When it comes to my freelance writing career, I very rarely seek out the help of others. This is not to say that I can do everything on my own, but I am not the type to outsource my work. If I were to do this, I would be putting my good name on the line because clients believe that they are working directly with me. But on the other side of things, when it comes to blogging, hiring help is what I do. Since I am only good at writing content, I often times hire people to help with design work, coding, and much more.
At this time, ChrisBlogging is achieving more success than I thought it would. This success has not come in a monetary sense, but more in the way that I am helping aspiring freelance writers.
No matter what field you are working in, keep this in mind: do what you are good at, and hire somebody else to do the rest. Sure, you can attempt to learn on your own as well, but in order to keep things moving forward hiring help is always a good idea. I have read conflicting opinions on this, but I strongly believe in concentrating on your core competency and then getting help for everything else.
In many cases, you may even be able to trade your services with somebody else. In the past, I have written website copy for clients who have in turn designed a new website for me. This way, neither one of us has to pay in cash.
With my new theme on the way (hopefully within the next two days), there is one last thing that I need help with to take ChrisBlogging to the next level; that being search engine optimization. I am getting a decent amount of direct traffic each day, but my search engine numbers are lagging behind.
That leads me to this question: are there any SEO professionals out there? I would much rather work with a loyal reader than anybody else. If so, send me a quick email and we’ll chat.
In the meantime, keep doing what you do best; anything else you need help with can be outsourced.
Earlier today I made a post about freelance writing deadline do’s and don’ts. Shortly thereafter, I spoke with a past client about a rush job that they need help with. In this case, the word rush really meant rush. They wanted me to complete a batch of SEO articles for them by tomorrow night. As you can imagine, this means that I would have to work a lot of the day today, as well as some of tomorrow.
Should you take on weekend deadlines? In the case outlined above, I said yes. There are a couple of reasons that I did this. First off, I was able to negotiate a higher price since they wanted the work done on a rush, weekend basis. Additionally, they have been good to me in the past, so it will definitely work out to my advantage in the future.
When accepting a new project and discussing a deadline with a client, make sure that you are aware of the weekends. There is nothing worse than agreeing on a delivery date, and then finding out that it lies on a Saturday or Sunday. You may not have any problems with working the weekend, but this is not something that a lot of people like to do.
Although I had no plans on working long hours this weekend, you never know what will change when you are a freelance writer. In the end, it will be nice to receive the extra money!
As a freelance writer, it is important to learn how to deal with deadlines. After all, these deadlines will more or less tell you when you are going to work, as well as how much time you are going to have to put in. To many, having to deal with deadlines is too much like having a boss. But if you are going to get involved with freelance writing, this is something that you better get used to.
To make things easier, here are two do’s and two don’ts when it comes to freelance writing deadlines.
Do’s
1. Make sure that upon starting a new project that you get a firm answer on the deadline. If a client says that they are open to when you turn in the work that is fine. But even then, you want to at least get an idea of when you are going to be turning the work in. Open deadlines can often times lead to the project being put on the back burner for weeks on end. You would be much better off knowing when each client wants their work delivered.
2. Do write down all of your freelance writing deadlines. If you only have one or two projects this may not be necessary. But in a situation like mine, where I have five to ten deadlines at a time, it is important to write all of them down as a way of staying organized.
Don’ts
1. If you want to keep your good reputation, you can never miss a freelance writing deadline. There is no other way of saying this: never means never.
2. Do not agree to a deadline that you have no chance of meeting. Some freelance writers get so excited about landing a job that they will tell the client that they can have the work complete whenever they need it. Of course, this leads to either killing yourself to meet the deadline or missing it altogether.
Deadlines are what freelance writers live by. Use the two do’s and don’ts above to your advantage.Â
