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Tag: freelance writing jobs

  • How to Become a Freelance Writer While You’re in College

    How to Become a Freelance Writer While You’re in College

    Being broke while in college might be a cliche, but it’s also the norm.

    Finding the right way to earn a decent income in school can be a huge challenge. Most of the jobs that are easy to get pay close to minimum wage and do little to build your resume. Jobs that pay well and contribute meaningfully to your experience often have inflexible schedules.

    So what’s a student to do if they want to become a freelance writer?

    Finding freelance writing jobs for college students

    Freelance writing jobs for beginners can be a great way to earn income while using your expertise during college — and it can ease your transition after graduation. If you’re like me, you might even find it’s actually your dream job!

    College is the perfect time to start building your freelance experience; at no other time will you be exposed to so many great ideas and have such easy access to expert sources and a variety of opinions.

    But having great ideas and expert sources is only the beginning of a successful freelance career.

    Here are a few tips for going after freelance writing jobs as a college student:

    1. Get some experience

    Unfortunately, most editors don’t want to take a chance on writers with zero experience. Lucky for you, college campuses are rife with opportunities to develop exactly that, and it doesn’t have to take a lot of time.

    Based on my experience, editors usually look for three published writing samples that show you have what it takes to write the story you want to tell. Find out if there are any positions at the college paper, or if you can write a few op-eds.

    You can also ask student organizations if they need help with their blog or newsletter. And don’t forget to check with local newspapers or alt-weeklies to see if they take freelance submissions — sometimes they’re more willing to work with inexperienced writers.

    You shouldn’t write for free or rock-bottom cheap for more than a few months, but being flexible on your rates initially can be a great way to get the portfolio you need to start aiming higher.

    2. Schedule your semester early

    You would be amazed how reading assignments and homework can pile up. Having an organized schedule can help you decide if you have time to pitch new story ideas now, or if you should wait a few weeks for projects to finish up.

    Remember it can take editors up to two weeks (and sometimes even more) to green-light a pitch, so examine your schedule in advance so you know exactly how much time you can give a story.

    3. Network like your life depends on it

    You’re probably already networking a lot, but are you doing it strategically? Following editors from your favorite publications on Twitter and interacting with them regularly will help them recognize you when you send a pitch their way.

    You don’t have time to blindly send pitches hoping they land, so priming editors to like your ideas is an absolute must.

    Also connect with the journalism program on campus — they may have a group that can help you work through ideas, or a professor who would love to be your mentor.

    4. Focus on publications that actually pay

    Don’t waste your time with writing contests that require a fee or publications that pay in “exposure.”

    In fact, contests can be a really tough way to get a foot in the door — they tend to draw thousands of submissions and only a few will win.

    You’re better off writing short email pitches and getting confirmation from an editor before you invest in a full article. Another good tactic is to check sites that share information about how much different publications pay and how long it takes the average writer to get paid.

    The Make a Living Writing site publishes new market lists every month. Try a few different options to find out what kind of resource is most helpful to you.

    5. Double-dip your papers

    You are in a unique time-saving place. A lot of your college essays have really great research and discussion points that can double as freelance articles with a few extra hours of work.

    Doubling up on school assignments can make a huge difference in the amount of time you’re spending writing for pay and writing for class, plus it can help establish you in your field well before graduation.

    As a bonus: Ask your professors for help figuring out how to convert your term papers into something a little more appealing for the general public, and it can help you win points with people who might write you recommendation letters later on.

    6. Write about all your passions

    Don’t be afraid to branch out. College is a great chance to try new things, and your writing career should be no different. You might be a business major, but you’re also the president of the Amnesty International club.

    Allow your expertise to shine no matter what your passion is. Anything you care about is fair game.

    One of the best things about being a freelance writer is that I get to write whatever I’m interested in, and I don’t have to put too much time into projects I can’t stand — although, don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of things I do mostly for the money.

    Take full advantage of the freedom! This is your chance to learn, and if you can earn some cash while you’re at it, you’ve hit the jackpot.

    If you’re exploring other writing careers while in college, check out this article. You’ll find more options to get paid as a writer.

    Perhaps this quiz can also help you decide.

    This is an updated version of a story that was previously published. We update our posts as often as possible to ensure they’re useful for our readers.

    Photo via Josep Suria/ Shutterstock 

  • 6 Questions to Consider Before Accepting a Freelance Writing Gig

    6 Questions to Consider Before Accepting a Freelance Writing Gig

    As a freelance writer, it can be tempting to take every gig that comes your way.

    Turning down a freelance gig can sometimes feel like you’re tempting fate to take away all future opportunities because you said no to one. When you think about how hard you work marketing yourself and making connections and inquiries, something about turning down a viable gig feels wrong. Just know that you’re not alone. I did the same thing when I first started out, and I still get tempted to do it now. But along the way, I’ve learned that it’s OK to say no sometimes. In fact, you should. Not every gig is worth your time or effort. The trick is to differentiate between one that has value and one that’s more trouble than it’s worth.

