If you think about it, native English-speaking freelancers have it good. Our mother tongue is the world language. Whatever our other credentials, we can top non-native speakers in one point -- we work in the language we were born and raised in.

This doesn't matter to you if you're sitting in Kansas writing only for American media. But you don't have to do that. You can write for a magazine in Singapore. A newspaper in Moscow. A website out of Sweden. Global corporations with headquarters in places you may never visit or even locate on a map need writers for material in English. You could call this the good side of globalisation.

I'm an American living in Europe, so I have to think globally. It's surprisingly easy. I've written for publications and companies on two continents, and have gotten paid in US dollars, euros, British pounds and Canadian dollars. The internet and especially Skype make it easy to connect with clients and sources around the world. Whether you do this or not depends on what you have to offer, and your state of mind.

So if you have an idea you think Lufthansa Airlines might like, go ahead and contact them. Nobody cares if you live in Kansas City and Lufthansa is in Frankfurt. If it's the right idea at the right time, maybe you'll open up a whole new world of freelancing.