Instant Success from Freelance Writing - Dream On

I don't want to sound negative but it is highly unlikely that you will attain overnight success by freelance writing. Freelancing is a slow and steady course. The harder and smarter you work your freelancing career, the better off you will be in the long run. I have spoken to a few of my freinds who aspire to be freelancer writers and when I ask them why, the instant success factor is always one of the first five reason they give for their aspiration. Well, being optimistic is one thing and facing the reality is quite another.

How do attain success in Freelance writing?

- Build your portfolio
No matter which freelance career you choose to be in (photography, writing, training etc) you need to build credible portfolio. This will showcase your best works. These works will market your freelacing ability to your prospective clients who will then decide how best you skills suit them.

- Build Relationship
Once you get the clients, you have to ensure that your build postive working relationship with them. Repeat work is essential for freelance success. You must source for new clients continuosly. However, retaining the clients you have worked with should be the priority as the length of time you have worked with a client will matter a lot to the earning potential of your freelancing career. When your client works with you for more than a project and likes your work, you will be in better position to re-negotiate your rates as well as ask for more work including work that you may be interested in but is not your niche. This helps you to buil up bundling services that will increase your earning potential manifold.

- Get References
Your relationship with your clients must be able to help you source for more work from them as well as those people they know. Asking for references should be on your priority list as well. Do not be intimidated or shy of asking your client for references. If your work is good and your client is satisfied there will be no issues getting references.

-Build a Team
As more and more work comes in, you will find it hard to keep track as well as satisfy all of them. As such, you will have to think of expasion. The final work must go through you. However, the ground work can be delegated or outsourced. This will help you accomplish more in lesser time increasing your earning potential manifold as well.

In summary, do not live in the illusion that you will be flying high by opting for a freelancing career. If you fail to treat this as your business, your freelancing career will be finished even before you start. Have postivie attitude and reach for your goals slowly and steadily. All the best and may you have all the success.

Never a Day Without Writing - Looking Back at Me and My Writing

Today, I thought I wil share a little bit about myself here. Won't you be bored if I go on giving you tips and how-to's without actually knowing who I am? Therefore, I have decided that I shall start sharing about my writing experiences every now and then so that you will have a venue to know me more. For a start, I was looking back today about where I started taking my writing seriously.

I had not written anything after I graduated in 2005 for 3 years. Absolutely nothing. When I realised that I was not able to even put pen to paper after I attempted to write something worthwhile in 2008, I was horrified! The words were just not flowing or I could just not form anything. Then I realised the importance of writing regularly and that regularly has now changed to everyday!

Writing is a way of communicating your thoughts with others. For me, I write better than I speak. Somehow I feel that I convey better when I write it down. Maybe I talk fast and the listener is not able to catch or I am actually quite bad at vocals. So, for me, writing opens up a lot of opportunity to convey a lot of things. Can you imagine being tightlipped for the rest of your life and having no other means of communicating with anyone? I am not sure of you but to me that is like a life in prison. Writing is where I found my solace. Looking back, I cannot imagine how I led that 3 years without writing anything.

Bring Out The Best Writing in You - Free Write!

“The sun was rising when I openend my eyes this morning. The colors were beautiful. I lay in my bed looking at the spectacular scenary and pondered what it would be like to be part of the clouds that is receiving the first ray of the sun. The colors were beautiful. I just could not describe them as I am not very much in color or their names. I just know they are beautiful. As I was deeply pondering I felt my daughther snuggling next to me. She was waking up but was actually delaying the process by just snugglng closer to me. I hugged her and whispered good morning. She opened he eyes and looked up to me and smiled sweetly ad sheepishly. She replied Good morning mummy and snuggled even closer.”


As you would have realized by now, the paragraph above obviously contains errors in terms of grammar, spelling, punctuation and others. These are intentional as this post is all about “Free Writing!”

Free writing is a method where you actually write about anything and everything that comes to your mind without stopping. If you are writing, you keep writing and if you are typing, you keep typing. If you are the rare sort who dictates your articles, you keep dictating without stopping. You must not stop for any reason; be it grammar, spelling or structure errors that occur along the way. You simply go on.

