Freelance Writing Careers
By Angela Stringfellow
As a writer, you probably read the stories about writers who are working from home and
making six-figure salaries with envy, and wonder, "Why can't that be me? I must not be
good enough to make that kind of money." I'm here to tell you that it's possible for
anyone to build a very successful freelance writing career and earn a six-figure salary,
while never leaving home.
The key is diversification and flexibility. You have to be able to diversify your
talents and be flexible enough to apply them to a variety of different sub-fields within
the broader writing category. While your passion may be fiction writing, you still need to
put food on the table while you write your novel. It's still important to pursue what
you're most passionate about, but being flexible enough to apply your talents in more
profitable areas will allow you the freedom to pursue your ultimate dream. Are you
flexible enough and motivated enough to use your talents in other areas that have the
potential to make you lots of money?
There are endless possibilities of profitable areas you could pursue in your writing
career. Networking and marketing yourself properly could land you freelance writing
opportunities in blogging, writing e-books, ghostwriting, copywriting, resume writing, and
more. Corporations are always in need of talented writers to write copy for their
websites, for external communications, such as press releases, and even internal
communications. While many companies utilize in-house staff for these tasks, most often
it's a secondary job for a staff member who has no expérience in writing other than what
they've done for that company. It's your job to educate them on how outsourcing those
tasks to a professional writer could net them greater results from their communication efforts.
There are two challenges most often faced by writers, and I have solutions for both.
The first is that most writers are, by nature, not skilled in the areas of accounting and
business management. I chose to outsource my back-office functions to a company called MBO
Partners, which handles contracts, invoicing and collections. They also act as an employer
of record, which means I get a single W-2 at the end of the year, simplifying my
tax-management process. I still have control over my business, still market my own
services and choose which clients I work for, but still am able to take advantage of all
the tax deductions that come with owning a business.
The second challenge most often faced by freelance writers is the ability to market our
own services. Typically writers have more introverted personalities, and most of us aren't
comfortable tooting our own horn. Thanks to the internet, it's not necessary to have
face-to-face interaction with potential clients in order to get new business. There are
many indirect ways to attract customers that are highly effective, although it is still
beneficial to fine-tune our sales skills and have the courage to make cold calls now and then.
It's also still necessary to take initiative and submit proposals for potential work.
Go to your potential customers with ideas and solutions; don't simply send an email
saying, "Hi, I'm a freelance writer, do you have any writing needs?" Make sure you do your
research on your potential clients and think of how what you offer can improve their
business. That's the information you need to convey when approaching a customer.
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