Freelancer Spotlight: Emma Johnson

Good Monday morning readers!

Today, I’m shining the spotlight on Emma Johnson, a freelance writer who specializes in business, finance, and money topics. She’s written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, Psychology Today, USA Today, and dozens of other publications. Her “Launch Your Life” multimedia series on MSN Money explores personal finance topics of interest to people in their 20s and 30s. Emma also is frequently interviewed by the media about money and business topics. Most recently, she was interviewed on the TODAY show.

With all of the emphasis on the economy and readers’ insatiable interest in all things financial these days, I thought Emma would be the perfect person for this interview.

How long have you freelanced? How did you get your start?

I’ve been freelancing for more than six years, full time for four. I started my career as a newspaper reporter, and then six years ago I moved to New York with no job lined up. Before I moved here I didn’t know anyone who freelanced full time—it seemed too good to be true! It wasn’t even a dream. While I desperately looked for steady employment I took freelance assignments to pay the bills. Also, editors I was trying to get to hire me full time offered freelance assignments. I quickly realized that a) I could easily make way more money per hour freelancing than at a staff job, b) it didn’t seem too terribly hard to get assignments, and c) I loved the hustle and strategy required for freelancing. I also was meeting successful freelancers during this time, and I attended the ASJA conference. Full-time freelancing started to materialize as my long-term goal.

After six months in New York I landed a job at a jewelry trade magazine, and a few months after that I landed a staff position at the Associated Press’s financial wire, which was just starting up. That gig seemed like it was too good to be true—until I started. The job entailed writing 20 to 30 equities briefs each day. These were hardcore, dry-as-a-boiled bone numbers stories, and I hated every letter I typed. But I did love all the freelancing I was doing on the side. My goal was to build my freelance business so that I could make as much money freelancing as I was making with my AP salary—then quit.

During that time I really hustled. I built up a steady roster of trade and custom pub clients, but I also pitched like crazy and got bylines in big publications. That did two things: it gave me a sexy bio, and it boosted my confidence. My first national credit was The New York Times. Coming from very small newspapers with names like The Valdosta Daily Times (Ga.) , and the East Valley Tribune (Ariz.) , it just seemed so hot.

In less than a year after starting at the Associated Press, I reached my goal. So I quit my day job, as it were.

How did you start writing about business, finance, and money topics? Were these always interests of yours or did this interest evolve over time after you started freelancing?

When I got out of journalism school, I was the typical want-to-save-the-world cub reporter. I never thought I would wind up specializing in business. But looking back, I was doing a lot of business writing from the start. When you write for a small daily newspaper, you write about everything, including business. Hospitals denying patients care? Business and economics story. Mobile home manufacturers pedaling shoddy product to the poor? Business. The state increasing education funding? It’s all about money and business.

My first Web site for my freelance business five or six years ago promoted me as a general assignment reporter who could write about health, travel, lifestyle, and business. But a few things happened. One, my AP credentials really positioned me to be a business and finance writer. While I didn’t enjoy it, that job taught me to read a quarterly report, how to navigate basic financial terms and functions, and speak to business people about publicly held companies in a way I could not before. Plus, it looks really good on my résumé.

Also, I soon found that there was a bigger market for money-related stories than any of the other “specialties” I was pimping. As luck would have it, I also learned that I enjoyed writing about money more than anything else. I really love interviewing small business owners, as well as talking to everyday people about their thoughts and attitudes about money. Despite finance screaming across the headlines, money is still a taboo subject—yet it dominates many of our thoughts and actions. I guess it is a little bit like sex that way.

Are you noticing an increased demand for stories about money, business, and finance topics right now? How are you finding your workflow? Are you busier than ever or are you also experiencing a business downturn?

I was cruising along until about a month ago, and then I did see a drop in business. Just like everyone else, longtime clients are having a hard time and freezing or squeezing freelance budgets. I’d also come to rely on new clients popping up rather regularly—whether they were new publications, editors at general interest magazines looking for personal finance coverage, or corporate clients. There is still work out there for sure—it is just harder to come by.

That said, just look at the headlines in any newspaper, broadcast, or Web site. Of course business and financial news is hot right now, and especially non-business publications are looking for that specialty. Of course, their budgets are challenged now, too.

One unexpected thing has happened as a result of working as a money writer in these economic times: I’m suddenly receiving a lot of publicity opportunities. In the past couple of weeks I’ve been interviewed on the Huffington Post, TODAY, a Voice America radio show—not to mention this interview! Just yesterday I was asked to guest blog on a big site.

Since business, money, and finance topics are in so much demand these days, I would imagine that more freelance writers are wanting to write about these topics as well. Based on your experience, do you think it’s more difficult to break into finance-related publications right now, or easier? How would you advise freelancers who are interested in breaking into these areas?

Many people think that business writing is covering the markets each day, or doing in-depth pieces about the World Bank. It can mean that, but I don’t do those stories (nor do I want to).