In order to gain maximum value of free writing, you need to ensure that you time it. Let’s say 10 minutes. For these 10 minutes, you must not be disturbed by anything for anything. Keep an alarm clock, if you must. Start and continue writing about anything that comes to your mind without stopping. Stop once the alarm rings even if you are in mid-sentence. There is no need to finish it.

Once done, go over your free written work. You will be amazed what you could actually come up with when you let your mind wander without disturbing the line of thoughts.

Free writing actually is the best way to get rid of your writer’s block. You can even use this as a daily writing exercise to keep your writing polished.

For a Freelance Writer "A Good Idea is Worth Its Weight In Gold!"

More often than not, a new freelance writer faces the trouble of idea generation. Even seasoned writer's face this problem. In my earlier post Writers Block Solution, I outlined 6 steps you could take in order to get yourself of out the idea lapse situation. A quick run through of what you can do are as follows. For elaboration, read the full article form the link above.

1. Keep a Word Journal

2. Draw Inspiration from Within

3. Engage in Research

4. Review Past Works

5. Entertain Yourself

6. Take a Nap

I was doing my daily research online and came across this book entitled "Get Paid To Write!: The No-Nonsense Guide To Freelance Writing." When I scanned through the content's page I was very much interested to see a topic on "Ideas and How to Get Them." The chapter outlined various other methods you could use apart from the 6 mentioned in Writers Block Solution.

You can read a limited preview of the book from Google Books. The chapter is found on Page 40.

Also, if you are interested in buying the book, click on the image below.

Have you Started using Twitter Yet?

You must be joking if you answered that you haven't started using Twitter yet! Twitter has caught on like fire and is being much more widely used than any other social networking platform ever existed. Compare Twitter usage and volume of posts to favorite Social Networking sites such as FaceBook, Orkut, StumbleUpon, Reddit (Reddit is still going strong btw), Digg (was the most popular site and is quicklyy fading away), Delicious and many others.

What is it that makes Twitter so powerful and attractive? How could you, as a freelance writer, make use of this platform to better your standing?

Twitter is a micro blogging, social networking site with a very simple chat-like interface. Chat interface has been around for long and many of us are comfortable and familiar with the usage. This is the first factor that brings the user closer to the platform than any other socila networking site.

Next, Twitter functions like a mobile phone. Ever sent SMS before? If yes, you would know that SMS has its character limitations. Similarly on Twitter, you are limited by 140 characters. Say what you want to say to whoever you wish to in precise, concise manner. No one has the time to go through grandfather stories to understand what you have to say. Make it quick and if there is enough meat, interested parties will bite and follow up on your message.

And yes, twitter is like an open market. Anyone can see your tweets and you can view any other person's tweet unless privacy settings are changed. The search functions and other widgets that support Twitter are immense and so useful that you have a very powerful promotional and marketing tool sitting right in front of your screen. That too for FREE by the way. As such, if you are still not bothered to find out how Twitter can help your freelance activities, you are losing out.

So, as a freelance writer, how could you utilise such a powerful platform? What could you possibly do with an application that is so powerful? Check out Beginners Guide to Twitter for Freelance Writer to find out more.

Is my Freelance Rate too high? - Know and Set Your Freelance Rates Right

Setting your freelance rates


Somehow I feel that every new freelancer faces the problem of setting their rates right. When I first started out, I had the same issue with setting my freelance writing rate as well. Therefore, I am speaking from experience. I am not saying that I have it figured it out by now. However, I roughly know what to charge for what and for which client now.

To some, it can be an extremely daunting task to figure out what to charge. You may feel that you will get short changed if you charge too low or you may lose assignments or even clients if you charge too high. Well, the chances are there for exploitation as well as loss of assignments and clients.

However, you are as good as your rate and you rate is as good as how you perceive your talent and specialisation to be. You have to make your own gauge and sell your skills accordingly. Here are some ways you can start deciding on what rate could be effective for you.



Start researching

The best way to do it is to ask around. There are various freelance writers’ forums where you can catch freelance writer’s discussing about their rates. When you join in or browse around, you will come across some users who seem to have “made it.” Take a look at their profile or their blogs (surely they will have it in their about me pages or their signatures) and check if they have any rates table.

