Transferable Skills from Writing
A few days back I wrote about the skills that you need as a writer that don’t involve writing itself. Today, I’m going to talk about the opposite: What skills will writing (or, being a writer) give you that are outside writing itself?
Before I start with the actual list, there are a few that you’ll get from being a freelance writer which I’ve decided not to include. That’s because you should put them on your CV anyway and they really aren’t specific to writers or writing. They include things like:
- Time management. (If you can’t get out of bed on time or get to meetings you need to attend, you probably need to sort that out somehow.)
- Customer service. (I wrote about that yesterday.)
- Dealing with difficult people. (Again, I’ve written about that before.)
- Creative/Critical Thinking. (These get thrown around a lot, but I don’t even really know what they mean in real terms.)
Things like the above are useful skills, but saying that writers have them just because they’re writers is erroneous. You need to develop those things independently.
With that out of the way, let’s talk about some real skills you get if you commit to writing seriously. (I’m going to talk mostly about freelance writing here, but these things apply to general and more specific writing.)
Research Skills and General Knowledge
Whether you write novels, write copy or write clickbait content for the next churn-and-burn internet site, you’re going to pick up a lot of knowledge that most people simply won’t ever have thought of. As a content writer, I’ve written about how to construct oil rigs and I’ve written about how to tell different strains of marijuana apart. As a copywriter, I’ve written about ACL tears and I’ve written about the legal ramifications of driving without insurance in Florida. (Bear in mind I’ve never been to America.)
Whilst those sound like really dry, dull topics, once you’ve written about a few things, you’ll find that that knowledge becomes interesting in the weirdest of places. I attended my best friend’s wedding last summer, and I ended up talking with the father of the bride about ceiling joists.
If you want to write a novel or go about your writing without caring about the stuff you’re writing about, you can do that. However, in certain areas – law, medicine, business, technology and the like – that knowledge is very valuable, and you’re doing yourself a service by getting a working knowledge of it.
Luckily, I wrote exactly how I do this in my research article!
Salesmanship and Psychology
Here’s the big one.
When I started writing on Fiverr, I didn’t really know why I was writing about a lot of the topics. Sure, everyone wants to read “The Ten Best Taxi Apps in Kiev” but why somebody would pay me to write about that sort of thing blew my mind.
I quickly learned exactly why: It’s all about selling. Those clickbait titles? They’re selling something. An article about why you should quit smoking? There’ll be a money trail somewhere. Whether it’s websites, books, business documentation, flyers or whatever – they cost money to make, and somewhere there needs to be a return on that investment.
Likewise, when you realise that every word is selling something, you know that your writing is better when it sells to someone. By writing for an audience, you’re tapping into the psychology of people you’ve never met. It’s pretty awesome.
Of course, when you start to learn how to sell and who to sell to, you’re opening up a can of worms that takes you well outside writing… to pretty much anywhere you want.
An Overall View Of Businesses
When you’re copywriting for clients – especially when they’re clients that you meet face-to-face – you get insights into their business that you wouldn’t get as a customer. You might be writing new copy for the website, but in doing so you’re learning about who is in charge of what, what things the company values and wants to promote, how that company could do better and what exactly drives the customers of said company.
You’re a part of the chain as a copywriter. You’re involved in multiple parts, even: You might be involved in acquiring customers, keeping them on a site, encouraging them to buy and upselling them. You learn about hundreds of different processes by being a part of this.
If you’re a pure fiction writer who wants to write books, then you have two options: 1. You can hold out hope that a publisher will one day let you keep 5% of the net profits of your book, or 2. You can be your own publisher. When you become your own publisher, you’re going to find out there’s a lot more to releasing a book than just writing the thing. Writing and publishing your own book is a full business in and of itself. This business knowledge is massively helpful.
The Tools To Put That Into Practice
I started my very first business in 2009. I started another one in 2010. I started another in 2013. All of them had minimal success. I used to think of myself as a complete failure! I couldn’t understand why my ideas never panned out.
I started copywriting and learned how to sell. I got copywriting clients who showed me the inner-workings of their businesses. Suddenly, I could see exactly where I was going wrong: It mostly boiled down to two things: picking the wrong things to do with my time, and not selling anything efficiently.
Now I can go back to those old business ideas with the new skillsets I’ve acquired and do the whole thing over again. This wouldn’t be possible without the skills I’ve learned from writing.
Storytelling Ability
I’m nowhere near a natural storyteller. I’m too analytical, long-winded (as those of you who read this far down the post are coming to realise!) and charismatically-challenged.
I’m getting better though.
Tapping into people’s psychology, learning about different narratives and coming up with cool ideas on a regular basis makes you more interesting and it helps you understand what people want to read and hear. That directly translates to better storytelling.
Also, when you write stories and sales pages, you’re practising your storytelling ability in a safe way. I could learn to speak publicly and do a trial by fire, but I know which I’d prefer to do.
You Can KILL Creative Block (Writer’s Block)
Most people can’t write. A lot of them have great storytelling abilities naturally or a lot to offer the world in terms of knowledge. But writing is a skill which requires practice. Most people suffer writer’s block not because they’re writing too much, but because they’re writing too little.
If you write a lot of words on a consistent basis, you’ll find that writer’s block doesn’t really exist. It’s a psychological phenomenon sure, but you have to push through it to overcome it.
Here’s an article on doing just that.
General Productivity (There Aren’t Any Excuses)
This is related to the above point. The great thing about writing is that there is practically nothing stopping you from doing it. If you’re reading this, you have some form of computer. Presumably you’ve got access to a word processor. (I’ve only just switched to using Microsoft Word recently… for a long time I preferred Windows Wordpad, which is free.)
If you’ve got a spare minute and a Word document, then you can write. It’s not like say, cycling, where you need the money for a bicycle and a general level of fitness (as well as not being tired and all those other things that get in the way.) You can write at any time. This means there aren’t really any excuses. You know that inside yourself as a writer, if you aren’t productive, then it’s down to you.
Once you realise that the words you can produce are in your control, you’ll start to look around and see other things that are totally in your control.
You Can Show You Can Generate Revenue
A lot of people get stuck in the “You can’t get this job… you don’t have any relevant experience” pile.
A lot more people have absolutely no idea what value they provide a company in actual terms.
These are a problem, because if you don’t know what you’re worth and you can’t demonstrate that you’re worth anything, then you’re at the mercy of some guy in a suit who probably doesn’t like you. (I might be projecting there.)
The great thing about writing is that you can prove that you can generate revenue. Whether you’re a copywriter with your conversion rates and profit margins, or you’re a budding novelist who has thousands of followers based on your short story blog, you have definite figures. This means you’re not going to get played, and you can start to think about your progress in measurable terms.
Final Thoughts
Writing has lots of specific transferable skills and a whole lot of non-specific transferable skills. I’m bound to have forgotten a lot of them, but you get the idea.
I’d even argue that you should do writing as a side hobby even if you want to go into something completely different, especially if you’re looking at working in a competitive field (where you’re one of a sea of applicants with identical qualifications) or one of the technical fields I mentioned above (law, medicine, etc,) where demonstrating an interest and deep knowledge will pay off.
Remember, every word you write is an asset, and the above transferable skills show that those assets pay off in unexpected ways.