In my opinion, there are a couple of reasons for this:

1. Lack of “traditional” jobs. Let’s face it: the job market is down and unemployment numbers are quite high. For this reason, more and more people are finding it difficult to land a position – even one that they are not 100 percent interested in.

2. Interested in flexibility and less stress. When you work for somebody else you are always under their thumb. From your hours to your pay and much more, you have to do what you are told – and sometimes that isn’t even enough to keep your job. Along with this, the stress that is placed on you can become unbearable at times. As a freelance writer, you have more flexibility since you are in charge (for the most part). Along with this, once you get on the right track your career probably won’t be as stressful.

On the surface, it may appear that a career as a freelance writer is all “fun and games.” Although this is a great path to follow, there is still a lot of work involved. Remember, running your own business is nothing like working for somebody else. Writing will only be part of your job. To go along with this, you will be in charge of everything from sales and marketing to collecting payments.

If you want to become a freelance writer – full or part-time – I encourage you to follow your dream. Just make sure you know what you are getting into before you take the leap.

Once you have a conversation with a potential client – via phone, email, or in person – you are in position to follow-up with a variation of this question: are you ready to move forward with this project?

At first, you may be intimidated and not want to ask for the sale. However, this will become second nature after you do so a few times.

Here are several tips that will make this easier on you:

1. Be confident at all times. The worst thing that could happen is the other party saying they need more time to think about it. In this case, you can wait a few weeks (approximately) to see if the person gets back to you. If they don’t, it is time for a follow-up.

2. Ask for the sale while explaining some of the benefits of moving forward immediately. For example, you could say: Are you ready to move forward with this project so that you have the material ready by the end of the week? In this case, you are doing two things: asking for the sale and adding another benefit. When adding a benefit, try to include something that will intrigue the client – this information should be based on your initial/past conversations.

3. Don’t come across as a used car salesman. The last thing you want to do is use high pressure tactics in an attempt to receive the contract on the spot. Hearing no does not mean the deal is dead – it just means the deal is being put off for now. You should respect this.

When you get into the habit of asking for the sale, the number of jobs that you close is sure to increase.

In the weeks to come, I plan on discussing some of these goals. Along with this, I will share my plan for reaching these goals and taking my freelance writing business to the next level in the new year.

In the meantime, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email if you need help preparing your goals – both short and long term. This is a crucial step at a crucial time of the year. You don’t want to let too much time pass by before you set goals and get on the road to reaching each and every one.

• Lack of money, due to the holiday season
• The inability to develop a business plan for the new year

Like last year, I wanted to do my part in helping. If you are interested in joining my freelance writing course, it will only set you back $50 for the first month. This is half-off the normal price.

Unfortunately, I cannot offer this deal to everybody. At this time, I only have three open slots. To move forward, send me a quick email. From there, we can get started. Not only will this save you money, but you will be in position to get off to a good start when 2012 finally arrives.

Merry Christmas!

Here are three year end financial tips for freelance writers:

1. Begin to gather all appropriate tax information for 2011. While your final return is not due until April, this will sneak up on you in no time at all. There is no better time than now to begin the planning process. If you work one step at a time, you will slowly but surely get together everything you need in order to file your return.

2. Look back at 2011. Did you reach your financial goals? Did you come up short on some of them?  It is important to review the past 12 months to ensure that you are moving in the right direction when January finally rolls around. This will put you in better position to focus on new goals while helping avoid issues that may have held you back during 2011.

3. Write down what you expect from yourself and your business in 2012. Are you attempting to reach a particular level of income? Are you looking to save more money? Every freelance writer has professional and financial goals. It is important to make note of these before the new year begins.

It is important to focus on growing your freelance writing career. Just make sure you keep at least one eye on your financial situation as well.

Last year, I had a record number of students join my freelance writing course during the months of November and December. The reason for this was simple: these people wanted to get off on the right foot when the new year finally came around.

At this time, there are three available spots. If you want to join me, as well as 20+ other students in working towards your goals in early 2012, contact me as soon as possible. As always, I don’t expect these openings to last much longer than a day – if that.

