I recently came across a wonderful Ragan Communications Speechwriter’s Newsletter dating to September 2007, in which David Murray wrote about what freelance speechwriters need to do to become and remain successful. His advice is right on…and still applies. I’d like to share some of it with you.
Murray advises us to “Be famous”—to get ourselves published in national magazines and important trade journals. CEOs are “status-oriented,” he says, and will “be more likely to hire you if they think you’re a hotshot,” and “treat you with more respect” as well. The good news? Murray suggests that if you publish one article a year in a magazine or newspaper, you can say you “write regularly” for magazines and newspapers. Hmmm…
Offer full services, Murray says. “The busiest freelancers I know know a lot.” He means they know all the top speaking forums; they know how to create executive communications strategies, and often expand their services to include speech counseling and coaching.
Be everywhere, Murray continues. Be on MyRagan.com; write for your own blog; attend the Ragan Speechwriters’ Conference. I write this speechwriters’ blog on my Web site and post it to the Ragan Communications Web site, as well as Digg, Delicious, Google Bookmarks, Reddit, Stumbleupon, and the IABC web site. I’ve also joined the Linkedin editors and writers forum and post my blog there, as well as on the Quintilian Speechwriters’ Group forum. I’ve made some nice connections this way.
Warm up your cold calls is another excellent piece of advice from Murray. He suggests we think creatively about the companies we admire and would like to approach for work, and then about what we have in common with them. For example, he writes, “Your dad’s a pilot, pitch the airlines. You write about global warming, pitch oil companies that acknowledge it. You admire a political candidate, pitch the campaign headquarters.”
Murray offers lots of other good advice, including “never let ‘em see you sweat;” “have a personality” (don’t be bland); and be bold and enthusiastic if you believe you’re perfect for a particular job or assignment.
He also includes some ideas he’s “gathered along the way” from other freelancers. A significant one for me was “Look for one big client, preferably someone you’ve worked for in-house.” After I left IBM in 1993, I received steady freelance speechwriting work for 13 years until many of the players changed, the economy took a dive, and the company put a freeze on hiring outside vendors.
I also wrote speeches for another previous employer, Southern New England Telephone, and when a former IBM colleague moved to Deloitte & Touche, she introduced me to a manager who hired me to write speeches for Deloitte’s CEO. When the president of Otis Elevator’s North American division, for whom I was staff speechwriter, moved on to become president of Pratt & Whitney, he hired me as a freelancer to write speeches for him there.
Of all Murray’s good advice, I think the idea that resonated most with me was his suggestion about knowing all the top speaking forums. As I target specific industries and companies, and learn all I can about them, I also plan to research the top speaking platforms in those industries. That’s a piece of work I’ll start today.
Thank you David, for all your sage advice. I encourage you to read David’s whole article. You might also enjoy David’s other baby, Vital Speeches of the Day. You can even download a free copy of the publication.
