1127. This week, we talk with Suzanne Bowness about creating a successful life as a writer. We look at high-value industries that are good targets for freelance work and the best job titles to pitch. Suzanne provides practical advice on tracking projects and follow-ups and explains why established freelancers should use their downtime to experiment and learn new tools.
1127. This week, we talk with Suzanne Bowness about creating a successful life as a writer. We look at high-value industries that are good targets for freelance work and the best job titles to pitch. Suzanne provides practical advice on tracking projects and follow-ups and explains why established freelancers should use their downtime to experiment and learn new tools.
Find Suzanne on her website, Codeword Communications.
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[Computer-generated transcript]
Mignon Fogarty: If you are a creative, independent, idea-driven person, ready to work hard for the lifestyle you deserve, you might be a feisty freelancer. And today we're talking with Suzanne Bowness, author of the fabulous book, "The Feisty Freelancer." Suzanne has a PhD in English and teaches writing and freelancing at Humber College in Toronto. The book captures the lessons she's learned from building a business, trying new things, making mistakes, picking new directions, and generally enjoying life as a 20-plus-year freelancer. Suzanne Bowness, welcome to the show.
Suzanne Bowness: Thank you so much. I'm a longtime listener, so it's fun to be a guest.
Mignon Fogarty: Oh, well, I'm so excited to have you. I loved your book. I thought it was just great, and you know, the advice that you have would be useful to people anytime. But I got my start freelancing many years ago when I got laid off from a job, and in the book, you say you got your start when you got laid off too. And you know, I see news story after news story these days about people getting laid off. So I thought this was an especially important or helpful topic to have right now.
Suzanne Bowness: Yeah, it was actually my first job, and my whole magazine folded that I was working at. I was the online editor at a general interest magazine here in Canada. At 25 years old, I didn't even realize—I didn't know a layoff was a thing. It hadn't really clued in to me that your job could be on one day and you were working hard, and then off the next day. So it came as a real shock. I did walk home in tears with my box in my hands, kind of thing. But then after that, you know, you're always thinking about, well, what will be next for me, even when you're just starting out? And I really thought, I'd really like to be writing more. I realized that even working at a busy magazine, you do a lot of administration and management and that kind of thing. And even though that was really fun being part of that team environment, I thought, I really want to get back to writing. That's what I wanted to be doing for my whole career. And also at the same time, I saw these freelancers waning in and out of the office, having their meetings with our senior editors. And I thought, oh, that sounds fun. They get to make their own schedule. So I thought I would try that when I got laid off.
Actually, it's not the advice that I would give to somebody who is 25 at this point. I would say, and to my younger self—and I do say to my students—go and get educated and mentored in your industry for maybe 10 years or so. So get that extra, unless you're really sure that you want to start your business. Try to get as much learning as you can, and then go freelance, kind of thing. So, for me, it just happened at the time, and it was something I was really eager about. I realized that I had the self-discipline to get myself to my desk at nine o'clock in the morning every day. And it turns out I really like the lifestyle; it really works for me. I like the variety, having different clients, and that kind of thing. And so, I think you want to decide if you're that kind of person. I certainly met along the way freelancers who are, like me, really like this lifestyle and have the feistiness, maybe the continuation, the persistence to continue after it. And then some people, it doesn't work for them; they really prefer to be working in a team. I include some exercises in the book just to help you figure out which one you are. And you know, you can always try it, but it helps to sort of know yourself before you move into that freelancing, especially full-time.
Mignon Fogarty: Yeah, no, I love working for myself and the freedom, you know, to take off two hours in the middle of the day and go to the grocery store when it's not crowded or go see a matinee or something like that. I was actually surprised to read that you try to work like nine to five, nine to six, and I'm like, “Oh, I could never do that.” But that's the wonderful thing about freelancing—it can be whatever you want it to be for yourself. You have so much more freedom.
