TL;DR
3 Mistakes Every Side Gigger Makes:
Treating their Side Gig Like a Side Gig
Not Networking (early enough)
Seeing “Competitors” Instead of “Colleagues”
I can’t wait for my client’s book to come out. For one, because it was so fun to work on. For another, because he gave me permission to drop his name once it does—he doesn’t care about the ghostwriting stigma.
And third, because he did exactly what the graphic claims: took a side gig that he hoped to use to make $5,000/month and now it’s a brand worth $1.2 billion. Wild. And through his story, I realized 3 mistakes that side giggers often make.
Story time… (pull up your germ-infested circle carpets, kids.)
In 2016, I was quite literally at the end of my rope. In a moment of desperation, I’d taken a job as an outside salesman for a roofing company, which meant that I was actually setting up my own sales company and contracting with them.
The months that followed didn’t bring me the prosperity I had been promised by the recruiter. By October, I’d racked up over $20K in debt with little commission coming in. And another salesman confirmed what I was starting to learn for myself: that I’d been misled by the recruiter who, of course, got paid based on how many people took the job, not on giving me accurate information.
The darkness was setting in. Latent depression and anxiety erupted, telling me how worthless I was. I almost ended it all. And no, that’s not hyperbole. It was a dark, dark season.
But then some light…
I started writing again. I picked up my abandoned hobby but wondered, “Could I actually make some money from this?”
I’ll save the full story for later on. But when I created my business Wordrobe Media in 2017, it was very much a “side gig” mentality. I used a free Wordpress template, taught myself how to edit books, and crossed my fingers.
But looking back, here are the 3 mistakes I made (and that probably every side gigger makes):
Mistake #1: Treating Your Side Gig Like a Side Gig
My growth would have likely been much faster had I not so flagrantly used the phrase “Oh, writing’s my side gig.”
That was an act of self-sabotage. I was afraid of failing, so I downplayed my hopes for the business in the false assumption that would make future failure sting less. It wasn’t until 2021 that I finally embraced the truth and said, “This is the business I want to do full-time for the rest of my life.”
Had I embraced that earlier on, it would not only have changed my internal narrative, but also my external narrative.
Mistake #2: Not Networking (Early Enough)
In many ways, this stemmed from Mistake #1. I assumed that because writing/editing was my “side gig,” I didn’t really need to network. Networking a necessary evil of sales. And I both hated it and hated the people who went on and on about networking.
The only reason I even started my LinkedIn profile for my business was because the company I was working for told me not to talk about my side gig on my regular account. In a way, that was a blessing in disguise because I wasn’t very good at using the platform anyway.
But I should have been going out to find writers’ groups in my area, or at least spending a little money to go to a conference or seminar. But I’d been disappointed by writers’ groups in the past—both IRL and URL—and had written them off. [believe it or not, pun unintended.]
And even when I went full-time, I was not strategically networking enough. I was “too busy” with the work from my two pipelines, wholly unaware of how networking with cool people can open new opportunities. Only when one of my pipelines fell apart [and the other dried to a drip] did I learn my lesson.
Networking isn’t just for your main gig. If you’ve got a side gig, you need to be building that network too, as early as possible and as much as possible. Even if that means you have two LinkedIn profiles. People are the real power in your business, side or otherwise.
Mistake #3: Seeing “Competitors” Instead of "Colleagues”
And this one stems right from Mistake #2…
Part of why I didn’t network more earlier on was because I saw other ghostwriters and editors as my competition. Every book they were working on was one that could have been (should have been???) my project, my opportunity, my win.
Me, me, me, me…
Yeah. Gross.
That changed in mid-2023 when I decided to get serious about LinkedIn. I quickly noticed a pattern among the other ghostwriters and editors I was seeing online… They were all posting only about how they were open for work, had done X amount of books, please hire me, me, me, me!
As you can imagine, these posts had maybe one like [their own] and was just noise in the void.
Crap. I was just like them. And I didn’t want to be.
So I started looking for cool people I could relate to. People who were using their writing and editing to educate, provide value, and serve. I found people like Holly Crawshaw Joyner and Jeanette Smith. And my world opened up rather than shut down.
Holly has given me free advice, sent me referrals, and wrote a really great blurb for my book. Jeanette edited my book as part of a “service swap” and then recommended me to a publisher that I now get regular book coaching work from.
So I don’t have “competitors” anymore. I have colleagues—and I get to choose who they are.
And now for a clunky segue because I need to move on to other projects:
Want to the the first to use a new resource before I start charging $ for it…?
I’m creating a few new resources at the moment and would love some feedback on two in particular:
A Book Outlining Tool
A guide to ditching the 9-to-5 for a full-time writing business
If either of those sound interesting to. you, contact me at jonathan@wordrobemedia.com and let me know which one you’d like to try before it costs money.
Alright, that’s all for now. Keep changing the world, Storytellers…one story at a time.
Writing a great business book doesn’t have to be a mystery. I analyzed the Top 25 bestselling business books to uncover their secrets. Grab a cheat sheet. Steal their moves here.
Ways to Support this Newsletter if You’re Feeling Supportive:
Share this with someone you know via the handy little button below.
If you suck at saving money and want to earn $5 just for sucking less at saving money, then sign up for the Acorns app. They’ve helped me sneakily save money for me and my kids. You’ll get a $5 thank you after your first deposit.