The Freelancer:
Persistence Is Your Best Friend

Award-winning writer Kathy Widenhouse has helped hundreds of nonprofits and writers produce successful content and has gained 600K+ views for her writing tutorials. She is the author of 9 books. See more of Kathy’s content here.

An online devotional for writers

A Word From The Word

Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. (Luke 11:9, NLT)

A Word For Writers

If you’re a freelancer (or want to be one), then persistence is your best friend. Stick with prospecting long enough, and you will get your first paid assignments and more after that.

The process works much like the maxim, “Throw enough mud at the wall, and some of it will stick.” 

That expression has its roots in the construction industry pre-dating the introduction of sheetrock in the 1950s. Builders used to create interior walls using a lath-and-plaster method. They nailed horizontal wood strips (laths) across wall studs and then coated the surface with “mud” or plaster to make it smooth. 

It’s a technique that stretches as far back as half-timbered wattle-and-daub medieval structures, which were  built with interwoven branches filled in with mud or clay. Those early workers literally threw daub – mud mixed with straw – with enough force allowing some of it to stick to the wall. They repeated the process over and over until the wall was sealed. 

The principle transfers well to freelancing. Not every prospect you approach will hire you to write. But try the same thing often enough and you’ll eventually have some success.

If your goal is to be a freelancer, then don’t give up too soon. Good writers are needed for all kinds of content.

Back in the lath-and-plaster days, builders couldn’t give up when they got a little bit of plaster or mud on the walls. They had to finish the job by throwing the mud until the wall was covered. It was hard, messy work with lots of fallout.

Do the same with your prospecting.

A Wise Word

Keep persisting to get freelancer assignments.

A Word To Pray

Heavenly Father,

You have called me to write. Yet sometimes I can doubt that call, especially when rejections pile up and work does not come my way. Help me to persist and continue to knock on doors until You open them.

In Jesus’s name, Amen.

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