Suzanne Bowness: Exactly. Yeah, you can plan out your schedule. I just work nine to five because if I didn't, I would be jealous of people at rest when I have to work, kind of thing. And that's when my editors and clients are around, so I tend to do that. And then, you know, my tendency is to slide into workaholism. So I actually have to make the cap at five and say, you know, when I started out, I used to plan a yoga class once a week, for example, to make sure that I stopped work at five and then revisited things. Even today, I still like—even if I have a lot on the go, I'll stop at five, take a walk, do something that makes me realize it's good. Is it really important to continue this tonight? No, it's not. I can finish it up tomorrow, and I'll probably have a fresher head when I'm doing so.
Mignon Fogarty: Oh, that's really smart. Yeah, I find that when I had a dog, it was great because she would prompt me to go for walks. That was really helpful. So when people think about freelancing, I mean, your advice applies to anyone who wants to freelance in any field. But you are a writer, and I'm a writer. So when people think about freelance writing, I think they often tend to think about magazines and newspaper articles and traditional things like that. But I always found that corporate work was a really important part of making a successful freelance life where you could support yourself. And you said the same thing in your book. So can you talk about the avenues that are available that people might not first think of when they're trying to think about, well, how do I become a freelancer and make it work?
Suzanne Bowness: Definitely, a major percentage of my work is corporate work. And you know, when we think about corporate, we really think like boring offices and a lot of negatives. A lot of my corporate work is like work that I would do for magazines; it just happens to be for a company or an organization. I'm a specialist in long-form content, meaning I write a lot of articles and blog posts, and I interview a lot of people, so I write journalistic-style articles that just happen to be for my corporate clients, which currently are people in colleges and universities. I write a lot for their websites, their blogs, that kind of thing. Just highlighting a lot of the exciting and interesting research that's going on at universities and colleges and then other markets that are interested in that kind of long-form storytelling are interesting to me because that's what I like to do.
So I would say that there's a lot of industries out there. The way to find them is just to see how much content they are producing. Are they producing the kind of content that you like to write? If they are, that might be the niche or the industry for you. The economics of writing is challenging; just like any business, it's tough to make a living by generating something from nothing. And then even for us writers, it's like we're in a glamorous industry. People do this on the side after their work, and we're trying to do it as full-time work. So it means that you have to hustle a little bit sometimes. There's a little bit of competition because what we actually get to do is really quite fun.
Mignon Fogarty: Yeah, and you talked about finding those lucrative niches. You know, you were talking about your work for universities, and then I started thinking about it. I'm like, you know, you're right. I do get like three different alumni magazines or newsletters from the colleges I went to, and they have a lot of articles. They're profiling people all the time. You know, when I was working, I wrote a lot of the content for the Stanford University Cancer Center website. They had, you know, every page about every disease needed content. And then we interviewed the doctors and talked about their philosophies and the groundbreaking treatments. There's just so much, you know, a university alone publishes. What are some other sort of high-value industries that are good targets for people?
Suzanne Bowness: So I think high-value industries, if you think about the classic industry where you think, "Oh, people in that industry must make a lot of money." For example, banks make a lot of money, and healthcare makes a lot of money. Those are industries that need to both connect with their readers, connect with their audience of people, and that kind of thing. They tend to put out a lot of content and need to have a presence on social media. So you're really wanting to, if you’re wanting to look at the industries that are traditionally known for having a richer budget. And then also look for how many kinds of publications. So any place that puts out content is really an industry for you. But those are a few examples of industries where people find good success immediately that are sort of more sure, like financial health, business, that kind of thing.
But you could also do it in a location-based way. You could become the writer in your town, kind of thing, right? And service all of the small businesses in your local area, if that's a way to start. Or you could become a real expert in a particular niche and say, you know, I was encouraged, say, five years ago, when eSports and gaming really came out, I was like, “Hey, new writers, this is a niche, right? If you got really good, this is not a huge niche yet because it's still evolving, but if you got really good at this, it might be a way for the right person who has the enthusiasm for it already to develop that niche.”
