This is the second part of a two-part series on how to use the Overlap Principle to build your writing business. If you haven’t listened to or read the first part, I highly encourage you to go back and check that out because it lays the groundwork for this installment. But even if you don’t, you’ll still get a lot of value from this episode.

In short, what I’m doing with these two episodes is giving you an example, but also a plan for starting your writing business on the side, then growing it from there to hopefully a full-time business. This isn’t a step-by-step plan—that’s an episode for another day. Rather, these are points from my own journey of building a freelance writing and ghostwriting business the last few years.

So, in this post, I want to dive into ten tips for getting started with your writing business.

1. Go in the direction of your gifts, not your passion.

Now, I understand this will be a little controversial. The conventional wisdom is that you should follow your passion. But that’s actually bad advice, because you may not have any talent in the area of your passion.

For example, I may be passionate about the violin, but I’m never going to be world-class at it. However, my friend Ashley Rescot is a professional violinist. She has the ability to make money with her gift, but I never will. I’d have to work extremely hard at this stage of my life to even be average.

I heard this insight about following your gift, not your passion, from a Steve Harvey video on YouTube and thought it was simple and brilliant. If you have a gift in an area, you’re already ahead and you’re probably already passionate about it. What are you naturally good at? That’s a wonderful clue about your direction.

If you’re listening to this podcast, obviously you’re at least interested in writing. And your interest tells me that you at least probably have some giftedness in that area. But here’s a little secret of having a writing business: success in this area is not really about just being a great writer—it’s very much also about networking

2. Choose a niche that has good income potential.

This is a big reason why I chose ghostwriting, because it pays a lot better than say, writing podcast show notes. The key to all this is choosing the type of writing that is perceived by people to be higher-value. Some types of writing are more valuable to people than others. So, a lot of this equation is doing something that has a high value to it.

However, if you’re starting from scratch, you’re going to be doing lower-paying types of work like podcast show notes, probably lower-paying articles, and so forth. But that’s OK… you just need to get moving and build from there, then you can move into niches that pay better.

3. Don’t confuse people by doing a bunch of different things.

If you want to successfully overlap, you need to have a clear niche you can communicate to people. This is a big theme Sean McCabe talks about in his Overlap book. Basically, people are going to put you in a box anyway, so you need to define whatever that box is going to be.

A huge mistake people make with side hustles is that they try to do a bunch of different things that are unrelated. I did this also. In the span of a few years, I was doing part-time ministry, podcasting, selling on Amazon, consulting, and networking marketing, just to name a few things.

If you want to develop writing as a side hustle, you need to tell people clearly what you do. Put this on your social media profiles, tell people about it, put it in your email signature, and so forth. Don’t make people guess. You need to be extremely clear about it.

If you want to do writing and you don’t know what your niche is, I would suggest you call yourself a “business writer.” This covers a lot of different areas, and it positions you as someone who helps business leaders. That’s a very solid place to start if you want to get into client writing.

4. Take ownership of your career trajectory.

Let’s be honest: a lot of writers are simply passive. They don’t know what they want. They’re too nice and they’re just waiting around for someone to give them an opportunity.

I want to encourage you to be assertive and to take initiative in building your writing business. (And by the way, even if you’re only writing for yourself, and you’re not doing client work, you still are in a writing business if there’s money involved.) No one is going to just hand this to you.

Now, this is a bad example, and I know that full well before I say it. However, I’m going to mention it anyway and I trust that you’ll know what I mean. One of my favorite TV series of all time is House of Cards on Netflix. I know there are issues with Kevin Spacey, who plays the main character Frank Underwood. I also know that Frank Underwood is a lying, scheming, murderous sociopath. I’m just going to get that out of the way, ha!

All that said, the one thing I do admire about his character is that he knows what he wants, and he doesn’t stop until he gets it. I’m not suggesting you do anything illegal or immoral, of course! Please don’t hear me saying that. I’m just saying that it’s OK for you to be assertive and to know what you want out of life.

Here is something that has really helped me: instead of thinking of myself as a writer who happens to have a business, I think of myself as a business leader who happens to be a writer. That shift in perspective can really help you.

So, take ownership of your life and determine that you are going to keep pursuing what you want in your quest to build a writing business.

One more thing on this topic: many people, especially those who are more timid, worry that taking initiative and building a business is somehow selfish. Nothing could be further from the truth! When you build your business, when you’re happy, and when you’re more financially successful, you can help more people at a higher level.

