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There was an interesting question posed over at ChrisBlogging about the effect a US recession might have on freelance writers here:

“Are you worried that things will slow down across all industries, including freelance writing?”

Of course any major economic swings are going to affect us as freelance writers, but personally I’m not worried in the slightest about the potential of an upcoming recession. Why not?

1. The US dollar is still weak. That makes the services of US writers more attractive to buyers in other countries (I can’t begin to tell you how many more clients I’ve picked up between Canada and the UK alone with the dollar down, from new clients to past clients willing to order far more work).
2. If you know anything about freelancing (and you’d better if you want to be able to market yourself effectively), you should know that it’s often much less expensive for a company to hire freelancers than actual employees. When you get into a situation where people have to lay off employees, hiring freelancers is often an ideal solution – as long as you know how to sell yourself on the point of being cost-effective, you may very well find more work during a recession rather than losing work.

Even without the US dollar value being lower these days, #2 is enough. As always in the freelance world, it comes down to whether or not you can market yourself effectively given the circumstances around you. So if there’s a recession coming, I say “Bring it on!”

Related posts:

1. Free Report: Landing New Writing Clients During a Recession
2. How Not to Hire Freelance Writers and Bloggers
3. Why Freelance Writers Should Never Write Free Samples
4. Freelance Writers: Don’t be Afraid to Talk to Your Clients

About the Author: Jennifer Mattern

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Jenn Mattern is a professional blogger and freelance business writer. She owns All Freelance Writing as well as several other sites and blogs covering PR, small business, and related topic areas. She is also currently writing a nonfiction book for freelance writers called The Query-Free Freelancer, and is the author of the Web Writer's Guide e-book series.