by Leo Wiles
11 June 2014
We all know media is taking a beating and a lot of us are feeling it – and from my perspective it’s becoming harder than ever to make money. I know I need to reinvent myself but I’m not sure how to go about it. Any tips? Alan
Okay, here’s my story. During my 20+ year career as a journalist, editor and PR I’ve reinvented myself at least half a dozen times, in a world that rapidly evolved from the one in which I began as a junior reporter cadet interviewing stars of stage and screen for Fleet Street’s first colour newspaper.
Following the newspaper’s demise, I morphed into a magazine feature writer – still in the show business niche – and balanced this with TV PR. I then began paying my dues as an Associate Producer for satellite TV stations – long hours, little pay, but wonderful experience.
Fast-forward 12 years, and I returned to Australia as a divorcee with a next to useless contacts book and a name that no longer opened doors in this new market. What did I do? I began cold calling – physical portfolio in hand at APC (now Bauer), Pacific Publications (now Pacific Magazines), News Int. Federal, (yep I am that old), etc. From there, I became a regular in-house desk jockey covering holidays and maternity leave – all with the intent of showcasing my skills to a new round of section editors, commissioning editors and PRs. Within eighteen months, it had worked like a charm.
Without my normal speed-dial showbiz contacts, however, I realised I had to expand my repertoire with health, wealth, lifestyle, sports-star profiles and ghostwriting for columnists. During this time I also added editing and news editor roles to my writing resume.
But as you know life happens while you’re making other plans – and single freelancers are not the safest bet for bank managers. So it was with some relief that I accepted an associate editor role, after one of my new editors asked me to join forces to launch a new national weekly magazine.
During the day-to-day running of 26 pages of weekly content, I honed my ability to direct shoots, commission writers and photographers, liaise with corporate stakeholders and manage a creative team. I also independently took short courses when my 14 hours days allowed.
Two years later, the lure of becoming a travel writer while living in Vanuatu with my partner became the catalyst for an incredibly adventurous time of my life. When I was done with the island hopping, I returned to Australia to find ALL my old commissioning contacts had moved on. I was back to square one. A return to freelance writing, copywriting, and managerial roles in marketing and PR followed – until the day I was pregnant with our third child, my partner walked out and I realized I was in danger of becoming extinct on the work front. Especially in light of the ever-expanding need for digital skills and online visual content.
As Karl Lagerfeld says ‘I like to reinvent myself — it’s part of my job’ – and with those words ringing in my ears, I cancelled the pity party, pulled on my big girl panties and went back to study Media and Communications, Advertising, PR and Business PR. Leading to my latest reinvention as a Photographer, blogger and filmmaker producing marketing content for clients.
Here’s what I learnt along the way:
Be realistic. Is this a short-term lull or a six-month famine that’s not going to end? If it’s the latter, it’s time to focus on what this new future looks like for you. Unrealistic expectations aside, map out the journey to arrive there within an achievable timeline (dependent on what new skills you’ll be adding to your word smithing arsenal). Do you need a complete overhaul, a few tweaks or a new way to get your name out there?
Up-skill. Regularly audit your skill base and understand your strengths and weaknesses. You should also research online, part-time, night or day courses at a local Writer’s Centre, TAFE or University.
Expand your horizons. Break out of your niche. Are you a food writer and/or reviewer who could become a stylist, caterer, photographer, panellist or book editor? Could you become a speaker, author or teacher, showing others how to cook or write about food?
Diversify. Journalism offers a huge range of skills that can be used and adapted into various mediums, such as taking photos, making podcasts, shooting footage. The principles are the same – it’s all about telling great stories.
Adapt or die. Research where the growth areas are for writers, such as corporate writing, digital content, EBooks, SME websites etc.
Be online or be invisible. A website, blog, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are amongst the platforms that can raise your profile amongst your peers and make you more attractive to editors by showing them that you have a following and that you are relevant.
Don’t be a dinosaur. Change is the only constant and neglecting the chance to reinvent yourself or invigorate your skill base… well, failure to plan is planning to fail.
Change your Attitude. Ditch the blinkers and see the challenges and possibilities instead of just the obstacles. If it seems overwhelming break down your goal into manageable steps.