So, in terms of finding the niche, I would say you want to explore the niche, and this is an assignment I do with my students: I have them look into the industry. I'm like, find out what do they publish? Are there magazines in that area? Are there enough clients in the area? Say, for example, healthcare, what are the kinds of clients you could write for? Sometimes you want to expand your definition of the niche. So you could say, oh, I could write for everything from big hospitals that have large fundraising departments or I could write for yoga studios. Right? So the definition of health can be very big or small, depending on how you focus the niche. And then to see if there are enough clients in my area, maybe my area is my entire country, kind of thing. Maybe my area is my town or my state or province. And so that can be a way to find out. And then finding out how people get work in the niche can be helpful too. One of the other assignments I have my students do is connect with somebody who's already either writing in that niche or who's already working in that niche and find out a little bit more about them. The more research you can do is quite helpful.
And then to say that you can expand your niche is also accurate because I started my niche when I started my writing business. I started writing about technology because at the time it was at the end of the tech boom, and I identified it as a niche. You know, I would love to write book reviews all day long, but that niche doesn't particularly pay. So I'm like, what is a niche that I can deal with and feel enthusiastic enough for in order to be excited to write in there? And then also that will have enough clients for me. I identified technology early on, and then I got a little bit tired of doing only tech stories. So then I thought, well, what's another adjacent niche? Right? So I started writing some business and entrepreneurship stories, right? So I just kind of moved along in niches that interested me and I came to my niche in education after I finished my PhD and thought, you know, now I've become an expert because I know this area. I know how the university works, and I know there's a ton of really interesting research out there. And so I can describe myself as somebody who's really interested and knowledgeable about that world. And so that's when I started to reach out also because I figured they have a bunch of the kind of work that I like to do, telling long-form stories.
Mignon Fogarty: Yeah. And, I mean, in the beginning, you talked about trying to get a little bit of work experience under your belt before you freelance if you can. And, you know, knowing people—like knowing people in different industries is a huge leg up. You know, when I first started writing, I was writing almost exclusively for people I knew from the jobs that I had before. So, you know, when you start, then you start thinking about like, okay, who do I know who could give me that first leg in, that first break to get some work under your belt? And then when you identify the places that you want to target as writing, you know, I actually highlighted the entire chapter of your book about pitching. You know, I had my highlighter, and I'm like, oh, this is a good part. Oh, this is a good part too. And the whole thing was just great. And so, and I think a lot of people struggle with how to do that, how to pitch, how to reach out, especially cold pitching, you know, when you're getting started. You're asking people you know, but you also probably need to ask some people you don't know. So, you know, once someone has identified some prospective clients, how do you tell them? How do you tell your students to proceed when they're just getting started?
Suzanne Bowness: To be honest, I still do a lot of cold pitching myself. Like I do it a couple of times a year. I reach out to identify potential new clients. And so, the success rate is not great. Like it's true to say the success rate is about 5%. So if you send out a hundred emails, you're going to hear back from five, and maybe two will turn into clients. But that's two clients that you didn't have before, and that could turn into those valuable long-term relationships. So I think that the effort is still worth doing it. Plus, I think it's really actionable for a new freelancer who doesn't have a network yet, right? I'm always like rolling my eyes at pure freelancers who might have been doing it for a long time and they say, well, just get a network. And I'm like, that's not actionable for a young person or somebody who's new to the industry. And so they need to find something that with the right energy and attention, they can make something happen.
So when I want to start outreach, I list all the communications directors and managers across Canada in that niche. I often will start with just my own country. If it's a little overwhelming, I'll start with just my own province or city. And then I send them a letter of introduction, which I include a couple of examples of in the book. And if I'm starting into a new niche, I try to maybe get on a Zoom call with somebody who's in that industry and see if I can get any intelligence on more about it, kind of thing. That can be useful. I just send out maybe my hundred letters and then see which five come back and see which ones I can turn into clients, right?
