What traits do you need to become successful in the field of freelance writing? I can’t tell you how many times I get asked that question every week. Although it is a valid question, it is tough to answer because there is no right answer. There are some freelance writers who excel despite the fact that they never follow any of the “standard†thoughts that have been generically outlined.
With that in mind, I wanted to share three basic traits of work at home freelance writers. You do not necessarily need to have these traits to be a success, but you might as well put them into effect. In other words, having these traits can only help you; they will never harm your chances of success.
1. You need to be comfortable working at home by yourself. Remember, work at home freelance writers do not have any supervision, or other employees to gossip with during breaks. Simply put, if you do not enjoy being a loner during the workday, you may struggle to start and sustain a successful freelance writing career.
2. Are you money motivated? Anybody who is self-employed, especially freelance writers, need to be motivated by money. You only get paid when you work hard, secure new clients, and turn out quality work. If you are not motivated by the money at the end of the rainbow, you will probably be better suited with a job that offers a guaranteed, steady paycheck.
3. You don’t like to be supervised or supervise others. This goes along with number one, but puts more credence on the latter half of the statement. In many cases in the corporate world, you will have a supervisor while also being the boss of others yourself. Simply put, some people do not like telling other employees what to do; they are not comfortable with this. When you are a work at home freelance writer you answer to yourself, and are never forced to supervise others.
Are these traits general? Sure are! But even then, you need to keep them in mind. If you do not like one of the three points above, there is a chance that you will not be able to sustain a long freelance writing career. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule; these traits are just a jumping off point!
In terms of income and advancing my career, 2007 was quite good to me. Of course, there is always room for improvement. Even though my freelance writing income was solid and steady for all 12 months of this year, I am hoping to take things to the next level in 2008. I plan on doing this in three ways:
1. Although I am happy with the progression of freelance writing career, I want to turn things up a bit. I plan on doing this by sending out at least 3-5 query letters per week. To go along with, I am also going to contact several businesses every week to attempt to sell my services. Simply put, the more contacts I make the more income I will earn.
2. I love writing, but am also interested in breaking into other areas of business as well. To get this started, I will be doing business under a new name effective January 1, 2008. I decided to start my own company as a way of expanding my offerings, and of course to keep things legal and safe.
3. Forming partnerships is a great way to increase business. I have done this extensively during the past few months of 2007, and plan on continuing this well into next year. By setting up partnerships I will be able to obtain new work without always having to do all of the marketing on my own.
At this time, there is nothing I would change about my freelance writing career. But with that being said, I want to expand into other ventures, increase my monthly income, and begin to move my new business forward.
What goals have you set for 2008? If you have yet to do this, get started right away. In my opinion, having goals will help you to stay on track from day one the new year!
Over the past few weeks I have been asked several times why I never moved forward with making my “new design†live. While I have mentioned a few of the issues in past posts, I wanted to get into more depth as to help everybody else avoid the problems that I had to deal with.
First things first, let’s take a close look at why I decided to keep the current design for the time being.
1. The new design was not compatible with Internet Explorer. Although a lot of people are switching to Firefox, this is not the case across the board. Obviously, if you cannot view the blog properly with IE, it is a huge problem.
2. The search button and RSS button were not working as they should. While this is probably a simple fix, for somebody like myself with no technical skills, it would have taken quite some time.
3. Perhaps most importantly, it was not widget compatible. During my initial consultation with the designer this was the detail that I stressed the most. For me, it is essential to be able to drag widgets and quickly add information to the sidebar when necessary.
Why didn’t you tell your designer what you needed? Well, this exactly what I did after noticing the problems the day that I made the site live. The designer was accommodating at first, and even left a comment on a post stating:
“we’re the designers for Chris’ new website design and we’re working on the new design edits for IE issues. We’ll have them all complete tomorrow afternoon/evening.â€
Thinking that everything would be fixed within a day at the most, I was not worried. Well, after a week or so of no contact, it was obvious that the designer decided to move on without taking care of the changes. Even when I would hear from him stating that the problems would get fixed, there would be several days of nothing to follow.
In my opinion, I made two mistakes during the hiring of this designer:
1. I paid for the entire job upfront. This was understandable because as a freelancer, I know that getting payment upfront is a good idea with new clients. But with that being said, sending 50 percent would have been a better idea.
2. I never asked for past work samples or references. Simply put, this is a huge mistake. When a new client approaches me they always ask for samples, and I am more than happy to provide them. This way, they can get an idea of my style and expertise. It is amazing that I didn’t do this, but sometimes a lapse in judgment occurs even when you are trying to avoid mistakes.
So what next? For now, I am going to stick with the current design. It may be one that others are using, but at the same time the blog is growing steadily. Last month was my biggest in terms of traffic and income, and RSS readership is nearing 100. With that being said, at the start of the new year I will be paying for a new design once again. The next time around I will follow my own advice so that I do not end up spending money with nothing to show for it!