    Here are six questions to ask yourself before you say yes to a freelance gig.

    1. Is it worth the money?

    Think about the time required to complete a project. Is it worth the money they’re offering?

    Money isn’t everything, especially when freelancing, but it can go a long way to helping you decide if the gig is right for you.

    Remember that your time has value, and the time you put into something that doesn’t pay well can mean less time for those opportunities that do.

    freelance questions2. Will it give you solid exposure?

    Sometimes the gigs that give you the best exposure are the ones that don’t pay as well.

    Like I said, money isn’t everything. If you can get your name out there by doing a project or writing an article for free or next to nothing, it might be worth it.

    Then, you can move onto higher paying gigs once you’re more established in your niche market.

    I once had a column where I wrote five articles a week for over a year because it was great exposure. It didn’t pay well, but it helped to get my name out there and increase my credibility as a freelance writer. That was invaluable.

    In fact, because of this column, some of my work was featured on the New York Times blog.

    3. Will it be the perfect addition to your portfolio?

    The plain and simple truth is that to get high quality freelance gigs, a strong portfolio is an asset.

    So, maybe the gig you’re considering doesn’t pay well, and it doesn’t give you a ton of exposure, but the piece will be a strong addition to your writing portfolio.

    If so, it just might be yes-worthy.

    4. Are you comfortable being associated with the company/website?

    Perhaps the gig pays well and it will give you some exposure, but you’re uncomfortable with the site or the company itself.

    Remember that your reputation is more important than money you can make.

    I recently turned down a gig as a regular contributor for a relatively well-known site. I was tempted to take it, and I tried over and over to convince myself that it would be fine, that I would make it work, but I had to be honest with myself.

    Their website’s new focus was all about shock and fear. They wanted clicks instead of interesting or helpful content. I decided that I didn’t want my name associated with that sort of site.

    As soon as I turned it down, I felt relief. I had made the right choice.

    5. Will the client be too difficult to work with?

    If the freelance job pays well and it would be great exposure, it still might not be worth it if the client is difficult to work with.

    The problem with this one is that it’s difficult to spot in the beginning. It comes down to looking for red flags. If you see some red flags, consider if it’s worth the time, the money and the stress.

    If not, move on and leave your schedule open for an even better opportunity. But if it’s the best opportunity you’ve had, the difficult client may well be worth the money and the exposure.

    When I wrote that column for a year (for the exposure), I was approached by one of the readers. He wanted me to write content for him, too. I was on board and ecstatic. Then I started noticing some red flags. For example, I hadn’t even signed the contract yet, and he wouldn’t stop calling me and emailing me. I soon learned that he needed a lot of personal attention, and that’s not something I was interested in. I just wanted to do my job in peace, so I ended up turning that opportunity down, and I’ve never regretted it.

    6. Do you have the time?

    Freelance writers are notorious for overloading our schedules.

    Before accepting a freelance job, ask yourself if you have the appropriate amount of time to dedicate.

    Again, your reputation is important, and you don’t want to sully it because you don’t have the time to devote to doing your best work.

    Saying no to a freelance gig can be hard, but it’s the only way to create the presence and reputation you want. Remember that you need something out of the arrangement, too, whether that’s adequate payment, a boost in exposure or something strong to add to your portfolio. Don’t overburden yourself with opportunities that won’t meet your overall career goals.

    Leave time in your schedule for the best jobs, the ones that will help you pivot and lead you to a higher plane.

    You’re worth it.

    What do you look for before saying yes to a freelance gig?

  • Just Say No to These 5 Freelance Writing Jobs

    Just Say No to These 5 Freelance Writing Jobs

    I wish someone had given me a list of don’ts when I first started freelance writing, then stood over me with a yardstick and rapped me on the knuckles every time I made a stupid move.

    Alas, there was no Miss Trunchbull to guide me through those brutal first few years, and I made a lot of stupid moves.

    Some of these stemmed from being young and entitled, others from dealing poorly with clients.

    But far and away the most common mistake I made was to compromise my true passions in pursuit of money.

    I became “The Jill of All Trades”

    I know, I know. That story has been told…but not in the way you think.

    I’m not talking about sacrificing my morals or anything. I’m talking about picking up the odd jobs every writer is asked to do: A little research here, a few social posts there, NBD, make the client happy, right?

    And before you know it, you’re a Jack or Jill of all trades, at your clients’ beck and call for every “quickie” task conceivably related to writing.

    Problem is, even if you’re happy with this arrangement, new clients won’t be.

    They come to you for expertise, not for your Renaissance Man repertoire. If you don’t specialize, they’ll find someone who does. Which makes it imperative that you start saying no to those little tasks, and start saying yes only to writing work.

    Without further ado, the five jobs you should absolutely, positively, under no circumstances, even on pain of death, ever do.

    1. Hourly research work

    If you’re the type of writer who researches and summarizes content for a living, you can safely ignore this advice. Most of us, however, aren’t.

