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.
Running a one man show of any type means that you have to wear more than one hat. As a freelance writer, my main job is to write pretty much whatever my clients want; and I really love this part of the job. But of course, another hat that I have to wear is that of a collection agency. After all, there is no point in doing work if I am not going to get paid for it. Sure, I love writing, but I need to pay the bills as well.
Collecting freelance writing payments is sometimes easy and sometimes difficult. For instance, the majority of my clients are great about either paying me at the same time each month, or whenever I send them an invoice. But for all the good freelance writing clients, there are those that slack off in this area. I will send them an invoice, and two weeks later the money is still waiting to be collected.
Here are three tips that I follow when collecting payments from clients who like to slack off.
1. Always send an invoice when you send the completed work. This will not only show that the job is done, but hopefully, it will also remind the client that they need to send your money. Your invoice does not have to be complex. I include my contact information and the clients, as well as details on the job and how much money is due. Once you have a sample invoice to use, it will only take you a few minutes to fill in the appropriate fields with the updated information.
2. I usually give a client five business days before I remind them about paying the invoice. Of course, this is based largely on my past experiences with the client. If it is a business client, many of them only cut checks at the first of the month. In a situation like this I simply wait seven to ten days into the month before checking in.
3. Unfortunately, there are going to be clients who never want to pay. The first client that I ever had still owes me $500! Once I began to make more money I told them that I was moving on, but would be glad to complete the current project. Of course, I sent the final work and that was the last I heard from them. The moral of this story is that you should not let one bad seed spoil all your clients. There are some people who are into scamming others. Sure, it is nice to avoid them, but this is not always possible. If you get scammed, figure out what you could have done differently, and then use this information as you move on.
Collecting freelance writing payments can be a pain in the neck. But when the money starts to roll in, it is always nice to watch it add up!  Â
Just like any other business, as a freelance writer there are some clients that are good and some that are bad. For me, good clients are much more than those that pay a lot of money. They are also the ones that clearly communicate their goals, pay on time, and work with mutually agreed upon terms.
Breaking away from a difficult freelance writing client is never easy to do. There are two main reasons that this can be difficult. First off, breaking away means that you may upset the client. In turn, a battle of words could ensue, and your professionalism could be compromised. Another reason that makes this hard is that you may not want to give up a client because you do not have enough work. This is reasonable enough, but you should know that bad clients are not worth your time in the long run.
When you decide to sever ties with a freelance writing client you need to do so professionally. I have done this several times in the past, and each situation turned out differently. Most recently, I had to tell a fledgling magazine that I could no longer work for them. While I enjoyed the topic I was writing about each month, they were not paying on time due to financial issues on their end. I explained this as nicely as possible in an email, and the editor responded cordially. When the client knows that they are in the wrong it is always easier to breakaway.
On the other hand, a few months back I stopped working for a client and several crude emails were thrown my way. My reason for ending the work was simple: the client would change his mind halfway through a job, and then want me to redo the work for no additional charge. While I do not mind revisions, a total change of topic after I have started is not doable. The client thought that I should honor his request because I was not yet finished with the work. Of course, he had no idea how much time I put into the job in the first place. In the end relations were severed, but I was left with lost time and no money to show for it.
As you can see, sometimes breaking away from a freelance writing client is easy, but other times you will be up against some resistance. But no matter what, make sure that you stay professional.Â
