Identifying Opportunities for Freelance Writers (Overview)

The SWOT analysis framework introduced in "Tip #2. Know Yourself" is a useful, simple way to organize your thoughts and show you where to start in planning your business strategy.

The Opportunities square is where you write the positive things in your external business environment.

Image: "Targets of Opportunity", by Flickr.com user Randy Son of Robert, used under Creative Commons Attribution License. Thank you, Randy, for sharing this clever montage.

Think About the Conditions That Will Help You be Successful

The word "Opportunities" makes me think of "markets". The magazines, websites, newspapers, book publishers, and others who might pay for my work. However, for this part of the analysis, let's look more broadly at the business environment in which you operate.

And, just as Weaknesses are often the negative versions of Strengths, so too are Threats often the negative versions of Opportunities. If, while considering Opportunities, you think of Threats, just jot them down in the Threats square on your SWOT matrix.

Opportunities in the Freelance Writer's Environment

Here are some prompts to help you observe and analyse your own business environment.

- The economy at a global, national, regional and local scale. Which of these are relevant to you? Don't worry about the ones that aren't relevant.

- The business success (or lack) of the publications you wish to sell to. Are they cutting back? Expanding? Changing formats? For example, a new publication starting up is an opportunity for writers. When publications are cutting back, it's more of a threat. But don't just think about the general situation, try to think about what's happening in your particular niche.

- The availability of funds, whether that's by loans, grants, support (e.g. press trips), free products (e.g. Google now has free software that is compatible with the Microsoft Office suite).

- The availability of photographs at low cost (e.g. from Flickr.com, which I personally love, and where many photographers share their work at no cost, according to the license terms of each individual picture).

- Major events or seasonal patterns that create opportunities for you (e.g. the Olympics, or annual hunting seasons).

- The growth of websites in need of fresh content.

I hope you can see that "Opportunities" at this point in the analysis means positive things in your external environment, not just a list of markets.

Of course, by all means make note of the particular markets that offer opportunities for you. I'm not saying to overlook them. However, part of what we'll be doing here is to explore ways of finding opportunities that fit you, and to do that, it's good to start with an open mind and a very broad idea of what aspects of your particular business environment will work in your favour.

What are Your Weaknesses as a Professional Writer?

In the post "Tip #2. Know Yourself", I introduced the idea of using a SWOT analysis to look at your own Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. In that post I suggested a few things about writers' Strengths. Then, in the post "Credibility in Business and in Writing" (yesterday), I talked about assessing your own values. It doesn't make sense to work on something you're good at, if fundamentally it's also something your values don't support. For example, I may have made a really good white collar criminal, but I'll never know. You may be the world's best advertising agency copywriter, but if you don't want to live in New York City, maybe working in an agency isn't an option for you.

Image: "Me and myself: What you see is what you get (Self Deception)", by Flickr.com user jcoterhals, under Creative Commons Generic Attribution License. Thanks for sharing!

Don't Let Your Weaknesses Rule You

A great example to illustrate this point is the famous Canadian hockey player, Wayne Gretzky. A fast and graceful skater, Gretzky could be counted on to score goals and set up winning plays out on the ice. But, he was probably a terrible goal tender. How much time do you think Wayne Gretzky spent worrying about being a terrible goal tender? How often did he practice goal tending skills?

The same holds for you. You need to know what your weaknesses are, but only the ones that are relevant to what you want to do, and that are serious enough to possibly harm you. Identify those weaknesses and minimize the risk of letting them hurt you.

Typical Weaknesses of Freelance Writers

You can come up with your own personal list of weaknesses, and write them in your SWOT matrix chart. Here are some ideas to help you. Only write down things that really apply to you in the work you want to do. Only write down things that could have a serious negative impact. Ideas:

- I'm never on time when working to a deadline;
- I don't have any contacts in the area I want to write about;
- I don't have enough money to go two months without work;
- I don't speak English and I want to write in English language publications;
- My speling is terible

and so on.

Often times, the weaknesses look a lot like strengths, just in the negative sense. That's OK. One person's strength will be another's weakness.

After you have identified the relevant and important weaknesses for yourself, take a look at the list, and narrow it down. Don't keep a lot on there. Just the ones that really matter.

Your job will be to come up with techniques for making sure those weaknesses don't hurt you. You probably have some ideas right now. Go ahead and make a note of them while it's fresh in your mind.

Next, we'll look at the Opportunities and Threats facing you as a freelance writer.

Tip #2. Know Yourself

Knowing yourself is essential to being truly successful in business, in writing, and in life. From a business perspective, one way to start is with a SWOT matrix.

Image: "Ani and Ani" by Flickr.com user lokate366, under Creative Commons Attribution License. Thank you for sharing this picture, lokate 366.


In the POMA panel session (Tack Robinson, Jay Cassell, Jill Browne), one of the points I wanted to stress as a foundation to making a good business plan is, "Know Yourself". There are lots of books out there giving general advice for writers, and also for people writing business plans. But... one size does not fit all! It's important to play to your strengths, and not let your weaknesses take you by surprise.

The 2X2 Matrix as a Tool for Self-Discovery

The simple 2X2 matrix is a useful tool for sorting out complex information, and for organizing your thoughts. It's going to give back according to what you put in. As with many tools and fundamental concepts, its simplicity can be deceiving. A sincere self-analysis using a 2X2 matrix can show you a map of your strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

The SWOT Analysis Applied to You Personally

As a writer and as a business person, you have strengths and weaknesses, and your business environment provides you with opportunities and threats. Those are the four boxes of the 2X2 matrix we talked about in the POMA panel presentation. Here's what the box looks like:



Begin by assessing your strengths as a professional writer. Here are a few strengths you may have. I hope this list will prompt you to come up with more strengths, especially those things that make you stand out.

Ideas for strengths as a professional writer:

• always ahead of deadline
• editors tell me I am easy to work with
• wide network of well-placed contacts
• take own photographs
• inventory of research to draw upon
• well-informed and experienced in the things I write about (e.g. a fishing writer who has 30 years of fly fishing behind her)
• I write quickly
• I do features very well
• I do fillers and service pieces very well
• I have won awards
• I am a recent graduate with knowledge of current electronic publishing tools
• I am experienced in computer-assisted research.

Add whatever comes to mind. Then rank your list, but don't agonize over it. Within your strengths, it's enough if you classify them into an A-list and a B-list. The A-list is what jumps out at you and feels like your strongest strength, if you will.

After this, we'll look at weaknesses, and then at opportunities and threats.

If you missed the earlier posts, my first tip for anyone in business is #1. Get The Money.