Producing Newsletters for Businesses Is Profitable for Both Writer and Client

Producing newsletters for business clients is one of the more pleasurable projects that I have done. Business owners love to have a professional looking format to get their message out to prospects plus they enjoy being able to educate their customers about their products or services. It doesn't matter if they're in a professional field, or they're in real estate, landscaping, wedding planning, decorating homes, selling floorcoverings, or a myriad of other businesses, a newsletter can both advertise to and educate their customers and prospects. Plus, the public doesn't mind receiving this kind of promotional material, unlike most junk mail that merely seeks to sell something.

As a freelance writer, this is something that can be profitable in any community. Even if yours is a rural community, if there are organic farmers or craftspeople seeking to sell at farmers' markets, a handout that advertises their products while offering nutritional information, recipes, or crafty ideas will garner more loyal customers. Think creatively about who in your neighborhood might profit from a newsletter produced by you.

First of all, write up a newsletter sample to use to approach your prospects. It can be about almost anything. Anyone can learn to use software to layout a newsletter, including embedding photos. If you haven't tried a desktop publishing program before, there's no better time than now. I'm sure you will enjoy this creative, professional format for your writing endeavors. Many of the programs cost very little - you don't need expensive software to create an attractive newsletter. In fact, even with Microsoft Word, you can produce a very professional looking newsletter.

I would advise checking out a book on newsletter production from your library. If the local one doesn't have this type of book, ask if they can do an intercity or statewide library search for you. This is exactly how I learned what professional-looking newsletters should look like. You can also go to local businesses and ask if they already send a newsletter to their prospects and request to be put on their mailing list, or ask for a copy. Collect enough, and you'll have an overview of both the good, bad and ugly in newsletters, and can decide how you want yours to look.

Your goal isn't to copy someone else's newsletter. Study enough of them, and you'll soon see how you can get creative without copying. Most newsletters have much in common, such as two- or three-column format with a large title on the top of the first page. You can also study the fonts used in articles to find the one that is the easiest to read, then use that same font for your own. Most newsletters are written in New Roman Times font, or possibly Helvetica or Arial. Experiment with font sizes until you find the size that is most comfortable to read. For instance, New Roman Times appears smaller than others in the same size, so a 12 point font is often much more readable, while a 10-point of 11-point Arial will usually suffice. Your font size may also depend on how many words you want to include in your articles and how much blank space you have to fill.

All articles in the same newsletter should use the same font and point size, while headlines will be larger. The largest font will be used for your Newsletter title, and can be either a decorative font or a plain one on a block of gray background, or on plain background.

Experiment on your computer until you have a design you like, then print up a dummy newsletter to approach prospective clients. If you don't have a computer, or you don't plan to use desktop publishing software, you can type of a simple, one column newsletter with the headlines in bold type and the rest in plain. Or you can hand-create a masthead (title page) with ink and hand lettering, or lettering created on either your typewriter or computer. If you hand draw a Title page, you can make copies and use the copies to type up the front page of each newsletter. The remaining pages, if any, don't need the title on them.

The very first newsletters I produced were for a church and a volunteer organization, and they were done on a typewriter with a hand drawn title page. But most businesses use computers and they expect any writer and newsletter publisher that they hire to be computer saavy enough to produce their newsletter on a computer. Some businesses will even allow you to use a company computer to produce a newsletter for them. In this case, quote a price that is a little lower than what you could expect for producing it on your own equipment.

I once knew a young woman hired to go into an office once a month to produce a newsletter for a salesperson, and was paid an hourly fee of about $15.00. As a writer and newsletter producer on my own, I would have charged about $250 for the project if the sales person was having it printed, plus printing costs if I had it printed for him. Since I had experience, I would have, of course, been able to produce it much quicker than this young woman. It took her 10-15 hours to do the same thing on the company computer, but the results were slower and not as professional as they could have been had she been working alone without the distractions of a busy workplace.

I would encourage any freelance writer to seek out clients for newsletters. Businesses love them, their customers love them, and you'll enjoy doing this type of work, especially once you've gotten some experience under your belt.

Everybody Loves Hot Air Balloons

A hot air balloon landing in the RV Park in Verde Valley is a fairly regular occurrence.

For starters, let me explain that I have never yet ridden in a hot air balloon. It’s not that it doesn’t look thrilling, or that I wouldn’t love the view from one. Instead, it’s my aversion to cold—and from experience I know it is mighty cold at daybreak, even here in Arizona in summer.

