Hi Friend,
As creatives, if there's one thing we all seem to be subjected to, it's family nonsense...
For many years now, certain family members have seen my creative and writing goals as pipe dreams...
Silly or pointless things I shouldn't be spending my time on.
I have never regarded this as legitimate advice, but still...
These thoughts add up over time.
Sometimes you do wonder if it's all going to be worth it.
Sometimes you wonder if you're going to get back what you put in.
If you've been facing these thoughts recently, today I have some encouragement for you...
As someone anonymous once said: "If you are willing to do more than you are paid to do, eventually you will be paid to do more than you do."
Whoever first coined this thought is correct.
The more focused you are on your work, and over a longer period of time, eventually people will respect your expertise, and you'll be able to charge pretty much whatever you want.
Also, you won't be charging by the hour anymore... You'll be charging by the product, or session, or something else you're selling. This is also one of the older "tricks" of successful freelancers (never paying for time, only for expertise or results).
In any case, the wisdom here is clear... You have to make up-front sacrifices for long-term gains.
To help you with this, I've created a few questions that you can answer right now: - Do I have a plan for doing more - not just trying a bunch of things to see what will stick?
- Am I ready to commit to consistent work - without backing down when my feelings change?
- Am I committed to being a constant learner for my desired work? Am I ready to absorb, and implement, steps from successful people I trust?
Neither these questions nor your answers will be enough to carry you through every bump in the road, but they will set you up more successfully than most writers.
Answering these questions - and committing to the work involved - will keep you more focused and show you what it takes way earlier on.
You will be that much more capable of pushing through hard days, because you'll know you're paving the way for your experience to enact leverage that no amount of money ever could.
More thoughts on this in future emails...
To your brightest writing dreams, Brad
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