Problems that Aspiring Freelance Writers Face
Are you an aspiring freelance writer? Are you excited about getting your career up and running? The start-up phase is one of the most exciting for a freelance writer. Even if you are new to the industry, you are sure to have a fun time learning the ins and outs of landing clients, making money, etc. But while you are having a good time, you are also going to face a few problems that may make you second guess yourself. The most important thing to remember is that every freelance writer runs into issues. You will not be the first or last.
Here are a few problems that you should expect to face if you are new to the world of freelance writing:
1. Clients that give you the runaround. There are tons of good clients out there, but there will always be some that are not hiring freelance writers for the right reason. Even if you do your homework on every client you are bound to run into a few that will not be easy to work with.
2. Low paying gigs. Not every freelance writing project pays a lot of money. You have to do decide where your “basement†is, and then stick to your guns when accepting projects. There are clients who will want you to work for peanuts. It is your job to decide where to draw the line.
3. Not having enough time. This is a good problem to have. As you grow your career you will find yourself landing more and more jobs. Soon enough you will probably be faced with more work than you can handle. This is when you need to use time management to your advantage, while also being more selective about who you work with. This is a difficult but good problem to face.
Every freelance writer faces the above problems at some point in their career. Chances are that you will do the same.
July 28th, 2009 at 10:09 am
These are the least of the problems you will face! I have been a full-time freelancer and sole support of my family for 28 years. Some keywords:
Exposure–people ask you to work for free because you can become “known” on their exalted websites. Won’t happen. Don’t fall for it.
Citizen journalist–ah, now you’re a journalist. The citizen part means unpaid. See also: Crowd sourcing.
Isolation. You are alone a lot. Get used to it. This is esp pronounced if you lose all your Dem friends because you do not care for or trust the president.
Marketing. When you have the most work, you get used to the most money–so need to do the most ongoing marketing to fill up the pipeline, even though you are busy with the most work you ever had. See also: irony.
Collecting. Oh, people hate to get off that check. Believe it.
Researching. If you are dealing with professors and academics, sometimes they hate reporters and often they have long-standing beefs with each other. Fun to get in the middle. You’ll see.
Blogs. These don’t pay even at professional blog companies. Other companies may hire you to do theirs, but quickly become bored with having a blog and drop it. They are nice to have on your own hook–you can send prospects there if they are not too snarky.
Social networking. You can spend a lot of time this way.
Five dollars–this is a burger, not an article fee.
July 28th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Star – Thanks for adding to the list. There are always going to be potential problems lurking. But this is the case in all careers, right?
I have to whole-heartedly disagree with your comment about getting paid to blog for companies. I have found this to be quite lucrative, and have been working with some companies in this capacity for more than three years.
Again, thanks for your comment. This is a big help!