It’s a whole new year. I have to state, just for the record, that I don’t like the way years whiz by anymore! It has become more than a little disconcerting!
But the good news is that in just two years (the day after tomorrow, it will feel like) I can retire at full retirement age (66), start collecting Social Security benefits, and then work only as much as I want…which is to say, less than I’m doing right now.
At full retirement age I’ll be able to dial back the vast majority of my outreach time and simply wait for, and respond to, requests and invitations from existing clients and the friends they refer to me. Outreach and lead generation is what consumes most of my working hours right now. That investment of time can all but go away in 2017. Oh, the freedom of that. It sounds positively inebriating!
Technically, I can retire any time now. I could have retired in 2013 at age 62. But I want to delay getting Social Security for as long as I can …which is age 70, apparently (which will feel like four days away, if time keeps whizzing by the way it is).
Most of my present working time revolves around finding writing work that I want to tackle. Frequently (several times a day, in fact) I turn down projects if they aren’t topics I want to engage in wholeheartedly. I get requests almost daily for grant writing, finance/banking, IT, real estate, insurance. As vital as each of these are, I have zero passion for tackling them, so I decline.
And if I recognize that someone wants me to write for them but they’re offering a shoddy product or service, I decline. I want to remain a gatekeeper of sorts, too; I don’t want to use my skills as a shill. If I can’t feel great putting my own name and reputation behind a product or service I’m writing about, I don’t write about it. Period. And yes, this limits my income…but I sleep well at night.
I love helping business owners and entrepreneurs thrive and succeed. They just have to pretty much knock their customers’ socks off if they want me writing for them. If they aren’t meeting or exceeding expectations 98% of the time (I realize there are some customers who are Negative Nellies who would find fault with perfection), I’m probably not going to agree to become their copywriter. I need to feel passionate about what I’m writing about and who I’m writing it for. Being passionate sets me free to write at my best. When my Muse is happy, I’m happy!
The client I’d love to land right now would be an established presence/authority in some realm or a compelling, personable up-and-comer. Someone who can employ me ten hours a week or more for the foreseeable future:
- an additional life or business coach
- a high-profile talking head who wants to hire a ghostwriter (someone progressive and idealistic who is compelling and not a cudgel or curmudgeon)
- a low-profile coach or progressive who wants to become higher profile and needs a ghostwriter or copywriter
- a great guy or gal who likes to have fun while working hard at helping others
Straight, LGBTQ, black, white, yellow, red… your orientation or race is immaterial to me. I just want to–as Guy Kawasaki says (and I quote, punctuation and all) –“Write.Good.Shit” for the people I serve.
I want to love what I’m doing as much as you love what you’re doing… as long as you’re doing it for all the right reasons.
