Your Writing Business: 3 Ways To Get Back To Business Today

How’s your writing business coping? Wherever you are in the world, I hope you’re well: determined to get back to work, no matter what else is happening.

I’ve received some messages from writers who fear for their writing business. Worse: they’re horribly stressed. They don’t want to write. One writer said that he hasn’t written anything for a month.

Remember the old saying: misery loves company? There’s a lot of truth in that saying. Avoid, if you can, doom-sayers and misery-mongers. That includes news media. These days, much of it is click-bait and opinion. And singularly uninformed opinion at that.

Of course, read your health department’s warnings and instructions for your local area. Beyond that, cast a critical eye over the headlines and turn off your TV.

Your writing business: survive and thrive

Focus on keeping positive.

From Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl:

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

Frankl on keeping your sense of humor:

The attempt to develop a sense of humor and to see things in a humorous light is some kind of a trick learned while mastering the art of living.

Let’s look at some ways you get back to business today.

1. An exercise: daydream what your ideal writing business will look like in six months

From my article on rebuilding your business:

Creativity builds and maintains your freelance writing career, so it’s time to boost your creativity as well. You need all the inspiration and enthusiasm you can generate.

Here’s a simple exercise.

Grab your writing journal. Date your entry and write: what will my ideal writing business look like in six months?

Close your eyes. Allow yourself to relax, and let the question float in your mind. (You might like to play a little music while you’re musing. Try Halidon Music on YouTube.)

You can daydream for as long as you like. When you’re ready, write some notes on what your ideal writing business will look like.

2. Use Trello to create a new and exciting business plan

I love Trello. It’s a wonderful (free if you’re using it just for yourself) app for writers:

As a writer, not only must you keep abreast of everything in your business, you also need to track and organize elements in your projects. Trello can help. Not only can you track projects and sales, you can track tasks, such as plotting your novel, or creating a content calendar for a client’s blog.

Here’s an excellent article for you if you’re new to Trello.

Once you’re comfortable with Trello, check the Help files for browser bookmarklets and other ways to integrate Trello into your business and life. BTW, Trello works brilliantly on your phone and tablet, so you can use Trello anywhere.

Check out Trello’s free templates (including a business plan template) to help you to rebuild your business and thrive.

3. Revamp your business: offer new products and services

Once you’ve eliminated the contagion of negativity from your environment, you’ll start to feel better.

Repeat the “ideal writing business” exercise above several times. Each time you do, you’ll become inspired. Remember to write down your musings, especially any ideas for new products and writing services you can provide.

If you’re self-publishing nonfiction, think about your experiences over the past months. What helped you most? What did you discover? I’m sure that you can find ideas for nonfiction ebooks you can publish quickly.

Write, because that’s who you are

More wisdom from Viktor Frankl:

What was really needed was a fundamental change in our attitude toward life. We had to learn ourselves and, furthermore, we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us.

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