    We’re either creative writers working on spec or copywriters being paid to create original content. In the latter model, a per-word price is usually involved, which is almost always higher than the amount you’d make if you billed hourly. (And if you’re not yet using value-based pricing, you should be.)

    Since it’s hard to charge per word for research – you’re just summarizing, after all – you’re pretty much forced to charge hourly. That makes it a bad deal.

    Perform research as part of an assignment which you’ve contracted at a per-word or per-project price, but don’t do research on its own.

    2. Social media management

    Ah, social media. I’ve seen so many writers include this in their services then…slowly… realize that the amount of work involved in pulling together enough tweets or Facebook posts to constitute an assignment is almost never worth the money.

    Why? Because this is specialist work.

    Culling through news articles, writing pithy phrases and selecting the right hashtags is hard, especially when you’re doing 50 at once, unrelated to a piece you’ve just written. This is best left to social media professionals, because you usually can’t contract a price that’s worth your time and they feel comfortable paying.


    The exception to this rule is when you offer a Twitter post or two, or maybe a LinkedIn blurb, to go along with a blog post, white paper or another long assignment you’ve just written.

    I do offer this, and clients appreciate it.

    freelance writing jobs 3. Photography and image sourcing

    Photos go with blog posts, right? Isn’t it normal to include a few with each piece? Most clients will tell you it is.

    However, most of the copywriters I know refuse to offer image sourcing, let alone actual photography. With a camera. (Yes, I’ve been asked about this multiple times.)

    Honestly, it’s my opinion that you shouldn’t be providing images of any kind. The ideal goal is to turn each gig you get into additional, stable work from that client, as well as a recommendation to a new client, from whom you will hopefully also get repeat work. Providing ancillary services such as images will dilute your work, because it isn’t your specialty – making this client less likely to hire you back or to recommend you to others. Plus, you clearly don’t like it that much, or you’d be a photographer, right?

    Providing services you love will exponentially increase the amount of satisfactory work you get; providing services outside your wheelhouse can spiral into more and more jobs that are unrelated to your true passion.

    Save your energy for writing, and don’t offer images.

    4. Editing others’ work

    Many a client will come to you asking if you could “just give this piece from XYZ Department Head a look-see” or “clean up this work from my previous copywriter, whom I fired.”

    I’ve gotten both of those requests quite a few times, and they scare me. I don’t want to mess with writing of which some department head is protective. Nor do I want to be in any way associated with a writer who didn’t make the cut.

    Also, editing is a deep skill. It’s often harder to edit someone else’s work – keeping its message, intent and voice intact while making it presentable to readers – than it is to write from scratch. That’s why people have whole jobs editing. They’re called editors…and if you’re a writer, you probably aren’t them.

    I either offer to write a new piece for clients if they give me the specs, or I send them to the editor with whom I work.

    5. Paid reviews

    Several prospects have approached me asking if they can pay me to go leave a review on Amazon. They even offer to send me their product, and claim that my review should be “honest.” And honestly I’m a little unclear on how all this works, but I’m pretty sure the Federal Trade Commission’s definition of sponsorship doesn’t include Amazon reviews.

    Plus, since I’m not going to get paid until after the review, how honest can it really be?

    Say no to this every single time. Even if the money is good, and often it is, it’s not worth your soul. You have a responsibility to the world to use your writing for good. And convincing Great Aunt Ginny to buy a dubiously sourced protein powder is not good. Don’t do it.

    While I still can’t come to your house or office or coffee shop nook and rap your knuckles with a yardstick, I can guarantee greater happiness and success if you avoid these jobs. Even if it makes you nervous to limit your repertoire, try doing so for a few months and see what happens. Chances are excellent your workload and profits will increase, not the other way around.

    Go ahead, try. I’ll wait.

    *sits patiently for 5 months*

    See? Told you.

  • You Can’t Write it All: How to Avoid Side Hustle Burnout

    You Can’t Write it All: How to Avoid Side Hustle Burnout

    Please, inspirational quote on Instagram. Remind me that Beyonce and I get the same number of hours in each day.

    Oh please, internet guru. Remind me that if I have an hour a day for my side hustle, I’ll undoubtedly reap the financial rewards.

    What happens when your side hustle is writing? And your day job (or any number of part-time jobs you’ve cobbled together) also requires a lot of writing?

    In your case, an hour of free time might send you running as far from your laptop as possible.

    Writing takes a lot of brainpower. It takes a different kind of concentration and mental energy than say, raking leaves or walking dogs. Not better energy; just different energy.

    And if your 9-to-5 already uses some of the same skills you need to be a good writer, it’s too easy to get drained.

    If you spend all day on the phone or in meetings with clients, interviewing business owners to ghostwrite their blog posts on the side is going to feel exhausting. If you’re a proofreader by day, the idea of editing projects from Upwork at night is probably going to make your eyes cross.

    But since side hustle advice so often focuses on cultivating skills you already have, turning to your writing skills may feel like a natural fit — even if you already use those skills for eight hours each day.

    Here’s why that natural fit may actually make earning your second income harder.