You can also join freelance portals where many freelancers bid for various posted projects. This is a good way of finding what is the supply and what is the demand. If you are looking to build your portfolio and establish contacts, this is a good place to begin. From here, if you are comfortable, you can start small and then make your progress as your reviews and confidence grows. Freelance.com, GOFreelance, Elance and oDesk are platforms you can create an account at to start.

I started with Freelance.com and have written 300-500 word articles for mere $1. However, as the clients came back to me for more work, I knew that my style of writing and the quality of wok was appreciated. Thereby, I did not have any problem with increasing my rate with serious clients.

Now, how do I identify serious clients? You indicate that your rates are higher and they still stay with you because you provide quality service. Those are the serious clients. Anyone who runs when you say the rate is up is looking for cheap labour.



Understand your own needs

Each freelancer has his own needs, goals and milestones. You have to decide what are yours and work your rates accordingly. I believe you are in freelance business because of the lucrative market available and the possibility of having income in the short and long run. Therefore, you have to decide how much you are comfortable earning every month and set your rates accordingly. In order to do this, you have to decide how much work you are willing to accept with content research, writing, proofreading, editing, re-writing etc all included. With this, you can work backwards and find a comfortable rate.

Suppose you want to earn $1000 per month and you are willing to accept 10 assignments from each of your 5 clients for the current month. That would be 50 assignments for $1000. That would bring you a rate of $20/assignment. This is a rough gauge as you will also have to adjust according to the word count, amount of research, type of writing etc.



Build Relationships

Starting small should only be a priority if you are good at building relationships. Understand the client’s requirements first before embarking on the project. Understand the client’s needs as well as the client. There are various types of clients and you can read all about them here.

Be a Professional

You have to give quality service in terms on-time delivery of the assignments free of grammar, spelling and structure errors. Make your invoice look professional. Have a logo, a disclaimer and terms or service clearly stated. Follow up professionally. Ask questions about the assignments and provide valuable feedback. Behave professionally and your worth will shine through.



Summary

It is a popular notion that once you start small you will remain small. Not really. Why? This is because, you need to set foot in the freelance writer’s industry and if your rates are high even before you prove your worth you will not be given a chance. However, take care that you do not remain small for a long time.

The Writer's Block Solution

Writer's block can strike anyone. While those who have never faced it wonder how anyone can be affected so much that there is block of idea flow, those who have experienced it cringe that it should never happen to them ever again. The feelings are strange. One moment you are all set and ready to start writing and then you feel that you just cannot write or nothing you write seem to be satisfying!

The result of this, most of the time, are anger, frustration, unwanted stress. The after effects of these would be an unhealthy mind till the writer's block is removed. The causes of writer's block could be anything. So long as you know how to deal with the situation when you are faced with one could be much beneficial to you than anything. I have written an article based on this. It is entitled "How to deal with Writer's Block"

A quick runthrough of what you can do are as follows. For elaboration, read the full article form the link above.

1. Keep a Word Journal
2. Draw Inspiration from Within
3. Engage in Research
4. Review Past Works
5. Entertain Yourself
6. Take a Nap

Writer's block need not be a tiring or frustrating event. In fact, a writer's block could be a blessing in disguise. Try the recommendations and share what you find. I would love to hear from you :)

The Biggest Mistake a Freelance Writer MUST avoid

There are many ways you can come across as an unprofessional writer to your potential long term client. What can this do to your freelance writing career? It could end your writing career there and then. I may be exaggerating here. However, it is true that some of the mistakes freelance writers make can be completely avoided if only some form of proofreading and editing was done after writing. You would have if you are serious about your work.

So, what is that one biggest mistake that a freelance writer makes that can make the freelance writer look unprofessional and lax about his work?


SPELLING MISTAKES!

This is actually quite commonsensical. You wouldn’t think otherwise as you would have been told time and again from your various English Teachers that to watch your spelling. You have been spelling words since you can remember. Now that you have made the choice of freelance writing as your hobby or your career, you have to give that advice a listening ear.

You may not have had the luxury of a spell checker in the past. Now that you do have that luxury, there is no reason for you to come up with a written piece that is full of spelling errors!

