There have been a lot of factors that have contributed to my freelance writing success. In many cases, it was the small details that have helped me to succeed along the way. Too many aspiring freelance writers get caught up in the large details that are on the surface, and in turn forget about the minor tasks that need to be taken care of in an efficient manner.
Here are five rarely thought of freelance writing tips. They are sure to help no matter what stage of your career you may be in.
1. First and foremost, you do NOT have to be a great writer in order to succeed in this business. Believe it or not, I do not think of myself as a great writer. Do I have solid writing skills? Of course. But this does not mean that I am better than everybody else. As long as you have a good command of the English language and can follow what your clients want, you should be just fine.
2. Your marketing skills are almost as important as your writing skills. Even if you are a great writer, nobody will know that you exist unless you also learn how to market yourself. Take the time to try out different marketing techniques ranging from starting your own service related website to cold calling.
3. Hard work will pay off when it comes to freelance writing. How bad do you want to start a career in this field? For me, failing as a freelance writer was never an option. I had no other job at the time of starting, and I needed the money to pay the bills. If you have a sense of desperation, you will be able to turn your freelance writing career into a successful one.
4. Do not worry too much about money during the early days of your freelance writing career. Does this mean that you should work for less than what you are worth? Maybe, maybe not. But when it comes down to it, you need to start somewhere; and for many, this is with low paying jobs. My first jobs only paid a dollar or so per article. I would never work for that rate now, but back then I was glad to have money coming in.
5. Guess what? Freelance writing can get boring. Even if you love writing, as I do, from time to time you are going to hit a wall. When this happens, it is always nice to have another project to work on. And that is why I have started several blogs over the past year or so. A blog combines what I like about freelance writing with other business related aspects.
Can you put these tips to good use? If you are a freelance writer, your answer should be yes. When it comes to freelance writing, the big things do not always mean the most.
One of the biggest issues of a career in freelance writing is finding new jobs. Not only can this be difficult due to the competition, but many of the leads that are floating around are “dead.†What is a dead freelance writing lead, you may ask?
I categorize a dead lead as one that has been posted for several days, and really offers no hope of converting into a job. Even though you may still want to apply for a job a few days after going live, your chance of getting a response is quite low. The reason for this is that most freelance writing job posters get bombarded with emails within minutes of adding their job to a popular website such as Craigslist or Freelancewriting.com. In the past I have posted smaller jobs on these sites, and over the course of two to three days received more than 50 emails. As you can imagine, the pool for the hiring party to choose from is quite great. This is why I say that a lead is as good as dead after a couple days.
Unfortunately, there are some leads that start out dead because the person posting the job has no intention on hiring anybody. If you visit a bidding site such as GetAFreelancer, you will see this time and time again. One of the oldest tricks in the book is for somebody to ask for a sample on the topic that they are going to “hire†you to write about. This allows them to get samples from several writers, in many cases 10 or more, and then never hire anybody. In turn they can collect a large number of unique articles without having to pay for them. And since every freelance writer is trying to win the job, the quality of the samples are usually good. There is nothing wrong with sending a past sample, but writing one just to have a chance at a job is a bad idea. More times than not, those asking for these types of samples are trying to get articles for free.
There are a lot of dead freelance writing leads floating around the internet. But remember, this does not mean that all leads are a waste of time. As you become more comfortable as a freelance writer, you will be able to quickly determine which leads to follow up on and which leads to ignore.
When thinking about becoming a freelance writer, most people are worried about making enough money. But did you ever stop to think that working at home as a freelance writer will save you money as well? When it comes down to it, you could save hundreds or maybe even thousands of dollars per month.
Here are three ways that you can save money by becoming a home based freelance writer.
1. When you work in an office, there is a good chance that you will spend money on lunch, day in and day out. This is something that I used to do, and it proved to be costly. Everyday, I would spend an average of $4-5 at McDonalds or another fast food joint. If you multiply this by an average of 20 workdays a month, I was spending just about $100. And guess what? Some people spend even more, and others add breakfast into the equation as well. When you work at home, it is safe to say that you will not be running out to grab fast food everyday at lunch. After all, what’s wrong with the leftovers in the refrigerator?
2. Gas prices are high, and unfortunately it does not appear that they are falling. For me, this used to be a killer thanks to a 50 mile round trip commute to the office. Before I was a home based freelance writer I was filling up my gas tank at least once per week for just about $50. Now, I usually fill up once per month. This works out to a savings of approximately $150.
3. Do you know how expensive daycare is? I have yet to have to pay this bill, but in the future this may change. After a bit of research in my area, it appears that daycare for one child is around $700-900 per month. Even though it may be difficult to work at home and take care of a child, it is probably worth the savings. Since I don’t have kids, that is only my opinion, but saving that kind of money sounds like a great idea to me!
Based on the three expenses above, becoming a home based freelance writer could save you on average $1,050/month. Over the course of a year, that works out to $12,600!
As you can see, even if you do not make as much money freelance writing as you do with your current job, the savings may cancel out these lost earnings in the end.Â
