Every Freelance Writer needs this…
What is one thing that every freelance writer needs? While there are probably hundreds of answers to this question, one thing comes to my mind: patience. This may sound silly, but over my years in this industry I have found that patience is one trait that every successful freelance writer shares.
Why is patience so important? Here are three reasons why:
1. As a beginner, you will have to go through a trial and error process while growing your career. If you are not patient, there is a good chance that you will end up quitting when things get tough. It is not easy to be patient when everything you do seems to come out wrong, but you simply have to stay calm and keep moving forward.
2. Patience will help you get by when every query letter you send is getting rejected. No matter how talented you are, there will be times when you receive rejection after rejection. You have to be willing to put up with this until something breaks your way. Patience will help you to stay sane even when things are not going your way.
3. It takes time to build a freelance writing career. This holds true with any type of business that you may decide to start from scratch. Sure, some people begin to achieve high levels of success right off the bat; and if you end up being one of these people, good for you. But even if you do have success early on, you will still need to exercise patience as you wait for more clients to come your way, and for more money to make its way to your bank account. There is plenty of time to accomplish all of your goals if you stay patient, and don’t get too far ahead of yourself.
To be a successful freelance writer, you need to be extremely patient. Believe it or not, this is something that you will get better at as your career moves forward. As long as you hang tight and continue to move on, things will break your way and your level of patience will increase.
February 26th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Going hand-in-hand with patience is perseverance. Willing to “wait it out” is one thing, but taking a proactive role to overcome these obstacles is another altogether. Yes, when you first start out, freelance writing can be quite the struggling career, but if you just sit back and wait for it to develop (patience), it’s likely that you’ll get nothing. By contrast, if you proactively market yourself and build your portfolio, your business will probably grow in the long run (perseverance).
February 26th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Excellent advice — I stumbled the page just moments ago.
February 26th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Michael - Great point! There is a big difference between waiting and hoping, and waiting while making breaks for yourself!
Matt - Thanks for the Stumble!
February 26th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Great advice as always
Thank you!
February 27th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
You are so right about the patience. I’m trying to rebuild my freelance career after taking several months off for health reasons. I’m being proactive and searching the job boards, reaching out to clients, advertising, etc., but it still takes time for everything to come together.
I’m bad at waiting passively, so I’m using the down time to build up some links at Associated Content and to stengthen my blog. And slowly but surely, I think my career is heading in the right direction.
February 28th, 2008 at 6:20 am
[...] Chris Bibey over at chrisblogging.com has an article extolling the virtues of patience for the freelance writer. I feel that I’m being very patient at the moment, when I have so little to show for my efforts! It’s good to know that it’s a good thing for a freelancer. The article is Every Freelance Writer Needs Patience. [...]