Chances are you won’t find me far from my Thinkpad. Credit: Lenovo
If you don't know me, I'm a freelance writer with bylines in publications like The Washington Post, MotorTrend, Car & Driver, Road and Track, Engadget, The Verge, Wired, TechCrunch, and many more. I also served as Editor-in-Chief at Engadget and at CNET's Roadshow. Between my time freelancing and editing I've been in the game in some form or another for about 30 years now, and have learned a few things along the way. I'm happy to share.
Welcome back to my series called the Rules of Effective Freelancing. Back when I started this little newsletter, I kicked things off with a few pro-tips on how to be a good freelance contributor gleaned both from my years as a freelancer and from my time as an assigning editor.
Since then, this list has grown by about a factor of 10, and as I'm trying to grow things further, I thought I'd dive back in.
Another rule, another adage. Where my last entry in this series was pulled from the world of bicycle racing, inside the peloton, where if you're not moving forward you're falling behind, today's adage comes from the world of sales -- or, at least, the world of dramatized sales -- and it's about maximizing your time and playing the angles.
I'm talking about one of the most famous quotes from Glengarry Glen Ross, a brilliant film based on (what I'm told is) a brilliant play that takes you inside the shady world of real estate sales and preying on the weak. I suppose the modern equivalent would be cryptocurrency hawking. In fact, I'm surprised nobody's done a modern, NFT reboot of this play.
Anyhow, while the film is full of memorable moments, for me the line printed on the chalkboard always stuck close: Always Be Closing.