New Year’s for many is the point where they start something new. It’s often attached to a resolution of some kind. You know, I’m going to do something for my health/family/personal wellbeing or whatever. The start of a New Year just lends itself to new beginnings of all kinds. For me, the start of a New Year is an Anniversary. It was actually January 4, 2014 when I started my freelance writing/ghostwriting business from the upstairs of our home.
It was originally meant to generate some extra cash to help get us through the slow season in the newspaper business. For those of you who know my wife, Brenda and I, you’ll know that we had been involved in the local newspaper business. It was February 2004 when I bought the Similkameen News Leader, a weekly local tabloid – one of just a handful of independently-owned and operated community newspapers left in British Columbia at the time.
Writing Seemed Like A Perfect Fit
Ten years into the newspaper business the advertising landscape was changing. Social media gave small businesses the means to advertise and promote their services for free. There were free classified ad websites popping up everywhere and even large corporate customers were shifting their advertising budgets to the new technology of the internet. This continued to put pressure on smaller publications that relied on these revenue sources.
So, I determined that with some spare time in the evenings I could possibly pull together some additional business as a freelance writer. I joined an online community designed for this purpose and started bidding on jobs. It took a couple of weeks to get my first order and over the next six months writing on the side was becoming a steady flow of additional business. In July 2016 we closed the doors to the paper and that September I started ghostwriting full-time.
Many Goals Have Been Hit
Since that start in January 2014 I have worked as part of three different marketing agencies and have had hundreds of private web developers seeking content for websites, blogs, eCommerce sites, books and even audio scripts. To date I have clients in over 40 countries in the world with most of my work going to websites in Australia, the UK, United States, Canada, India and Romania. My daily workload sometimes resembles an international holiday itinerary.
Also, in those five years I have created several of my own websites that I use to promote myself and products I am associated with. One of those products is eBooks. I have published a total of seven different eBooks since launching my freelance writing business. It may sound like a lot of work, but it has taken five years to get to this place. It is something I truly enjoy and actually thought was not going to go much longer than six months or so. Clearly I was wrong.
Where You Can Find My Stuff
Two of my top website projects are Looseink Freelance Ninja (www.looseink.ninja) and JamBusters! (www.jambusters.ca). For a few of my eBooks I have websites including Surviving Midlife Career Changes (www.midlifecareerchanges.com) and The Foodie Guide To Farming Insects For Protein (www.insectprotein.net). The latter is my top selling eBook to date. I also have a personal website launched a year ago at www.georgeelliott.org.
If I Can Do It, So Can You
One of the messages I have tried to get across in my eBooks is that there is nothing wrong with walking away from a career and starting over with something new. I was 55 when we shut down the News Leader. It was scary and exciting at the same time to make a change before we were forced to make one. If you have a hobby, hidden talent or even an interest in something that you enjoy, you could make it your new career. I did and now five years later, it’s keeping me busy.
It was originally meant to generate some extra cash to help get us through the slow season in the newspaper business. For those of you who know my wife, Brenda and I, you’ll know that we had been involved in the local newspaper business. It was February 2004 when I bought the Similkameen News Leader, a weekly local tabloid – one of just a handful of independently-owned and operated community newspapers left in British Columbia at the time.
Writing Seemed Like A Perfect Fit
Ten years into the newspaper business the advertising landscape was changing. Social media gave small businesses the means to advertise and promote their services for free. There were free classified ad websites popping up everywhere and even large corporate customers were shifting their advertising budgets to the new technology of the internet. This continued to put pressure on smaller publications that relied on these revenue sources.
So, I determined that with some spare time in the evenings I could possibly pull together some additional business as a freelance writer. I joined an online community designed for this purpose and started bidding on jobs. It took a couple of weeks to get my first order and over the next six months writing on the side was becoming a steady flow of additional business. In July 2016 we closed the doors to the paper and that September I started ghostwriting full-time.
Many Goals Have Been Hit
Since that start in January 2014 I have worked as part of three different marketing agencies and have had hundreds of private web developers seeking content for websites, blogs, eCommerce sites, books and even audio scripts. To date I have clients in over 40 countries in the world with most of my work going to websites in Australia, the UK, United States, Canada, India and Romania. My daily workload sometimes resembles an international holiday itinerary.
Also, in those five years I have created several of my own websites that I use to promote myself and products I am associated with. One of those products is eBooks. I have published a total of seven different eBooks since launching my freelance writing business. It may sound like a lot of work, but it has taken five years to get to this place. It is something I truly enjoy and actually thought was not going to go much longer than six months or so. Clearly I was wrong.
Where You Can Find My Stuff
Two of my top website projects are Looseink Freelance Ninja (www.looseink.ninja) and JamBusters! (www.jambusters.ca). For a few of my eBooks I have websites including Surviving Midlife Career Changes (www.midlifecareerchanges.com) and The Foodie Guide To Farming Insects For Protein (www.insectprotein.net). The latter is my top selling eBook to date. I also have a personal website launched a year ago at www.georgeelliott.org.
If I Can Do It, So Can You
One of the messages I have tried to get across in my eBooks is that there is nothing wrong with walking away from a career and starting over with something new. I was 55 when we shut down the News Leader. It was scary and exciting at the same time to make a change before we were forced to make one. If you have a hobby, hidden talent or even an interest in something that you enjoy, you could make it your new career. I did and now five years later, it’s keeping me busy.
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