    Side-hustle pro admits failure

    Breaking news: I’m a case study for side-hustle failure.

    My day job as a reporter stipulates that I can freelance to my heart’s content as long as the content isn’t in conflict with the work I do for my salary. (You’ve checked your contract or employee handbook for limitations there, right? Good.)

    So when I took this job and gave up my life as a frequent-traveling, frequent-napping freelancer, I expected I would be able to do the same type of work during my time off.

    I’d keep my content marketing clients with whom I had a great working relationship and a smooth workflow. I’d continue to write personal essays, integrating reporting elements like expert consultation, where applicable. And I’d write new reported pieces for the web publications on my bucket list.

    side hustle burnoutThis is the part of the movie where everything stops and you hear the record scratch.

    How was I going to to do reporting when I was already trying to pin down sources from 9 to 5 every day? How was I supposed to cultivate new sources? I can hear the outgoing voicemail message now: “I can be reached between noon and one and again after 5 p.m. Eastern.”

    Wow, that sounds professional.

    I even tried to outsource some of my research. When I had an idea but didn’t have time to do the initial research I needed to figure out my pitch, I enlisted the help of a researcher. I paid her for a few hours of work, and she delivered a document with key points, summarized news items on the topic and a bibliography.

    It was money well spent on a subject area I’m still curious about. But I still wasn’t able to refine my pitch enough to have it land with the publication for which I intended it. And had they accepted it, how would I have had time to pursue the story on a deadline? I didn’t even have time to do my own initial reading on the topic.

    So I made a hard decision: no more reporting outside of work, no matter how far removed the topic might be from what I write about there.

    Instead, I’m sticking with nonprofit content marketing, which takes energy and concentration, but doesn’t require chasing down anyone to try to get a good quote.

    It means my freelance work won’t be a factor in increasing my income this year. But it does mean  I’ll have some free time to work on personal writing projects. I can sketch out drafts of personal essays. I can work on flash fiction or short stories. The only deadline these projects will have are the ones I set for myself, and let me tell you, they are very generous deadlines.

    So when you see an inspirational quote about how many hours Beyonce has, just remember that she has assistants. Her assistants probably have assistants.

    That’s not you. I know, I’m bummed too.

    How to hustle without burning out

    If you’re working full-time and trying to freelance on the side, please stop lamenting the work you could be doing on a given evening, weekend, holiday or lunch break.

    Instead, remember the following:

    • Writing is hard. Doing it well is harder. Don’t burn yourself out because you’re trying to write everything, everywhere, all the time.
    • Your brain needs space to breathe. You also need time with friends, exercise and fresh air, and probably to do some laundry on occasion. You are allowed to have free time that isn’t dedicated to your full-time job or freelance writing.
    • Don’t try to replicate your 9-to-5 job into a writing-related side gig. Use adjacent skills, not the same exact ones. The idea is to generate income while keeping your work fresh, not to get stuck in a rut because you have to come home from work and do the same exact work.
    • If the ideal reliable, income-generating side hustle for you isn’t writing, that’s OK. Dog walking and yard work can be great gigs, and the screen-free time may even help generate some ideas for your next writing project — whether that project is paid or not.

    Day-jobbers and side-hustlers, how do you make it all work? Share your tips in the comments!

  • A Veteran Writer Reveals the Best Way to Find Freelance Gigs

    A Veteran Writer Reveals the Best Way to Find Freelance Gigs

    You probably know that to launch (or grow) a writing career, you need to pitch…and pitch…and pitch.

    But pitch whom?

    If you’re a magazine writer, there are too many publications out there to wrap your head around — or not enough, depending on your field. (Sheep-farming mags, anyone?)

    And, as if finding good pubs to pitch weren’t hard enough, trying to find out whether they actually pay can make your head implode with frustration.

    Or say you’re a content writer, blogger, or copywriter. How can you find businesses that could use your services—while weeding out the tire-kickers and cheap-os from the hundreds of possibilities?

    Where to find writing clients

    If you’re scouring your local newsstand to sleuth out magazines to pitch, or driving around your city seeking good business clients, head straight home, park your car and try these ideas instead.

    1. Google

    I can hear you now: “Google. Really? How very original.”

    But Google is not as obvious a choice as you would think. I can’t even count the number of times a coaching client would say something like, “I want to write for trade magazines for the flooring industry and can’t find any” — and before she’d even finished with her complaint, I would have Googled up a list of a dozen flooring trades.

    The trick is to look for directories or lists instead of searching for publications or businesses one by one. Rather than Googling, say, “pet product manufacturers,” try “pet product manufacturers directory.” Chances are, someone else has helpfully compiled a nice list you can use. In this case, it’s the American Pet Products Association Member Directory, which is available to the public.

    (By the way, in case you were wondering: There are many, many trade magazines for sheep farmers. Do a Google search and you’ll find them easily!)

    2. Writer’s Market (but not for the reason you think)

    Writer’s Market is a directory of hundreds of publications that pay writers, divided up by topic. However, the real secret is to use Writer’s Market to find publications that aren’t in Writer’s Market.