And then I keep in touch. So I will often email my contacts maybe twice a year, friendly, polite, telling them what I'm up to or what the latest things I've published, reminding them that I'm still here. Because sometimes people with freelancers, they think it's very temporary, right? And it is for some people, right? It's what you do between jobs. You get your regular job and you're no longer a freelancer. But for somebody like me, like a career freelancer, which it's turned into a career, and that's fun, but it means that sometimes people think you've gone away. And I'm still here. I remind people. I'm still here, still ready to work and that kind of thing. So I reach out, and I still get responses. Sometimes it turns into a client and a long-term relationship, and that's awesome. Those are ways that I use my cold outreach.
Mignon Fogarty: How do you find the right people to contact?
Suzanne Bowness: Often, I will look on the website. So for example, if I'm looking for a university client, I'll look under—sometimes for a small university they might have a centralized one communications director, and so I might reach out to that person. Job titles I identify are often communications director or communications manager. I like to reach out to the supervisor because they're the ones who would have the power to make an assignment, to say yes or no, kind of thing. Often I'll be passed along to somebody else, and I'll hear the response back from somebody else, and I'll say, “Oh, great, you know, the system is working. And that the communications director sent my information to the person who actually does the assignments.” But those are job titles I look for. Sometimes I'll look on LinkedIn if I haven't found it on their website, and I'll just search for communications director at whatever institution I'm looking for and see if I can find them there. That can be another place to send a note to them and gauge their interest, kind of thing. I try to keep my own LinkedIn presence fairly active such that I look like somebody who's engaged and interested in writing. I post about writing all the time, try to do it once a week, and make sure that I look like the kind of person you'd want to hire.
Mignon Fogarty: Do you think that having an active social media presence is essential these days? Or do you think that, you know, some people don't want to do it? Can you be a successful freelancer without it?
Suzanne Bowness: I think it's pretty essential. I know there are different viewpoints on that. I have always had a writer website because I actually started, when I started my business, one of my sidelines was creating websites for other writers. So I had a good website myself, and I used that for all my projects as kind of like the central place to keep all my portfolios and that kind of thing. I think it's really useful. And then I usually choose one or two social platforms at a time to really try to be active on, and it's whatever one seems to be moving, seems to be the hot topic these days. I came onto Instagram a little late, kind of thing, and it was because I was like, "Come on, Sue, you gotta get onto Instagram for your business." And because that's where everybody is, right?
So it's like you identify sort of the essential platforms. I don't think it's essential, but yeah, I do think it's essential because you do get a lot more work. You look active. And I think, like if I'm looking for a service provider, who's the person I'm gonna hire? Am I gonna hire the person who is engaged and has a social presence when I go to their website? You know, is it easy for me to figure out what they do? If they're the person for me, that's who I'm gonna hire. So that's the person I want to be. And so I find having a good website and a good LinkedIn presence, because that's now essential. And then being on a couple of social platforms is really, if not essential, very important.
Mignon Fogarty: So when you identify the people you're pitching, do you find them, you know, on LinkedIn and follow them and start engaging with them? You know, you're saying you're contacting like maybe a hundred people. That seems like a lot to try to interact with.
Suzanne Bowness: Yeah, so actually I tend to engage more with the people who've responded to me. And so, for example, if, you know, I mentioned that like maybe five, you'll hear back from, it's a little bit more; sometimes, you know, like 10 or 15 you'll hear back from, and they'll say, "We don't need anybody right now, but your information is on file." And I'm like, great, follow, follow, follow and see like, what's up with you? And you know, like they've been nice enough to see me as a professional and reach out. I want to be in their professional circle. So I will, you know, follow them on LinkedIn and see what kind of things they're putting out. I'll definitely have more interest in what they're doing as an organization, and maybe for my next outreach, I'll be able to even be more targeted and talk about what they're doing and identify places for me to get in there. And so I definitely follow all of the organizations that I reach out to. Then, in terms of whether I engage with them as much, certainly if they followed me back, then yes, I'm engaging with them and trying to just find any way to be friendly and helpful. And that's what I'm doing with my emails, and that's what I try to do on social as well.
