Managing Service Transitions

SEASON 5, EPISODE 8:

Happy July! We hope you’re hanging in there. We are both officially OOO right now – Jenni with her new baby, and Wudan hiking the PCT. This episode was recorded about a month ago, and it’s our last new season five episode. We’ll be back in the fall with some new content! Today we’re diving into service transitions. Basically, most of us start running our businesses with a focus on writing. But over time we can get bored, or the industry changes and a revenue stream dries up. Suddenly, it makes sense to invest in something new. But how do you take your editorial skills and direct them toward a new service offering? That’s what we’re talking about in this episode. Wudan recently pivoted toward podcast production, and Jenni is doing a lot of work in the e-course space. Both pivots forced us to get in touch with what we wanted; we used our previously-established expertise to convince new clients to hire us in these new service areas. It’s not been easy, but it has been rewarding – and we’re pulling back the curtain on that process.

Full Transcript Below:

Jenni Gritters- Hey everyone, and welcome to The Writers' Co-op.

Wudan Yan- We are glad that you're here. We are a business podcast for freelance creatives everywhere.

Jenni Gritters- We are your co-hosts. I'm Jenni.

Wudan Yan- I'm Wudan.

Jenni Gritters- Hey, Wudan.

Wudan Yan- Hey, Jenni.

Jenni Gritters- So when everyone gets this episode, it's gonna be mid-uly. In July, I'll have a newborn, and you will be on the Pacific Crest Trail when everyone's listening to this.

Wudan Yan- I'm very excited to be completely unreachable.

Jenni Gritters- I'm with you.

Wudan Yan- So we're obviously pre-recording this episode before we both head out. So you are kind of hearing a past version of us. But I'm sure we're excited to be doing what we will be doing in July.

Jenni Gritters- Yeah, I think we're super excited. I think we're both ready for these big like, quote, unquote, projects and adventures to start. We've been working towards them for a while. So before we dive in today, we have a sponsor for today's episode. It is our friends at Bump Inbound and Ercule. They recently released an online course called the content strategy Quickstart. So we wanted to tell you a little bit about that today, before we dive in. So the course is not too long. It's just a few hours long. And it is focused on teaching you how to create a b2b content strategy from scratch. So we have done a couple of webinars on this, we talked about content strategy, sometimes it's a service you can offer. And this specific ecourse is designed to help your clients get more out of their content marketing. So if you're already doing content marketing work, you can actually offer those clients content strategy. And with this course, you can learn how to create that strategy. It's a pretty high price point service as well. So we think that part is pretty cool.

Wudan Yan- As you know, we're pretty picky about who gets to sponsor us. But this course is pretty aligned with what we teach. And it happens to be perfectly aligned with today's episode as well. So content strategy quickstart features 50 pages of detailed step-by-step guides, nine instructional videos, and five templates covering topics from audience research, to SEO to content distribution. Use the code writers-CoOp, no dash and Co-Op to get you $100 off, and we'll remind you about that in our show notes.

Jenni Gritters- Sweet. So Wudan. What are we talking about today? This is our final new episode for season five.

Wudan Yan- Dun dun dun. Yeah, we are talking about transitioning into offering new services in your freelance business.

Jenni Gritters- Sweet. So I love a good episode about changing business models, because as we both know, the only change in freelancing I think is the only constant has changed, right? Like things are always changing. At least in my experience in my business, I want to do different things every seven seconds. So that's what this episode is about. So Wudan, this episode was your idea. Why don't you tell us about the inspiration behind the episode?

Wudan Yan- It's pretty fair to say that both of us have changed the makeup of our freelance work quite significantly since we started this podcast in early 2020. Back then, I was predominantly doing journalism focusing on magazine writing and news writing, in fact-checking. And I've taken a huge swing in the last few months, less money gets made from writing for news and magazines, let's just put it that way. So things change, and we want to change our services from time to time to or enter new industries.

