Today, I just want to do a journal entry on how I get noticed. Writing for me has gone beyond a hobby. It’s a career, a business and a legacy.

In a closed group discussion, someone asked me how which platform is best for freelancers between Fiverr & Upwork. I told him my sincere opinion. Which is this:

Your social platforms are your biggest assets as a writer. Whether you are writing because you want to publish and sell your books. Or you are a freelance writing entrepreneur like me.

You don’t want to print or publish your books without a marketing plan, audience and a market. This is why I share my knowledge about brand growth and development in my webinar “Now the Brand Speaks”.

Your Writing Brand Relies Heavily on People

A few days ago, about 5 or more people tagged me on a post. An author was searching for editing services. The post had so many comments but my name kept coming up.

A few hours after, I got a bank alert from the new client, a deposit for the job. About two weeks ago, a 75k word book was also signed to me all the way from Canada. This job came through my social network.

And in all this frenzy, I have had to perform miracles with my master’s dissertation which I finally submitted for evaluation. Now I am waiting for results.

One thing I have seen about life is that God sends you all your heart desires through people. If you are unable to connect with people, you cannot effectively run a digital platform.

Do You Need Luck as a Writer?

I read a post by Ized Uanikhehi. She wrote about not believing in luck because she has had to work for everything she has.

I have had this nagging thought for years now as well. Nothing I have ever wanted has suddenly dropped in my laps like I hear people testify in church. Sometimes I have struggled with sadness over this. It makes you feel like an unlucky person when everyone has this sudden miracle stories.

I have even been tempted like a lot of young people do, to become a religious zealot. Maybe if I do enough religious things instead of giving myself to research, study and work, maybe miracles will find me too. Maybe I can even start a ministry after a while.

A lot of people have sold books using luck, miracles, and religion as their approach. This, however, limits your ability to promote yourself as a professional.

Most times, it feels like carving hardwood, doing the real work of building your platforms. I put in unimaginable hours to deliver to clients who live all over the world. I am also living abroad, having very little time to socialize, coordinating virtual teams for my brands which is excruciatingly difficult.

Awards have not come to me from just sitting and doing my work. Funding has always come from sweat and tears.

Yet, in all of this, I have concluded that my own luck is the love of people who only know me through social media.

Be Yourself and Trust the Process

I am not the trendiest, most fashionable, kindest or best person to be around. Yet, people want to take care of me. Strangers support me and this keeps me on my toes. It demands professional conduct on my part in handling other people’s books, articles, websites, and social media.

God shows his love for me in the hardest times. Brenda Apio Oca and Jane Oma of Upside Africa are the few people who have managed to see through my bold front and watch me fight all the adverse winds since 2017.

I have concluded that I am not a lucky person. In truth, I don’t think anything happens by coincidence. I am blessed with more than luck. Meeting Brenda after I arrived in South Africa, for example, was one of the events that made 2019 possible for me. I would have lost my permit, gotten locked out of school and unable to work but everything worked out for my good.

I have feared to be broke, being a homeless person, failure, and losing my senses. I have been lonely, afraid sometimes during xenophobic attacks in SA. Yet, without luck, my life has been one that seems so charmed.

I am grateful for the chance, coincidence or whatever it is that makes people love me, support me, and promote my every move like they own a stake in a listed public company that is my life.

Well, I am still building, and hoping that the ideas buzzing in my heart become bigger than my house in South Africa. It has been a long and tiring journey without luck. Yet, I won’t have it any other way.