Therefore, ensure that you avoid this biggest mistake in your freelance writing career. Some client may not mind your mistake. If you happen to find them, it is good for you. Most clients who are serious about their reputation will come after you if you hand in work that consists spelling errors. Mistakes do happen and if you have done your share of proofreading and editing, you are still okay. However, if you have not taken precaution from your side, this is going to be a habit that you will find very hard to break. And that is going to cost you a lot in the long run.

Freelance Clients - The Light Handed Lovable Type

Freelance Writing Success Mantra : "Know your clients to know what they want and give them exactly what they want!"

The Light Handed – Lovable Type
How to find one

Light handed clients forms between 50-70% of the client base I have handled so far. And they are very easy to come by in a very lucrative article writing niche rather than any other form of writing. These clients have very simple requirements. Read the description and you will see that only a skeletal requirement will be given. Also, these clients tend to give a lot of freedom to write on the topic in whichever angle you choose as long as you turn in quality work.

Their pay could vary. Some of the light handed clients pay the minimum as they feel their expectation is kept at minimum itself. Some of them pay really well and even provide ongoing work as long as you are interested and turn in quality work. I have experienced that such clients tend to provide increments without asking as well.

How to deal with one

Dealing with light handed client is quite simple. Look at the pay and look at the requirement and do your best keeping these two factors in mind and you will do well. Keep your communication to the minimum as they would prefer it that way unless otherwise stated. If you keep emailing them they will reconsider hiring you for long time. They prefer the hand-off method. The light handed client is okay as long as they do not spot any major mistakes in your work.

How to write for one

Read the client requirements carefully and ask if you are not sure about anything like you would for any other assignment from any other client. Keep your spelling and grammar intact. Some of these clients are not very fussy about sentence structures. They are happy as long as your work passes the basic requirement of readability.

Understand their requirement and work on them with as little mistake as possible and you are safe. This does not mean sub-standard work. Please do not read or understand them in that way. Light handed clients do not sit on the neck of the freelancer and demand every detail about the hours they put into the work or demand reports every day. Their demands are as simple as what is described to you when they hand you their work.

Is it good or bad?

Working for a light handed client could be good or bad depending on your agenda. If you are a freelancer who is looking for a client who gives you a free hand in doing the job, light handed client is your man. If you are looking for a client whom you want to build a long lasting working relationship with, light handed client is your choice.

However, the hands off approach by the client could mean that there is very little opportunity for you to learn about them or their business. You are very unlikely to find out how your work is being used. You will not be able to grow as a freelance writer working under such a client. There might exceptions though.

Freelance clients - The Heavy Handed Perfectionist Type

Freelance Writing Success Mantra : "Know your clients to know what they want and give them exactly what they want!"


The heavy handed –Perfectionist Type

How to find one

If you are given a contract or you landed the job based on the bidding system from a freelance portal, you can make out this type of client. The contract or the job description from a heavy handed client will come with every tiny bit of details addressed from spelling to grammar and from daily reporting to the presentation of the final report.

If you are not able to make out from the freelance contract or the project description, you will find out after you turn in your first assignment.

How to deal with one

You have to be extremely cautious when dealing with such a client as they tend to be very detail oriented and will go through your work with microscope before they release your payment. Also, be prepared for changes in your writing as the heavy handed client wants the final product to be as perfect as possible.

If the pay is good, your work must be good as well and there is no harm in the client being heavy handed. However, if the client is paying $1/500 words, this type of approach is not tolerable for most freelance writers.

How to write for one

Be very careful if you want repeat projects. Watch your spelling, grammar and sentence structure. Be especially mindful about the deadline. Never even think about handing in the project past the deadline. If you are asked for progress reports at specific milestones or time, be sure to hand it in.

Is it good or bad?

Working as a freelance writer for a heavy-handed client is an experience in itself. If you are paid reasonably well for such an approach you will definitely start learning some of the characteristics of a super freelance writer! You will be more conscientious about the way you write and be more disciplined in meeting your deadlines, if not anything else. Overall, your writing will improve.

The downside is that if the pay is not good enough for to tolerate this type, you may feel overwhelmed and apprehensive. Most importantly you would never want to work for this client ever again.