    Here’s the deal: If you find a magazine in Writer’s Market that looks promising, check to see if it’s put out by a publishing group. If so, look up the company online to see what other magazines they put out; chances are, they have some that aren’t listed in Writer’s Market.

    For example, some trade magazine groups publish a dozen or more magazines—and if the one you found listed in Writer’s Market pays a good rate, the other ones probably do too (though this is no guarantee).

    3. Industry association membership lists

    Many industry associations keep membership lists complete with each member’s contact information. If you join (which may require you to pay a fee), you’ll often have access to the list.

    However, do check the organization’s guidelines to make sure it’s okay to pitch other members.

    4. The Content Council

    Custom content companies create magazines, newsletters, blogs, and more for their clients—and they often hire freelancers, and pay well to boot.

    Lucky for us, The Content Council maintains a publicly available list of its member companies searchable by account sector (like Health or Retail), complete with contact information.

    5. Trade magazine directories

    Trade magazine directories abound online. I like the one on WebWire, which lists hundreds of trade pubs in categories ranging from aviation to workforce management.

    Trade directories aren’t meant for writers, so once you find a pub that looks good, you’ll need to visit its website and do some digging to find the assigning editor’s contact info.

    6. Right here

    You read that right — here on The Write Life you’ll find info on more than 225 publications that pay Freelance Writers.

    But do they pay?

    By now you should have dozens of markets to pitch, but there’s no point researching and pitching a publication or business if it offers a rate of zero dollars per word (aka “exposure”), no negotiation allowed.

    Here’s how to narrow the field of potential clients to the ones that are most likely to be worth your time.

    1. Go for the money

    Many new copywriters and content writers like to pitch mom-and-pop shops, because they think these businesses will be easier to write for. The bad news is, these tiny businesses usually can’t afford to pay what you’re worth…and the worse news is, they often need a ton of hand-holding because they’ve never hired a writer before.

    Look for businesses with $5 million+ in profits, which ensures you’re reaching out to prospects that can afford to pay.

    2. Check Writer’s Market (again)

    Writer’s Market assigns each publication from one to four dollar sign symbols to indicate how much they pay; with the online version of the service, you can narrow your search to those markets that have, say, two or more dollar signs.

    Each publication’s entry also includes more detailed information on pay.

    3. Visit the Who Pays Writers website

    According to their site, “Who Pays Writers is an anonymous, crowd-sourced list of which publications pay freelance writers—and how much.”

    You’ll discover, for example, that Artforum has paid writers from 20-40 cents per word.

    4. Ask your friends

    If you belong to any writers’ forums, email lists, or communities, ask if any other writers know how much Blog X pays or whether Company Y pays freelance writers.

    5. Browse the pages

    Take a look at your target magazine’s content and advertisers. You can get a good feel for whether they pay (and how well) by the look of the pub and the readers they’re targeting.

    Slick ads for expensive gas grills or top-of-the-line hair care products? Good. Cheap-looking design, typo-ridden articles, and random Google ads? Not so good.

    This isn’t a foolproof method — there are plenty of publications that target high-worth readers but don’t pay writers — but it can be a pretty good clue.

    Do you have a super-secret trick for finding and qualifying writing markets? Spill the details in the comments!

  • Freelance Writers: 3 Methods for Balancing Busy Client Days

    Freelance Writers: 3 Methods for Balancing Busy Client Days

    If you’re like me, fellow freelance writer, you have a few (or more) clients that you have to pay attention to on the regular.

    While the ideal schedule might have you batching large chunks of time and only focusing on certain projects or client on certain days, there are times when that to-do list grows and that plan just isn’t possible.

    Which might mean that, on any given day, you’re working on web copy for a local startup, telling a story with stats for that leadership firm’s next infographic, or writing clever out-of-office messages for your digital-marketing client.  

    The variety is exciting. It keeps the days moving, and lets you flex all sort of writing muscles.

    Yet despite the energy of your medley of clients and projects, the variety can still provide a sincere challenge: How to quickly and smoothly switch gears as you work on one project to the next, especially when you have a mile-long to-do list and only so much time to do it in.

    These three tips can help you transition among your diverse projects.

    1. Switch up your environment

    Where do you typically work? Our physical surroundings contribute — often more than we realize — to our mindset, productivity, and creativity. I know I work best from my home office in the mornings, when the sun is rising and light floods my eastern-facing windows. The same energy that the space brings in the mornings isn’t there in the afternoon, though, and I can feel, on a visceral level, my productivity and creativity plummeting.

    It takes switching up my environment to break my mindset. Once I came to that realization, I also realized how valuable this tactic is for switching mental gears between clients or projects.

    While it can’t always mean leaving the house to hit up a coworking space or coffee shop, it can mean switching from your desk to your couch to your kitchen table.

    Or, you can focus on the smaller details of your surroundings.

    Two things I always have going in my home office are music (thank you, Spotify) and my essential-oil diffuser. Sometimes all it takes to switch gears is putting on a different type of music — low-key house beats over celtic instrumentals, for example — to trigger a mental shift.

