Freelance Writing: A Low Cost Career for everyone?
The best reason to get involved with freelance writing is because you enjoy writing and want to venture out on your own. But this is not the only reason that people look into this career path. Over the past few weeks I have come across many blog posts and articles stating that it is a good idea to become a freelance writer because of the low costs involved with getting started. While it is true that you can become a freelance writer without spending a lot of money, if this career is not something that excites you it will be difficult to achieve success.
I am not arguing that you can become a freelance writer on the cheap. In fact, you may be able to start your career by spending only a few dollars. If you already have a computer and internet connection you pretty much have what you need to get started. The only other expenses you may want to consider are office supplies, marketing material, and quite possibly your own website. But even then you can get all of this for less than $100.
The problem comes into play with people who decide to get into freelance writing solely because of the low cost of entry. Cost of getting started is an important factor, but far from the only one. You only want to get involved if you truly love writing, and of course, if you have the skills to offer clients what they are looking for. In other words, it would not be worth your time to look into this career if you don’t have any writing skills and have no desire to learn; even if you can get started for cheap.
All in all, you can become a freelance writer without spending a lot of money. To go along with this your regular expenses are not going to be that high either. Just make sure you want to become a freelance writer because you enjoy this line of work, not because you can get started without a large investment. Â
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:44 am
I would never tell someone not to freelance. While I’ve only been doing it for a short time, it’s been enjoyable and rewarding. However, I do wish that those thinking about freelance writing because it seems like an easy way to make money would reconsider. That makes it difficult for all of us trying to earn a decent living from our writing skills, especially in this economy.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:04 am
Whilse it may be a cheap buck to make, freelance writing is far from an easy one.
Few people startin up think of the time it takes bidding for new projects, networking with clients, researching articles etc, etc. All many see if the price per article and work how many words per minute they can type.
An action plan is needed; freelancing is a time sink at the start.
And thats assuming you have the writing skills needed!
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:05 am
And I managed a typo at the very first word of that comment, reminding me that you also have to account for time to check and edit articles!
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:54 am
Everyone seems to think if they didn’t do what they do, they could always become a writer or buy a bar. These are two darn hard things to do! We must be making it look too simple. I actually had someone ask me the other day was $2 average for an article? I said–what do YOU think? Do you want to do ANYTHING for $2?
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:58 am
Agree wholeheartedly with you on this one Chris!
Sure, the start-up is cheap (and easy compared to other business start-ups). What people forget is that there’s a lot of work involved in maintaining a reasonable income from it, and most importantly that writing is both an art and a skill. Telling people to get into freelance writing just because it’s cheap would be like telling people to get into designing websites for the same reason. You can either do it or you can’t. Slapping words into sentences doesn’t make you a writer that anyone wants to pay decent money to, anymore than being able to fingerpaint makes you a designer.
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:17 pm
[...] Over on chrisblogging Chris makes a very good point about people being advised to get into freelance writing as it is a very low cost model of start up. [...]
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Thanks for all the early feedback on this post. There is no doubt that becoming a freelancer of any type is full of benefits. That being said, as Jenn noted, you have to be skilled in order to achieve success.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Just because freelancing has low financial barriers to entry doesn’t mean that it isn’t an expensive proposition. The expense is time — the sheer number of hours a freelancer has to spend finding clients, doing the work and more.
Sure, a person can start right away and pick up some of those $2 per article gigs, but that approach guarantees that person won’t be making much money, even in the long run.
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:09 pm
I thought about doing freelance writing briefly, but quickly realized that I was only going to do it for the money and because I had a passion for writing. Depending on how resourceful you are, with a computer and internet connection, you can actually start a freelance business for less than $50.