Mignon Fogarty: Yeah, and it sounds like you put a lot of care into your pitches and your research, and you know, I thought it was really good advice to talk about, like you have a different kind of pitch for a different kind of work or a different kind of company that you're approaching.
Suzanne Bowness: Yeah, definitely. To identify the kind of niche that you're reaching out to, and likely you're interested in that niche, right? So show that interest in terms of like showing, you know, if you're reaching out in the arts niche, like show your artiness; if you're reaching out in the accounting niche, like show that you're smart in that area or, you know, you might make your social presence and LinkedIn website and that kind of thing kind of fit into that area that you're interested in.
Mignon Fogarty: Yeah. And then keeping track of all the people you're pitching. You know, when I first started freelancing, I was surprised by how many things I had to keep track of, including who hadn't paid me when they were supposed to. I assumed everyone would just pay me like they were supposed to, but they don't. And you have to keep track of all that. And you talk about tracking things too in the book. How do you keep track of all those people you're pitching? Because it sounds like there's a lot. So, do you just use a spreadsheet, or do you have like a full contact management system?
Suzanne Bowness: I actually started out with just a fancy spreadsheet, and now I use a tool that I add onto my email that shows you when your email is being opened just by somebody who you've sent it to. That helps to know whether I'm sending my outreach to like a dead email address. Maybe if it's never being opened, never being looked at, then maybe something's wrong with my outreach, or maybe it's gone directly to spam, kind of thing. So that can be useful. And then I still use a spreadsheet to list everyone that I've reached out to as a way of tracking their reactions. So I have little codes for myself: NR is no response, and then a comment, you know, if somebody said, "We'll keep on file," but we'll keep on file. And then I know at least they got back to me and they might be interested, and I'm on their file. So then they might be a good one for a follow-up reminder in six months, kind of thing. So I keep; I use a spreadsheet for that.
And then in terms of my projects, because there are a lot of projects to work on, I use just a project management tool for myself and a virtual assistant to stay organized. So I just have like a list of stories I'm working on, and then I have, you know, draft one, draft two, in approvals, sent invoices, different call and titles. And so that way I'm able to keep on track of whatever, you know, eight to ten projects I'm working on at a time.
Mignon Fogarty: Yeah. Do you struggle to find a reason to follow up with people, or do you just say, you know, I'm just generally following up, or do you try to have some reason to send the follow-up email?
Suzanne Bowness: I think if I had, if somebody is a more current client, like if it's a past client, because often you'll have a client that you'll work for two years and then they just don't need you anymore or they lapse or something like that. For those clients, I'm really interested in finding out, seeing what they're doing and that kind of thing. So I'll reach out to them, and I'll mention either work that we've done before in the past or I say, "Oh, I see you launched a new edition of the magazine." And I'll do that. For new clients that I'm just cold outreach, I don't personalize as much. I certainly find their name and, you know, like about the kinds of things, like, you know, if I'll say, "I noticed you published an annual report." I'll definitely confirm that they published an annual report before I put that into my email. But for each of them, I kind of take a template, and I, you know, polish it and try to tailor it as much as I can, and then I send those out and then sort of see what comes back, kind of thing.
Because I'm surprised sometimes that people that you don't expect to hear from; it's not always the institution you expect that will get back to you, right? So I feel like I want as many people in my niche to know that I am available to them, and I'm trying to position myself as a helper, you know, somebody that might take work off their desk; maybe they're totally stressed out, right? And so I think when you're thinking of it that way, rather than like asking for work, then it flips the script on that. And I'm able both for myself and my own mindset to think of that in a positive way. And then I honestly believe for them that I'm trying to make their work life better.
Mignon Fogarty: Yeah, I think, and there's such, I think it's really important because there is a lot of rejection, and you know, you talk about just the luck of it. And I found that too. Like you just, you approach people at the time when they desperately need someone, and they'll hire you. And if they don't need someone right then, they won't. It's often not about you, but more about the situation in which your pitch finds someone.