    Other times, it takes an appeal to our strongest sense: smell. In that case, I might switch from an earthy, balanced blend in the diffuser to a citrusy, energetic blend.

    When you switch up your environment, your brain naturally snaps out of the zone it was in when you were chugging away at that one project, and gives it the shock it needs to recognize a change and switch gears.

    A bonus: If you only listen to a certain type of music when doing a certain task, your brain will naturally associate one with the other, and your transitions will be even smoother.

    2. Use a different font

    This is an incredibly simple hack, but it really can be that easy.

    I often switch between three or four clients in a day — each of whom requires an entirely different persona. Because of this, I like to think of each font as a voice. (Bear with me here.)

    For one of my clients, I write only in Droid Sans. For another, it’s Trebuchet MS. When I’m free writing during my daily #justwrite session, I often move over to OmmWriter and choose the typewriter setting.

    Much like changing up your physical surroundings, choosing to use a different font per client or project will help your brain get associated with different types of work or voices.

    Seeing that font will trigger recognition and help your brain turn over quicker.

    3. Break up batches with a mental break

    So your day might not be built with those ideal three or four-hour batches, but it doesn’t mean you can’t Pomodoro your way through your projects in smaller chunks.

    Even then, though, those hyper-focused periods of work require a mental break in between. It’s good for your productivity. It’s good for your creativity. It’s crucial for preventing burnout.

    Whether or not you think you need it, build in mental breaks throughout the day.

    Head out the front door and go for a 15-20 minute walk or jog. Find a comfy spot and put on a five-10 minute meditation. Grab that paperback you’ve been ignoring and read for 15 minutes. (Snack while you do this — eating is important, too, believe it or not.) Hit up the couch for a 10-20 minute power nap.

    The most important thing? Shut your brain down. Intentionally stay away from screens.

    It can feel like you don’t have time to step away, but I promise — you do. And if it feels like you’re slacking, remember this: The best ideas don’t require being in front of a screen. It’s during my “mental breaks” that I’m subconsciously turning over ideas, digging into problems, and coming up with solutions.

    Break your patterns to be more productive

    Routine is good. It helps us accomplish our non-negotiables. If it weren’t for routine, I wouldn’t exercise regularly, or drink the 75 ounces of water I aim for in a day.

    But when it comes to switching gears among the plethora of clients or projects you’re serving as a freelance writer, sometimes it requires breaking that routine, switching up your physical and digital surroundings, and walking away (for a little while) to be able to effectively switch gears and get it all done.

    P.S.: Nearly all of the above is best done with coffee. It always helps.

    How do you transition among your diverse client projects? Share your tips below!

  • 3 Skills That Will Help You Get More Freelance Writing Jobs

    3 Skills That Will Help You Get More Freelance Writing Jobs

    While writing ability is a major factor in landing freelance writing gigs, your way with words isn’t the only thing clients and editors look for when hiring writers.

    There are several “non-writing” skills that make you more attractive to potential clients.

    To uncover them, I spoke with people who work with freelancers and asked about what they look for when hiring content creators.

    Here’s what they had to say.

    1. Ability to work independently

    Clients and editors value freelance writers who don’t need a lot of hand-holding.

    “Writers need support and direction, but they should not need hand-holding after writing a few articles,” Owen Larkin, President at SnowPak.com said. “I need people who can do work without requiring a lot of my time.”

    Clients and editors pay you to write, sure. But the underlying reason for them hiring you is to make their lives easier.

    They want someone who can handle their content needs to free up time for them to run their business or publication. If you’re always reaching out with questions or issues, you’re doing the opposite of why they hired you.

    Strive to be more independent when you’re working on an assignment.

    Figure things out by doing your own research instead of asking the client or editor. Got a question about a company? Check their website, read their press releases, or look at their help page. Need more info on an employee? Visit their LinkedIn profile.

    The key is to minimize unnecessary emails or phone calls.

    Another way to avoid too many clarification emails is to scope out the work thoroughly at the beginning of the project. Determine the information or resources required to complete the assignment, then ask relevant questions early on.

    Just be careful not to ask too many. Sending someone a long list of questions can be a turnoff. I usually stick to three to five questions when I scope out an assignment, and I phrase them in such a way makes it easier for my client to answer.

    For instance, instead of asking, “What tone or style would you like me to use for this piece?” I would say, “I noticed most of your content is written in a casual tone. Would you like me to adopt the same voice or style for this post?”

    This way, they can just respond with a “Yes” or “No, and here’s why…”

    Keep this in mind for your next assignment. Rather than bombarding your client or editor with a ton of questions, do your research first. Or better yet, map out the project thoroughly in the beginning, and phrase your questions in such a way so they’re easier to respond to.

    2. Industry knowledge

    All the people I reached out to said domain knowledge or experience is a key factor in their hiring decisions.

