How to Get Rid of Competitors

I had lunch with a dozen other freelance writers last week. We each shared where we were at in our freelance journey and the types of writing we were doing. Some of us were meeting for the first time and others have been connected for awhile. It was a whole lot of fun and the place was filled with energy. We'll be doing it again soon and continue in the future.

One of the ladies briefly touched on the subject of competition. It was in the context of a comment she had received from her husband. She had been sharing some of her sources for freelance work with a friend who was just getting started. Her husband asked why she was "helping her competition." Her response was similar to mine when I've been asked a similar question, she didn't see her friend as competition since there is such an unlimited market for freelance writers and such a wide spectrum of opportunties.

Just this week I was contacted by a magazine looking for writers. I could easily provide the types of articles they are needing, but I knew plenty of other writers who could use the opportunity and could provide articles that were more specific to their target audience. So far I've provided the magazine with eight different articles, but I haven't written any of them. I'll get mine in there too, but it's not as big of a deal for me to get an article published as it is for some of these other writers. I'm excited for them!

Doesn't seem like a very good way to do business does it? But it is exactly this type of networking with other writers that has helped me build a freelance writing business that not only supports me but provides income to several other writers as well.

I don't see other freelance writers as my competitors but as my colleagues. Every writer has different strengths and different goals. When we share our resources and knowledge with each other we all become better at what we do. When I see opportunities for UK writers I shoot them off in emails to my writer friends in the UK; they've done the same for me with US only projects. But I do the same with my writer friends that live in my home town (right after I get done with sending in my own application or proposal).

Getting rid of competitors is really just a matter of changing your mindset. I have no competitors, only colleagues and teammates. It's kind of like a swim team. Everyone is competing individually, but we're all cheering for each other. Go team!!

Minnesota Swamp Living

I grew up surrounded by - swamps. Yep. The entire area on the opposite side of the road from our house was northern Minnesota swamp land. Back down the logging road that led into the woods behind our house were ponds and more swamp land. They were inhabited by frogs, muskrats, leeches and LOTS of mosquitoes.

In the summer they would become dotted with golden dots of sunshine that we called Cowslips. They were lovely little waxen flowers. I always wanted to pick the Cowslips, but the swamp protected them. It was wet and boggy. It always managed to thwart my efforts to gather a bouquet of those lovely little buttercups.

When you live a half a mile from the nearest neighbor and there is a forest of poplar, birch and pine trees in between you, true darkness can be experienced after sundown. Sunset in Minnesota in the summer doesn't arrive until late in the evening. Unless you turned on a yard light, the moon and stars were the only lights you would see, except for the fireflies over the swamp.

Our house sat up on a little hill that looked down on the dirt road that ran past it and overlooked the big swamp on the other side. I remember sitting out on the hill in the dark with my siblings just watching the fireflies flitting about over the swamp. The frogs created low background music, accompanied by the low hum of mosquitoes circling around us.

Mosquitoes didn't seem to bite us much. They still seem to be more attracted to others more than they are to me. Maybe growing up surrounded by swampland creates an immunity. I'm not sure. Makes you appreciate simple things though, like Cowslips and fireflies.

Do I want to move back there? NOPE. But it's nice to do some nostalgic reminiscing about summers long ago, while sitting inside on an April evening with a snowstorm dragging our winter out a bit too long.

Photo attribution: http://www.ForestWander.com

Create It on Your Computer - Sell It Online

You got it. If you can create it on your computer, you can sell it online. It's called digital goods.

Writers
Since I'm a writer, I obviously have made use of this means of passive income by selling my words. To date, I've created one poetry ebook, Scent of Spirit, and one informational ebook, The Fast Track to Freelance Success Online. But ebooks aren't the only type of digital goods you can create and sell online. Even if you're a writer, you have other options. Short reports, essays or individual pieces of poetry could also be listed for sale. You can create templates for all kinds of documents and forms too.

Crafters
Crafting is your thing? Or sewing, knitting, crocheting, quilting? You can sell the patterns and instructions for the things you create. Here's some examples:

Cross Stitch Patterns

Paper Cessna Skylane Instructions

Digital Art - Photography, Graphics, Fonts

Chocolate Dragon Graphic Art

Collections of Nature Photos

Musicians and Videographers
Start selling your music tracs, instructional videos or short film entertainment.


So where and how do you do start selling your creations? The same place I did: PayLoadz.com

They make it so simple. They handle collecting the payment and delivering the product for you. You can sell from their e-store, from your own web page, Facebook or via email. Check out PayLoadz and see how easy it is to sell your digital products.

P.S. They have a great affiliate program too.  You can make money from selling the products of others too.

Whoops! I Didn't Know You Were Here!

Have you ever started telling a funny story about someone and then had to bite your tongue because you realized they were in the room? After all, you don't want to hurt their feelings. But a little innocent laughter at their expense that they don't know about won't hurt them, right?

Maybe you haven't done it yourself, but you've seen others quickly retreat from a topic when they realize the person might overhear them. Without the fear of being overheard, however, the story can be told and everyone entertained with a little chuckle.

That's how it goes, doesn't it? Except for those unfortunate times when the person who is the center of the tale is present, unbeknownst to the teller of the tale. The chuckles are still had, but one person walks away feeling like a bit of a fool.

Not very Christian behavior, you might be thinking. Making fun of people just because you think they're not there to hear it.

Yet, that's exactly what I've heard Christians do. Sometimes even from the pulpit or the teachers seat of a Sunday School class.

Heard it just recently. It was a story about a person who offered a Christian "happy thoughts" when they heard that the Christian was ill. The Christian, of course, accepted the happy thoughts without comment at the time, but it made a good story for the Sunday congregation about what a foolish and meaningless gesture the person had made. Chuckles went up from the congregation. But I wondered - was everyone really laughing?

Why did the person on the platform assume that everyone sitting in the pews were proper religious people who would always offer prayers and not meaningless happy thoughts? The pews had hundreds of people sitting in them. He didn't know them all. Many of them had been attending the church for years, but others were newcomers, some perhaps visiting for the first time.

I wondered how many sitting in the pews had wished someone happy thoughts during the last week. It's a pretty common saying these days. When they heard the incredulous statement from the platform that the gentleman often met people who didn't even know the Old Testament stories that 'we all' grew up with, did they realize they weren't part of the 'we?'

Who are 'we' and who are 'they?' Are 'we' really so much smarter and holier than 'they' are?

It makes me sad. Who would invite guests to into their home and then treat them with such contempt, as if they forgot they had made the invitation?

It made me wonder if I've been guilty of doing the same thing. I hope not, but it is possible. I believe I've changed. I believe I've lost my tribal attitude and my religious pride. I hope so.

If you were sitting in the pews. Please forgive our bad manners.