Time To Bring It On Home

In this era of freelance writing most of us are contributors to the global economy. We search and find work based on a web address – not a geographic one.  We don’t really care too much where the clients are located. If they have a Paypal account, life is good. Pretty cool stuff. With all of our far reaching tools, have you forgotten something?

It’s in your own back yard

When was the last time you pounded the pavement in your hometown? Opportunities for freelance writers abound and often times are just waiting to be plucked from the tree. Don’t neglect this fantastic pool of work.

Here are some great ideas for finding local freelance work:

• Local Newspaper – Consider articles that would be of interest to your community. Have they done a local story about Twitter yet? A lot of folks still don’t know what Twitter is.
• Community Watch – Does your local police department have a Community Watch program? Contact them to write a newsletter to keep the participants informed about issues and events.
• Small businesses – Many small businesses understand the importance of a web presence and most of them do have a web site. Offer to write some web copy or better yet offer to make their site a dynamic one with a blog instead of their static, do-nothing site.
• Pro Bono – Remember that in life you get back what you give. Contact a local church or non-profit and offer to do some writing for them. Offer to write a newsletter or an article for the paper on their organization. Word gets around. You’ll probably make some great contacts from appreciative folks.
• Advertise locally – If you have a marketing budget for your freelance business (and you should) then throw some of your funds at local advertising. Consider the yellow pages or perhaps even a radio spot.
• Business Cards – Design and have printed a bunch of business cards. Carry them with you at all times. Leave a few at every business you visit. Put them up on bulletin boards. If you do any writing for a local business, ask if you can leave cards in a holder on the front counter.
• Guest Lecture – Approach the local high school or college English Department and ask if there are any teachers who would be willing to allow you to give a lecture on freelance writing. You’d be surprised.

The point here is simple. You’ve got a lot of writing you can do, and it doesn’t take a computer to get to it. Community based freelancing may keep you so busy that you may wonder why you ever left home in the first place.

Let’s hear it, fellow freelancers. Do you work in your community? What kinds of local freelance writing have you done?

Posted by George

Image credit: Pony & Pink