Declare Your Financial Independence

When I left my 32 year career in libraries I assessed what it is I'm good at and what I'd like to do with the rest of my life. What I'm good at is writing. What I'd like to do for the rest of my life is write.

Somehow, I got away from my creative high ground and my favorite activities. When I looked at possibly doing magazine writing for a living I realized that even the best authors get about $1/word-- maybe $300 or $400 per article. I didn't think I could live on that or make my financial legacy that way, so I turned to other entrepreneurial ventures.

But nothing else works up my passions as much as putting my thoughts into action through writing. I find few other activities as absorbing or interesting as researching a topic and writing about it, or simply writing about what I already know.

Four or five years ago an entrepreneur could get by without strong writing skills. Once could make sales via the telephone or have someone create a nice looking website as a repository for Adsense ads and one could make a decent living with little ongoing writing. Oh, copywriting has always been important, but that requires a particular persuasive formula and not much real writing skill.

The necessity for real writing skills has come into its own with the proliferation of niche marketing, topic oriented blogs, ezines, and a host of social networking sites that provide a forum for every kind of interest under the sun. Those who express themselves effectively in writing are the ones who will emerge as the experts and the ones others will follow.

This was the message of financial independence I was set to deliver yesterday, on Independence Day in the U.S. Unfortunately, I was called away to my mother's retirement facility yesterday afternoon because of a fall my 92 year old mother suffered. We spent the next six hours at the emergency room getting her stitched up. She'll be ok; the broken bones should mend.

It was a jarring reminder that life can completely change in an instant. We need to seize every opportunity while we have our health and all our faculties to do what we are meant to do in life. For me, now and for the rest of my life, that's being at a keyboard writing away.

Find your passion and declare your own financial independence day!

Liz Nichols