 I’ve lived in Louisville all my life. I don’t count the two years I spent in undergraduate school at the University of Kentucky because I came home every weekend. I’ve traveled a bit, but Looavull has always been my base.
When I was a kid, I would often complain about my hometown, whining that there was nothing to do here (and then I went to school in Lexington, oy). Oh, how I could not wait to get the hell out. Sadly, I wasn’t quite ambitious enough to make that happen in my early 20s, and by 22, I was pregnant. There was no question about where I would raise my child — amongst family, friends and familiar surroundings. I was stuck, er, committed to a life here. And thank God. Today, I love this ol’ city, schizophrenic weather and all. There is a small chance, now that my son is grown, I’ll move to Florida or Hawaii someday — I wrote last week about my near-obsessive affection for the beach. The ocean is the only thing Loueyville is missing, in my humble estimation. (Update: flights are booked, and my October trip is officially on!)
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 This past weekend, I was honored to be one of the presenters at the Women Who Write conference. My topic was “Blogging … with Purpose.” I don’t know if a single soul got anything useful out of my talk, but no one fell asleep or walked out midway through, so as far as I am concerned, it was a success.
Now, I don’t pretend to be any kind of expert on blogging. I was very up front with the organizers about that little detail, and they still wanted me to impart what I know. This post is intended to be a summary of what I shared. I don’t make a living with this little blog. You may have noticed that I don’t sell any advertising on it. I have no objection to doing that, but I cannot imagine who would want to buy it, and I don’t have the time or inclination to find out. I’ve been blogging once a week for almost two years in this space, as an extension of my professional website. I also ghostblog (lookie there, I just made up a new word!) for several clients. (Side note: my audience this weekend was other writers, most of whom have never blogged, so I focused my presentation on tips that would help them launch their craft in an online forum. Blogging for business is a little bit different animal.)  When I hand off my business card to both new and old contacts, they often compliment me on my company name, Write Is Might Louisville. It came from a button — the laminated kind with a safety pin you impale on a lapel — that I’ve had hanging on my bulletin board since I was in high school. (That's it in the photo.)
It bears that simple message, minus the word Louisville, in white type on a red background. It’s attributed to Walden Theatre, though I never quite understood why a group of thespians would use it as their tagline. I have no idea where I got the darn thing since I have never attended a show at Walden, but I’ve always loved the sentiment. Over the years, referring back to that succinct concept encouraged me to persevere in my writing career. For me, writing has always been a major source of my strength. It was the primary skill that allowed me to excel in school, from first grade all the way through graduate school.  So I jumped off the cliff, and I didn’t fall on my ass. In fact, I landed pretty damn softly on my feet.
See, it was one year ago this week that I walked out of the corporate world and into the ranks of the self-employed. One whole year of no one telling me where to be or what to do. One full, blissful year of crafting a career on my own terms. Best. Decision. Ever. I hope I never have to get a real job again. You can read about my journey here and here. To sum up, I had been freelancing on the side for the prior six months, during which time I worked hard to lay the groundwork for a successful leap from a steady paycheck to sporadic income. I had created an LLC, launched this website, and built a referral network and nominal book of business to get my own little entrepreneurial ball rolling. When I quit my full-time gig, my economic scenario was not optimal to start a business. But it was decent, and I found myself at the crossroads of Piss Avenue and Get Off The Pot Drive. I had gotten too busy to do two jobs well, so I closed my eyes, crossed my fingers and threw myself off the ledge. I am SO grateful that I didn’t go “splat.”  During the past year or so, as I have actively worked on building my freelance writing and media consulting business, I’ve done a LOT of networking.
I’ve been pretty consistent, attending at least a few events and scheduling several individual meetings with prospective clients every month. But I got super busy in August and September, so I kind of slacked off on business development in favor of getting some actual paying work done. I’m now playing catch-up, on a mission to kick ass and ensure I have enough work to keep me busy through the end of the year. Being out and about at networking events again means I’m giving the ol’ elevator speech about who I am and what I do over and over. And over. And over again. It gets better and more polished every time … at least, I hope it does.  So it was September of last year when I formed my LLC and officially launched my freelance writing and media consulting business. I freelanced as a sideline for about six months before I was able to quit my corporate job and become a full-time entrepreneur.
It was the single best career move I ever made. I. Love. My. Job. Since this month is my official one-year anniversary, I’ve been doing a little reflecting on how things have gone so far. It hasn’t all been sunshine and roses, but for the most part, it has gone much better than I could have ever imagined. One of the smartest things I did in preparation for starting a business was informal market research. In other words, I asked a shit-ton of questions, specifically of other writers and consultants who are making a really good living working for themselves. Their advice was priceless, and I continue to put much of it into practice every day. In recent months, several of my friends have taken notice of my success (not to mention my unabashed joy) since going out on my own, and they have asked me to share how I did what I did, and continue to do what I do. Since similar counsel was given so freely to me, I am more than happy to pay it forward. |
About Amy HiggsA former newspaper columnist, Amy takes her random, slice-of-life stories to the web. After 12 years, she's still just saying. Archives
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