Fulfill Your Freelance Fantasy

By Curt Hazlett
January 18, 2008 10:48 AM

You’ve probably had the fantasy. After a long week of banging out countless spot news stories and earnings briefs, you stroll into the boss’s office and announce that you’ve had enough. You’re off to become a freelancer – one of those intrepid souls who live off their wits and write only what they want to write.

The fantasy never happens for most business journalists, but some make the leap and never look back. “I love what I do,” says Emma Johnson, who in 2005 left her job covering the defense industry for the Associated Press to freelance fulltime, mostly on business topics. “It suits me. I make a lot more money than I would otherwise, and I don’t see myself ever working for someone else again.”

Make no mistake, freelancing is hard work. You have to earn every dollar and laziness equals poverty. Yes, there’s more freedom, but we all know what Kris Kristofferson said about that. Above all, there is little security, though it can be argued that no newspaper journalist gets much of that these days, either.  

Despite the challenges of a freelance life, there also is good news for those considering the switch: There is a strong demand for freelance content, and business journalists are often ideally suited to provide it. Freelancing can indeed be a way to make a good living, and without the turmoil that can often come with a gig at a daily newspaper.

Buyers of business-oriented content are numerous and growing. There are the obvious consumer publications – Fast Company and SmartMoney are just two of the A-list  buyers of freelance material that come quickly to mind – and a myriad of Web publications, from The Wall Street Journal Online to MSN Money.

There’s also a thriving market in business-to-business publications. Name a topic and there’s probably a trade magazine for it, from Nightclub & Bar to Family Business, and many of them are eager to find writers who can produce readable stories on deadline – just two of the skills that daily journalists have. Financial journalists have the added benefit of understanding balance sheets and business strategies.

Don’t doubt for a moment the value of newspapering skills; I know firsthand how much they mean to an editor. After leaving daily newspapering in 2000, I became the founding editor of a start-up magazine covering home technology, and in my new role, as a wrangler of freelancers, I quickly discovered two things: That many writers consider deadlines mere suggestions, and that even more of them think being paid by the word means they should use more words. I quickly began relying on writers with newspaper backgrounds.

“I think newspapers and wire services are a fantastic background for working as a freelancer,” says Johnson, who has written for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Wired and About.com, among others. “It gives you a lot of credibility as a real journalist.” Beyond that, “Knowing how to work fast is a huge asset. It boggles my mind how slow most writers are, and that gives me a huge advantage as a freelancer.”

The biggest obstacle to freelancing, of course, is getting started. It can indeed be daunting; stories abound of writers who’ve sent out query after query and have never gotten so much as a nibble from an editor. But the problems aren’t insurmountable for those with some drive and a plan.

To begin with, plenty of freelancers start while still holding down a fulltime job. While that can be tough to juggle, it relieves some of the do-or-die pressure of getting assignments. Only when they’ve established themselves do they cut ties to the mothership.

If you have great story ideas and plenty of patience, you can start by pitching stories to well-known national publications, but be aware that they get immense volumes of freelance queries and it can be maddeningly difficult to break through. (For a great primer on how successful queries are constructed, check out “Pitches That Worked” at  www.mediabistro.com.)

Thankfully, there are easier ways to build your freelancer resume. Trade magazines, while not as prestigious as, say, The Economist or Fortune, are usually far more willing to take a chance on an untried freelancer. Better yet, their editors usually have their own story ideas, making a query unnecessary. All you have to do is persuade them that you are willing and able to handle the assignment. (For an industry-by-industry listing of trade magazines, check out www.tradepub.com.)

Don’t forget to use your network. As a freelancer, some of my best work connections have come through former colleagues. My old friend Beth and I started out together as business reporters in the 1970s; when she heard in 2002 that I was freelancing, she asked if I wanted to write for the magazine she was then editing, which covered retail development. (When her managing editor left for a competing magazine, I picked up assignments from him as well.) In freelancing, relationships are everything.

Perhaps the surest route to success is diversity. Look for opportunities to do writing of all kinds, from speeches to ghost writing to business plans. Those of us who can write have a skill that’s in high demand; you need only look at the average press release to be reminded of that. Non-journalistic writing can be intellectually challenging and fun, and it often pays exceptionally well.

There’s one other advantage that business journalists have when it comes to the rough-and-tumble world of freelancing. We know something about the entrepreneurial spirit from having written about it.

“A successful freelancer is someone who thinks about what they do as a business,” notes Johnson. “I am a small business owner, and every day I conduct my work as such. If you have the instincts and can think outside the box, you have a much better chance of thriving as an entrepreneur, which is what you are as a freelancer.”

WEB RESOURCES

MediaBistro: A journalism job site, mostly free, with useful advice on developing freelance business.

Freelance Success: A subscription site ($89 a year) featuring an active forum where freelancers offer advice and suggestions to one another. There are also weekly newsletters on specific freelance markets. Some content is free.

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