What’s Your Why? You must know your strengths and weaknesses. You don’t want your future clients to figure them out before you do. With thousands of freelance projects to be snagged, you need to know when to send out proposals and when to let the opportunities pass.
1. What are you good at? – Are you a detail person? Do you enjoy organizing? Are you a good communicator? Can you explain complex subjects in easy-to-understand ways? Are your thoughts flooded with good writing ideas?
2. What do you enjoy doing? – Helping people understand complex subjects? Enjoy researching and digging out hard-to-find facts? Making people smile or laugh out loud? The feeling of accomplishment when you put the article or social post to bed.
3. What do you not do well? – Do you have trouble explaining your qualifications to a prospective client? Do you find it disappointing when work projects don’t come your way? Do you fail at times to follow through? Are you a great storyteller but not a research geek?
4. What do you hate doing? – Hearing a soon-to-be-almost-client says they’ve decided to go in a different direction? Looking at your bank account balance and noticing it hasn’t increased in weeks or months? Do you dread criticism? Do you fear writer’s block?
There are no right or wrong answers to these questions, they are good food for thought. You must know the answers to these questions even though you may never have written them down and answered each one. Knowing what you’re good at will hopefully steer you toward writing assignments you love while knowing what you hate doing will help you avoid signing up for troublesome projects. It’s time to go internal.