My first up-close experience with a balloon was when I was writing for a newspaper in Washington State and was assigned to interview an eighty-something year-old woman who owned a balloon business. She asked if I would like to watch the launching of one, so I agreed to meet her at some ungodly hour in a field somewhere to get photos and watch the takeoff at daybreak. I did get some great photos (property of the newspaper) from the inside of the balloon as it was being inflated.

Then the woman asked if I would like to “chase” the balloon to its landing spot. What she meant by “chasing” was following by road and trying to figure out where it would land as it dipped behind trees and hills. That’s when I learned that hot air balloons don’t have a specific landing area because it all depends on air currents. So we chased it for miles until it finally started drifting downward, but I couldn’t get close enough in the car to get photos, and I certainly wasn’t going to hike through muddy fields in that damp, frosty air!

Since then, I’ve witnessed several balloons lifting off and landing here in Arizona, and specifically, settling to the ground here in the RV Park outside Cottonwood. This morning was one of those occasions. About 6:30 AM I heard the familiar wh-o-o-o-sh, wh-o-o-o-sh of one overhead and looked out the window to see it coming down over the park, and then grabbed the camera.

Again, this is an instance where traveling by RV increases the chances of witnessing hot air balloons both aloft and landing because both activities often coexist in high-tourist areas with wide open spaces. RVers can find plenty of opportunities to hitch a ride in one, if they wish. I had only seen a precious few balloons aloft before we started RVing.

Above is one of the photos I snapped early this morning.

Sticking to a writing schedule while traveling

One thing I’ve learned during my lifetime of trying to balance making a living while having fun is that there are always sacrifices to be made.

The first thing I learned was that if I worked, I lacked the time to travel. If I didn’t work, I had plenty of time to travel but no money to go anywhere. Bummer. Then I finally discovered my true calling, freelance writing, and that I could custom build a business to fit the traveling lifestyle we desired.

At first I had more deadlines than I could reasonably fit into my travel schedule, so I had to give up several newsletters. I had an entire office onboard the motorhome, so finding space to work wasn’t the problem, but pre-Internet difficulties made my task almost impossible. Cell phone service was unreliable then, plus we seemed to stumble across RV parks that lacked steady electricity, especially during storm season, blowing my schedule to bits. Let’s just say that even this lifestyle got stressful at times. Giving the newsletters up was a real struggle for me since I loved doing them, and my clients were wonderful business people that I enjoyed working with, but it had to be done.

I also published the newsletter Rolling Ventures for RVers who were operating a business while traveling, and being on the road was perfect for meeting RV entrepreneurs with interesting businesses and stories. However, for the reasons mentioned above, it also got stressful so I sold it to a willing RVer who was spending most of his time parked in one place.

When I was finally able to focus on writing articles for magazines and producing occasional projects for clients, my road finally smoothed out. Still, though, I had to be careful to balance writing and traveling because keeping income flowing in was still a big part of the equation.

I quickly learned that although we might be headed across country to a specific region, if I had deadlines, I had to stop occasionally for a day or two and concentrate on writing. And it became apparent that where we stopped was important. Stop in an area where we had friends or family, and my schedule was doomed.

We finally were able to devise a sort of schedule, but subject to change at any time! If we knew we would be traveling, I would get writing done ahead of time. If a new assignment came in while on the road, we would plan to stop for a couple of days where there were no outside temptations so I could focus on work. I could basically choose my own scenery outside the window to inspire my muse, and find a quiet spot to help my concentration level.

When we decided to stop for a few months in our favorite parks, I would let my friends in the park know that during certain hours I would be working so that they knew not to come knocking during those times.

Writing the books was the hardest to do, because my mind was whirring constantly with new ideas and thoughts about what I wanted to write, making the trip a blur. Then again, it was easy because I kept a notebook handy and every time we would stop, I would rush to the computer to get my latest thoughts committed to the hard drive. (This was before the laptop computer.) The book, Portable Writing, actually took several years, but that was because I created an outline for the book, then a sudden illness required that we get off the road for awhile so I could receive physical therapy and recover. I totally forgot the book outline until we moved back into the motorhome three years later, and while getting ready to travel, I ran across it. What a wonderful surprise, like a gift that had been saved for just the right moment!

Even with the outline, it took me three more years to get it exactly as I wanted.

Then almost immediately after it was published, I had the idea for Looking Back. This time, I rushed to the computer and started writing immediately, meanwhile contacting everyone I knew to see if they had stories about the Boomer era that they would like to contribute. With many wonderful, touching essays about events that had been lived and witnessed by the contributors, the book was much richer and fuller than could have been possible if I had written it alone—and it was finished within a year.

