My Twitter Story: How Tweeting Landed Me a Gig

Twitter is a lot of nonsense, right? A few years ago I would have said yes. I’ve since learned that Twitter has a reason for being, one that has landed me at least one gig and has helped me to connect with people I might otherwise never had met.

I think there are a lot of Twitter users who have had similar experiences to mine.

I wrote the title to this article last March, just days after landing the gig. I put off writing it until now as I’ve been super busy with various projects including the one that brought in new business for me. My last article posted here was two months ago — never before have I gone so long between posts ever since launching this site nearly six years ago.

Twitter Gig

The gig that I got lasted just over four months, shorter than what I had expected. Yet, it was a job that came my way because the woman who hired me saw my automotive tweets via @theautowriter, one of several Twitter handles I manage. This account is linked to my main website at autotrends.org, my flagship car site that showcases my work.

Following being contacted for the gig, I submitted the required paperwork and began to write. I averaged two articles per week at $50 per article. The rate seems low, but the articles took me about one hour to write. When all was said and done, I pulled in $1,700 all because of someone who found my tweets.

More Contacts

I’ve also been found by other people in the automotive industry who were also tracking my tweets. Although those connections haven’t yielded new work, each one has raised my visibility. Importantly, at client expense, I’ve been flown to Detroit, San Francisco and to Ohio for automotive related events.

Those events have allowed me to test drive vehicles or see new products before these hit the market. Moreover, I made additional connections with other journalists including one that I believe will eventually yield fresh work. Again, this is all because of Twitter.

Social Media

These days, I’ve largely abandoned all of my other social media platforms including my long-term favorite, StumbleUpon. SU is still decent, but I need to keep my irons in fires that yield solid results. Sure, a surge of traffic to my websites is always welcome, but more important is the work that I get from my contacts, particularly through tweeting.

LinkedIn is beneficial to me for business, Facebook is ideal for family contacts, but nothing else out there seems to be worth my while.

That’s okay, because when it comes to tweeting, the proof is in the work I’ve gotten, the trips I’ve taken and the new contacts I’ve made.

Does Twitter rock? It certainly does in my world!

More Work Than I Can Stand!

I’ve been noticeably absent from this blog for a very good reason — I have more work than I can stand!

No, I don’t have work that I “can’t stand,” rather I’ve been maintaining what I have. Over the course of the past month I’ve also had to turn down to gigs. That was hard to do, but I simply could not find a place to fit these jobs in.

I’ve actually stopped blogging on most of my sites except for my main automotive site — Auto Trends Magazine. This past September I updated the theme and made a commitment to add at least two articles daily. That move has paid off as it has brought in more traffic to my site and has raised my visibility in the automotive industry. Clearly, if I had a choice to write about cars or some other topic, cars would win out most every time.

Personal Stuff

Even when clients come a-calling, I won’t stop all of my personal writing projects completely. I set aside 1-2 hours daily for my own stuff which I treat as my online calling card to clients. This special time also allows me to write with few constraints which means I can cover the topics I want and choose the writing style most suitable for me.

Financially, I’m on target for the year, but I have been battling a disturbing trend: slow or late payments from one or more clients. As you might guess the financial slowdown makes it hard on me as my own bills are always due at the appointed hour.  As a result, I decided to let one customer go over this and am getting firm with others who tend to push things to the limits. Yet, I know the economy is tough across the board, so I’m not willing to push to the side anyone who offers a good explanation. So start ‘splaining!

Writing Ahead

November and December are typically two months where I find myself juggling my schedule enough to enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family. This year, I plan on setting aside one Saturday morning to write ahead — queuing articles I want to appear around the holidays. That way, if I need or want some extra time off, those articles will automagically appear.

You gotta love blog post dripping!

For 2011, I hope to raise my rates and am toying with that amount which I’m currently pegging at 3 to 5 percent. I have a few customers who are working at my 2007 rates, but haven’t asked for an increase given the recession and weak recovery. Let’s see what kind of tax whack is in store this January — I have a feeling we’ll all be shelling out more money to cover the national debt and healthcare.