Jenni Gritters- Totally. The idea here is that most of us offer, I don't know, when you start your business, like between one and three services. Like you know, different kinds of writing different kinds of editing, or maybe you have a certain clientele, when you start out in your freelance business, you might call that a niche. If you're listening to this, I believe you're probably offering some kind of writing as one of those services. But over time, at least I know in my case, my brain gets bored. I want something new. Also, like the market changes, different topics, different niches are more lucrative. So it can make sense to transition the services you offer. So Wudan, let's do storytime. I want to hear about a transition that you're making. I know you're transitioning into podcasting, doing a little bit more focused work in audio. So why did you decide to make that jump? What has it been like?

Wudan Yan- Yeah, so if you're listening, if you're this is the first episode of The Writers' Co-op, you've listened to in a while: surprise. I'm doing a lot more podcasting now. And I probably think the last few years have prepared me for this as I've been working on this, and a few other shows as well. And it made me realize that I am really into working on teams. It feels a lot less lonely. It feels good to be able to split things up and delegate in a way that feels more sustainable to me. And I think really big things can happen on teams. A fact-checking gig that I had last season was for a show called This Land. And the season that I checked was nominated for a Webby an, Asme and a Peabody. I mean, it's kind of nuts. And this is one of my gripes with doing journalism solo, which is, I feel like it's really hard to make that kind of impact or have that kind of reach. So I've seen it to be a lot more possible on a team. And so I'm fact-checking other shows, and I'm producing another one.

Jenni Gritters- Yeah, it's so awesome about those awards. And I think you're right, it's like multiple people running in the same direction, you can make more of an impact together. And I think this is really going to resonate for a lot of people. Because as we know, freelancing can be lonely. It's part of why we started the co-op. So tell me what you've learned so far about adding this new service into your roster? Like how has it changed your business?

Wudan Yan- There's definitely quite a bit of money in podcasting right now, more so than traditional print journalism. And it feels like a much more sane way to me to tell important true stories, you know, fact-checking in itself gets pretty siloed for magazine pieces, even books. I really don't have to interact with many others on a team, but producing a show, which is a lot more collaborative. So for example, the team I'm working on for the producing project is pretty large. And so in some way, I give up some of my complete freedom as a freelancer to make time for things like group meetings. That's an adjustment. And the end result is also worth it to me. So I'm enjoying just using a different part of my brain all to achieve the same end goal, if that makes sense. So Jenni, what about you? Tell us about when you've added a new service to your lineup.

Jenni Gritters- I feel like the most obvious example of this is probably when I added coaching to my service roster, which happened for the first time two years ago. And last October, I really dove into it. But I've talked about that in past episodes. So the example I think I want to share this time around is actually about online coursework.

Wudan Yan- Yeah, this feels applicable to our listeners as well.

Jenni Gritters- Yeah, totally. So this is another one of those things where there's a lot of money and a lot of focus being spent on online learning. So when I was in graduate school, the long story short is just I got a scholarship for graduate school. I've talked about that in earlier episodes. And my scholarship involves teaching. So I ended up being a graduate assistant. I taught comm 101. And I taught journalism over the summer to high schoolers. I got really used to teaching— building a curriculum, creating homework, lectures, grading all that. I really actually loved it. I think when I think about even why I like writing, it's all comes down to me being a teacher. And so I don't explicitly teach anymore, obviously, but I would say that what we do through The Writers' Co-op is actually very closely related. We're doing a lot of educating, we are creating homework for you all essentially. If you're a member, we have worksheets, we have webinars, our episodes are like little lectures. All of that is to say that that skill set translates into working on online courses. It's a place where teaching and writing can align. And the online course market is taking off in a big way. I've been doing like a little bit on the side of some e-course writing, mostly coming in as a researcher, actually, for a few projects over the years, but nothing big. But what I do is there are curriculum designers on these projects. And I come in to create content around the structure that they've built. They build the curriculum, I build the rest of the stuff. The first time I did some e-course writing, it happened through a referral. A friend just needed a writer on a project and it was well paid. So I was like "Sure." Like I said, it was more research than writing. But it was a small project. It was focused on HR training. And I was surprised how much I liked it. I thought maybe it would be like really boring to me. But it paid super well too, because it was a tech company. So fast forward to now and I've talked a little bit about this in past episodes, but I just spent a few months building an executive course about artificial intelligence for a company that creates courses for MIT, Cambridge and beyond. So again, like they needed a longer course edited down, there's already a curriculum, I'm refreshing it, adding new research, writing some narratives, doing some case study work. I also am working on a little team with an instructional designer and a project manager. It's actually like, cool work. I've really been surprised how much I've liked it.

