The Road to Technical Communications

By Erin Johnson

For me, the path to becoming a technical communicator was circuitous. Since age four, I knew I wanted to write. I pursued my dream throughout the following years, pulling many an all-nighter when inspiration struck. Ready with a pen, pad of paper and tin of instant coffee into which I would periodically dip a saliva-moistened finger, I would scribble well into the night.

In college, I majored in psychology. My reasoning was, if I got a “real” job, I would have the financial wherewithal to support my writing habit. (Plan B was to marry rich.) Armed with my daily Starbuck’s ammunition (a step up from the powdered stuff which characterized my high school days) I graduated in four years…more or less. The logic behind my psychology major escapes me now. That leather-bound degree has been collecting dust for going on seven years.

After college, I worked at a number and variety of jobs, due in part to a short attention span, industry layoffs and my commitment to following my husband around the country in his pursuit of higher education and, eventually, gainful employment. During this period of professional restlessness I managed the small office of a wood products company, where my daily companions were the large mounted heads of sundry wildlife. I wrote material safety data sheets for a paint manufacturing company. I supervised the manufacturing of integrated circuits at a semiconductor processing plant. I worked at a gym.

Despite my various titles, the common thread was: I was writing. (OK, except for the gym.) By the time I settled down geographically, I had amassed enough documentable experience to call myself a Writer. I wrote for a local newspaper until I realized something was missing. That “something” was groceries. I barely earned enough to pay my share of the bills, let alone feed the cats. (The ship had sailed on my aforementioned Plan B.) So I entered the much higher paying world of public relations and marketing. With my rag-tag history as a writer and recent reporting experience, I managed to bluff my way into the industry. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed by groceries.

But something else was missing. Where was the passion I had as a teenager, prodding me to write until dawn? Where was that feeling that compelled me to pull over while I was driving, to get out of bed in the middle of the night, or to call in sick when I was supposed to be working, because if I didn’t get “it” out of my head and onto paper, “it” would cause my brain to implode? Nothing about my daily routine sparked such interest. My motivation was no longer intrinsic. Rather, it revolved largely around coffee.

I reminded myself I had a good-paying, respectable job, and no reason not to be content. My husband and I bought a house and filled it with groceries. Our cats waxed fat and happy. Where was it written that you had to love what you did for a living? I was still in my twenties, yet verging on a mid-life crisis.

The turning point came last summer. I realized that if I didn’t take action but soon, I would continue to do what I was doing for, approximately, ever. Then, my boss would retire and I would be promoted to her job, which I would then proceed to do forever. The four-year-old I once was had not aspired to the life I was currently leading.

So, I gave my notice. Officially unemployed, I was giddy with delight, yet clueless as to how to get started with the next phase of my career. Fortunately, I had help, in the form of a business development course at the local community college. The instructor provided us students with all the necessary tools to plan, register, launch and manage our new business ventures. His guidance proved invaluable to me. Once the structure was in place, all I had to do was, well, work. Many of my clients were contacts from my previous lives as a reporter and marketing professional. From almost the very beginning, I was blessed with work. Unfortunately, I am also cursed with an innate inability to say no, so the whole life/work balance remains a challenge to this day.

And it’s not to say that it’s been all smooth sailing. I found that, left to my own devices, I am a seasoned procrastinator. Self-employment taxes were a rude awakening. Working at home, while convenient, is difficult with three needy cats. Several of my clients–and you know who you are–take their sweet time paying my bills. More than once, I have found myself at the mercy of interview contacts who place a high value on their own personal time, yet show little regard for mine. But I have discovered that if you really need a quote for an article, you will call that person at 2 a.m. on a Sunday morning…because it’s convenient for them. Technically, I work for myself, but in reality, I work for my client—if I want to enjoy continued success in the business of technical communications, it will serve me well to remember that.

Some Things I Have Learned On The Road to Technical Communications:

• Take advantage of your community college’s Small Business Development Center. The instructors, advisors and counselors can be a valuable resource to you as you build your business.
• Make friends with other people in the industry. Then steal their clients. No, just kidding. Well, sort of.
• Trite, but true: it’s not what you now, but who you know.
• Finding a rich spouse is not important. Finding a supportive one is.
• Listen to your inner four-year-old.
• Never lose the passion! If you do, you’re doing something wrong.
• Making a lot of money isn’t important. As long as you can afford to feed your cats, it’s a lot better to do what makes you happy.
• Too much coffee can be counterproductive.

Erin Johnson, founder and owner of Communications Etc., is a freelance writer, editor and designer based out of the Columbia Gorge. Her specialty is public relations and technical communications for the healthcare market, but has been known to do just about anything to keep those paychecks coming. She can be reached at communicationsetc@consultant.com.