Suzanne Bowness: Yeah, totally. You know, I got a recent client that I had been following up with for two years, and two years ago they didn't need me, and today they need me, kind of thing, right? So it's like I update my contact list, and I do reach out a couple of times a year, but I get a lot of rejection. If you get like five acceptances, it means that you got 95 rejections. Really? So it's always a drag; it always feels a little, you know, down. But when you make outreach, it feels like a production. I'm like, okay, twice a year, this is what I do. Part of my business, it hurts less because it feels less personal, right? And then I also, so that's one way I deal with it, just to make it part of the routine. And then another way is just to think about my editors' jobs and how busy they are and realize like, it truly is not me. You know? There are lots of editors who are overworked out there. I know a lot of them, kind of thing. And they have busy jobs, and when I ask them, "Oh, didn't you get my email?" or something, they'll be like, "You know what? Honestly, I've been so swamped," and I believe them. It's true. You know, I think the only time when I'm annoyed is when somebody doesn't get back to me serially; I feel like that's rude. Just to not say, "Oh, thanks for your note; we'll keep your notes on file." That's why I love the "keep your notes on file" people, because they at least get back to me, and I know, okay, great, I'm on file, kind of thing. There's at least communication there, and that can be really helpful.
Mignon Fogarty: Definitely, and we've been talking a lot about people who are, you know, just getting started as freelancers, but you know, your book has a lot of interesting information for established freelancers too. What would you say are the one or two best pieces of advice you have for people who've been freelancing for a while?
Suzanne Bowness: I would say that, remember, this is your business, and if it's been a while since you've taken a long weekend or a vacation, remember that you don't have to ask anybody and that you can make that happen. So do it. And start a podcast or write a book or do something, you know, whatever you want to do in your business. I like to experiment in my business. I'll try something out; if that's working, great. You know, I'll try something, and if it's not working, I drop it, right? And then, when I find myself getting a little bit bored or frustrated, I'm like, this is your business, Sue. You can do what you want. And like, yeah, I do things in carefully planned ways, but I take action if I'm feeling dissatisfied. So I guess that's the first piece of advice.
And then I also tell people to use your downtime well. I use mine to batch blog posts and learn new tools, specifically. In the summertime, again, that flips my attitude on it, because in the summertime, instead of getting worried about, you know, a quieter July, I'll think, like, "Oh, this is the time that I will be able to maximize my time, such that in the fall, when I'm really busy, I won't be worried about writing blog posts because I'll have written them now.” This summer I used some of my quiet time in July to finally download and learn some AI tools and figure out how to incorporate them into my business, or how to use them if a client says that they're using them, that kind of thing. It's something I've been meaning to do all year. Did I have time before July? I did not. So when I'm able to look forward to my downtime and make the most of it, I think that can be useful and really take the stress out of the slow times.
Mignon Fogarty: And it does help you get it. After you've done it for a while, you realize these are just slow times, so planning for it is so smart. The book is filled with just all this kind of practical information that we've been talking about. There's so much more there. The book again is “The Feisty Freelancer” by Suzanne Bowness. Suzanne, where can people find you online?
Suzanne Bowness: So, I do like to make websites. I made one for the book; it's called feistyfreelancer.com. So just feisty freelancer. And just because I've written a book doesn't mean I'm too famous to be hired for long-form content. So my business website is codewordcommunications, and that's codeword.ca, because I'm in Canada, and we have .ca as our extension.
Mignon Fogarty: Nice, codeword.ca, and thank you so much. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend who might be thinking about freelancing. Tell them about Suzanne and her book, and don't forget to follow or subscribe wherever you're listening. If you are a Grammarpalooza supporter, in the bonus episode, we're going to talk to Sue about how AI is affecting life as a freelancer, and we'll also get her book recommendations, which I always love. So look for that in your feed or in your text messages. And if you'd like to become a Grammarpaloozian and help support the show, every subscription really does make a difference, and you can find more information at quickanddirtytips.com/bonus. Suzanne Bowness, thank you so much for being here.
Suzanne Bowness: Thanks so much.
Mignon Fogarty: You bet. And everyone else, that's all. Thanks for listening.