advice to Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and AIG Employees

To all Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and AIG employees, take that experience you’ve gained at these noted firms and turn it into a career with guaranteed job security – freelance writing.

Yuwanda
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coverP.S.: Get the freelance writing opportunity that allowed me to be financially secure enough to travel, live abroad, get out of debt and really “live the freelance life!”

P.P.S.: Want to start a successful career where you have the mobility to live and work where you please? Visit our freelance writing bookstore for a ton of opportunities (freelance writing and internet marketing) to get you started.

Creating a Blog: How to Publish a Profitable, Popular Freelance Writing Blog

September 14, 2008

An In-depth Look at 8 Components Every Freelance Writing Blog
Needs to Make Money & Build a Large Subscriber List
An E-Book Excerpt
[See all Inkwell Editorial Work-from-Home Titles Here]

If you’re a freelance writer who already has a blog or is thinking about starting one, this 24-page ebook covers 8 components that will make it profitable and popular.

Did you know? 51% of Bloggers Make $0 from Their Blogs!

That’s right – nothing! Less than 20% earn $1,000. Not even shooting for a grand? How about this? Only 14% earn even $200-$500/month. Read more on how much bloggers make. I cover 8 blog components that deal with such particulars as:

Freelance Writer Blog Questions This Ebook Answers

Should You Register Your Own Domain Name, Or Not (and why the wrong decision could cost you for years to come) (Found in Blog Success Component #1)

Which Blogging Platform to Use

The #1 tool to Use to Write Traffic-Generating Posts (Blog Success Component #7)

The Passive Way to Drive Massive Traffic to Any Freelance Writing Blog (Blog Success Component #3)

Industry Widgets to Consider Adding to Your Blog

How to Get Found in Search Engines (Blog Success Component #7)

How Long Your Posts Should Be

How Often You Should Post

The Article Marketing Trick I Use to Drive Short-term and Long-term Readers to My Blog

How to Build Reader Trust & Loyalty (Blog Success Component #1)

My blog is an integral part of marketing my freelance writing services, ebooks and telecourses. Without it, I don’t think I’d be where I am today. But, it took me a couple of years before I finally started seeing some real traffic – which is the key to marketing anything online.

3 Ways My Blog Has Benefited My Freelance Writing Business

My blog has benefited me directly and indirectly.

Indirectly, it has done much — on a personal and professional level. Some indirect benefits right off the top of my head though are: connected me with fellow freelancers, served as an avenue to vent my frustrations, given me invaluable feedback from readers and sparked ideas for new ebook and report titles.

Directly, in has benefited me in the following three ways. Yours can too!

1. Get Clients: Potential clients read it to get a handle on my writing style. Although it’s not written for them (it’s written for other freelancers), at least they can tell I know what I’m talking about – ie, I know my industry.

A number of clients have hired me based on their reading my blog alone. How cool is that!

2. Sell Products: I’ve sold a few thousand ebooks via blog marketing. A blog builds credibility, which leads to trust, then sales. Without it, I don’t think my ebook sales would be anywhere near what they are.

3. Ad Revenue: I’ve been approached at least half a dozen times over the last year or so by advertisers who want to buy space on my blog, and also by other niche ebook publishers. I haven’t taken advantage of this yet. I’ve stuck to large, mainstream ad revenue generators like Amazon and AdSense.

I didn’t feel I was set up to take advantage of these offers in a way that would benefit me long-term, or that I could charge what I wanted. But, that’s going to change as soon as I can get this blog where I want it to be aesthetically (still quite a bit of work to do).

One of the reasons for doing this is to capitalize on private ad sales, which I think is the way to go long term. For more on this, read successful blogger John Chow’s take in this very illuminative post on how to sell private ads on your blog.

Make Money From Your Blog: A Blog Can Be a Profit Machine!

As you can see, a blog can serve as a profit-producing machine in a number of ways. But, all of the components that make it profitable  – and popular – must be in place.

This blogging ebook on freelance writing lists them, and for only $4.95.

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