Looking for freelance writing clients? Know the different types before you start work

Knowing your client for whom you are freelance writing makes a lot of difference to the way you actually write. Freelance writers work with clients with varying temperaments, expectations and pay structure. Knowing them will make your writing a lot more easier as you will know exactly what to deliver. In the coming posts, I will bring you through a few of them whom I have personally worked for. Through this you will be able to identify the different types of clients when you come across them and also know if the behavior is acceptable and how you can deal with this client. You will also know how working for such a client will benefit your freelance writing career.

The different types of freelance writing clients you will encounter are;

The heavy handed - Perfectionist type

The light handed - Lovable type

The no handed - Can't be bothered type

Click on the links to read about them. This post will be updated as and when I come across new types which cannot be classified as any of these types. If you know about any other types of clients you have worked for, do let me know so that I can include them in my list as well.

Steps to Online Freelance Writing Success

If you have the mindset that says “I freelance as a hobby” or “I freelance to make ends meet,” you will be doing that only. If you are serious about attaining success through freelancing and really hope to quit your job one day to do full-fledged freelancing you have to start treating your freelancing efforts as a real business. 


Shift Your Focus

The very first thing you need to do if you want to be a successful freelance writer is shift your focus. Take your freelance writing seriously and give it equal importance in your schedule and your life. You will see a significant rise in terms of satisfaction and earnings when this happens.

Make Time to Write

Consistent writing schedule is necessary if you want to start on a fast track to freelance writing success. Even when you are not writing for a client, you need to keep writing to build your portfolio or to just increase your research materials. If you get stuck with a writer’s block or are feeling lazy even doodling something will help keep the momentum. If you pass the day wothout writing even one sentence you are digging the grave for your freelance writign career.

Consistent apprach is very important. If you are not writing because you do not have a job from a client, become your own client. Come with your own writing assignments and start writing.

Set up a Writing Station

Many freelancer writers work from home for very good reasons. Reasons range from kids to freedom from a regular job. And not many are able to sustain the momentum they had wen they started out as a online freelance writer! Well, if you use your kitchen space or your bedroom to write you will find that you are doing much more of other things compared to actually writing. When you set up a special corner in your home for you to work on your freelance writing, you will find that you get much more done in that short span of time.

Learn to Handle Disruptions

As I mentioned before, many freelance writers work from home and unless you are staying alone you are bound to face distractions. What makes the situation worse is that your parents, spouse, siblings, kids or friends may not even acknowledge that you are working and may feel that you are free. This is a very real issue faced by many online freelance writers. The basic reason being that people are still not able to digest the fact that you can actually be working from home on your computer in your pyjamas.

To handle this you need to keep a working space intact and be sure to let the possible disrupters that you are not free when you are at your workstation.

KISS (Keep it Short and Simple)

Nothing is more dangerous to an online freelance writer than a bored audience and an irritated client. Depending on your audience keep your articles short and simple unless otherwise required. If you are writing for a general online audience, you must ensure that you keep your article sentences and paragraphs short. You can organize your article by incorporating bullet points where appropriate for an easy read. If your articles are easy to read and understand you will gain more readers as well as clients which will accelerate your freelance writing success.

Find Avenues to Showcase Your Potential

The initial step to finding freelance work is to look for it. You should register with leading freelance portals to bid on projects and land yourself some jobs and get some reviews about your quality of work submitted. This builds credibility and increases your workload as more clients feel comfortable hiring you. Freelancer.com, oDesk, Elance are few of the best portals around.

However, you need to slowly move away from this. In order to be a successful freelance writer, you need to develop yourself into someone the clients will come looking for instead of you approaching them. This is not going to happen overnight. Lots of hard work, persistence and relationship building are required in order for your freelancing career t come to such heights. Once you manage this, there is no looking back. Do note that you still need to keep an eye open for good opportunities.

Charge What You Are Worth

Face it! You are in this business to make money and you are not going to make it unless you charge your worth.Many freelancer writers are baffled when they are asked what their per-hour rate is or how much they charge per article or word. As mentioned before, you need to treat your freelance writing career as a business. Ask yourself if you would you ever go into business without knowing how much to charge for your product or service. Why should your freelance writing charges be any different?

