Ed Gandia argues that business writers and copywriters need to reinvent their rules and take chances to position themselves for higher-value work. The old gatekeepers are gone, and the market is shifting fast enough that playing it safe now means getting left behind.
Welcome to the High Income Business Writing Podcast, helping you propel your writing business to a whole new level. And now, here's your host, Ed Gandia.
Hey there. Welcome to the High Income Business Writing Podcast. I am your host, Ed Gandia and this is the podcast for business writers and copywriters who want to earn more and less time doing work they love or better Client this episode is a little different and much shorter than usual rather than my typical 45 minute format. Today I'm sharing a quick tip with you and this is part of the regular audio insights that I publish for my private coaching clients. I just thought you'd find it helpful, so here we go. I hope you enjoy it. Author Neil Gaiman had this to say in 2012 in his keynote address to the University of the Arts the old rules are crumbling and nobody knows what the new rules are. So make up your own rules. One of the things I often see when I'm coaching clients is that they're looking at me for very specific answers and steps and formulas, direction, or just having them tell them what to do. Now there's a time and a place for all these things and I take great pride in simplifying the complex and breaking down strategies into simple step by step implementation steps or instructions. But I find that in many cases writers are very hesitant to take chances. They're concerned about the right and the wrong way of doing something. About the rules of engagement, about the way a particular project is priced or should be priced, or the generally accepted fee range for a specific project. About the way something should be done, about what clients expect. Thing is, there's no should anymore. There are no uniform rules and there are no published fees out there. As Gaiman suggested, nobody even knows what the new rules are, which makes this a perfect time to take chances in your business, to reinvent yourself, to chart your own course, and to do things your way. Want to position yourself as more of a consultant and not just a writer? Go for it. You don't have to do it overnight. None of these things have to happen from one week to the next, but why not start moving in that direction? Want to start pricing your services higher because you want to add more value to a typical client engagement? Perfect. You should want to refuse to be shopped around. Hey, there's nothing wrong with telling the prospect you don't work that way. But here's how you do work and why you would be able to add so much more value than the lower cost resource or resources they might be considering. Want to start offering workshops or classes or coaching. Hey, why the heck not? Don't wait for someone to give you permission. Start investing a percentage of your time and energy to experiment with some of those ideas. In fact, that's the smart way of doing it. Take a small percentage of your time, energy and resources and invest in investigating these options and putting some ideas together. Bottom line, there's never been such a great time to rewrite the rulebook to do and try whatever you want. And as a business owner, you owe it to yourself to make decisions your traditionally employed colleagues could only dream of making. If you're not doing that, you're squandering the opportunity. Look, bottom line here is that there's no referee. The grown ups have left the building and we're in charge now. So let's have some fun.
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