So how can you write and travel without sacrificing either one? Schedule writing time. Plan your travels to include time to research and write. Make a to-do list each night for what you want to accomplish during your next day of writing and/or research, and stick to it. If you are writing a book, break the work down into segments (chapters) and concentrate on getting each chapter completed instead of looking ahead at the entire project. A book project can look intimidating unless you break it down into manageable pieces. And find a place to store you works in progress so they don't get shoved into a cranny and forgotten or lost.

Sometimes it’s nice to set aside time to simply travel without thinking about writing. Never get too busy to enjoy the journey, but always stay alert to opportunities that may crop up in unexpected places. There are lots of adventures on the RV highway to enjoy, and worth committing to paper.

(I have been working on a novel for almost three years and can’t seem to get motivated to finish it, but it rests beside my easy chair waiting for the right moment to become a book. In the meantime, I’m also thinking about putting the stories written from my cat’s perspective for his blog into book form. His view on RVing and seeing the country can be found at http://travelingwithinky.blogspot.com.)

View of Sedona, Arizona is even grander from above















One thing I firmly believe in is being open to adventures. Because of that, I’ve flown on everything from a small two-seater plane to an empty Air Force cargo plane (C-141), and from an engineless glider to a tiny helicopter with see-through rounded front.

The helicopter ride was my most thrilling ride since the pilot turned the chopper straight down with its tail in the air so we could look at fool’s gold in a creek near Mount Rushmore. We had discovered the helicopter parked by the road, and when we stopped to look it over, the pilot offered to fly us up to the faces on Mount Rushmore. The rest of the flight was just gravy—and I’m not sure this type of adventure could even happen now, with more stringent safety rules in effect. Sure, safety rules are there to protect us, sometimes from ourselves, but when you’re married to a risk-taking junkie like I am, you sometimes get dragged into adventures that you sure would have hated to miss. And sometimes, you could have happily stayed home!

A glider ride over Napa Valley in California followed a greasy hamburger, so I was too busy trying to keep lunch down to enjoy the ride or scenery. Then when the ride neared its end, the pilot had to spiral the small plane downwards in a tight circle because updrafts tried to keep us aloft. Aargh! I decided I much prefer the roar of an engine to the silence of a glider because the steady noise lets me and my stomach know that all is well.

The cargo plane ride involved flying around Mount Rainier near Seattle again and again, and the few of us onboard had to take turns looking out the one window. It was interesting, but it finally got boring, especially since there was nothing to do while not looking out the window, and no place to sit down in between peeks at the peak. Still, it was an adventure that few civilians ever get to take.

A few weeks ago we stumbled upon an opportunity to take a helicopter tour of beautiful Sedona, Arizona and its surrounding red cliffs and caves. We had driven up to the airport to get good views of the town for pictures, and my husband asked at the terminal counter about the chopper rides. The man behind the counter mentioned they had one going up in a few minutes that had two remaining seats and they would take us up for half-price if we liked. Not ones to pass up a bargain adventure, we hopped aboard. This was a much bigger chopper than my first one since it seated four passengers and the pilot, but was still an amazing ride.

And did I mention that this was the day after a snowfall on the higher elevations, so the red buttes were coated with what looked like marshmallow frosting? It was absolutely gorgeous! We took off to the west and wound among the snow-covered cliffs. We saw Indian cliff dwellings that most tourists and even many locals never get to see unless they are willing to hike for miles in the backcountry. The pilot swooped through a couple of very narrow passages to give us a thrill. Looking ahead at them, we passengers couldn’t be sure they were wide enough for the helicopter’s blades. There were four huge sighs of relief after we got through them.

Flying has nothing to do with RVing, but being RVers puts us in close proximity to all types of adventures, including flying. What fun it is to fall into an unexpected opportunity along the RV highway.

The Sometimes Strange World of a Freelance Writer

Here’s something you might not have thought about: Some people assume writers can do most of the things they write about. In other words, they are perceived as experts on many, many topics.

However, just because I wrote about banking didn’t mean I could step in and become a banker—nor even a bank teller! I wrote about real estate, but I certainly knew nothing about selling real estate, and I never knew anything about accounting even though I had several accounting clients. To me, accounting was a bore! And just because I write an article about skiing doesn’t mean I can fly down a ski slope. Been there, wasn’t good at it, don’t intend to do it again! I can interview people who love it and then communicate their love of the sport in an article without having to endure a frozen nose or broken bones. (Believe me, experience tells me it would be other skiers’ bones I would be concerned about if I actually tried skiing again.)