Wudan Yan- It also sounds like a good use of your journalism skills. For sure.

Jenni Gritters- They told me on early on that they are like love hiring journalists for this kind of work.

Wudan Yan- So tell me what have you learned about translating your journalism skills over into new service?

Jenni Gritters- Yeah, so first, I would just highlight that journalism skills are really in demand in quote unquote, other industries, right? These skill sets, in fact-checking, researching, writing—those are useful for other industries outside of just pure journalism. So even if I haven't done the exact type of work before, I think I'm learning to be confident in my ability to just like, know that I have the skills required to do the job. I think there's also some shifting and schedule like you said, so there's a different cadence. And then I'm also learning that it takes time to build into a new service area. So as we talk about kind of practically how you do this, it's been a slow transition. Like I said, I did a project on an e-course a couple of years ago. And only now am I seeing that it's something that I want to spend more time on. So whenever I try to push into a new surface area, I think I tend to get frustrated, because at first, it might feel like there's no traction. But it just takes a while to move into a new area. I think this happened to me with editorial consulting, too. It just took three to six months for me to get some traction there with clients. So the practical part of this is like putting it on your website, talking to people about it, telling people I do e-course content means I'm going to get more of that work. But yeah, I think there's a natural flow of things. And trusting that is also really important as you're shifting your business model.

Wudan Yan- Yeah, I agree on all of this, honestly, that it mostly takes time. So let's get a little practical Jenni, what kinds of services could journalists or writers offer that are sort of non traditional, let's say, but very possible?

Jenni Gritters- Yeah, love. Um, we do this, we just like shout out all the things we can think of. So obviously, podcasting and online learning, those are the ones we just talked about. I think we can't skip out on mentioning content marketing, either.

Wudan Yan- Yeah, it's a pretty big bucket. And it basically includes creating content that markets something, anything, a business, a product. Usually, this work looks like writing for a blog or magazine associated with a brand. We actually recently just did a webinar about this. So we'll link that into our show notes. It's about how to break into content marketing.

Jenni Gritters- Yup, it's like my work for REI. That would be considered content marketing. That's a new service you can add. I think I would also throw into that bucket, like writing for universities, creating copy for them, writing articles. I even know people who work internally for universities to produce newsletters, help them write up new research. All of those are services that I would say are adjacent to journalism that you are prepared to do if you have some of this writing background. Let's see: what else, Wudan? What are the ones you can think of?

Wudan Yan- I think if you take research as a skill, and then extend that, I've heard about journalists working as researchers for policy organizations, helping private investigators with cases, things like that.

Jenni Gritters- Yeah the private investigator stuff is really cool. I have also heard of that. I think coaching, teaching, and mentorship belong in here somewhere. Like if you've been doing this work for a while, and you want to teach other people in some way, that is a possibility. Our work as interviewers, as journalists, actually makes us pretty prepared to coach I think, so that is an interesting one. And then I also feel like there's just this like, big bucket of like, writing thought leadership, journalism thought leadership, freelancing thought leadership, which I know we have thoughts about, Wudan. But by that, I mean, like, you know, ebooks, blogs, podcasts. If you are an established writer, that is a service you could offer to other writers.

Wudan Yan- We've also seen people transition into offering public relations consulting, as well. So basically teaching PR folks how to work with journalists, which I would say is sorely needed.

Jenni Gritters- Yeah, that's a good one, my inbox thanks the people who do that kind of work, because then I get fewer pitches that are misaligned and terrible. Content strategy is also in here. Like we mentioned, our sponsor for this episode does an online course about how to develop content strategy, and we just did a webinar about it. So again, we'll link to that in the show notes. Basically, content strategy is creating a strategic content plan for an organization, maybe an editorial plan that doesn't have one, I often go in and build workflows for new startups, they just like don't even know which way is up when it comes to creating content. So we'll help them build a framework for that. They want to streamline their information. I help with that. That is another service as well. It's called a number of different things, content, strategy, content consulting, but you could add that into your mix if you wanted to.