I would argue this: if you want something in life, and you have a dream, and you know it will help people… then you are selfish if you don’t pursue it. You are selfish if you are choosing to play it safe and not run toward your dreams.

If you have a family, your dream needs to be put into the context of your family. You need to build it on the side. It needs to serve your family and make their lives better. But don’t use your family as an excuse not to build a side business. You can start out very, very small on the side and then grow it from there. That’s how I did it, and how almost everyone else does it also.

5. Take the next logical step.

Now, what do I mean by “take the next step”? What I mean is: ask yourself what the next natural thing to do is, and then do it. It’s just that simple.

Let’s use ghostwriting as an example. When I thought that might be the direction I wanted to go in my business, I had no clue where to start. But I did know someone who did: Nick Pavlidis. So I interviewed Nick on my podcast about 3 years ago and had a great conversation about it. Then the next natural step was buying his course, and then going through the course and putting into action all the things in the course.

Now, you may not have a podcast, but guess what? If there is someone who is doing what you want to do, then get in touch with them. Shoot them an email, comment on their blog posts or social media posts. Make a connection somehow. If they have a free guide on their website, read it and then take action. If they’ve been interviewed on podcasts, listen to those and then do what they teach you to do.

Oftentimes, we get frustrated and stuck because we get paralyzed by too much information. The easiest way forward is to decide what you want, then find someone who is doing that thing, and do what they tell you to do to get started.

Many times, the difficulty is not that we don’t know what to do… the difficulty is that we simply don’t follow through and take action. So, just take the next logical step in the journey. That will empower you to take the next one, and the next one, and more after that.

6. Be consistent in your efforts.

A lot of people give up because they are putting in a lot of time and effort but not seeing immediate results. That’s OK because it takes time. Everything takes time to build, especially when you’re overlapping a new thing with your current thing. But you’ve got to be consistent.

Something that really, really hurt me was that I got sidetracked with a bunch of things like networking, marketing, selling on Amazon, applying for a bunch of jobs I had no business applying for, and trying to be a business consultant. I wasted a lot of time going from one thing to the next instead of sticking with my writing and building my writing business.

So, don’t give up. Just keep putting in the reps and making progress day by day. When I took Nick’s Ghostwriter School course, it was October 2019. I talked to my first prospective client at the end of December, but they didn’t sign until May of last year. So that was about 8 months later. I was getting a little frustrated, honestly. But once I got that first client, things started happening quickly from there.

It’s important not to give up and lose heart. You’ve got to hang in there, especially when you’re doing something like ghostwriting where your clients are making a pretty big investment.

7. Remember, it’s going to take a while.

This is related to the last point, but I’m reiterating it here just to emphasize the fact that this is usually not a quick process. We are so used to everything being instant in our modern world that we get frustrated when there aren’t quick results. It took me 5 years to build this from nothing. It could have been faster if I had been more focused and consistent. It would have also been faster if I had chosen a specific area and put myself under the leadership of a mentor who was succeeding in that area.

I would say at a minimum, it will take a year or two to get things moving and really build up your income if you’re focused and consistent. I have always had my goal to build a side business into a full-time business, so I just kept my eyes on the prize.

8. Accept the fact that most people won’t understand what you’re doing.

This sounds harsh, but I stand by this statement: most people are content to remain in their misery because it’s familiar. As they say, better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know. What do I mean by this? I mean that most people would rather stay where they are and not take a risk or do the work of building a side business, even though they are unhappy and don’t have a great future in their current job.

Knowing this, just accept the fact that when you build your thing, some people will discourage you and a lot of people just won’t get it. That’s why you need to hang around positive thinkers and other writers who are building a business… for example, the Daily Writer Community. (Had to put a plug in for that!)

I had one person in my extended family the last few years, who kept telling me I should try to get a job at my church. My church has a large staff and a couple thousand members, and I know this family member was just looking out for my best interests. But I just nodded my head and smiled whenever they would say this kind of thing. I didn’t want to go back into church ministry—I had been there, done that, and that’s not the life I wanted for myself, no offense to anyone who does want that or feels called to it.

