Small-business secret: bite more, then chew like crazy

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The lady you see collaborating in the boardroom at 9 a.m. will, in all likelihood, be cooking Spaghettios and watching "Blues Clues" by 11 a.m.|ret||ret||tab|

My entire career as a writer and editor has been built on a single maxim bite off more than you can chew, then chew like crazy. |ret||ret||tab|

I work for myself, contracting to do all types of non-fiction writing and editing newspaper, magazine, Internet and corporate. It's not a career that's easily described or understood. When people hear that I'm a single mother of two who works from her home office, the look on their face tells me that they envision me dressed in my PJs, children playing silently at my feet while I crank out the work uninterrupted. |ret||ret||tab|

But what really cracks me up is when people ask me if I've been published. Yes, I say. Five hundred times, all in the past three years. Am I bragging? Not really as a wordsmith, I would call it "extremely proactive marketing." |ret||ret||tab|

Why do I write? I would say my reasons are a twisted mixture of creative compulsion, ego and economic necessity. I write because that's where a lot of my strongest work skills lie, but I also love what goes along with the job it's wonderful when people know your name, stop you in the grocery store to say hello and tell you that they admire your work. |ret||ret||tab|

But writing and editing has its share of hassle. In writing, as in any business, there's the old 80/20 rule 80 percent of your hassle and time drain come from 20 percent of your client base. Most of my clients are fantastic people who challenge my thinking and really appreciate my work. But I also encounter clients who propose the ridiculous and request the impossible. I once had as a client a CPA who asked me to write a brochure explaining at a fourth-grade reading level complex employee withholding plans. I pray you never see the finished product, which read like a hacked-up "Hooked on Phonics" experiment. |ret||ret||tab|

My writing jobs have run the gamut. I've written features, hard news, profiles, how-to, and every conceivable type of corporate writing. My writing has hawked countless products from expensive software systems to candidates for public office. I've been paid as little as $5 for a tiny blurb and as much as $2,500 for a single piece. And I've even written for writers - some of my writing how-to is used in a college curriculum at a prestigious journalism school not bad for a writer who hasn't had any formal writing instruction. |ret||ret||tab|

I've also interviewed hundreds of people, from celebrities whose names you would recognize in a second, to un-known but nonetheless colorful characters whose experience and ideas form what I write. |ret||ret||tab|

Then there's special event coverage, which has led to some interesting experiences. I recall sitting wide-eyed in front of Brad Pitt when he debuted "Meet Joe Black" in the Queen City. At another high-profile event, the July 4 heat caused me to faint in front of then-President George Bush and members of the White House press corps. A press trip to Jamaica last spring found me standing among prisoners in a Third World maximum-security prison. |ret||ret||tab|

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Marketing and deadlines|ret||ret||tab|

Life as a writer is a decidedly unglamorous blur of marketing, deadlines, and time spent at the keyboard. This business isn't for anyone who lacks a strong work ethic, can't tolerate rejection, or won't aggressively and intelligently market their work. When people ask me how I balance being a mother with being in business, I'm not really sure how to answer. I only know that I work hard, maintain my focus on what's really important, and pray for help on a regular basis. |ret||ret||tab|

The jobs of mothering and making a living as a writer, performed simultaneously at home, require a great deal of focus, prioritizing, and the ability to switch back and forth between roles about a million times a day. |ret||ret||tab|

At each point in my vocation as a mother and my career as a writer, I'm not only out of my comfort zone, I'm usually in over my head. And each time, I remind myself of my track record and work to expand my skill set and get the job done. Both the generation before me and the one that follows me have been totally behind my career all along. Much is owed to my parents, who not only helped me build my confidence as a writer, but who also taught me a lot about business. |ret||ret||tab|

They also share some of the sweat equity that has gone into building a successful business, coming to my aid in the capacity of babysitter countless times when the need arose. |ret||ret||tab|

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Balancing act|ret||ret||tab|

My little boys provide the most immediate and tangible motivation for taking my career as far as it will go. As a single mom, I'm a one-woman show on the home front, so it's extremely important that my sons remain my primary focus. But to accomplish the goals of being present and available to my sons, I must do good work, keep my clients happy and keep building my business. That means sacrifice in many different areas. For example, when my sons go to bed, I want to collapse but I usually return to work. |ret||ret||tab|

In spite of the tough dual-roles of parenting and being in business for myself, I've got it pretty good, I think. Thanks to my sons, my family and friends, my religious faith, and a job I enjoy doing, I have a lot of joy in my life. |ret||ret||tab|

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Challenge|ret||ret||tab|

Though it's a challenge, I make time to be with the people I love, to go dancing or shopping or take in a movie. I make a good living while being an active and present parent, I've picked up a few awards for my work, and I've enjoyed the pleasure (and pressure) of working for myself. |ret||ret||tab|

When I think about my jobs as mother and writer, I know one thing I can't turn back from either. [[In-content Ad]]