Time after time I hear from people who say they are going to start a freelance writing career “any day now.†But guess what? I will hear from these same people months later telling me that they have yet to make any progress. Listen up: if you are ever going to be a successful freelance writer you need to take the leap and get started. Sure, there is risk involved and it can be scary, but in the long run you can never earn money unless you actually get started.
What are some of the main reasons for procrastinating? As mentioned above, many aspiring writers are afraid of what the future may hold. More specifically, they are afraid that they will fail and their dream of being a writer will die. If this is something that is holding you back, you need to find a way to forge ahead. Remember, there are going to be tough times and failures no matter what career path you choose. Just because you fail early on as a freelance writer does not mean that your entire career is doomed. In fact, there is something wrong if you are never running into obstacles.
If you constantly find yourself talking about becoming a freelance writer but never move forward, you have to ask yourself whether or not this is something that you really want. You may be excited about working for yourself in a field that you enjoy, but do you truly want to make the sacrifices and changes necessary to become a successful freelance writer? If you cannot confidently answer yes, you may not be cut out to become a writer at this time.
For those who truly want to work as a freelance writer, get started today. Decide that you are ready to make the leap, and begin to take the proper steps without delay. Remember, you do not have to move forward at a high rate of speed. As long as you are making progress towards your end goal, you will reach the pinnacle soon enough. You do not have to rush to become a freelance writer, but if you want to join this industry, you do need to get started.
So many aspiring freelance writers want to make big money that they forget to take care of the basics first. Before you can reach a high level of success, you need to make sure that you have put the proper building blocks in place. This may sound time consuming and boring, but in the long run it will help you to make the most of your career.
Here are three building blocks that you must put in place before attempting to advance your career:
1. Simply put, you need basic writing skills. This includes the ability to compose with flow and structure, as well as other details such as spelling and grammar. No, you do not have to be perfect in this area, but it will definitely help. Time after time I receive emails from aspiring writers asking me to read over their latest work. After the first line, it is obvious that they did not take this building block seriously.
2. To be a successful freelance writer, you need to have communication skills. Depending on your past experience, this is something that you may already have. Since I worked in sales before becoming a full-time freelance writer, I was already comfortable communicating with others via phone and email. To go along with this, my sales past makes it easy for me to cold call potential clients. Of course, you can develop your communication skills over time regardless of your past.
3. The way that you market your services will effect how much work you receive. This building block needs to be solid, and remember, it can and will change from time to time. When I first started working as a freelance writer, my marketing plan was not nearly as advanced as it is today. But guess what? The plan that I put in place during my first week on the job is one that I still fall back on every so often.
These three building blocks will give you the best possible chance of growing a successful freelance writing career. Before you jump ahead of yourself and begin to dream about hitting it big, make sure that you have these details lined up.
This is not the first time that I have addressed this question. But since I have received so many emails in the past week concerning low paying freelance writing jobs, I figured that it was time to revisit the topic.
Whether or not you accept low paying projects depends on many factors. In my opinion, if you are struggling to find work and are not insulted by working for lower wages, you should definitely move forward with this type of project. After all, it is better to build your skills and get paid, if only a little bit, than to sit around and hope that a big time project falls into your lap.
One thing that people always forget to include when emailing me this question is what they mean by “low paying.†A $5 per article job may seem like a joke if you live in the United States and rely on your freelance writing income to support yourself. But on the other side of the world, this could be considered an above average payment.
When pondering this question, make sure that you are being honest with yourself. In other words, make sure that you are not being unrealistic in how much money you want to earn. While it would be nice if I could earn $1/word on every project that I take on, this is far from realistic. I cannot expect to earn this much from everybody, and remember, not every client has a large budget.
If you spend time on any of the freelance writing message boards, you will have no problems finding a large influx of people who are against writing for low wages. While I agree with them to a certain extent, new writers need to break in where they can. As of I have said in the past, my first job was writing 400 to 500 word articles for $1 apiece. Was I crazy for doing this? Looking back, it is easy to say that I was not earning what I was worth. But at the time all I knew was that I had to get my foot in the door. That project gave me valuable samples which I used time after time to secure higher paying jobs.
Don’t let anybody influence whether or not you accept low paying jobs. Set a minimum that you are willing to work for, and then go from there. Soon enough you will have a solid grip on what the market can bear, and how much you are worth as a freelance writer.