Ignore the naysayers. The voices of doom will come out of the woodwork (they did with me). Stick to your guns, sleep, eat well, exercise and stay away from stimulants or emotional vampires that could hamper you, because success is its own revenge.
Have you had to reinvent yourself in the past few years? Care to share your top tips?
Hi Leo,
Thanks so much for sharing your awesome tips and insights! I was a freelancer for only six months and it was really scary at first, but once I got into the groove of things, I really enjoyed the freedom and wide variety of projects I was able to work on.
I think one thing that really helped me get up and going was when I realised that I was now running my own business and *I* was the product. It wasn’t just about writing random stories and hoping it all worked out. When I came to that realisation, I changed my mindset and started hustling like there was no tomorrow.
Hi Jo-Anne,
Congratulations on your foray into freelancing. It’s great that you made the mind shift so early on. It took me a while, after being salaried for the first few years of writing for a living, to realise that writing is a craft and freelancing IS a business.
Hi Leo,
Thanks for sharing your experience and wisdom here. I find these tips really useful. I have only been freelancing for a year and I juggle writing with raising my three preschoolers. Once I ship them off to school, I hope I’ll have more time to dedicate to it. I especially love your last tip about ignoring the naysayers and those emotional vampires (love that term). Thanks!
Dear Michaela,
Hats off to you for juggling it all. I too was working and studying with three under four so I know how NUTS it can be.
However, I’d love to know how you’re managing to balance the whole career, children self care triangle if you’d care to share… as I’m sure there are lots of us freelancers who are in the same boat.
To whom I’d like to offer this if you don’t think there are enough hours in the day to still work or study turn off the TV it’s an amazing time waster. Doing so let me be a single parent all day and work /study at night to the point where I came out the other end with distinction.
Hi Leo,
There are lots of really useful insights in this piece, thank you for sharing. I can’t agree with your advice to stay away from stimulants but everything else resonated with me. I’ve been freelancing for 13 years and I’m not writing for any of the publications that I was when I first started. Many of them no longer exist, have been folded into other magazines, don’t have freelance budgets etc. etc. I have often reinvented myself with the greatest of reluctance and I would dearly love to turn the clock back to the early 2000s when it really was so easy to make a good living as a freelancer. Having said that though, whenever I have reinvented myself whether it’s by opening up a new market or by building on a niche I’d stumbled into; it’s always felt good and months down the track I’ve kicked myself for not embracing it sooner. Because you are absolutely right that change is the only constant and we need to keep adapting.
In one of his books, I think it is Seven Years to Seven Figures, Michael Masterton talks about a friend of his who had variously been a trial lawyer, a journalist, a book author a TV producer etc. and notes that the one constant through his friend’s life was words. He was always doing something where he was telling a story. What you’re talking about is very similar. Most, if not all, of us end up in the publishing game because we like telling stories, the medium may change and it’s currently changing at a breakneck pace but when you break it all down we’re still telling stories.
Darren I couldn’t agree more.
I pursued journalism because I love communicating and that hasn’t changed. Apart from words my other constant is that I have always, apart from a stint on a weekly women’s mag that will remain nameless, strived to produce work that would inspire my readers to a bigger bette life.
Like you it’s with the benefit of hindsight that I now realise that my beginnings on a national newspaper were actually undertaken at the end of an era never to be seen again.
We had our own cuttings library and would trawl through folders of old clippings pre Google and would call the chief sub away from his second bottle of red to put the paper to bed.
I even booked a colleague into rehab when she collapsed at work and had to call an ambulance for my lovely news editor when he had a heart attack at his desk – hard working, hard drinking, swearing and chain smoking were all part of my heady introduction as a naive cadet – I wonder how new writers, who thankfully will never experience the eye strain of typing green letters onto a black screen, experience their first few years…
Great tips, Leo. I’m reinventing and moving forward. I know it’s going to take a while to make things perfect, but I’m focused and trying to do everything in the best way that I can. No shortcuts. I try to do things the right way the first go because I know time is money!
HI Rhonda,
Not only is time money but the good news when you make the transition you’ll have a swathe of new skills and cuts with which to impress your new clients.
Good luck and hang in there – it will pay off.