As a writer, I did learn about a lot of subjects, but that didn’t make me an expert on anything except maybe writing and gathering facts. Still, that didn’t prevent potential clients from thinking that I would already know something about their topic and that I would certainly know where to get any information I needed to produce their project. So as a result, I’ve received many strange, sometimes outlandish requests for help.

I guess the weirdest request I ever had was to run the political campaign for a local candidate. The type of experience I needed included 1. knowledge about how to run a campaign, 2. knowing how to get attention (hopefully good) for the candidate, 3. knowing how to make him marketable to the electorate, and 4. many numerous other details that I knew nothing about. I had a little experience writing speeches, and that was it! And I was able to offer the client advice on colors for his campaign signs and ads because I had experience in color psychology and color impact as it pertained to advertising.

Still, I turned down the job because I wasn’t qualified to run a political campaign, and frankly, I wasn’t interested, but I suggested that his signs must be eye-catching, employ strong, contrasting colors, and display patriotic colors, preferable red-orange and white writing on a dark blue background. Unfortunately, before he contacted me, he had already had signs printed in dark blue on a gray background, which was extremely hard to read, especially while driving by in the rain (this was Western Washington). He lost the campaign, but at least I didn’t have to feel guilty that he lost because of my inexperience as a campaign manager.

Another strange request I had was via a phone call from a man from Alaska who had “uncovered a scandal” and wanted me to help him produce a book on the story. First of all, he didn’t divulge where he had heard about me, which made me suspicious. He “couldn’t remember” where he got my name. Somehow, I don’t think I had a following in Alaska! I also had never done any investigative reporting, so wouldn’t have known where to start (this was before the Internet). And there was also no way to investigate the background of the person wanting to hire me, and I felt that I needed to know something about his credibility before I committed time to his “cause.”

One unusual request was conducting surveys over the phone. An editor friend of mine was doing it to earn extra money, so she asked me to help out. Uh-uh! No way did I relish interrupting people during dinner to ask them mindless questions that I wouldn’t have cared to answer.

There were other projects that were turned down for various reasons, often because I simply didn’t know anything about the client. My reputation was on the line, so that was my major concern before tackling a particular project. And to protect my reputation, I had to have enough knowledge about what was being asked of me so that I knew I could do a good job.

In your writing career, you will probably be asked to participate in a number of projects that are foreign to you, and you’ll be able to research and learn how to produce them. So much can be learned from reading, and now, on the Internet. But if you don’t feel comfortable, don’t be embarrassed to turn it down. And if you’re uncomfortable for any reason with the person hiring you, you’ll probably be better off turning him (or her) down. Or charge double!

I had one client that I just didn’t like from the moment I met him. No real reason except he seemed to be much more impressed with himself than I could imagine anyone else being. I decided to take his project on, but I charged him double the going rate and required one-half down. Then I rushed out and cashed his check before I started work on his project. Well guess what—he never paid the rest of the invoice when I finished the work. He was indeed a sleaze-bag, but it only proved that I had been right in my assessment of him in the first place. And I actually got all of my fee upfront, so I didn’t lose anything. The extra fee that I might have been paid maybe would have reimbursed me for the annoyance of working with him!

And there was the guy I interviewed for the newspaper who had previously had some kind of run-in with a neo-Nazi group, but he didn’t want me to mention that (Wonder why? And wonder why he bothered to tell me?). Then the newspaper I was writing the article for got a threat if the article was printed. No problem! They killed the story and I went on to write another article for them. I had to wonder who the threat was from, or if I was being followed and that’s how the caller knew I had interviewed the subject, or if the interview subject chickened out and didn’t want his name mentioned in the paper? Creepy.

When writers first start out, or if business is slow, it’s tempting to take on every job that comes along and be happy for the work. And since I’ve always been adventurous, I could have easily been led down some dangerous paths if my mother’s warnings hadn’t been implanted deep in my brain. When that little voice in my head warned me that something wasn’t right, I always paid attention.

Not everyone is weird

For the most part, writing has been the most wonderful, exhilarating work I’ve ever done. It has led to places I probably would never have gone on my own, provided an introduction to people I probably never would have met otherwise, and filled my life with rewarding experiences that have completed my life in a way that never could have been possible.

