30 January 2012

The Freelance Entrepreneur

With graduate employment as stinkingly low as it is, it's high time we took earning money into our own hands. While my expert waitressing skills get me enough money to ensure my impending death is not quite so impending, my income needs a little bit of a boost if I wish to save a single penny. Hence, I am going to test the freezing waters of entrepreneurship and freelance journalism.

While part of me really just wants to sell Vietnamese Banh Mi (the best steak sandwich in the world) from a food stall on Brick Lane, I have realised that this is actually more complicated and expensive than ever anticipated. Plus, I'm not Vietnamese, I don't have public liability insurance and while the sandwiches are heavenly, I'm not sure I could ever look one in the face again after making and serving over 500 of them every month. Still, I know what I'm having for lunch today.

I did try the E-Bay route for a while. Selling my old clothing however, got a tad depressing, especially when I realised that no one really wanted a fluorescent pink top or my old bra. Not surprisingly really, but I had hoped that there might be people out there more desperate than me.

Back to the serious stuff, I am going to test my writing skills on the local papers and magazines and see if they want to publish my works of brilliance. This egotistical speak is not entirely serious, don't worry, it's just me trying to stay absolutely positive. Pure banter. So, when I'm not working as a deluxe waitress, I will be coming up with articles to send to local papers or supplements. I'll fill you in pretty soon on whether or not this is going well as soon as I've banged out a few of my letters to editors. Unfortunately I seem to work best at night and seeing as how I have to be up for work nice and early for an eleven hour shift it looks like I won't be getting a wink of sleep tonight, let alone forty.

5 comments:

  1. before i came to london i emailed every magazine and newspaper i wanted to work for offering freelance journalism....no luck :( i hope you get more out of it than I did. If so, please let me know how you amazed them!!
    good luck :) all you can do is put your work out there and remain positive. x

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  2. Hmmmm, yes I'm expecting it to be a challenge. To be honest, I'm quite used to rejection right now. At least if I don't get a response I can still get some satisfaction out of the fact that I'm still writing and using my brain. I'm seriously thinking about applying to do a journalism masters - it's over £8000 though!
    Thanks for the luck :)

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  3. Good luck with that! I wrote for some online mags for free just so I can have some extra experience added to my skill set. I know it's harder for the print media though. It would be enjoyable to see your quirky humor in print.

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  4. Thanks Fetesha! I hope editors/other readers will think the same. I'm slowly getting my act together. It's hard when I'm also working strange and long hours to get a bit of money but I definitely need to build my portfolio up, and just keep writing.

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  5. wow great i have read many articles about this topic and everytimei learn something new i dont think it will ever stop always new info , Thanks for all of your hard work!

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