And by the way: a little side note for those of you who ARE involved in ministry, but you want to make a change. God still loves you, and it doesn’t make you any less of a Christian to want a different kind of job. It really doesn’t. It’s OK to want a change because ministry is exhausting. You don’t need some big spiritual reason to make a change. You don’t need to couch your feelings with vague spiritual language such as “I feel God is calling me to a different type of ministry.” It’s perfectly OK just to say, “I don’t like doing this type of work anymore. I want a different job, I want better income, or I want more freedom and flexibility.”

I know this goes against everything you’ve been taught as a pastor or Christian leader… but you don’t necessarily need to have a “ministry.” It’s OK just to have a job or a business. In fact, the best for your spiritual health, and your family’s sanity if you’re struggling, might be for you to consider a change or a different type of work.

If this discussion has made your ears perk up, I have one simple question for you: do you want to be a pastor? It’s a simple yes or no. You shouldn’t have to hesitate. You already know the answer. If the answer is “yes,” then continue being a pastor. If the answer is “no,” then start figuring out what you need to do next. I highly recommend something like ghostwriting because you already have a lot of the skills required.

One more thing, then I’ll stop this rant and move on to the last couple of points. In the Christian community, we have a bad habit of making everything so complicated with all these spiritual and personality assessments, and the vague language of calling. I’m not saying those things don’t have their place, but when it comes to your career or vocation, I believe the only two people who can give you the ultimate red light or green light are God and your spouse. You shouldn’t make a major change without feeling like you have clarity from God and your spouse.

Once you have peace and clarity from those two, it doesn’t matter if others don’t understand. Especially in the church world, there are a lot of expectations around pastors and ministry, some of it good, and much of it is unhealthy at best. I would encourage you, if you want to build a side business and then make it your full-time thing, start small, get the blessing of your spouse and guidance from God if you’re a person of faith, and then take action. Many people just won’t get it, and that’s OK.

OK, side rant over!

9. Don’t let any one person control your future.

This really gets to the main reason we start a business in the first place: so we can have freedom. The dangerous thing about having one employer is that they can get rid of you at any time. You can say what you want about having a great employer or a great job, but the balance of power is absolutely always in the employer’s favor because they are the ones paying your salary.

The beauty of building a side business is that now you have empowered yourself with another income stream. As that grows, you have less and less reliance on your employer, which is a beautiful thing. Now don’t get me wrong—this isn’t a rant against employers. In fact, I would argue that when you have more than one stream of income, you are a better employee because you have less stress. You make better decisions because now you’re not doing everything with the perspective to just keep your job. You’re hopefully there because you enjoy the work and want to be there on some level, even though you’ll be on your way out eventually.

There is a lot of value in having a side business that generates income, so that if your employer lets you go, you’re not totally high and dry. It really is a great feeling. In fact, my goal at my college was that I would be able to have a successful side business and could release the college from the burden of paying me. I know they are always looking at finances and budget, and my goal was to be able to bless them by stepping away so they could save money.

But back to the point here, which is not letting any one person control your future. When you have a writing business, you have multiple clients, so not any one person can sink your business. And that’s a wonderful thing.

10. Use your current job to help you develop writing and business skills.

It is tempting to look at your day job and your side business as two completely different things. And perhaps for you, they are completely separate industries or types of work. However, I would encourage you to look for ways in your day job to develop writing and business skills that will benefit your side business.

For example, you can get involved in leading training, copywriting, marketing, doing presentations, proofreading, making sales calls, creating blog posts or podcasts, and lots of other things. All of those are skills that translate to any other business, include your writing business. The cool thing is that it will help your current employer if you volunteer to help with some of these things, and it will help you as well. Everybody wins.

In the entrepreneur culture, there is a big tendency to be anti-job. There are a lot of gurus who tell people to ditch their 9-5 and so forth. But you shouldn’t quit until you’re financially ready and you have a clear plan in place for your new business. In the meantime, there are a lot of things you can do in your current job to learn skills that will apply to your side business—and also add more value to your employer in the process.

I think the goal is to make yourself so incredibly valuable to your employer that they will have a hard time replacing you. I figure, you are going to be there 8 hours a day anyway, so why not have as much fun as you can, add as much value to them as you can, and also learn some great skills in the process?

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I hope this has been a helpful couple of episodes talking about the Overlap Principle. Building a writing business on the side doesn’t have to be super complicated or stressful. The main thing is to figure out your next step, take action, and then keep going, as you build it up over time. That’s how I approached it, and that plan worked very well. I know if I can do it, you can do it also.