Writing for Your Wealth

I’ve been fortunate not to feel the bite of our economic woes when it comes to my website income, but I know a lot of folks–both 9-to-5ers and small business owners–have felt the crunch lately. For all of you out there who make a living from rubbing words together to make sentences, I thought it’d be useful to create a post on ways to “recession-proof” your writing.

While I focus primarily on building assets that pay you again and again (whether blogs or books or something else entirely), I imagine some of these suggestions might be helpful for freelancers too. Feel free to share your own ideas or comment on these below.

Three Ways to Recession-Proof Your Writing

1. Write about the necessities

Even when budgets get tightened, there are products and services that people will continue to buy. Instead of paying $4 for lattes from the drive-thru espresso hut, folks might start making coffee at home, but they’re not going to stop drinking coffee!

Consider showing people how to save money buying the necessities or the luxuries they “can’t live without.” Or help them find the best of the products they can afford.

Not sure what necessities people will continue to buy during economic downturns? Just look to yourself, your family, and your friends for examples. Chances are someone you know is making a few cut backs in the expenditures department. What are the people who say they’re cutting back still buying?

Write about the staples of life, or the luxuries we choose not to (“can’t”) live without.

2. Educate and Inspire

As they say, hope is eternal (and it’s even more eternal during tough times).

Can you teach people to improve their lives? Can you inspire them and give them hope?

There are a lot of people who are realizing their 9-to-5 jobs aren’t cutting it any more and need alternatives to maintain their standard of living. They may want to retrain themselves so they can enter another field, or they may need to improve their marketable skills in order to thrive in their current fields.

More and more, what people have the potential to make is dependent not just on what they learned in the past but on what they know today and what they continue to learn.

If you can teach people skills to improve their job prospects, you’ll be a writer in demand, even during–especially during!–tough economic times.

In addition, there are those who want to learn how to make money on the side. If you’ve made money moonlighting, or selling on ebay, or writing a book, you can make money educating others who are interested in doing the same.

Of course, writing to educate and inspire doesn’t have to be tied to money topics. There are lots of other areas where people dream of improving themselves and their lots in life.

For example, many folks are dissatisfied with their health, fitness level, and personal appearance. That feeling isn’t something that goes away when finances get tight. Just because someone is cutting expenses and has dropped their gym membership doesn’t mean he or she doesn’t still dream of losing (or gaining) weight and being fit.

Have you lost weight yourself or are you a personal trainer? Can you offer diet, fitness, and health tips? If so, you can satisfy a demand that isn’t going anywhere, no matter what the economy is doing!

Relationships are another thing people continue to seek no matter what’s going on in the world. We’re even more likely to want a soul mate and confidant when times are uncertain. Can you advise people on dating or finding The One? Or can you counsel couples on resolving their problems?

These are just a few niches where people want to be inspired (and where people will pay to be educated). Certainly there are others. If you can help people achieve their dreams through your writing, you’ll never go hungry.

3. Write for the luxury market

When people have net worths of millions, they’re not concerned about the price of gas going up 25 cents a gallon. The entrepreneurial rich know that tough times offer some of the best opportunities, so they’re rarely hurting during economic downturns. If you write for this market, you might not feel the crunch either.

Example topics could include anything from luxury travel to custom-built homes to high end automobiles. Need ideas? Pick up a copy of Robb Report or other magazines that cater to affluent markets. Read some of the articles and browse the ads. Is this a market you would enjoy writing for?

Don’t worry–you don’t have to be a part of the market to write for it. It’s always a plus, but if you just have the dream of being a part of that demographic, sometimes that’s enough. I didn’t have a home or even an apartment of my own when I first starting writing for the home and garden niche. I just knew a home and garden of my own were things I aspired to have, and through my writing, I eventually attained both. (Okay, the garden is technically just a big swath of dirt in the yard right now, but I’m working on it next spring!)

Keep in mind, there’s a difference between the luxuries only the wealthy can afford and the luxuries the middle class spends money on during good times (and cuts back on during bad). The latter is an area that is seeing a lot of hits, so if you’re going to write for the luxury market, go all the way to the top.

These three ways to “recession-proof” your writing are by no means all there are. The key, of course, is simply to write for markets where people will continue to spend money, even if they’re cutting back in other areas.

Can you think of any other examples?