OK, hang with me for a moment. Earlier this week, a discussion started over at The Ad Contrarian with regard to the relative value of posts that drive a lot of traffic versus those that drive a lot of comments--and the disheartening fact that your best-written blog entry often has little to do with it being your most-read one. One guy joked that his highest-traffic post involved the top 10 euphemisms for "dropping the kids off at the pool."
Which brings me to the title of this post. If you Google "earn a six-figure income," you will quickly learn that there are a bunch of career choices out there that seemingly guarantee a six-figure income: blogging, staying at home, and, naturally, freelance writing. If you are one of my regular readers, you already know that I'm being an utter and complete smartass. If, however, you arrived here through one of those searches, a few words of wisdom...
At the risk of sounding holier-than-thou, I'd say that there are few reasons worse to choose an industry than it seems an easy way to skate to $100,000. That's as true of freelancing as it is anything else. As a part-time rowing coach, I'd quantify it as every bit as asinine as parents who want their kids to row so they can get into an Ivy League college.
Can you earn six figures as a freelance writer? Yes. Yes, you can. Is becoming a freelancer a great career move? Perhaps. Perhaps it is. But going in, you should be aware that the market will test your entrepreneurial skills far more than it will ever value your ability to mash a keyboard.
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What? You mean I can't... grr... and here I invested in an ergonomic desk chair and everything!
ReplyDeleteEntreprenurial skills....ah, yes. I'm doing what I love, not what I can make the most money at. Blogs are everywhere, writers are writing faster than we can read the words. I have to do this for me, and if someone finds it and likes it, so much the better. I found you, like what I've read and will come back! And you read me, too! I feel better already! Thanks for words worth reading!
ReplyDeleteTeenie, you can keep the ergo chair, but we're repossessing the Gaggia espresso maker on Monday at 8 a.m.--The Management
ReplyDeleteAnd adchick, so glad to have found your site, too. Fun to discover your vox is no longer clamantis in deserto. Or something like that...
Always fun to mingle in foreign blogs only to become a familiar. It's been a while since I did blog runs, but as you can see, I'm picking up on it. Adchick and teenie, I'll be by in a week or two to munch on some good ole blogness. And Jake, very fun blog. Glad to have you on our blog list.
ReplyDeleteJoker, thanks for the kind words! Obviously I'm enjoying the mayhem over at your place as well.
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