Long-term Freelance Success Relies on Diversification

Focus on diversification in 2022

A river is fed by a system of streams and other rivers. The more water that is fed into the river, the more robust the river is. Long-term, successful freelancing depends on having multiple streams of income. You do this by applying diversification to every part of your business.

When you think of diversification, you probably go straight to investment portfolios because the standard advice is to diversify rather than put all your money into a single financial vehicle. This helps to spread the risk; if one market dries up, the value of your portfolio won’t take too big a hit. This same principle applies to freelancing, especially if you are or aspire to full-time status.

I started my freelance business after a career in a financial institution where I wrote extensively about investment options, so diversification was something I was familiar with. I applied it to my targeted audiences, the type of writing I wanted to do, and various media that I could use to deliver information. All with the goal of earning a full-time income.

How to diversify your audiences

You’ve probably heard the advice to clearly define the readers you want to attract. This helps you refine your point of view, target your research, and hit all the high notes in your writing. When you factor in diversification, you leverage your work by identifying up to 5 different audiences to write for.

My audiences have always been organizations, career professionals, professional writers, aspiring writers, juveniles from 8 years old to teenager. This gives you lots of room to expand and grow your topics by tweaking existing content and research for each audience. For example, if I do an article on showcasing skills for career professionals who are looking for a new job, I can repurpose it fairly easily for freelancers who need to write proposals that communicate their expertise. One topic, two audiences.

What audiences can you add to your mix to diversify your content? For example, take one of your most popular articles and brainstorm how many different audiences you could repurpose it for.

How to diversify your topics

Some writers want to become the go-to expert in one area and build a platform for one theme. I’m not one of those writers. I learned early on that I quickly become bored when I focus on one topic or theme for my writing, so I’ve written on the environment, the science and mystery of the moon, the history of San Francisco, careers in finance, self-help, moods, stress, and more.

Applying diversification to the topics I write about keeps me interested and motivated to write and keeps the writing fresh. It also helps me see where the research for one topic can dovetail nicely with another. For example, the research I did to communicate a company’s stock option plan inspired me to pitch an article for the general public on the pros and cons of stock options. (No, I did not use proprietary information from my client, nor did I violate my confidentiality agreement.) That led to a regular writing gig for another financial organization. Check out this article for more information.

What topics can you focus on that lend themselves to greater diversification? For example, if you’ve ever had to deal with an insurance company to get a claim paid, you’ve got a gold mine of consumer information topics you can diversify into related topics.

How to diversify media

I’ve never been a one-shot author; I always plan my content to stretch across multiple media because I believe that everything must do double and triple duty. This is a way of building long-term passive income.

For example, I gathered my published articles on 4 different topics and proposed e-courses for GoHighbrow (affiliate link that will take you away from Medium to my GoHighbrow page). They liked the ideas, so I repurposed the existing pieces, added new information, and updated the research. Every quarter, I get a decent royalty check from my courses. I’ve also created and marketed training programs for mid-to-large-sized organizations and when Covid shut everything down, I quickly pivoted my material from live programs to webinars.

Another example is from one of my favorite authors Kristina God, who writes insightful articles packed full of practical information for new writers on the platform. She has leveraged her content and knowledge into a course for newcomers, which is blossoming into a new, potentially prosperous media niche for her.

Don’t forget other types of media like ebooks, audios, podcasts, videos, presentations, newsletters, private coaching and mentoring groups, and more. When it comes to media, there are no limits on how far you can diversify.

Make 2022 the year of diversification

As we go into a new year, it’s the perfect time to focus on how you can diversity to grow and protect your income. I’ve survived major earthquakes (I live in San Francisco), changes in editorial leadership, magazines dying, clients who didn’t pay, clients who can’t pay me enough to work them for again, good and bad economies, and a pandemic. My business has survived it all and is still going strong. The key: Diversification. The brilliant August Birch says it best:

“We try. We stumble. We succeed. We fail. We try again. Every nickel in the jar counts. Each leg of the income stream helps fortify your writing life. The more you can prop-up your income the longer you can stay a writer… that’s the goal, right?” — August Birch

Thanks for reading, Patricia

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