Three of the Most Common Freelance Writing Questions
Showing my monthly income totals has brought many questions from readers. After all, there are many people out there who hope to succeed in the world of freelance writing; and I don’t blame them. This is a great way to make a solid income from the comfort of your own home.
Of course, a lot of the emails I receive are alike. In other words, readers seem to want to know the same things about my freelance writing career.
Here are three of the most common questions that I am asked on a regular basis.
1. How did you decide to get started with a career in freelance writing?
This is a tough question to say the least. I had been working in sales and marketing for a couple of years, and pretty much got tired of making money for the company. After saving up a few months worth of living expenses, I finally decided to take the plunge. Remember, it is going to be scary moving from a steady paycheck to an unsure situation. But the reward that follows the risk can be huge!
2. What are some of the biggest mistakes you made early in your career?
For me, there are two things that come to mind. First off, I burnt myself out trying to work too many hours a day. Yes, you need to work hard in order to get your freelance writing career up and running, but you have to draw the line somewhere. I was working 14 hour days without any breaks most of the time. In time, this led to complete and total burn out.
The second mistake that comes to mind was not following up with clients after the first project. I was of the thinking that if a client needed more work they would ask. While this was true in some cases, I am sure that I missed out on some jobs because I did not follow up in a timely manner.
3. How long did it take you to start making big money?
I earned $52 my first month as a full-time freelance writer. As you can imagine, this was a bit scary. But from there, things started to pick up. The next month I made over $800, and by month three I had eclipsed $2,000. Shortly thereafter I was earning a consistent $3,000 income, which was more than enough to cover my bills at the time. From there, I worked hard to increase my income until it reached at least $4,500 per month. For me, this is a solid income, and one that allows me to live comfortably. Of course, there are those big months when I take home close to $10,000; those are the months that I live for!
If you have any other questions, feel free to leave a comment or send an email.
September 27th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
One quick question why dont you build a website where you will be offering your writing services, and in the future when you will have lots of projects, and you wont be able to handle them all, hire people, and starting out a really cool content writing company?
PS I really like your blog ;).
September 27th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
I have a few questions if you don’t mind, please:
First, many successful writers say the majority of their income comes from copywriting more than it does article writing, blog writing and writing for the web. My question for you: Is this the same for you? Also, what writing services do you offer (e.g., article writing, resume writing, brochure writing, etc.)?
Finally, you said you now follow up with your clients… could you share a sample of a follow up letter with us?
Thank you in advance. Keep up the great blogging and advice.
September 28th, 2007 at 2:04 am
“…starting out a really cool content writing company?”
Not as easy to do as it sounds. In the past, I’ve tried to develop a pool of freelance writers that I can turn to for various projects, as well as to work on projects for my own clients. But, there seems to be a high turnover rate. Good freelancers will either end up too busy to handle more projects or they’ll take a full-time position somewhere, etc. And, the less good freelancers don’t typically stay in business long.
It can easily become something that’s too much to manage. For someone that enjoys writing, it would be best to stick with that. Developing a content writing company would require switching from writing to managing other writers. It’s difficult to do both!
September 28th, 2007 at 11:25 am
These are all great comments!
BlogsTheme - I am definitely working on upgrading all of my freelance writing related sites. You are dead on with this!
Misti - I would say that my copywriting to article writing ratio is just about even at this point in time. But you are def. right in thinking that copywriting often times pays more. Also, let me get something together in the form of a follow up email.
dcr - I agree that working with others can be tricky at times. Not only can they disappear on you, but you have to trust that they are doing what you ask…
September 28th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
WOW you have been rewarded for your hard work and we all wish you to make more
October 1st, 2007 at 1:00 am
Chris,
Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions; I appreciate it. Can’t wait for the sample.