Writing is fun when you’re writing your own blog or when you’re writing fiction. If you’re planning to start a career as a writer, bear this in mind….when writing becomes a job, it can get tough. But hear me out before you close this browser. Although it can be tough, being a freelance writer can be EVEN TOUGHER!
Sounds like I am trying to discourage your from earning a living as a freelance writer? Absolutely not. What I am trying to do is to encourage you to trudge on! Listen, nothing in this world is ever easy to begin with and everybody will always tell you to do what you like. Use your talent. Use your passion. This is the only way to make earning money fun.
It’s true, what they say.
Writing as a freelance writer is fun. But just like any other jobs, freelance writing can get…to you! After all, you’re writing for your clients, not for yourself anymore. This means that you don’t get to choose what you want to write about. Worse yet, you don’t get to write the way you want to write it because you’re ghost writing, which means that you’ll have to write like the client.
I’ll keep it simple by providing you 3 tips to freelance writing to get you going.
ONE, market and promote yourself. By writing this article, I am writing the way I want to write, marketing myself and writing about things that concern me….FOR ONCE! Remember, even though you write for a living as a freelancer, you are a marketer first. You’re a business owner and just like any other businesses, you need to market 24/7! How easy it is to forget to market yourself as a freelance writer once the projects start rolling in.
TWO, communicate. From MSN to Yahoo, from Googletalk to Skype, I think I’ve covered a fair bit of ground here. This is also what you should do. Freelance writing is often the kind of job that does not require you to get yourself stuck in the traffic jam. Communication, therefore, is limited to online methods which should make it easier for you and your client to communicate. During your working hours, it’s important to respond promptly and provide answers AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
THREE, delegate. Unlike many other types of freelance jobs, writing requires thinking. Therefore, admit that there’s only this much thinking you can do in one day! You have 24 hours, just like everyone else. When the projects roll in, you might feel enticed to grab everything within reach and say ‘yes’. Here’s what I reckon you should do. Grab the project and delegate to others! You won’t be earning as much as you possibly can but you have more time to write well and earn points from your current clients. What’s the point of grabbing every single writing project in sight knowing that you won’t be able to write all of them properly?
Marsha Maung is a freelance writer who has been feeding blogs and websites with top-notch content for close to a decade. She is a firm advocate of freelance writing (especially for parents who wishes to be a bigger part of their kids’ lives). After going through thick and thin with her family, today, she earns a stable income from her ‘unstable’ freelance writing, graphic designing and blogging ‘career’.
Tags: content writer, content writing, freelance writer, freelance writing, ghost writing
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