Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch Debacle Spells 
Job Security for Freelance Writers
by Yuwanda Black
[Want to start a successful career as a freelance writer? Click here.]

This morning (Monday, September 15, 2008), the world awoke to the dire financial news that Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch were in trouble. Lehman Brothers is filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch is being sold for $50 billion to Bank of America.

Lehmann Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac & Bear Stearns Cost American Taxpayers Billions

Lehman Brothers is a 150-year-old financial institution. Merrill Lynch is one of the biggest investment banks on Wall Street. And, the bad financial news doesn’t end there. AIG (America International Group), the largest insurance company in the world, turned to the Federal Reserve for help (read “bailout”). The Fed turned them down.

After all, it just bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at a cost of $200 billion to the American taxpayer. The Bear Stearns bailout a few months ago cost taxpayers some $29 billion.

How Does the Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch Disaster Spell Job Security for Freelance Writers?

In Stop and Sell the Roses, Jim McCann the founder of 1-800-Flowers said, “The only career constant is change, change so fast it can give you whiplash.”

The Lehman Brothers/Merrill Lynch Disaster highlights this perfectly. If there is no job security at a 158-year-old company (Lehman Brothers), the world’s largest insurer (AIG) and a mainstay on Wall Street (Merrill Lynch), then there is no such thing as job security – it simply doesn’t exist.

How to Create Job Security in a Global Economy

As a freelance writer, when I hear about firms like Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, AIG and Bear Stearns either going bankrupt or being sold off, I’m more glad than ever that I control my career choices, hence my financial security.  

Freelance Writing: The Perfect “Job Security” Career

Freelance writing is the perfect career to create job security for the following reasons:

(i) You are never dependent on one client. At least smart freelance writers aren’t. Instead of a few clients, you may have 15, 20, or 30 clients on your roster. If one drops you, you just market for more.

(ii) You can write in several different niches. There are as many niches in freelance writing as there are professions. In my professional career, I’ve been a real estate agent, a mortgage broker and a recruiter.

Drawing upon this history, I market myself as a Real Estate Writer, a Mortgage Writer and a Career Issues Writer. If I worked for Lehman Brothers or Merrill Lynch, I’d market myself as a finance writer. If I worked at AIG, I’d market myself as an Insurance Writer.

(iii) You can offer many different types of services. There are certain services that are compatible with freelance writing, particularly in today’s Web 2.0 world. As an SEO writer, for example, I also offer article submission as a service. I also offer meta tag writing.

When you’re searching for job security, you have to change with the market. As a freelance writer, it’s easy to keep abreast of the changes and simply update your service offerings accordingly.

A Word of Advice to Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and AIG Employees

To all Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and AIG employees, take that experience you’ve gained at these noted firms and turn it into a career with guaranteed job security – freelance writing.

Recommend this job security article to a friend.

Email: info@InkwellEditorial.com