How to Become a Freelance Writer in 9 Easy Steps

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Written by ashleykornee   
Wednesday, 30 August 2017 03:27

 

Have you ever wondered how it would be like if you were a freelancer? Working from home sounds like a wonderful idea and it would give you some much-needed flexibility when it comes to working. While the idea of being a freelancer might sound great, it doesn’t come overnight, and many people fail to grasp the gravity of the concept. How does one become a freelance writer and start working from home in just a few easy steps?

1. Assess your skills

Just because they seem easy, that doesn’t mean they will be simple. Assessing your skills might just be the most difficult task when it comes to shaping your freelance writer’s career. What are the things you are good at and what do you feel like doing long-term? Do you know SEO, Microsoft Office, and basic formatting techniques?

These are only some of the questions you will have to ask yourself and put on paper before venturing into freelance waters. Be prepared for constant learning, because your clients will always ask for more than you gave them before. Freelance writers learn a lot of things during their careers, but the process is often stressful and overwhelming.

2. Create personal goals

No two people are alike. This means that you will have to shape your goals based on your current life situation. Do you have a primary income that you can rely on while you get a grasp of freelance writing? Do you have parents or a spouse that work day jobs and are willing to support you while you look for freelance work?

Try to assess your situation realistically and set your monthly and yearly goals based on income you are expecting from freelance writing. Some people use freelancing as a secondary source of revenue while others opt for full-time writing.

3. Your online profile

Your online avatar should provide the clients with all the information they need when they consider hiring you. Make sure that you are absolutely shining from ear to ear and that you give people an impression of a professional writer. People who look insecure, lacking in seriousness or reliability or just look plain suspicious will have a hard time landing jobs.

This is a basic logic that you can apply to everyday life – you wouldn’t approach someone who looks suspicious and unstable on the street, so why should your clients do otherwise? Take your time and share your profile so that you are at your best and you won’t have problems landing your first clients.

4. Choose a niche

The sooner you choose a niche, the sooner you can start specializing in a specific way of writing. This means that you will attract a very specific set of clients that need very specific content written. It’s a good idea to write a bit of everything in the beginning and see what suits you the most but you shouldn’t rely on that for too long.

Choosing a niche and being an expert writer in IT, HR, or marketing will give you a huge advantage over writers that can write anything and everything (with proper research). Visiting a professional writing platform such as translation services guide will give you a good idea about what kind of a niche you can specialize in. This will raise your price and make sure that you make far more money than you would otherwise.

5. Set up your payment methods

Many people go into freelance writing without thinking the whole process through. Many freelance platforms give you the option of linking your credit and prepaid cards to your online account. This means that you can always safely get paid online and take cash from your local ATM. Using dedicated prepaid cards for freelance writing is the best course of action because it doesn’t involve your local bank or currency, meaning that you can safely get paid and use the card without worrying.

6. Don’t be picky

Starting any kind of new job is difficult, and it goes twice as much for freelancing. People are just not secure enough to trust someone who doesn’t have a single piece of content or feedback on their profiles yet. Fighting through your baby steps will be tiresome and you will sometimes feel like giving up – it’s only natural.

Don’t be picky about your first jobs and write whatever and for whomever, you can. Worst case scenario, you will learn a valuable lesson about what kind of clients you want to work with in the future and who to avoid.

7. Be smart and respectful

While it may seem contradictory, being smart about your clients is just as important. There will always be people who want to exploit you and use you for their content writing at low prices. Try visiting a couple of forums and platforms for freelance writing to see what kind of prices are standard for different types of content. Don’t accept anything you are offered blindly without thinking twice about it.

Once you do accept a job offer, be a professional. Let your client know exactly who you are by using proper grammar and vocabulary that feels appropriate for the client at hand. This will result in a healthy relationship and positive feedback at the end of your cooperation. Again, there will be people who just seem off and don’t look like professionals at all – try to keep your cool and steer clear of clients that might just use you or ruin your reputation.

8. Time management

Freelance writers rarely have the luxury of choosing their own free time or vacations. This is an illusion that you have to overcome as soon as possible because time management will become your best friend as soon as you start writing. Freelancers around the world try to balance their private lives and freelance work and often they succeed.

The problem is that most freelancers work from home and this creates problems in which they can’t separate work from leisure. Try to set specific times of day that you will dedicate to work and try sticking to those plans. Developing a schedule in your head will be difficult at first but you will get used to it over time. Whatever the case may be, it is definitely better than having a strictly set day job that you have to drive to and from every day.

10. Patience and persistence

There will be times when you will feel like giving up and wondering why you are bothering in the first place. Bad clients, missed deadlines and payments or wrong briefings will always happen from time to time. Being patient and persistent when things go south is what separates average freelance writers from those that make a very decent living.

Don’t be afraid to take a break for a couple of days when you think you have had enough but don’t overstay your leave. Try to remember why you started writing in the first place and think of all the things you managed to pay and buy using your freelance revenue. This is often what drives people to continue writing, even past the point of where it feels new and exciting because just like any other job, freelance writing becomes boring from time to time.

Conclusion

There are many factors that play into being a successful freelance writer and being able to call yourself one. Give it some time and explore the possibilities of being a freelancer. You will eventually figure out if a freelancer’s life is something you would like to maintain and be proud of.

Going back to a day job doesn’t mean you failed or gave up, it just means that freelance work just wasn’t the right thing for you and that’s completely understandable. Just make sure you don’t give up before you give it a proper chance.