If you are hesitating about getting started writing, make this the day that you decide to do it. Make a to-do list about what you need to get going, then stick to it. And if you get some strange requests from time to time, realistically consider them. Don’t pass on something that can lead to better things, even if you have to do some research before you get started.

Most writing consists of producing articles for legitimate magazines, newspapers, or online news organizations or newsletters, or it will be for legitimate businesses in your hometown. Either way, you can usually count on receiving professional treatment and pay without any hassles.

Standin' on the corner in Winslow, Arizona.






A mural painted on a building behind the statue shows the girl in the flat-bed Ford slowing down to look back at the musician.

Winslow, Arizona – A song made it famous, and now the town is capitalizing on the song!

If you’ve ever traveled across the country on old Route 66, or you’ve taken the Winslow exit off I-40, you may remember the town of Winslow as a dusty, sleepy gas and food stop on the l-o—o-o-n-g trip through that part of Arizona. Certainly there wasn’t much of anything that would capture anyone’s interest in town.

Today, though, it has been spruced up. One of its newest features is a sculpture and a painted mural on a street corner that brings back fond memories of The Eagles and their song, “Take it Easy.” The words, “Standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona, such a fine sight to see” put Winslow on the map a few decades ago. That street corner, pictured above, now features a sculpture by Ron Adamson, presumably of a member of the Eagles group with his guitar. Behind it is a mural by John Pugh that looks like a reflection in the window of a business. There, immortalized for all to see, is the girl in the flat-bed Ford (from the song) who is slowing down to take a look back at the statue.

If you love Eagles music, you’ll recognize the scene. The corner park is a fine tribute to the song because the mural that captures the essence of the song is top quality and very realistic. It causes viewers to quickly glance around to see if a girl in a flat-bed Ford is actually driving by.
Besides the famous corner, La Posada Hotel, a Fred Harvey hotel built in 1929, is being restored to its original grandeur and is worth a visit to see the magnificent design of Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter.

There are also some natural scenic wonders in the vicinity of Winslow, including Meteor Crater, where a giant meteor crashed to earth about 50,000 years ago and created a huge depression more than 4,000 feet across with a force estimated at greater than twenty million tons of TNT. There are also the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest nearby. Now I’ll have to admit that the first time I saw those two areas, I wasn’t very impressed, but then again, I saw them under the harsh sun of a cloudless November day when it was cold, windy and basically uncomfortable. And there is no standing forest, in case you wonder about the petrified trees. Instead, broken logs lie scattered on the ground, but they are indeed petrified wood.

Arizona is full of natural wonders, and there’s something for everyone—whether you like forests, mountains, deserts, or simply enjoy the many activities the State offers. I’ll be writing about some of the other “wonders” that you can see or participate in within the borders of Arizona, including panning for gold.

Blogs & Websites: Keywords and Links

Blogs and Websites serve the purpose of providing useful information to viewers as well as promoting your writing skills. But if you don’t get any viewers and no one knows that your site(s) exist, your time will be wasted. People must be able to find your blog and/or Website, and it is up to you to direct them to your site.

Keywords help Internet users find your site. First of all you’ll use “Metatags” when you set up your site—which are hidden descriptions and keywords for search engines to pick up. Then after you create your keywords, you’ll need to update them occasionally to reflect any changes you might make to your site.

To create keywords, you’ll need to find the location of that function on the toolbar of your Webpage software program. Mine falls under “File,” “Properties,” “Keywords,” but yours might be listed under other headings.

To make it easier to come up with keywords, go to other Websites similar to yours and see what words they have used. If you use Internet Explorer to search the Internet, you’ll find the place where keywords are listed in the toolbar under “View,” then “Source,” or it might be under “Page" then "View Source.” There under something called “meta description,” “meta keywords,” or something similar you can list the words that people searching the Internet would use to find your site.

The other important step you need to take to get viewers to your site is to provide and exchange links. If you’re familiar with sites that are related to yours, or that provide additional information that might be of interest to your readers, provide a link to those sites. On my software program, I go to “Insert,” then to “Hyperlink” to add links.

It’s also a good idea to ask the owners of sites that are similar to yours or that your viewers might logically also go to, if you can exchange links. Some site owners are happy to do this while others might be afraid of losing their viewers to your site, so won’t exchange links.

Be sure to read the instructions for your Website design software to learn as much as you can so that you can take full advantage of all its features. If you set up a blog, the instructions are usually fairly comprehensive and are easy to follow.

Contest

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