Instead of focusing on telling you about running a business this week, I thought it might be more fun to talk a bit about what I have been focusing on this summer: Writing.

It’s not a departure from what I have been doing in the past. In fact, I have written A LOT as a social media consultant and content marketer. My words are all over the internet. They just don’t have my name attached to them. I decided it was time to change that and started submitting articles and pitches to different websites just to see what would happen. Some were accepted. And a new revenue stream was born.

As I started developing this more, I talked to colleagues, friends and family about whether I should put more effort into this. The resounding answer was yes. It didn’t surprise anyone that I had started down this path. In fact, most were surprised I hadn’t put more effort into this sooner.

So with everyone’s backing, I’ve been paying attention to every call for a writer, whether it’s under my name or ghost writing. I’ve been submitting more than I thought possible. And I’ve felt exhilarated.

I never thought I’d like more of the gig-to-gig work. I’ve always been with my clients long-term, so I can focus more on just working. But the pitching is becoming more and more fun.

What does this mean?

First and foremost, I’m still a social media consultant and content marketer. I’ve been doing this for over a decade, and I don’t envision a world where that ever goes away. I love solving problems, and a client’s social media is still a fun problem to solve. I don’t want to give that up.

But the fact is that there are a lot of social media and content marketers looking for work right now. I don’t know if it’s the recession or something else, but a whole lot of people were laid off in the last six months. That means a crowded market. The more I tried to bring a new client in, the more I realized that I was competing against people with fewer and fewer skills for less and less money. That’s not exactly where you want to be when you have a family.

So I decided to gamble on myself and my writing. I’ve always felt super comfortable calling myself a writer since it’s such a big part of what I do. I thought it might be time to see if it could bring money in on its own.

What will I be writing?

I’m looking for every opportunity to write.

So far, I’m having success getting more personal narratives out (articles to come!), but I don’t want to just write that.

I still want to write for companies on their blogs and websites. I’m good at that, and I can create an editorial calendar based on keywords and audiences like no one’s business. It’s a calling, after all.

But basically, I’m looking at all opportunities and figuring out what’s right for me. My hope is that I end the year with some good writing relationships and can do a lot of different types of writing. I have so many interests, and I’ve always looked at writing as my chance to explore those. So I’m excited to see what this will bring to me.

Is anything really changing?

The short answer is no. I’ve always been focused on writing in some form, because social media has a big writing component to it.

The long answer is kind of. I’ve never offered writing as a standalone component before now. I should have, but it has always felt strange to do that. A lot of that was impostor syndrome. I’m getting over all of that and getting out of my own way. So this is technically an addition to my existing services although it’s something I’ve always done in some form.

So that was a whole lot words to say: If you need writing services, let’s talk. I can provide a lot of services. But even better, if I’m not a fit, I happen to know a lot of great writers. One way or another, I’ll help you get to where you need to be.