How to Develop a Career as a Writer (or anything else you want to be)

Almostgotit has a great guest post by Emily Anderson on how to break into a career in writing.  The two rules she suggests will definitely benefit anyone who wants to be a writer:

1.  Don't be so arrogant as to think you have all the good ideas.

2.  If you're not writing for pay, you're not likely to get paid for writing.

Brilliant!  These are two very good rules that can be applied to any career goal.  Whatever it is you want to do, assume that lots of other people have good ideas for how you can go about it.  Seek them out.  Learn from them.  Collaborate with them.  Then find a way to tailor what it is you want to do for people who need to have it done and will pay for it. 

For example, I have a friend who really likes to do career development work and wanted to do it in the corporate world.  What she found was that many companies don't hire in-house career advisers for their employees.  As she continued talking to people to investigate her interest in career development, she found a position in a financial services company called an "Adviser Coach" that was a great fit.  Her job is to work with financial advisers in the field who are building their practice. She is an expert on all the internal resources for building a practice - marketing tools, training tools, etc. She meets regularly with advisers to share these tools, and also incorporates all of her knowledge and enthusiasm for career growth.  She's not working as a "career counselor" per se, but as a result of her willingness to combine her interests and skills with the marketplace need, she is now one of the highest rated Adviser Coaches in her company and she is making a great salary doing something she truly enjoys.

Have you done this in your career?  Post a note and let us know!

Comments

[Kieran]

I really liked this blog and it's contents.Very encouraging!
Kieran.
www.zenandtheartofredundancy.blogspot.com

[Jimmy Will]

Nice blog...I really liked this blog.

[oscommerce development]

Nice post. It was truly very interesting reading.

[Glenn Evans]

If you want to be a good writer, one of the things you have to keep on doing is to read, read, and read! And that's read to learn, and not read to copy! It's true that in this age, original ideas are difficult to create. That's why it's key to be CREATIVE!