Do not be afraid to charge what you are worth. Negotiation is always an option. However, if you under estimate your worth you are getting exploited and I will take a lot of time before your pay gets revised. If you over estimate you will lose your assignment as well as the client.

Be a Professional

Your quality, assignment turnaround time, communication must be of top notch quality. A lack in any of those departments will delay your success. Excellent service is what sets apart a good freelance writer from a best freelance writer and only the best are really successful. The best mantra here is to under promise and over deliver.
 
I have written a slightly different version of the same article which can be found here

Top 3 reasons why a Freelancer will Survive a Recession!

It may sound ironical but it is true that freelancers are in high demand even during recession. In fact, the demand for freelancers increase during recession times. If you just take Internet content for example, you will realize that many new websites are springing up every day! Now where do these contents come from? Surely someone must be writing them and I can safely say that more than 90% of the contents on the Internet are written by freelancers. There are many reasons for that.

- Lack of time
- Lack of expertise
- Low cost high quality
- Flexibility
- Geographical reach

Here are the top 3 reasons why a freelancer will survive a recession - Click here to read more

Do I need experience to be a freelance writer?

Anyone who can write can be a freelance writer. Experience is not vital for you to land a freelance writing opportunity at all. When I say anyone can be a freelance writer, it literally means that. There are many clients out there who are willing to give new freelancers a chance. The only requirement would be a no obligation sample work.

So what is needed to succeed at a freelance writing career if not experience?
A lot of dedication, hard work, persistence and consistent improvement are the qualities that you must have in order to make your freelancing career a success. If you are the sort who gives up in the first month itself, freelance writing is not for you. Your freelance writing career will only be as successful as you want it to be. No more no less.

The amount of success and client base you will have will definitely depend on your quality of writing as well as your communication and turnaround time. Spelling mistakes, grammar etc will give your experience and knowledge away and if the mistakes are major, you will never hear from the client again. Meeting the deadlines is a must and if you are unable to, your chances of keeping the given opportunity will be gone as well.

Moreover, if your communication skills are poor, your freelance writing career is at stake. Clients prefer freelancer who can communicate effectively at least via email in order to keep them posted on the status of the project. If a report is required at the end of the project and you fail to submit, this will result in poor communication as well on your part.

Opportunities available for new freelance writers
There are many Freelance Portals on the web and many more opportunities offline that provide opportunities for beginners. You only need to know where to look for them. Some of the online Freelance Opportunity Portals are

GetaFreelancer.com

Elance.com

oDesk

Also, if you are looking out to build a portfolio of articles so that you can get started with approaching clients article directories and ezines would be the best place to start. One of the best directories on the web is Helium.com and one of the best ezine is e-zinearticles.com.

Hence, experience can only make you a better freelancer. However, in order to land your first freelance writing job, you need not have any experience but the best of qualities.

Why would anyone want to be a Freelance Writer?

The best answer to why you want to be a freelance writer is within you. Reasons can range from hobby to major career change. However there are certain strong elements in a freelance writing career that moves people like you and me to take freelance writing seriously. Here are listed few:

1. Freedom
Who loves working under a boss? In everyone, there is a voice which urges entreprenuership. For some people, the voice is louder and hence they take the path of uncertainities and acheive. Some are happy with their month to month salary check and live within their means. Freelance writing provides freedom and lets you become your own boss of your own destiny.

2. Flexibility
Freelance writing provides you with the flexibility to choose what to work on and how much to work. Also, you can choose when and where to work. Moreover, you decide your own rate and the niche you want to write about.

3. Diversity
You are no lonfer stuck in the same job! You are writing and high chances are that you will be writing on various topics. You do researches based on your interest and the topic on hand. A new and exciting project everytime!

4. Money
Whether you are freelance writing part time or full time, you get paid. It is only time that you land a good client and a regular flow of work before you see the real money coming into your bank account.

5. Balance
Especially you are a parent, you would love to spend all the time with your kids monitoring their growth, schoolwork activities and so on. Freelace writing provides you with this balance necessary in order for you to be with your spouse and kids whe they need you the most.

There are many more reasons people take up freelance writing as a career. Do share with me about your personal motivation factor that urged you to try or take up freelance writing as a choice of part time or full time career.