If you write it, they will come. Perhaps…once you’ve established your list of previously-published works; contacts with successful agents and editors; upper-level degrees in English, Communication, Journalism or the like; impressive multi-page website; frequent participation in networking events; and demonstrated social media slight of hand. It hasn’t taken me long to realize that neither freelance writing, nor indeed self-employment itself, is any Field of Dreams.
Like any beginner entrepreneur, I have found that the simple ability to provide a service or product is far from sufficient to eke a living from it, even if you excel at what you do. Certainly this has never been more evident than now, during these dark days of our country’s economy. As unemployment reaches new peaks and consumer spending new depths, the number of small businesses and sole proprietors has soared, and competition among them is intense.
Cast adrift by down-sizing or defunct employers, millions of once-stable professionals – many of whom are upwards of forty years old – are now left to figure out how to survive without an adequate income or, frequently, the ability to procure medical benefits. Employers with openings naturally choose to fill them with younger applicants who accept lower pay and cost less to enroll in company medical plans. Unable to compete, the now-unemployed, mature professionals have few other options besides self-employment.
One daunting challenge to the unemployed professional reinventing him- or herself as an independent contractor is the new and generally more complex tools required to do business of any kind. Although my children have had the advantage of being raised in the communication technology era, I’m beginning to understand the sentiments of my parents, who don’t even own a computer. Sometimes it seems impossible to compete in business today unless one is wired-in 24/7 with mobile Internet access; conversant with website functionality, Search Engine Optimization, and professional networking websites; as well as equipped with an Iphone, laptop, or Ipad. The list of high-tech and even higher priced devices gets longer every day. Already struggling, how does a newly-launched entrepreneur pay for these ever-evolving business communication tools? Not only that, but I myself have an instinctual resistance towards investing large portions of uncompensated time into figuring out how to use devices that are being further upgraded even as I unload them from their packaging.
Of course, all the current sophisticated communication tools have opened up numerous new possibilities for other entrepreneurs to offer such secondary services that include designing your website, maintaining your computer, teaching you to use social media, taking your picture for your online profile, streamlining your accounting with Quickbooks, or creating a video for your business that you can use in online advertising. The companies offering these services make such a strong case for the necessity of these technological tools (how can I possibly compete with businesses that pop up on search engines before me, for heaven’s sake?), that new entrepreneurs feel they must buy them, as well as the adjunct services that come with them.
It seems to me that much of this technology and the businesses that feed off it, offer little more than expensive distractions to a sole proprietor’s actually beginning to work and earn money. But of course, I had to learn this through costly research of my own. I, too, started out with all the ignorance and naïveté of someone starting her own business for the first time.
Networking is another highly-touted way to grow one’s client base. And since the cost of print advertising is prohibitive to a start-up business – and yes, of course, I tried this anyway and lost hundreds of dollars with little to no benefit – joining networking groups appears to be a sound marketing decision. I’ve tried plenty over the past year or two, experiencing a wide spectrum of atmospheres, levels of commitment, referral requirements, and cost for membership or per event.
The members, for the most part, appear to be friendly, righteous, empathetic, and supportive peers. Abounding with “business coaches,” real estate agents, organic health specialists, and massage therapists, these groups are comprised mainly of other struggling business-people. Not exactly a great pool of potential clients, since they themselves are financial searchers. The entrepreneur making the most profit from networking groups is the person who organizes them. Starting networking groups has become yet another cottage industry that preys on needy business-people looking for clients.
One especially annoying consequence of meeting people at these groups is being the victim of their “follow-up.” Basically, this means that within about one to two days after attending an event where I meet a bunch of new fellow entrepreneurs, someone calls me or emails me to indicate they are interested in consulting with me about their idea for a book, or in some way using the writing and copyediting services I offer to promote their business. But once I am lured into a face-to-face, time-consuming meeting with them, I find out the truth. They have feigned interest in my writing in order to lure me into a selling situation regarding their own product or service!
Even trying to be direct and state to them upfront that I’m not interested in what they offer does not deter them from trying to persuade me to “meet for coffee.” They tell me they just “want to be friends,” as they ask about my family, background, and hobbies with pretend warmth and interest. I have been tricked into more coffee dates and meetings with “friends” than I care to recount. What have we come to, I wonder, when we have to lie and use manipulative ploys to attract clients? I already mentioned that I am naïve, perhaps idealistic as well, but at least I am honest. In my world, it’s preferable to live in a cardboard box than sacrifice my personal integrity…but that is me.
All these experiences I’ve had as a sole proprietor have been instructive, yet discouraging. Like the economic news and forecasts of our country in general, I suppose… But what other option is there except to keep trying in hopes of a lucky break? One has to learn to turn a blind eye to the defeats, to the slowly or rapidly dwindling bank accounts, to the fact that a major illness could wipe out every bit of money in a heartbeat, to the self-righteous outcries of the “have’s” that we “have not’s” are a bunch of lazy, entitled tax burdens.
Whether my challenges are industry-specific or common to self-employment novices in general, I continue to look for avenues out of and up from my current situation. A lot of this involves blind faith. But faith nonetheless. In the end, whether we’re financially stable or not, this is what will sustain us as we hope for better, not only for ourselves as individuals, but for the our country and the world as a whole.
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