    “Between two freelancers with equally good writing skills I’d choose the one who has experience in creating texts on the topic that I need,” said Anastasia Sidko, Content Manager at SEMrush. “It is especially important when it comes to technical or very specific texts — deeper knowledge of the subject would be a significant advantage for the writer.”

    You’re better off covering just a few topics instead of trying to write about anything and everything. Find your niche and own it.

    When you specialize, you become an expert. And clients are willing to pay more for services rendered by an expert or thought leader, rather someone who just dabbled in their industry.

    Being an expert also enables you to earn more per project (or per hour). If someone pays you, say, $400 to write an article, and you know the topic so well it only takes you an hour instead of two to finish the post, then you’re essentially making more per hour.

    3. Nurturing the right connections

    In addition to industry expertise, who you know can also be key to getting hired.

    Poornima Apte, former Editor-in-Chief at Specialty Retail Report and GIFT SHOP Magazine, said that she often prioritized industry knowledge and connections over writing ability. “Editors can always fix poor writing but connections to sources are invaluable.”

    Great content — and great client or editor relationships — can’t exist in a vacuum.

    To take your writing and freelance business to the next level, you need to network and get to know other people outside your comfort zone.

    Get on the radars of industry experts and influencers. Attend events. Connect with people on LinkedIn or Twitter. Take part in Twitter chats, meetups or other social programming in your industry.

    If you’re working on an assignment, find ways to connect with real people instead of just doing research on your own. For example, instead of relying solely on Google, why not find and interview an expert to quote in your piece?

    It takes more than writing talent to become a successful freelance writer.

    If you’re struggling to land gigs, do an assessment of your own “non-writing” abilities and see if there’s anything you need to work on. Perhaps you need to communicate better. Or, maybe it’s a matter of narrowing down your niche. Be honest with yourself, identify your shortcomings, then take steps to improve.

    Can you name other “non-writing” skills that can help freelance writers land gigs? Share them in the comments.

  • What I Did to Earn $5,000 in One Month as a New Freelance Writer

    What I Did to Earn $5,000 in One Month as a New Freelance Writer

    I know why you’re reading this.

    You’re exactly where I was about a year ago: Feeling lost. Wondering how you’ll find success as a freelance writer.

    Ready for some good news?

    You can make serious income from writing work. I’m talking “pay your bills and still have plenty left to support your Whole Foods addiction” money here, people.

    I’m not going to sugarcoat it — I had to hustle like crazy at first to make it happen.

    But once I understood the process, the money started pouring in, and I made more than $5,000 in my fourth month as a full-time freelance writer.

    How, you ask?

    Good question. Here’s what I did:

    1. Set crazy goals and worked hard to achieve them

    Full disclosure: I didn’t exactly choose to become a freelance writer.

    I got fired from my full-time job, and suddenly having no source of income motivated me to make freelance writing work for me.

    I knew it was going to be tough, but I was confident in my ability to succeed. So, I told myself that I’d out-earn my previous salary within four months.

    Deep down, I knew it was a crazy goal. But I set it anyway, told myself that it was achievable, and woke up every day with the drive to make it happen.

    And it did happen. I got fired in April 2015, and four months later, made $5,172 from freelance writing work in August 2015 alone.

    If I’d allowed myself to be held back by a negative mindset, it wouldn’t have happened.

    Set an income goal that seems crazy to you but is still achievable. Having a clear goal to work toward will help you grow your business quickly.

    2. Picked a niche

    I worked as a B2B copywriter for IT companies for a while before I became a freelance writer, so I chose that as my niche.

    And you better believe I plastered “B2B Copywriter for IT Service Providers” all over my freelance writer website and social media profiles.

    Why?

    Because a freelance writer known as an expert in a specific niche usually gets more high-paying clients than one who isn’t.

    Think about it. If you were hiring a writer, would you want to work with one who specialized in your industry or one who wrote all sorts of content?

    You’d want the specialist. Every time.

    Your potential clients feel the same way. So pick a niche, and start marketing yourself as an expert in that niche.

    Keep in mind that you can pick multiple niches if you want — the specialization part is what’s important. And you don’t need a crazy amount of expertise on a topic to make it your niche. As long as you can deliver what clients need, you can learn as you go.

    3. Built a strong freelance writer website

    I had a basic portfolio website for a while, but I knew that wasn’t going to cut it if I wanted to make serious money as a freelance writer.

    So, I learned everything I could about WordPress and built a freelance writing website.

    Seems like common sense, right?

    It is. Lots of writers do have a website.

    The problem?

    They create their website from the perspective of a desperate job-seeker who is writing a resume — not an expert business owner who knows how to get results for clients.

    Those writers might as well give themselves a neck tattoo that says “PLEASE UNDERPAY ME.”

    I know that’s harsh, but it’s true. Clients tend to make assumptions about your value based on your website.

