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Step 1
Don’t burn yourself out. It’s cool that you’re excited about being a freelance writer, but working 20 hour days won’t lead to financial freedom. Let’s be realistic here, after a few days of working 20 hours and getting only 2 hours of sleep your body is going to catch up with you. And don’t think overloading on coffee is going to save you, because it’s not. The caffeine will catch up with you, the long hours will catch up with you and your spouse who is feeling ignored and unloved will eventually find a time to get in your face and lash out. Do yourself and your family a favor, don’t work more than 12 hours per day.
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Step 2
Diversify your income streams. If you have a talk with any successful freelance writers, the very best advice they will give you is to diversify your income streams. As a freelance writer you have an advantage that not many other careers are granted. You can earn residual income. See this article you’re reading right now? Yeah, I was paid to write it. I didn’t receive upfront payment, but I get paid on a recurrent basis from eHow based on an undisclosed formula. Hey, we’d all like a little clarification, but as long as I get paid, I don’t have a problem. Consider writing for revenue share sites such as eHow, Bukisa and Info Barrel. Wouldn’t it be great to have an extra $500 coming in each month without actually having to do anything for it after the initial conception of the article? Yep, it’s pretty sweet.
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Step 3
Track down clients. You can’t be shy if you want to be a freelance writer. In fact, shyness will almost guarantee that your freelance writing career will remain in neutral forever. Get out there and mingle. Bring some business cards wherever you go. Cold call businesses and tell them why they need your services. Cold email bloggers and let them know that you’ll make their life easier by creating their web content. Contact online businesses who have terrible product descriptions and offer to rewrite it for them for a fair fee. As a freelance writer, the possibilities for clients are endless. Anyone who has a brick and mortar business needs marketing collateral and anyone with an e-commerce business needs web content. Become their freelance writer of choice by getting in their face. If you get rejected, move on. You’ll get more rejections than you will paying customers anyways. Quantity is king in marketing.
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Step 4
Raise your rates. Are you charging $10 for a 500 word article? If you are, stop. It’s just bad business. If you are a prolific writer why would you go dishing out valuable content for the price of a meal at McDonalds? Raise your rates immediately. While it is true that nowadays freelance writers are a dime a dozen, prolific freelance writers are diamonds in the rough. Evaluate what you bring to the table and if it’s worth more than $10 raise your rates. If it’s not, get out of this business. You won’t make it as a freelance writer by undervaluing your work.
Comments
starlet67 said
on 6/30/2009 very helpful tips for freelance writers!5*
charmbaker said
on 6/23/2009 Nice work. Thanks for the tips on Bukisa and Info Barrel. I hadn't heard of them before. I'll check them out. Constant Content is a good choice too. Some folks don't like them because they are sticklers for well polished writing, but you get paid really decent, so that makes it worthwhile (Take a peek at the e-How article I wrote on it when you get a minute). You're right about devaluing our precious writing. You know when you've done an exceptional job. You SHOULD get paid correctly for it! Thanks again.
Summersile said
on 6/22/2009 Good tips. I appreciate your candor.
bailey4 said
on 6/15/2009 Great writing tips. 5*