Three surefire keys to success

The idea of solopreneurship or freelancing full-time is daunting. I know it better than anyone; I worked in a career that I loved but decided to walk away from it 2 1/2 years ago. There is no secret sauce that made me better than anyone else to take this leap. In fact, I might be the worst candidate in the world for it. But I did it anyway.

Three key ingredients made it work for me and will work for you if you follow them: persistence + patience + consistency = big gains over time.

There are no shortcuts here. Be extremely wary of any LinkedIn/Twitter/X gurus out there who say otherwise.

"Ut est rerum omnium magister usus" translates roughly to "experience is the teacher of all things." You're going to have to get your hands dirty to create your own life, and it isn't easy. But it is doable. My best advice is to start doing it. The best time to start was years ago, but the next best time is now.

Persistence

This is not a romantic or easy career, but it isn’t all that difficult, either. The greatest reward is that you’ll figure out you get to create the rules! But that is putting the cart before the horse.

You’ve got to have grit in this game. The grit to watch dozens (or hundreds) of emails and DMs go unanswered. Or writing about the same things all the time. But then you’ll finally land a rule client. And then another one. And you’ll realize there is no other way of life. But it’s a long road getting there.

Here are some tips on how to be persistent as a freelance writer:

• Set goals and track your progress. It is important to set goals for yourself and track your progress so that you can see how you are doing. This will help you stay motivated and on track.

• Network with other writers and professionals. Networking is a great way to find new clients and learn from other writers. Attend industry events, join online communities, and connect with people on social media.

• Be patient. It takes time to build a successful freelance writing career. Don't get discouraged if you don't see results immediately. Just keep writing and networking, and eventually, you will start to see success.

• Be consistent. It is important to be consistent with your writing and marketing efforts. If you only write when you feel like it, you will not be successful. Make a schedule and stick to it as much as possible.

• Learn from your mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. The important thing is to learn from them and move on. Don't dwell on your mistakes, just use them as an opportunity to improve.

• Don't give up. There will be times when you want to give up. But if you are persistent and patient, you will eventually be successful. Just keep writing and networking, and eventually, you will find your niche and start to see success. And this isn’t just BS jargon; this is for real. All you really have to do is not quit.

Patience

This one speaks for itself. It takes a long time for anyone to take notice of you. You’re shouting in the void a lot. But then you catch a break. And then another, and then a couple more. This goes right along with persistence. The only thing you need to do is continue doing what works over and over and over again. The skills themselves rarely ever change. The real challenge is learning to scale up your production. But it all starts with volume repetitions (thanks, Wade).

Patiently applying the fundamentals a thousand times trumps virality every time.

Consistency

The final ingredient is consistency, which has a lot to do with the other two ingredients. You don’t think you're getting any traction from your newsletter? Well, keep posting. Same with social media, email lists, or anything. If you schedule something non-negotiable, you had better hit it. And I am talking to myself here.

SEO Tips of The Week

This carousel really popped out to me this week. A lot of these are things I’ve already been reading about, but the visuals were appealing, so here you go.

Resources & Recommended Reading

I picked up a mostly complete set of The Classics by Brittanica at a local thrift shop this week. I spent $50 to get 29 volumes of the most influential authors to ever pen words to paper. These books have more knowledge than I can absorb in a lifetime. So today, I suggest you shift things around and go find the dusty old bookstore or go thrifting. Find some old literature, buy it for next to nothing, and read it.