Six Figure Writing

Hi from SueC here at Six Figure Writing! As a new reader, be sure to subscribe to my email list, and my RSS feed to get the most out of SFW. Thanks for stopping by!

Freelance writers are, by definition, flexible, and that is going to be a very important trait indeed as we head into a rocky economic downturn.

I just read a truly wonderful post at Escape From Cubicle Nation, about how to be creative in your business during a downturn.  How can writers survive and even capitalize on rough economic times?  here are a few ideas:

• Try branching out into topics you haven’t tried before.  if you are a fiction writer, try a few nonfiction topics (they can help pay the bills).
• Expand your marketing into arenas you haven’t tried before - or just expand your marketing!  Tweak your blog (I’ll be demonstrating some ideas in a future post using sites my readers have volunteered).  Do a massive post across the web of press releases, articles or content about your topic, or your self, or your publications.  Automate this so you have consistent, and constant, PR  exposure.
• Find new audiences for your work: Are there discussion forums you haven’t yet joined? A new venue where you can advertise? A potential partner you haven’t yet approached?  Network more.
• Find ways to improve your efficiency, and increase your output. Can you outsource the drab tasks of paperwork and accounting or what have you, and use those hours to send out or rite more material?
• Education is always a good investment - so take a class about something you haven’t tried before, and don’t just learn the material but use the class to network with other writers.
• Find ways to connect with others to enhance ways to learn of new opportunities or good product ideas.

What are you doing to protect your business in a tough time, and take advantage of opportunities?

written by SueC

Here are a couple things I’ve run across recently and am starting to have trouble living without:

• Jott. This is FREE. You set it up so you can call and leave yourself or anyone else a message, and you get a text and/or email reminder. I’m on the road a lot so I can’t always put a post-it on my desk. I can also Jott my virtual admin, partners, anyone else - Addictive!
• CrazyEgg: creates a “heatmap” of visitors to your site. Are they looking at the book covers and leaving? Are they going to the audio link first? Free limited access.
• FreeMind mind mapping software. This freeware lets you create “mind maps” or concept maps, which can be incredibly helpful in putting your ideas on paper in a (more) coherent way. Or the graphics are just fun to play with. I plan to post a video here soon showing how to use this, I use it for sites, books, articles, great for storyboarding too.
• Joe’s Goals. If you don’t already have something you use to goal-set, this might help. I liked it for the tag cloud too - a little insight into what people are obsessing about today!
• Twitter. OK it seems idiotic at first. Why not just use RSS? Because even THAT can be time consuming. Twitter lets you read quick hits from people you follow, or send out your own. Just fun to read sometimes if you read everything being posted at once… I’ve been using it a while and still trying to decide if it’s useful, fun, or just a waste of time.  Send me a tweet at 6figurewriting and let me know what you think.

What apps are you using we need to have right away?

Tags: business tools, cool tools, freeware, goal setting, mind mapping, writing tools

written by SueC \\ tags: business tools, cool tools, freeware, goal setting, mind mapping, writing tools