 

How to Become a Freelance Writer in 9 Easy Steps

Have you ever wondered how it would be like if you were a freelancer? Working from home sounds like a wonderful idea and it would give you some much-needed flexibility when it comes to working. While the idea of being a freelancer might sound great, it doesn’t come overnight, and many people fail to grasp the gravity of the concept. How does one become a freelance writer and start working from home in just a few easy steps?

1.             Asses your skills

Just because they seem easy, that doesn’t mean they will be simple. Assessing your skills might just be the most difficult task when it comes to shaping your freelance writer’s career. What are the things you are good at and what do you feel like doing long-term? Do you know SEO, Microsoft Office, and basic formatting techniques?

These are only some of the questions you will have to ask yourself and put on paper before venturing into freelance waters. Be prepared for constant learning, because your clients will always ask for more than you gave them before. Freelance writers learn a lot of things during their careers, but the process is often stressful and overwhelming.

2.             Create personal goals

No two people are alike. This means that you will have to shape your goals based on your current life situation. Do you have a primary income that you can rely on while you get a grasp of freelance writing? Do you have parents or a spouse that work day jobs and are willing to support you while you look for freelance work?

Try to assess your situation realistically and set your monthly and yearly goals based on income you are expecting from freelance writing. Some people use freelancing as a secondary source of revenue while others opt for full-time writing.

3.             Your online profile

Your online avatar should provide the clients with all the information they need when they consider hiring you. Make sure that you are absolutely shining from ear to ear and that you give people an impression of a professional writer. People who look insecure, lacking in seriousness or reliability or just look plain suspicious will have a hard time landing jobs.

This is a basic logic that you can apply to everyday life – you wouldn’t approach someone who looks suspicious and unstable on the street, so why should your clients do otherwise? Take your time and share your profile so that you are at your best and you won’t have problems landing your first clients.

4.             Choose a niche

The sooner you choose a niche, the sooner you can start specializing in a specific way of writing. This means that you will attract a very specific set of clients that need very specific content written. It’s a good idea to write a bit of everything in the beginning and see what suits you the most but you shouldn’t rely on that for too long.

Choosing a niche and being an expert writer in IT, HR, or marketing will give you a huge advantage over writers that can write anything and everything (with proper research). Visiting a professional writing platform such as [OKdissertations.com](http://okdissertations.com/) will give you a good idea about what kind of a niche you can specialize in. This will raise your price and make sure that you make far more money than you would otherwise.

5.             Set up your payment methods

Many people go into freelance writing without thinking the whole process through. Many freelance platforms give you the option of linking your credit and prepaid cards to your online account. This means that you can always safely get paid online and take cash from your local ATM. Using dedicated prepaid cards for freelance writing is the best course of action because it doesn’t involve your local bank or currency, meaning that you can safely get paid and use the card without worrying.

6.             Don’t be picky

Starting any kind of new job is difficult, and it goes twice as much for freelancing. People are just not secure enough to trust someone who doesn’t have a single piece of content or feedback on their profiles yet. Fighting through your baby steps will be tiresome and you will sometimes feel like giving up – it’s only natural.

Don’t be picky about your first jobs and write whatever and for whomever, you can. Worst case scenario, you will learn a valuable lesson about what kind of clients you want to work with in the future and who to avoid.

7.             Be smart and respectful

While it may seem contradictory, being smart about your clients is just as important. There will always be people who want to exploit you and use you for their content writing at low prices. Try visiting a couple of forums and platforms for freelance writing to see what kind of prices are standard for different types of content. Don’t accept anything you are offered blindly without thinking twice about it.

Once you do accept a job offer, be a professional. Let your client know exactly who you are by using proper grammar and vocabulary that feels appropriate for the client at hand. This will result in a healthy relationship and positive feedback at the end of your cooperation. Again, there will be people who just seem off and don’t look like professionals at all – try to keep your cool and steer clear of clients that might just use you or ruin your reputation.

8.             Time management

Freelance writers rarely have the luxury of choosing their own free time or vacations. This is an illusion that you have to overcome as soon as possible because time management will become your best friend as soon as you start writing. Freelancers around the world try to balance their private lives and freelance work and often they succeed.

The problem is that most freelancers work from home and this creates problems in which they can’t separate work from leisure. Try to set specific times of day that you will dedicate to work and try sticking to those plans. Developing a schedule in your head will be difficult at first but you will get used to it over time. Whatever the case may be, it is definitely better than having a strictly set day job that you have to drive to and from every day.

9.             Patience and persistence

There will be times when you will feel like giving up and wondering why you are bothering in the first place. Bad clients, missed deadlines and payments or wrong briefings will always happen from time to time. Being patient and persistent when things go south is what separates average freelance writers from those that make a very decent living.

Don’t be afraid to take a break for a couple of days when you think you have had enough but don’t overstay your leave. Try to remember why you started writing in the first place and think of all the things you managed to pay and buy using your freelance revenue. This is often what drives people to continue writing, even past the point of where it feels new and exciting because just like any other job, freelance writing becomes boring from time to time.

Conclusion

There are many factors that play into being a successful freelance writer and being able to call yourself one. Give it some time and explore the possibilities of being a freelancer. You will eventually figure out if a freelancer’s life is something you would like to maintain and be proud of.

Going back to a day job doesn’t mean you failed or gave up, it just means that freelance work just wasn’t the right thing for you and that’s completely understandable. Just make sure you don’t give up before you give it a proper chance.

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