What I am going to teach you here is not going to even be described by these phrases. This is so exciting. I am going to tell you about three unconventional places to look for writing ideas. You will not find many people talking about these places. These are hidden idea sources.

Letters to the editor column

This is unexpected, isn’t it? You do not happen to read “letter to the editor” column in a magazine or the newspaper; at least, not with a purpose to find topics to write about. Despite the fact that each single word in this column is written by real people who actively seek answer to their questions.

Of how many people do you know, who reads an article in newspaper or magazine, and then pick up pen and paper, or go to their e-mail accounts to write a letter to the magazine, just to voice their opinion of the article?

There are not many people who do so, and those who do may very well go online to find the answer. From the letters, see which problem you can address, and right an informative article on that.

Eavesdropping in public

I know overhearing anyone’s personal conversation is not right, but what about those that people conduct in subways, metros, buses, parks, and restaurants, and that not to in low voice? That is not crime, as they already want people to take notice of what they are talking about.

Cash in on this opportunity. Pay close attention to what people are talking in a public place. You will get an idea about the problems people faces in their lives, and you will also get some ideas to develop in an article that will address real problem of real people.

Old magazine

Refurbishing old articles to meet the need of today’s generation is an awesome way to get more readers. Go through the pile of 10 or 20 years old magazine and see if you can find something that is still relevant today. Take that topic, do the research, and let your creative self flow. You will get a good article at the end of the process.

Be honest. Have you read about any of these sources anywhere else? Seriously, I want to know that because I happen to believe that it is only me who takes notice of these sources for article ideas. Please do me a favor, lift your finger from mouse, and hit keys on the keyword and post a comment below.

Lie Number 1: Do not have time

This is the most common lie people tell themselves. I often hear people say that after a work it is hard to take time out for writing. This lie is preceded and supported by the fact that they cannot leave their job because the family needs food on the table. Indeed, your family needs your support, so you should not quit your day job, but it has nothing to do with the lie of “not having enough time” that you fool yourself in believing.

Dare to ask people and you will be amazed to find how many people are taking 2 hours each day from their life for part-time freelance writing. This is worth the effort. If you cannot do it daily or on alternate days than stick to weekend-only routine, but do it. Start now and soon you will see the difference.

Lie Number 2: Words, empty words

Well words are important for we freelancers, but words not backed by action ends up being empty words. And empty words do no good to anyone. I know many people who speak volume, but when it comes to taking action, they are just not there. Start writing, do not just speak about starting to write.

Lie Number 3: Excuses, colorful excuses

From not having time, to not having money to not having enough space at home to make it a workstation, there are many lies that people tell themselves. These lies are colorful, and at times have vivid details, nevertheless, it’s a lie.

The time to start freelance writing is now. There will not be any other good time, nor will you ever have more money than you have today to start freelancing, nor will you have enough space to do that. For those who sell themselves lie, there will not be any opportunity.

The possible explanation to this could be their (male members) love for the gadgets or say everything that is electronic. And may be (here I am guessing), the men’s love for gadgets has put the other half of their life away from it. After all, it is the matter of attention: who is paying attention to what.

Research findings

• 56.3% of e-book are men, where as female constitutes the rest 43.7% of the readers.
• Adults aged between 35-54 are 20% more likely to buy an e-book readers.
• 87% of the e-book readers have annual household income of more than $100,000.
• 11% of the e-book reader are more likely to own their home in comparison to average US adult.
• 111% are more likely to have a graduate or post graduate degree than average American.

The study should also have concentrated on finding the following:

• How many e-book owners actually read books on the device?
• How many hours do they spend on reading anything on the reader?
• How does owning an e-book reader have affected their reading habit? Have they started to read more or got so intoxicated by the device that actual reading has gone down?

The result will then give the actual figure of e-book readership. The current study has just given a figure of how many people own an e-book reader.

Close your eyes for a while and think, will you like to do business with the person whom you do not trust? Will you put your hard earned dollars in the hands of a person whose intention is not to help you but just to take money out of your pocket? No, you will not do that! Then why do you expect your customer to behave differently, just because you are on the opposite side of the table? Well, no matter how many times you turn the table, and how many people you bring on the other side of the table, you cannot be successful in making a sustainable customer base.

There is only one golden rule of selling and that is honesty. Be honest and sell only the product your customer needs, not the product your company wants to push to every customer. This is what we call integrity selling. Integrity selling will not only build a reputation for you, but it will also give you a rock-solid foundation made of loyal customers to stand on.

Integrity selling is the only way to maintain a long sustainable base of customers. In order to be successful in applying integrity selling in your business, you genuinely need to believe in solving the customer’s problem. I am saying believing, not feigning to believe, as most sales people do. This is how you can build reputation for yourself and your business. Till the time you are concern with just meeting your target for the month or the quarter, you cannot succeed in winning the hearts of your consumer. You need to win a significant share of customers’ hearts to remain in the business for the long run. Integrity selling is indeed tough, but the return it fetches makes it worth trying. As said, integrity selling will build a long term reputation for you, and the more you practice it the more equity gets deposited to your reputation-bank, which in the long run will mean more business for you.

Let’s think over a very famous quote: you can cheat a few people for a long period of time, you can even cheat many people for a short period of time, but there is no way in which you can cheat everyone (or many people) for the longer period of time, it isn’t possible. If you are salesperson, always remember this and never ever try to sell lie. A lie can help you meet the immediate goal, but it will hurt you badly in the long run. It is always wise to fix your eyes on the long term results, short term results will never last.