Wudan Yan- Yeah, others can move from writing into editing, or writing into producing like I'm doing or writing into writing screenplays for Hollywood. I'm really just shooting the shit right now.

Jenni Gritters- Yeah, project management. If you've been like a managing editor, you can go do project management for other companies, maybe adding videography, photography. I have a client who's adding photography into her mix, because she's been doing it on the side. And now she wants to offer it as a service. So yeah, there's so many of these.

Wudan Yan- The list is massive. And I think the most practical question, most people are asking us right now, if you're listening is how, how do you get started?

Jenni Gritters- Yeah, let's break that down into some steps. So we're doing using your most recent experience, what would you say the steps looked like between thinking "I would like to do more work in audio" and actually making that happen.

Wudan Yan- This might be a counterintuitive answer, but I looked at my network, who I already knew and what applicable work I'd already done. So as I was making the transition into podcasting, the main thing that worked in my favor was that I had our already worked on a few podcasts and shows. And that world is pretty small. So people who have been on my teams ended up recommending me for other shows, or bring me on to work on more of their shows. And so once I'm part of a team, everyone else gets into my network as well.

Jenni Gritters- Yeah, that makes sense. I think that tracks for me to like, basically, first, you need to pick a new service line to invest in. So like for you, your like audio, I want to do more podcasting. For a lot of people, then the follow up to that is research and informational interviewing. So starting with people you already know, I always think we create the sort of like, daunting picture of like, I have to go out and do something new. But like, start where you're at, there are probably a few people who can talk to you about what you want to do, especially because a lot of times we're transitioning into adjacent services, not just like completely new things. So when I'm coaching people who want to add a new service, I would say step one is brainstorm all the possibilities, not editing, not judging, just literally, like brain dump every option you could do based on your past experience, and then you're going to like, pick one. So I guess, with that Wudan, how did you know that podcasting and production, in fact-checking was the "right" option? I'm putting right into air quotes there.

Wudan Yan- I honestly started feeling so burned out by print media. I mean, anyone who works in this industry knows, it's a never ending cycle of pitching, getting ghosted, taking a few weeks to follow up, taking forever to negotiate the worst media contracts, and then scrambling to interview and right before deadline. It made me want more. And I think another part of that is that I've been freelancing for so long as a narrative journalist, that it kind of makes sense that I might feel a little bored, for lack of a better term, by reporting for print, and that it was time for me to learn something new.

Jenni Gritters- Yeah, I think there's also something to picking the path of least resistance. I know that might sound weird, but like choosing to move into an adjacent field where you might already know a few people, you might already have some proof of work. Maybe you did one project six months ago, like I said with the e-course thing and I liked it, and you decide you want to lean into that more heavily. Like it feels right for you, Wudan, like it was sort of like a parallel jump instead of just like a throw everything out and start over again. So tell me what was next in your process, Wudan. So you'd like talk to some people, you figured out you wanted to do audio, what happened after that?

Wudan Yan- I had a bunch of discovery calls with production networks to learn about what they were looking for. I tried pitching them shows, but those pitches, more or less lead to a greater conversation of what I can bring to them for shows that they already have on the table. And I would describe these conversations as pretty symbiotic. And they helped me be top of mind, especially when executive producers at these networks are building teams, which is something that they do a lot of. Sometimes it just helps for them to meet others so that they can help staff all these other shows that they already have in the queue.

Jenni Gritters- Yeah, I think this is big, because a lot of times we try to edge into a new industry, and we don't necessarily edge in in exactly the way that people need. But even just meeting people helps, right? This has happened to me a number of times. Like I remember at one point, I decided I wanted to offer podcast, transcription services. But that wasn't really the right need. But having those conversations was really helpful. So I would highlight that next step. It's talk about the fact that you offer this service, right? Have those conversations, put yourself on people's lists. I get a lot of people in coaching who want to offer fact-checking. And it's like, your website does not say that you offer fact-checking. If you tell someone you offer fact-checking and they look at your website for evidence, they're gonna be like, I don't think this person offers factor heat. So you know, you got a list that you do that work on your website, put the service up, and then add yourself to some of those rosters for certain publications, just like you did, Wudan, so that you could be top of mind for people. Like this stuff doesn't just appear when you're moving into a new service area, you usually have to say out loud that you want it.