I write hardcore financial stories for some trade magazines that need that specialty from time-to-time, but my real focus is on the softer side of business and personal finance topics. Every topic has a business story in it somewhere. Some time ago on one of the freelance writers’ forums, a theater writer said she could never make much money because there simply weren’t that many publications that carried theater reviews. I rarely go to the theater and I don’t have a bit of knowledge in that sector, but I could come up with a half dozen business-related story ideas about theater in 30 seconds. Maybe you have to have a knack for thinking about things that way, but as a freelancer you also are a business owner, so you should be doing that for your own enterprise.

There are some basic business themes: marketing, advertising, HR, real estate, inventory, manufacturing, and sales. And then there is personal finance: credit, debt, investing, real estate, savings, work-life balance, money attitudes, and culture. I find that my familiarity with each of these general concepts and the news affecting them helps me to interview business owners and individuals about their situations, and also to spot interesting stories and trends. But let’s not forget: money and business are huge, broad topics. It’s not really a specialty or beat, but rather a familiarity.

Given current economic conditions, are you doing anything differently from a business standpoint than you were six months, one year, and/or two years ago?

My business has changed drastically in the past year. About a year ago, a series for MSN Money on which I’d been producing content for the previous two years went live. This has been a huge opportunity for me, and has opened a lot of doors. I can’t say that I’ve made any huge, sweeping entrances into any of those doors yet because of the other thing that happened to me a year ago—my daughter Helena was born.

I work part time now, and I am focusing on projects that either enhance my profile, are very interesting to me, or that just pay a lot of dough. The pace of my career has slowed because I am taking fewer assignments from fewer clients, but the momentum is a lot stronger. It is definitely a lot easier to start conversations with editors, agents, and publishers with a platform of stories that have received online attention from millions of unique visitors.

In response to the economic climate, have you changed your business model? If so, how did you make the transition and how would you advise other freelancers to evaluate and change theirs?

I’ll admit that for a while I got lazy. Projects and clients would come easily to me, I was meeting or exceeding my financial goals, and my profile was increasing. I feel like my profile is still onward and upward, but the money and projects are harder to come by these days. It stinks, but it is really a blessing for me. I’d gotten in a rut of working with lovely longtime clients that paid so-so for writing about topics that are interesting to me, but not compelling, and for publications that will do nothing for my long-term goals.

Now I have to hustle again, and this time instead of writing for everyone and anyone who would pay—as I did when starting out—I can be a little more strategic these days. I can afford that because I do have a stable of steady, quality clients, and also because I have the focus that a few years of running my business has taught me about the industry, and about myself, what I enjoy, and what my goals are.

Have you learned anything in the process of writing about business, finance, and money topics that you now apply to your own business? Any similar guidance that you would offer to other freelancers and independent contractors right now?

I learn so much by interviewing other entrepreneurs, but also by paying attention to the small businesses I patronize in my personal life. A few that stand out:

I once interviewed a jeweler in Milwaukee who had a retail shop, but also specialized in catering to NBA and MLB athletes. Even though these guys make millions and millions each year, the jeweler always gives them good deals on their bling. “Everyone likes to feel like they’re getting a good deal,” he said. That stuck with me. My freelance career has taken a trajectory from taking whatever an editor offered because I was so flattered to get the job, to being a really sharp negotiator, asking for and usually getting higher rates than offered on every assignment, to being a little softer in the process. Especially now that editors are really under pressure to stay within their own budgets, it helps create a symbiotic relationship to go with the flow a little. Plus, if they’re paying you a premium rate, that comes with premium expectations. That can easily blow up in your face and foster disappointment in the client. After all, what is premium writing and reporting? That said, I have a minimum rate I absolutely do not go below.

From my personal life: there is a small coffee shop on my block, and it is clear that the owner is having a tough time. It seems that every week a new sign appears in the window showcasing yet ANOTHER product on offer: coffee, espresso drinks, hot sandwiches, cold sandwiches, soup, falafel, roasted chicken, empanadas, cakes, cookies, brownies … on and on. I happen to know that this woman makes outstanding empanadas and pound cake. Everything else is so-so.

The lesson here is to one, specialize. Do what you are really good at and figure out how to market it. Otherwise those really great skills get lost in the mix and wasted. The other lesson is to keep your cards close to the vest. By adding a new product every week, she is advertising her desperation. There is something to be said about keeping up appearances.

Again from the personal files … I took a good pair of earrings to be repaired at a very nice boutique in Manhattan where they were bought. The owner explained how they would be repaired, that they would be ready in a week, she’d clean them for me and call me when they were ready. After six or eight weeks of me calling repeatedly about their status, I was told they were ready for pick up. Not only were they shoddily repaired using a different method than promised, but they were not cleaned. When I complained, the owner threw up her hands and blamed the manufacturer, who did the repair. “I didn’t even look at them!” she said.

The take away? Own your work! I wasn’t doing business with the manufacturer. I was the jeweler’s customer, and I expected service from her. The fact that this was a $50 repair and not a $1,000 sale didn’t mean the transaction wasn’t important.

What are the top three mistakes that freelancers and independent contractors make when it comes to running their own businesses?

These are all clichés, but they say it better than I could:

1.  It’s business, not personal.
2.  It’s not who you know, but who knows you.
3.  You can never afford to stop marketing.