Five Things You MUST Do To Succeed As a Freelance Writer
Monday May 26, 2008
This post was brought on by my recent musings on tenacity and my readers’ resulting comments.
Here are 5 practices that I firmly believe will further your freelance writing business.
- Define success. How will you know that you’re succeeding if you don’t know what success is? For example, you may need to contribute a certain amount per month to the household budget, or you may be aiming for print in a nationally distributed magazine. Perhaps you’ll feel successful once you have three or four regular clients that you can count on. As I indicated to my buddies at Berry Brewer Freelance, finding success will necessitate a redefinition of success so that you “keep on keepin’ on.”
- Don’t stop looking for jobs. I know that the start up process is tough, and once the clients start rolling in and sticking around, you want to take a breath. I’ve been there, though, so believe me when I say this: never stop looking for jobs! I didn’t realize this, but you may shoot yourself in the foot if you stop, because you won’t feel the consequences for a month or two. But it will come- the famous freelancer famine. One solution that I use is to block out a morning a week solely for job searching.
- Learn analytics. Look, I have that t-shirt from Café Press that says “English Major- You Do the Math.” Funny, right? Don’t worry, I’m not asking you to do calculus, but you will need to pull out an Excel sheet now and then. You’ll need to be able track payments, record write offs and watch your hours. Which brings me to my next point…
- Run your writing like a business. A small biz, but a biz nonetheless. For one, you’ll need the write offs. You’ll also need to be accountable in a way that is best achieved with a business mind set.
- Keep on swimming. As I was writing this article my little brother stole my memorial day by landing in the emergency room in my city- thanks Jay! :). Although I was looking forward to 8 full hours of uninterrupted work on both Sunday and Monday, and owe several projects, I didn’t mind hanging out with my family a bit as we handled the situation. Tomorrow is another day- every day is another day- and I just keep on rolling.
Comments
Thanks for the tips!
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I SO need that t-shirt!
I hope your brother’s okay, Allena. Great tips and timely reminders to all of us.
)
Lori- thanks! Brother is all better, and there’s no more family in my house
lol! Just another benefit of working at home, being able to roll with that punch…
WELCOME adam!
I am thinking of doing some freelance writing but have never done anything like this professionally before. With the exception of rewriting an entire battalions movement and mobilization plans in the reserves but that was well over 20 years ago. I am finding your site very helpful and hope this will help offset the income from my own business as an independent auto damage appraiser. This year has been really slow and my wife wants me to find a job. I really dont want to shut my business down and this might help. I also write poetry and have always been able to help other people write what they want to say in a professional and articulate manner. I just don’t know how, or where to get started. Are these sponsored links legitimate and worth looking into? Any help you can render will be most certainly appreciated.
James, If you’re looking for a place to start getting freelance jobs, I would go to the HOME page www.freelancewrite.about.com, and o the left column there will be a list of subjects, one of which is JOB RESOURCES.
I’ve never followed each of the ad links on this page, and so I can’t sweepingly say YES or NO. May I suggest you email me at freelancewrite.guide@about.com for specific info?
Hello! I’m in similar shoes as James. I do have some volunteer writing background(newsletters) and what I had to do for my master’s thesis. Lately I’ve been writing fun stories about trips and vacations for family and friends. I wanted to try freelance to fill in the gaps financially and have fun. May I ask also for additional suggestions to get started?
In advance, thank you!