Wudan Yan- Yeah, I think this is where people feel like it's so woowoo because asking for that feels like manifesting, except it's not getting your name on somebody's roster is an extremely tangible thing. And when you tell people you offer a service, it's very likely that they will often ask you do that service for them later on.

Jenni Gritters- Yeah, exactly. It's like you're taking action by saying these things out loud, right? It's not just manifestation in the fluffy way that people use that term. So I'd say the other part of this in its discovery call and we talked about this in our last new episode. It's just about knowing how much your experience in one sector can translate into another sector and be very clear on how you have that conversation. So I would talk that through with someone or journal on it or write it down or something before you have that discovery call, because you really want to be aware of which practical skills you have, from your previous work that would apply to this new service. For me, for example, if I'm talking with someone about e-course work, and maybe this involves giving them a resume, maybe not. I'm talking about my training as a journalist, but I'm also talking about the years I spent teaching. And I can give examples of how we use TWC right now to teach people, I'm just like, very aware of what my skill set is. And again, it's kind of like a job interview. Right? So Wudan, which of your skills in journalism came in the most handy for podcasting?

Wudan Yan- Yeah, I would say some skills transfer. But the beauty of doing podcasts for me is that I get to learn something. So as a producer, my tasks revolve around setting up interviews, strategizing around how to approach certain people for interviews and research.

Jenni Gritters- I love it. Yeah, I think we're not going to talk any more about discovery calls here, because we just did for a full episode. I'll link to that in the show notes. But that is a really key part of just having this conversation, selling your expertise, selling your ability to be adaptable to and learn things, right? And then the final step here is to start small, I think, in the new service area, but to like build toward it in a methodical way.

Wudan Yan- Yeah, people forget that it only takes one project to help you get experience. And then with that one project, you can feel more confident pitching that experience and expertise to other new clients. Each project builds your experience and expertise. Every single one. Yeah, you don't need 10.

Jenni Gritters- Yeah, it's a snowball factor. I think people are always like, how do I get started? It's like, by getting started. By doing one small thing. The biggest thing we want to pinpoint here, I think, in this episode is really that you're not trapped. If you offer writing as a service, like there are actually many, many possibilities, many ways to use your skill set. That is the beauty of freelancing, I think you will always be transitioning in some way. So when you feel the itch to do something new, lean into it. Give it the time and space that it deserves, do some research, take on a small project in that area. See if you like it. It's all experimental.

Wudan Yan- I'd say that most established businesses and not just freelancing and writing and creative stuff, but established businesses generally don't just offer the same service year after year. They're looking for ways to grow or improve. And to me, that's what I get from transitioning into a new service area as a freelance business owner, I enjoy growth.

Jenni Gritters- Yeah, and I think it's like, part of you know, when we talk about career building, like this is a big part of it, right? So Patreon All Access members and above are gonna get a worksheet for this episode. So if you're not a member, you can always join us. That worksheet is going to walk you through the steps that I talked about that I work with clients all the time on, on establishing a new service area. So brainstorming, figuring out how to use your past skills, and making a little game plan for how to edge into a new area. And like I said, if you're not a Patreon member, you can always join us links in the shownotes for joining the Co-op community.

Wudan Yan- We offer coaching, a Slack community, drop in office hours, discounts on events and worksheets, early access to episodes, and so much more.

Jenni Gritters- Yeah, it's a good place to hang out. Lots of support.

Wudan Yan- And remember, if you haven't reviewed The Writers' Co-op yet, but listen to all five seasons, please rate and review our show. It helps other freelancers find us.

Jenni Gritters- And thanks to Bump Inbound and Ercole for their support of today's episode. That is it for now. We are going to be taking a few months away from the mic after this but we will be back this fall with more.

Wudan Yan- All right, happy summer. Bye Jenni.

Jenni Gritters- Bye, Wudan. Season Five of The Writers' Co-Op is made possible by you, our listeners. Thank you. This season's co-hosts are me, Jenni Gritters and Wudan Yan. Our producer is Jen Monnier and our editor is Susan Valot.