[Voices of the MZ Generation Column] You Must Build Stairs Every Year to Live

Taking On New Work and the Importance of Self-Promotion
Climbing One Step at a Time with a 30-Year Perspective

Attorney Jiwoo Jeong · Cultural Critic

I live as a writer and a practicing lawyer. Freelancers and self-employed individuals like me have to build stairs every year. If you don’t create a step you can climb on your own each year, you won’t know whether there will be a cliff or a downhill path next. This year should not be one where you make a quick buck and disappear or get consumed; it must be a year that becomes a step leading to the next year.

There are several ways to build stairs. The most common method is to create regular customers. Being faithful to the work I take on, gradually building trust, and gaining regular clients one by one is the most common and widely known way to 'build stairs.' If you try to extract as much as possible from customers with good cost-effectiveness, you end up with nothing but the money earned at that moment. He has to find new customers every time and exploit them, but it is not easy to always find naive new customers.

Another method requires a bit more courage. It is about expanding new work little by little every year. On a small scale, there is a way to create a menu that did not exist before in a cafe. For example, selling patbingsu after only selling coffee. This can become a step to gain new sales and customers in the summer. Such stair-building ranges widely, from small things like 'adding new menu items' to expanding branches or challenging new industries.

For me, the book I wrote last year titled Copyright Law You Need to Know Now became a good step. Thanks to it, I was able to contribute many copyright columns and give lectures, which became a meaningful step in building expertise in the copyright field as a practicing lawyer. Without building such stairs, the year could just end with handling incoming cases, earning money, and finishing. However, since I have to do this work for the next 30 years, such a consumptive approach is not very wise.

Diligently trying to promote your work also counts as a kind of stair-building. If you don’t tell the world, 'This is the kind of work I do,' no one will know what you do. Especially in an era like today when everyone tries to promote themselves, hoping that people will come to you just by staying still can be close to arrogance or vain hope. Everyone is struggling hard to survive somehow, so believing that people will flock to you like clouds without much effort is close to laziness, arrogance, or avoidance.

According to a publisher’s editor, I am a writer who works hard 'on the ground.' Among writers, many just submit manuscripts and then ignore everything else. Or some blame the publisher for book sales and only demand marketing. However, when my book is published, I feel a kind of obligation and do my best to work hard for a while. I actively promote it on SNS, attend book talks, and gift the book to people around me. I also believe this is a courtesy to the editor and publisher who recognized my writing, trusted me, and did their best to produce my book.

If you don’t build stairs leading to next year by laying bricks carefully every day, isn’t the fate of a self-employed person to close up shop and shut down? I am not going to run a seasonal business and quit; I have to work for the next 30 years and climb at least 30 steps. Therefore, I must build deeper trust, show more courage, and tell the world that I am always doing my best.

Jung Ji-woo, Lawyer & Cultural Critic

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.