Even if you don’t come onboard, remember to start planning for 2012 today. It will be here before you know it!

Like every writer, I do my best to meet every deadline – no matter how tight it may be. However, there may come a time when you overlook a deadline for one reason or the next. If this happens, follow these three tips:

1. Contact the client as soon as possible, making them aware of your situation. Chances are that if you miss a deadline altogether that the client is going to follow-up with you. Regardless, it is important that you stay in touch with the client. You don’t want to give the impression that you are being lazy or putting them off.

2. Offer to get the work done as soon as possible. If you miss a deadline, you should push the project to the top of your to-do list.

3. Go above and beyond. For example, you may offer a discount on the completed piece. Or maybe you can offer to write another article for free. This is not something you want to do but it can go a long way in keeping the relationship in good standing.

No matter if you know you are going to miss a deadline or it has come and gone, the above tips can help you smooth things over.

As a freelancer, you need to get serious about the financial aspect of your endeavor. Many people make the mistake of “working for the fun of it” and hoping that money never gets in the way. Unfortunately, this is not how things work. Not only do you need to set income goals, but you must deal with every dollar that comes into and out of your business.

Early in my freelancing career I made many finance related mistakes. Fortunately, I learned from these errors and have been able to avoid repeating them.

Here are three financial tips for all new freelancers:

1. Hire an experienced accountant. Even if you are only earning a few thousand dollars a year, it is important that you deal with this income accordingly. The last thing you want to do is get in trouble with the IRS.

Note: your freelance business may not stay small forever. When it blows up, you will be glad that you have an experienced, knowledgeable accountant on your side.

2. Religiously track all income and expenses. From day one, this is one area of my business that never faltered. I am obsessed with organization and realized early on just how important it was to track every dollar coming in and going out.

Although there are many software solutions, both free and paid, that can help you track income and expenses, you can setup basic Excel spreadsheets to do the same.

This may not be the most exciting aspect of your freelance career, but it is something that is essential to your long term success.

3. Open a separate bank account for business purposes only. When your business is small it is easy to overlook the importance of this detail. After all, you only have a few checks coming in from time to time. As noted above, this is not going to be the case forever.

When you begin to earn more money you will need a separate bank account. Not only does this help with the tracking of income and expenses (tip #2) but it will help with formalizing (such as an LLC or S-corporation) your operations down the line.

Don’t be intimidated by all these details. Instead, make sure you are well informed and organized from day one.

Final tip: if you face any financial issues, don’t put them off until a later date. Doing so is not going to make them go away. Instead, the situation will get worse and you will be faced with an even bigger problem in the future.

As these members moved on, two new spots opened in my course. If you are interested in joining me (as well as approximately 20 other students), send a short email and I will get back to you right away.

With the new year closing in, I don’t expect these spots to stay open long. After all, everybody is setting career goals for 2012.

I am looking forward to working closely with a couple more of you in the near future!

There used to be a time when I worked seven days a week. Fortunately, this is no longer the case. Of course, I always find a few hours on the weekend to devote to growing my freelance writing career.

I prefer to use the weekend for less time consuming and detailed oriented tasks. Three of my favorite tasks include:

1. Marketing. From sending queries to researching new publications, it does not take a large block of time to complete a few marketing tasks. If you stay on the ball, you may be surprised at how much marketing work you can complete in one to two hours.

2. My freelance writing blog. Every day, weekday and weekend, I receive 5+ emails through this blog. From those wanting to start a career to advertising inquiries and everything in between, my inbox is always filling up. The weekend is a perfect time to catch-up on past emails while working on other areas of my blog such as new posts and design changes.

3. Networking. Why not send a few emails to other freelance writers? Why not jump on LinkedIn to connect with professionals in a variety of industries? Just because you work at home does not mean you should avoid the networking process. In fact, this is a big part of staying in touch with the “outside business world.”

No matter how much time you work on the weekends, taking on one of the above tasks is a great idea.