Preparing for an Indexing Career--Part 1


First, don't quit your day job. This is the first step in building a successful career in indexing.

Why?

Because it takes time and money to build an indexing career. An indexing career isn't going to happen in one or two months, unless you already have an extraordinary background.

It's been my experience that many look at an index, and decide, "Aww, that's not hard! I could do that!" And, truth be told, they can. But, it's rarely indexing that causes hardship among those starting out. In truth, it's running a freelance indexing business, and actually getting business. No two people will run their indexing business in the same exact manner. For the majority of issues in running a freelance indexing business, there is neither a right or wrong way of doing it. This means having a freelance indexing business is an individual pursuit.

However, there are many avenues available to help you learn how to operate your business and get business and during the next few weeks, we'll focus these various avenues.

Let's get started this week with the method voted "most desirable": mentoring and apprenticeships.

In reality, these are extremely far and few between. Do not depend on this type of training to help you in your career preparation. You must be prepared to do this on your own. Very few indexers actually learn how to index and run an freelance indexing business using this method. This means, although this may be voted "most desirable", it's also "most rare."

Do not feel as though your chances of becoming a successful freelance indexer are botched up because you:

1. Don't live near any indexers.
2. Don't have a mentor.
3. Don't have an apprenticeship.
4. Don't have any connections in the publishing field.

Most indexers starting out don't. You can still succeed in freelance indexing if you apply yourself.

What if you are in a position where you need to learn indexing in a hurry? What if you are unemployed? Stop right there. You need to find yourself a paying job, and prepare for your indexing career in your spare time.

Think about this. If you wanted to prepare yourself to be a paralegal secretary, it would take you two years full-time to go to college. And when you were done, the college does not guarantee you a job. YOU have to secure your own job after you have learned the basics.

Many colleges offer Small Business degrees, and it takes two years of full-time education to learn how to run a small business. Indexing is no different. It takes time, particularly if you don't have background in running a small business.

The copyright of the article Preparing for an Indexing Career--Part 1 in Indexing is owned by Dawney Spencer. Permission to republish Preparing for an Indexing Career--Part 1 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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