Are you a highly sensitive person (HSP) and do you want to become a writer? In this article, entrepreneur Anne-Kathrin Walter shares how she created an HSP-friendly life as a writer.
As soon as I learned how to write, I could not put my pen down. Writing has always been an important part of my life. The art of writing is a way to express my creativity. Through poems, diary entries, fictional stories and song lyrics, it manifests itself on paper.
Moreover, writing is my outlet. Since I am a highly sensitive person (HSP) and empath, I feel deeply. All the time. Therefore, I use writing to express the depths of my emotions, thoughts and ideas. It helps me to declutter my mind and feel at peace. Writing is my therapy.
Hence, it is not strange that I chose to create a career that would allow me to write every single day. It has been a rocky road to becoming a self-employed HSP writer. However, I am glad I took the leap.
I am happy to share my story with you on this blog. Hopefully, it will inspire you as an HSP to chase your dreams and maybe even become a self-employed writer yourself.
Table of Contents
Breaking Out Of The System
Before I became self-employed, I worked as an editor at a small media company. Recently graduated, I was certain that this was the right move for me. It would be a place where I could learn more about the business aspects of media and develop my writing skills.
While I loved the experience of working there and learned a lot, I felt caged. Don’t get me wrong; my employers were great and kind. However, I felt caged by the system that most of us live in. The famous 9 to 5 cage, where you have to work 8 hours straight with only a few breaks.
This system broke me. As an HSP, this pace of living did not allow me to recharge my energy. Moreover, this whole ‘open office’ culture where you constantly were surrounded by other people, noises and different smells was not the ideal work environment for me as a highly sensitive writer.
Hence, I decided to break out of the system after one and a half years. It was incredibly frightening, as I did not yet have a full-time income as a freelance writer. However, I knew I had to take the leap and change direction. So I did.
How I Became An HSP Writer
While it would be the most practical to work part-time as an employed writer and part-time self-employed while building your business and portfolio, only a few employers are happy to give you that space. Especially in the media world, there is a lot of competition. Hence, it can be challenging to become self-employed by taking that road.
Therefore, I had to take a different approach in order to make my dream to become a full-time HSP writer come true. I quit my job within the media industry and took a part-time job at a clothing store. An entirely different industry.
When applying for that job, I immediately clarified whether they would be fine with me being a self-employed writer next to that job. They agreed and I started working there while building my empire.
Here are some of the steps I took in order to become a full-time writer while working part-time at the clothing store:
Building A Steady Foundation
First of all, I focused on creating a steady foundation for my business. I developed a business plan, where I determined the following aspects:
- Core values
- Vision & Mission
- My ideal client
- Positioning in the market (including competitor analysis)
- Communication strategy
- Finances (Hourly rate, rate per word, price packages etc.)
- Branding
- Business goals
Then, I started executing that plan. I cannot stress enough how important a steady foundation is in order to become a successful writer. Especially for you as an HSP writer, this is important, as it provides you with a sense of calm, control and security.
Setting Up The Basics
Once I was finished with my business plan, it was time to get into execution mode. In this phase, setting up the basic aspects of my business where my main goal.
Think about creating an informative website for potential clients to visit, setting up an email account, creating a social media presence and generally spreading the word about what you do.
This phase takes a lot of patience. Especially if you do not have many connections yet. Therefore, I recommend you to focus on networking in this phase and spreading the word about your services as a freelance writer.
Creating A Portfolio and Collecting Reviews
Simultaneously with setting up the basics, I was building my portfolio. I would respond to job offers and offer my services at a discounted rate in exchange for a review for my website and socials.
This way, I would create the social proof to convince new potential clients to work with me. If you do not have any reviews yet, I can highly recommend you to focus on collecting some. It helped me greatly in sales and I am sure that it will help you too.
Building My Empire At My Own Pace
It took me about 4 months before I could quit my part-time job at the clothing store to become a full-time writer. I am sure that it is possible to quit your job even faster. However, as I am an HSP writer, I did not have the energy to work 30 hours a week at the clothing store and another 20 to 30 hours in my business.
Therefore, it took me somewhat longer to get my business off the ground. But you know what? That’s okay. Part of becoming self-employed is the benefit that you can work at your own pace. No pressure from above. I believe that especially for highly sensitive people, this is an incredibly rewarding benefit of being self-employed.
3 Challenges I As An HSP Writer Had To Overcome
As I mentioned earlier, becoming a self-employed HSP writer has been a rocky road. It was not always easy and there were times I wanted to give up. Here are some of the challenges I faced:
Filtering All The Information Available Out There
There are many voices in the entrepreneurial world, who try to tell you what you should do. Especially for highly sensitive people, it can be a challenge to filter the information available. Therefore, one of the biggest challenges I faced in the beginning, was to know what was right for my entrepreneurial journey and what wasn’t. Most of the advice out there is not a ‘one size fits all’-advice.
For example, when it comes to sales there are many strategies to sell your services. The sales experts out there tell you to create this awesome funnel with all these catchy phrases and automation. However, it is not something that necessarily fits your vision of how to do sales. For instance, I do much better when I first establish a personal connection with my potential clients. 9 out of 10 clients sign up with me after a personal conversation with them.
What I am trying to say, is that you should not be afraid to experiment and find the right business strategies that work for you (and your clients).
Comparing Myself To Others
The comparison trap; a common struggle for many entrepreneurs. When we start out, we look at our competitors and (unconsciously) compare ourselves to them. However, that is incredibly self-destructive behaviour.
Because let’s be honest: those entrepreneurs have probably already been building their business for a couple of years. Perhaps, they even have an entire team of professionals behind them. Don’t. Compare. Yourself. To. Them. Please! I beg you!
I did that and it was eating me up from the inside. Once I unfollowed all these experts and did my own thing, I thrived. Without influence from them, I gave room to my own, authentic voice.
If you feel the need to compare yourself, have a look at an earlier version of yourself. That is a much more motivating way of comparing. When I look at myself and what I did from 2 years ago compared to now, I am so proud. I have grown, improved my writing, my business and grown my client connections. Therefore, I highly recommend you to only compare yourself to yourself from the past.
Feelings Of Burnout
Entrepreneurial burnout is also a common challenge amongst entrepreneurs. This often occurs when you do not rest enough. I myself struggled from entrepreneurial burnout a while ago and sometimes still do.
Usually, this occurs when I push myself too much. This often goes paired with the thought that resting is unproductive. “I could be doing something productive right now”, is a common voice in my mind when I rest.
However, I recently learned that rest is the most productive thing you could do for your business. You know that feeling after a vacation, when you feel like you can take on the world? That feeling often is a result of resting without guilt. During vacation, we give ourselves the permission to truly rest.
Therefore, it is important for you as an HSP writer to learn how to rest without feeling guilty. Once you manage the art of resting, you will notice major shifts in your productivity during the hours that you are working.
Dare To Take The Leap
I want to end my story with some words of encouragement. If you are an HSP who desires to become a writer, I highly encourage you to go for it. This path will enable you to create a life at your own pace. A life where you will feel less stressed and can live according to your own rules.
It is scary, I know. But once you take the leap, you will never look back. I promise. Good luck on your own entrepreneurial journey!
About the author
Anne-Kathrin Walter is the co-founder of the personal growth brand HiSensitives. This is a brand specifically for highly sensitive people and empaths. Here, she and other personal growth experts share their insights about career, self-care, self-love, spirituality, relationships and personal development. In addition, Anne-Kathrin owns a freelance business where she helps other companies with her writing- and social media skills.