One of the biggest benefits of being a freelance writer is that you do not need to spend a lot of money on supplies, office space, and other items. Imagine the startup costs involved with leasing office space and filling it with all the necessary items. When compared to those of a freelance writer, you will see that there is a huge difference. With that being said, there are some freelance writing supplies that you need. If you know what they are and where to shop, you should be able to load up and forget about them for a few months.
Although it may not be considered a supply in a traditional sense, every freelance writer needs a quality computer. I started my career using a Compaq laptop but upgraded to an Acer desktop after a couple of years. Both of them have treated me well, and I still use the laptop when traveling. Remember, computers are not nearly as expensive as they once were. You should not have any problems finding a quality computer, laptop or desktop, for $500 or less.
Where can you shop for a good computer? I purchased both of my units at Circuit City. Of course, this is not your only option. There are many other electronics stores, such as Best Buy, to choose from. And of course, you can shop online as well. Additionally, if you are on a tight budget do not be afraid to shop for a pre-owned computer.
To go along with your computer, you will also want to purchase a printer. This does not have to be anything special because you will not be printing a lot of documents. That being said, you definitely want to get something that is high quality and reliable. With both computers that I purchased, a printer was included for free. Circuit City is always offering deals like this, so be sure to keep your eyes open if you are in the market.
Now for some less expensive freelance writing supplies that will be sitting on or near your desk. Here is a list of the items that are surrounding me right now: pens, pencils, rubber bands, paper clips, sticky notes, printer paper, stapler, and a calculator. Of course, I may be missing a few things, but these essentials help to keep me on track day in and day out. All of these supplies can be purchased at an office supply store, or a retail outlet such as Wal-Mart or Target.
With the above freelance writing supplies you will always have what you need to make the most of your career.
What does your current freelance writing workload look like? Do you have the time to take on a few more jobs? When it comes down to it, you need to know how much work you have on your plate at all times. Believe it or not, there may come a time when you are so busy that you have to think twice about accepting new work. If this time comes, would you have the nerve to turn down a job? Some freelance writers would say yes, whereas others have no qualms accepting as much work as they can find and then working more hours to complete the projects.
Personally, I do not like to turn down good freelance writing jobs. The keyword in that sentence is good. At this time, I have a nice workload and feel comfortable that I can service each client with a high level of quality. With that being said, I am confident that I can find time to add new clients if the job is right. On the other side of things, I do not like to add low quality or low paying work if I am near full capacity. Doing this will only bog me down, and more than likely force me to spread thin.
The way that you approach this situation depends largely on the stage of your freelance writing career. As a new freelance writer, I was willing to accept as many jobs as possible because I simply wanted to build my resume and get my foot in the door with as many clients as possible. But as time went by, I found that being more selective worked to my advantage.
Generally speaking, I will never turn down a quality freelance writing opportunity if the client and pay is right. I would much rather work longer hours than tell a quality client that I have no time for them. Remember, each job that you accept is one that can turn into more work in the future. But if you turn down a job, there is a good chance that the client will never ask you for help again.
All in all, the work that you accept depends on how many clients you currently have, the amount of time that you have available, and what you are trying to accomplish.
Have you ever seen a freelance writing ad asking for writers to submit work without any idea of how much they will be paid? These “clients” ask you to submit content to their specifications and at that point they will decide what to pay you based on how much they like your work. Over the past few months, I have noticed that more and more of these jobs are popping up on freelance writing sites. The question is: are some freelance writers really falling into this trap?
Personally, I see no possible benefit of working with a client who sets forth this guideline. The problems with this setup are simple. First off, you have no idea what type of budget the client has in mind. You may be thinking that you can make $100 for a 500 word article just to find out that the client only wants to send $2. To go along with this, most of these clients are not going to pay more than they have to. In other words, even if you submit a great piece that you researched for hours on end, you are probably going to receive the low end of the pay scale.
My advice for accepting these kinds of jobs is simple: do not do it. If a client is worried about the quality they will receive, the easiest way around this is to ask for past work samples; not to pay what they want once the work is sent. There is nothing wrong with responding to these types of ads, but you should definitely negotiate for better terms such as a set fee per article, as well as at least half payment upfront.
I have no idea why “work now, we’ll pay what we want later” is becoming so popular. My only guess is that some people have had success posting these ads, and now it is beginning to catch on among others. While it is possible that a job like this could work out in the end, it is a risk that I am not willing to take. There are plenty of clients who are willing to tell you how much you will be earning, while also paying some of the money upfront. You do not need the headache and stress of waiting to see how much money a client thinks your work is worth.