    I don’t want you to make the same mistakes that hold other freelance writers back, so keep these tips in mind when you’re creating your freelance writing website:

    • Write your website copy in a way that brands you and attracts your ideal clients. My website has the word “badass” right in the headline because that’s how I talk. That kind of tone sets me apart, and I’ve found that my audience (B2B business owners and marketers) appreciates the straightforward approach. It might offend some people and drive them away, but it doesn’t matter — those people wouldn’t be the right clients for me anyway.
    • Leave out meaningless adjectives, and speak directly to the client’s needs and pain points. No more wasting valuable space on your site talking about how “disciplined” and “passionate” you are as a writer. Clients don’t care about that  they care about what services you can provide for them.
    • Choose a clean design and make sure your site is user friendly. Avoid cluttering your site with unnecessary images and giant walls of text. Instead, use white space to draw the reader’s eyes to the important points. And if you want to find out what people really think of your website, try a free user testing tool like Peek.

    Put yourself in a potential client’s shoes. What are they really looking for when they hire a freelance writer like you? Use your answer to guide you when you’re creating your website.

    4. Cold-pitched my target audience

    Several years ago, I worked as a door-to-door salesperson.

    That’s right — I had to knock on people’s doors and try to sell them cable and internet services.

    My salary was so low that I depended on commission to pay my bills, so I had to hustle.

    Now, I know what you’re probably thinking:

    No wonder you recommend cold pitching. It must be easy for someone who worked in sales!

    But I’m going to let you in on a little secret: it’s not easy.

    It’s terrifying.

    But is it worth it?

    Totally.

    In fact, cold pitching helped me earn $800 in my first month as a freelance writer.

    Now, I didn’t just send pitches to random businesses. I mostly used LimeLeads, a huge database of leads, to look up B2B/IT businesses in my niche.

    But you don’t have to use LimeLeads — you can find potential clients using social media and Google. Then, send each of them a tailored pitch.

    Here are a few tips that’ll help you write effective cold pitches:

    • Include a link to your freelance writing website in your pitch. Your site should have your niche defined in the headline so that potential clients know immediately that you specialize in their industry.
    • Focus on how you’ll get results for the company you’re pitching. Don’t talk about yourself too much in your email. Instead, talk about how you’ll help the company get more customers, build their audience, etc.
    • Avoid pitching like you’re a desperate job seeker. Instead, write like you’re a confident business owner (because you are!), and you’ll be able to demand respect and higher rates.

    Keep in mind that you’ll get rejected tons of times — that’s just how cold pitching works. Most of the cold emails I sent at the beginning of my career were ignored completely.

    But after a while, I started getting responses. Some of those turned into clients.

    So don’t get discouraged if you don’t see immediate results. If you approach cold emailing correctly, you will be able to get new freelance writing clients from it.

    5. Outsourced strategically

    I’ve got a confession to make. I’ve always hated editing.

    Mostly because I’m a perfectionist, which makes self-editing is a huge time suck for me.

    I realized this early on in my freelance writing career, so I started paying an editor to look over all my work, even though I was a broke newbie.

    Yes, outsourcing costs me money, but it saves me far more money in the long run.

    I think about it like this:

    Editing doesn’t make me any money or help me grow my freelance writing business. When I cut editing out of my workday completely, I open up more time to work on tasks that make my business more profitable, like writing or marketing.

    Figure out what tedious tasks you can outsource to make your freelance writing business more profitable.

    Time is money when you’re a freelance writer, so you need all the time you can get.

    6. Rejected low-paying clients

    When you start out, it’s tempting to take whatever work you can get. And if you don’t have any connections, you may have to settle for some low-paying clients at first so you can pay the bills.

    But you shouldn’t do it for long.

    Why?

    Because filling your schedule up with low-paying writing work takes away the free time you could spend marketing yourself to high-paying clients. And before you know it, you end up caught in a vicious cycle of accepting whatever pay you can get.

    Here’s a better idea based on what I did to grow my income quickly:

    Figure out the bare-minimum amount of money you need to survive every month. Once you’re making that amount from your low-paying clients, stop accepting any new low-paying work and spend all of your free time working on marketing yourself and pitching to high-paying clients.

    That way, you can avoid getting stuck in a rut and start growing your business —and your income.

    7. Built a strong social-media presence

    First of all, realize that you shouldn’t immediately expect a flood of high-paying clients from social media. You’ll have to spend some time building a presence and making connections first.

    Here’s a three-step process I used to land clients through social media:

    • Connect with target clients. For example, if you specialize in writing blog posts about marketing, you might connect with content marketing managers at marketing agencies. They’d be the people most likely to give you work.
    • Start liking and commenting on your target clients’ posts. By doing so, you’ll start building relationships with potential clients and get on their radar.
    • Send a client-focused pitch. If you do this after you’ve built a relationship with the potential client on social media, it works like a charm. Be personable and talk about how you can help their business in your pitch. Even if they don’t hire you right away, there’s a good chance they’ll keep you in mind for later or send you a referral.

    I know it’s tempting to send sales pitches to potential clients the moment you connect with them, but don’t do that. You’ll find those clients much more receptive to working with you if you’ve spent significant time building a relationship with them.

    Which of these tactics will you use to increase your freelance writing income? Let’s talk about it in the comments section!