Are you focusing on what you do best?

I am a writer

Writer Cap Armed with my Monday, get-things-done attitude, I started putting together a proposal for one of my newest clients. We have discussed his newsletter desires several times, and I’ve probably spent 5 unpaid hours total working on getting this business.

So last night we’re going over the specs for the project, and when he saw that the industry average for newsletter opens was less than 20 percent, he decided he wanted a very different newsletter. The new idea will consist of monthly stats that he will provide, a monthly product feature that he will provide and a monthly letter …. that he will provide.

My job would be to organize things so that he can remember to provide the info. The original concept would have been interviewing people, writing articles, collecting info and more. Now it’s completely admin. It’s maybe $200 a month, but it’s not likely to be something I enjoy or look forward to.

I have to tell him I need to pass on the project.

It hurts to say no, but I have to remember what I do for a living. I write. The name of my company is Avenue Z Writing Solutions. I’ve written before about the troubles my former company had when we tried to be all things to all people. That identity crisis made us lose focus and eventually hurt the bottom line, no matter how much it helped in the short term. I’ve done some other types of projects, but the fundamental purpose was writing, not admin.