Potential downfalls are everywhere if you work in the freelance writing industry. When it comes down to it, you are going to fail time after time. But guess what? There is nothing wrong with this. Remember, if you are not failing you are not trying to advance your career. While some freelance writers may see failure as a bad thing, you need to look at this is a way of growing and taking your career to the next level.
Here are three ways to deal with freelance writing failure:
1. Turn every failure into a positive situation. For instance, if you are turned down by a publication after sending a query, this can be disheartening. But instead of looking at this as a bad thing, you should attempt to turn it into a positive. You can do this by taking the rejection letter, studying it, and then pulling and implementing the positives that will allow you to have a better chance of success in the future.
2. You need to learn from every mistake that you make. If you continually make the same mistakes, you are going to find it difficult to advance your career. No matter what industry you work in, it is very important to learn from any mistake that you make. As a freelance writer, I make mistakes every week. Some are worse than others, and in some cases I am not the only one effected. No, making mistakes is not fun, but when you learn from them you have a better chance of being near perfect in the future.
3. Are you extremely cautious about trying new things within your freelance writing career because you are afraid to fail? Dealing with this situation can be difficult, and if you are having a hard time moving forward with new ideas, you are not alone. Early in my freelance writing career I became comfortable with doing things the same way, day in and day out. While there was nothing wrong with this, it was a rut that did not allow me to experience a lot of growth. You cannot let the fear of failure hold you back from trying new things within your career.
Failing is an important part of a successful freelance writing career. As noted above, if you are not failing from time to time, you are not taking enough chances.
If you are interested in breaking into other ways of making money online (outside of freelance writing) you should consider learning about the keywords that pay the most. In turn, this will allow you to create niche blogs or sites around these topics. Although this information can be hard to come by if you are searching on your own, there are tools that you can use to your advantage.
Most recently, I checked out the list of “999 High Paying Keywords” at peomedia.com. Although you have to subscribe to the blog’s feed in order to receive this list, most agree that it is well worth the time. To go along with this, you will also receive other freebies such as a case study on how to earn big time money with Google AdSense.
Out of the 999 keywords on the list, chances are that you can find a few that pertain to a blog or site that you already manage. While you may not be able to incorporate all of the highest paying keywords into your blog’s content, finding a few is more than possible.
All in all, anytime that you can get information like this for free, you might as well move forward. I have yet to use most of the keyword lists that I have compiled over the past few months, but you never know when they will come in handy.
Who all is working today? Even though it is Memorial Day, I am sure that some of my fellow freelance writers are sitting at their computer getting some work done. Personally, I am going to work a few hours today just so I am not too far behind when tomorrow comes around.
I always find it difficult to take a day off; even if it is a holiday and most of my clients are not in the office. For me, this is a great time to get ahead and hopefully catch up on some secondary tasks that have been lingering on my to-do list for entirely too long. With that being said, it is always a good idea to take off some time during the holidays. After all, Memorial Day is a great holiday because it is warm outside, at least where I live, and friends and family are having cookouts, etc.
If you are working today, good for you. But before you think about putting in a full eight hours, you may want to step away from your computer and have some fun. After all, holidays are few and far between during the summer months. You might as well take advantage of them while you can!
No matter the situation, I have always been an organized person. This has worked out well, because as a freelance writer, organization is essential. When it comes down to it, the more organized you are the more efficient you are going to become. This means that you will be able to complete more work, and of course, cut back on the headaches and stress that go along with clutter.
How do you organize your freelance writing business? I do this both electronically and on paper. For instance, all of my invoices and payment data is kept on my computer. This allows me to find what I am looking for, and also make changes and updates quickly and accurately. At the same time, I keep a lot of these same records in a filing cabinet as well. I print out all of my PayPal invoices and always make sure that I file bank statements and other important documents.
As far as my day to day work is concerned, I stay organized by keeping a sticky note next to my keyboard. On this note, I include a list of projects that need to be completed on that day, as well as some tasks that I would like to get to if possible. During my first few months as a freelance writer, I kept track of my projects via email. Soon enough I had too much work to continue with this method, so I began to write down everything to ensure that nothing gets missed.
If you are not an organized person by nature, you need to make sure that your freelance writing career is an exception. It may not seem like a big deal, but as your business grows, staying organized is a key component to your success.
As you probably know, the majority of communicating within your freelance writing career is done via email. This is the case for 99 percent of freelance writers, and will be for the foreseeable future. With that in mind, cold emailing is one of the best ways to find new clients. Personally, this is not a method that I employ on a regular basis. That being said, the few times that I have tried it has worked out quite well.
