Sara Howard, longtime Australian writer and former agency owner who ran Writers Australia for nearly two decades, explains why she closed a profitable agency to stay ahead of change. She talks about large clients building internal AI, how AI shifts agency challenges from capacity to capability, why 2026 favors adaptable freelancers, and how collectives and small experiments can unlock new value.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Voluntary Agency Shutdown
Sara Howard closed her financially healthy agency after 18 years because strategic and operational risks converged.
She chose to preserve people's wellbeing and retained earnings to start a new chapter rather than shrink by redundancies.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Client Built An Internal AI
A major financial services client built internal AI that accessed siloed knowledge and replaced work the agency would do.
That revelation accelerated Sara's view that large clients would move faster toward AI than expected.
insights INSIGHT
Capacity Shifted To Capability
The problem shifted from capacity (need more writers) to capability (different skills required).
That shift eroded team confidence and made scaling via hiring less effective.
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Today's episode is a little different. Over the past year, I've been talking more openly about the shifts happening in our industry. And a few weeks ago, I made a clear decision, which I announced in my first newsletter of 2026: the focus of this podcast and my newsletter going forward will center on AI… and the disruption, changes, and opportunities it's creating for writers. AI is reshaping business models, demand, pricing, and even the types of roles writers are being hired for. And I know this conversation can make a lot of people uncomfortable. It forces us to look at signals we might rather ignore. That's exactly why I wanted to bring today's guest on. Sara Howard is a longtime writer and agency owner based in Sydney, Australia. She's been in the business for nearly two decades and has lived through multiple cycles, recessions, and industry distruptions. But recently she made a decision that surprised a lot of people: she chose to shut down her content agency... even though it was financially healthy. Not because the business failed. Not because the work vanished overnight. But because she could clearly see where things were headed… and she was willing to act before waiting too long. In this conversation, Sara and I talk about what actually changed behind the scenes as AI adoption accelerated inside the large organizations her agency served. She explains: How corporate clients moved faster than most people expected How running an agency can suddenly become a liability instead of an advantage What writers may need to rethink about identity, specialization, and where real value comes from now. This is not a doom-and-gloom episode. It's a candid, grounded conversation about timing, positioning, and paying attention to the right signals. And to be crystal clear: this is NOT an endorsement for shutting down your freelance business. Not at all. In fact, Sara believes 2026 will be the year of the freelancer, but only for those who are willing to make critical shifts in mindset and value proposition. If you've been feeling unsettled, conflicted, or quietly wondering whether the path you're on still makes sense, I think this episode will give you a lot to think about. Connect with Sara on LinkedIn. Sara's book, Beyond Solo.
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