| I heard a friend say recently that she had read an | | | | skills, have your own portfolio and learn to market |
| article in the newspaper that discouraged her | | | | yourself and your business. You can either raise |
| from trying to become a freelance writer. How | | | | your hourly rate and only bid on jobs that will pay |
| sad that good writers are told they can't earn a | | | | you what you are worth, or you can start to find |
| living doing what they love. You may be thinking | | | | jobs elsewhere. |
| about becoming a full-time writer and earning your | | | | Market Yourself |
| money as a freelancer. Let me share my | | | | The first thing I had to learn was how to market |
| experience with you and perhaps give you hope | | | | myself. I had little experience but I showcased |
| that you can make it. | | | | the few articles I had written and started bidding |
| I started my writing services business in 2003 | | | | really low hoping to land a project. During that |
| with a dream and a lot of hope. I still remember | | | | year, I managed to build my writing portfolio, and |
| all the times I wanted to give up and go back to | | | | I learned to market my skills and define what |
| a corporate job where I could consistently make | | | | type of writing I was best at. It seemed that |
| good money. Perseverance paid off and today I | | | | everyone had a website but me and I wasn't |
| am happy to say that I am a full-time freelance | | | | going to be left behind in the dust. I got a domain |
| writer supervising my own team of contracted | | | | name from and used their template to create a |
| writers. | | | | home page and post a few of my writing |
| How it all began | | | | samples. |
| Before I considered striking out on my own, I | | | | In that first year I learned by trial and error what |
| started writing pro-bono copy for some volunteer | | | | prices to charge. I searched the Internet for |
| organizations that needed promotional materials. | | | | other writing services and compared my prices to |
| You may want to offer your writing to charities | | | | theirs. After my business grew to where I was |
| and non-profits that you enjoy supporting. When | | | | not able to help all the clients needing my |
| my kids were teenagers, I wrote stories about | | | | services, I took on a couple of experienced |
| daily homelife events. Each week I sent stories to | | | | writers and formed a team. Together we set our |
| my friends and each week they came back with | | | | prices according to market trends and stayed a |
| the same response: You should publish these | | | | little lower than the guidelines maintained by |
| stories as a book. Their encouragement helped | | | | Writer's Market in order to gain a competitive |
| me see that I had exceptional writing skills that | | | | edge. |
| could be put to good use in making money for | | | | If you are considering a career as a freelance |
| myself. | | | | writer, you may want to read sign up for my |
| My day job required a lot of writing so I was | | | | free monthly newsletter or listen to my podcast |
| naturally keeping my skills honed. It occurred to | | | | about freelance writing. These are very helpful |
| me that I could be making some money on the | | | | resources accessible from the home page of my |
| side so I started taking on writing assignments | | | | website. By the way, I did have a professional |
| through where I had to bid for projects. At first I | | | | who knows what they are doing redesign the site |
| was like a weed in a field. There were so many | | | | for me last year. Now it attracts much more |
| writers and tons of project leads, but I had no | | | | traffic and clients. |
| idea what to charge; and I was not that confident | | | | There are always learning curves to be |
| that I was a great writer. I felt overwhelmed; | | | | considered and even with the best advice, you |
| however, I had paid my yearly fee to join so I | | | | are going to make some mistakes along the way. |
| decided to give it my best shot. Services such as | | | | Keep believing in yourself. Learn all you can about |
| Elance and Guru are good ways to get started as | | | | the business and don't give up. It is worth the |
| a freelance writer, but you will not want to stay | | | | pursuit. I wish you well in your writing career. |
| in a low-paying mode once you improve your | | | | |