The three tips below should help you to increase your chance of landing a job through the use of cold emailing:
1. It is essential that you do not become known as a spammer. If this happens, you are going to get a very bad reputation which could lead to a downturn in business as well as people within the industry talking poorly about you. The best way to avoid this is to personalize every email. In other words, do not send out mass emails addressed to “whom it may concern.” Instead, start each email by greeting the recipient. To go along with this, you will also want to add a personalized message. For instance, you could use, “I recently came across your blog, sportsxyz.com, and noticed that you employ freelance writers. With my experience in the sports industry, both on a local and national level, I feel that I may be able to assist you in this area.” With a personalized message like this, you have a much better chance of success while not being pegged a spammer.
2. With a cold email, you need to be short and to the point. Remember, the recipient is not expecting your email so they may not spend a lot of time reading a long “sales pitch.” Instead, you should include the basic information such as who you are and what benefits you can offer them. When it comes down to it, a long email is going to get skimmed and deleted more times than not.
3. Keep track of the emails that you send out. One of the biggest mistakes that freelance writers make in this area is sending repeat emails. When you do this, you are not only annoying the recipient but you are also wasting your time. You can easily keep track of your emails by setting up a spreadsheet with fields detailing the contact, the date of the email, and any response.
Sending cold emails is a great way to find freelance writing work. Remember to keep these three tips in mind; they will increase your chances of success.
As I have said time and time again, making cold calls is one of the best ways to increase your freelance writing workload. Of course, many writers think that this is a bad idea because they would rather write and not act as a salesman. While I can agree with this to a certain point, you need to look at cold calling as a marketing technique. In other words, when you cold call you are attempting to drum up new business. Sure, you are trying to sell yourself, but at the same time this is a great way to market your services and spread your name throughout many industries.
If you have yet to look into cold calling but want to move forward soon enough, the tips below should be able to help you get started:
1. Make a list of companies that you want to cold call before you get started. This way you can move from one to the next without having to waste time finding companies and contact information between calls. By doing this, you will be able to get 10 or more cold calls done in an hour or less. Of course, you may end up spending a lot of time on the phone if you locate a few companies who are interested in what you have to offer.
2. You want to get in touch with the decision maker on the first call. In most cases, you will have to go through at least one person, usually a secretary, before you have the chance to speak with the person who can actually hire you. Although this can take some time and creativity, it is very important. Unless you speak with the decision maker, you have no chance of actually getting hired.
In many cases you will not know who is in charge of hiring freelancers. When you run into this situation, a receptionist or secretary can be your best friend. Tell them who you are, and what you are trying to accomplish. Although not always the case, the majority of receptionists will at least put you through to the appropriate party’s voicemail.
3. When you get the decision maker on the phone, be ready with your pitch. You should quickly tell them who you are and what you are selling. For instance, “My name is Chris and I am a local freelance writer. I wanted to touch base with your company to see if you hire freelancers in any capacity.” This is short and sweet, and will put the ball in their court.
With these three tips, making cold calls for your freelance writing career should no longer seem intimidating. Instead, you should be confident that this is a great way to find new work.
You do not need a long, comprehensive resume in order to become a freelance writer. Unfortunately, many aspiring writers never follow their dream because they think they don’t have the necessary background. The fact of the matter is that you do not need a long resume in order to get started. Even though I studied journalism in college, my resume was not full of tons of relevant experience when I decided to look into freelance writing.
Here are three details that prospective clients consider important. They may look at your resume as well, but if you can perform in these areas, you will be in a good position to succeed.
1. Even if you do not have formal writing experience, your past work experiences can put you in a good position to succeed as a freelance writer. For example, I worked in the background check industry for a couple of years before becoming a writer. With this experience in tow, I began to contact publications catering to human resource professionals. Soon enough, I was landing feature article assignments because these editors were interested in my past industry experience. Believe it or not, many of them never asked to see writing samples.
2. There is no denying that some clients may ask for work samples. But guess what? In many cases you will be able to get away with sending them anything. This can include an article that you wrote for a college newspaper, or a sales letter that you put together at your last day job. Generally speaking, prospective clients just want to make sure that you have a good grasp on the English language. If you can prove this through one sample, that may be all that you need. In other words, a long resume is not the end all.
3. If you are a good sales person, you may be able to talk your way into a job. In other words, once you get a prospective client on the phone, you can talk yourself up until you get what you want. Of course, you need to be careful when doing this. You do not want to annoy a potential client, or come off as a used car salesman. If you talk a good game, you may want to use this skill to obtain work. Just remember, you are going to have to perform for the client sooner rather than later.
As you can see, having an impressive resume is not the only way to break into the freelance writing industry. Try the three tips above when attempting to land freelance writing jobs.
