When I look back at the first few months of my freelance writing career, one detail still makes me wonder: why did I try to memorize the projects that I had to complete every day? Instead of writing my work down, I would simply try to remember what I had to do, and then use my email system as a bit of assistance. Simply put, I would never try this now. I have used another system for staying organized with my daily work, and it has been quite effective to say the least.
What does my system look like? In today’s day and age of technology, you are probably expecting me to use some sort of software to track my jobs and workload. But actually, the exact opposite is true. I use a simple post-it-note to keep track of the work that I need to complete.
My “freelance writing worksheet†consists of three columns; always in the same order working from left to right.
In the far left column, I include the jobs that I absolutely have to complete on a given day. I do not move onto any other projects until these jobs have a line through them.
The middle column consists of blog related work. This includes everything from writing new posts to changing ad placement and much more. If it has to do with any of my blogs, the task is put in the middle column.
On the far right I keep long term tasks. For instance, I have a reminder to renew some online subscriptions within the next few months. The reason that I keep this column is simple. Since they are all based on the long term, I know that if they are not on paper I could very well forget about them. And obviously, that would not be a good thing.
At the end of each day, I do two things. First off, I write my new worksheet for the following day. I base this off of the prior day’s notes, as well as any emails that I have in my “Jobs Due†folder. After that, I throw out the current day’s post-it-note that has been marked up.
Do yourself a favor and write down all of the work that you have to complete. This will help to ensure that you never miss a deadline.Â
If you are interested in freelance writing, keep this in mind: you need to be good at something. What does this mean, exactly? Well, a lot of freelance writers spread themselves thin. In other words, instead of concentrating on a couple topics until they become well versed, they try to be the best at everything. But guess what? Before you can become good at everything, you need to become good at something.
Early on in my freelance writing career I got stuck in this rut; it can be hard to avoid, there is no denying that. I was so caught up on making money, that it did not matter what I was writing about. This included everything from travel related articles to adult website reviews. But over time, I realized that honing in on a few niche subjects was a better idea than being a do it all writer.
So what subjects did I decide on? Even though it has been a while, I can still remember the three topics that I catered towards in the early days. They were insurance, health, and real estate. Why did I choose these topics, you may ask? Simply put, when I was starting my freelance writing career, these were the subjects that most people requested articles on. The reason for this is that these niches were most profitable. And even after a few years, this still holds true.
This is not to say that I kept a narrow focus as my career moved forward. Today, I feel comfortable writing on a wide variety of subjects. In fact, there are not too many topics that I would not be able to write about. But as mentioned above, I only began to expand after I first became good at “something.â€
To condense things, here are two tips to keep in mind.
1. From day one of your freelance writing career, decide on three topics that you would like to concentrate on. From there, take the time to become proficient in writing about them. When choosing, you can decide on topics that are of interest to you. Or you can do what I did, and choose the ones that seem to have the most opportunity attached to them.
2. Once you become good at writing on these first three topics, begin to expand into other areas. In no time at all you will be in my position; one in which you feel comfortable with the majority of topics.
Here is one last point to keep in mind: some freelance writers are faster than others at developing a good working knowledge of their first three areas of expertise. This may take you a couple months, or maybe longer. You may not believe it now, but as you begin to write more and more, you will get a feel for how well your skills are developing. And from there, your path to the future will become much clearer.
I have always believed that setting career related goals is the key to success. After all, if you do not know what you want to accomplish, how will you know what direction to head? Just like any other career, if you are interested in freelance writing and/or blogging you need to set goals.
The main reason that many freelance writers and bloggers do not set goals is because they have no idea what to strive for. While it can be difficult to set solid, realistic goals, you need to do so in order to achieve success.
As a freelance writer, there are several goals that you can make for yourself. First off, set a goal for how much money you want to earn each month. While doing this, make sure that you are realistic. You may earn $7,500/month sooner or later, but in your first month as a freelance writer this is probably not going to happen.
Additionally, you can set freelance writing goals based on the number of queries you send out or contacts you make. For instance, tell yourself that you will send query letters/emails to at least three publications a week. Many of these may turn into rejection, but over time you are sure to breakthrough. The nice thing about a goal like this is that anybody can do it. As long as you have the motivation to send out letters, you will reach this goal. It has nothing to do with quantity of work or income.
On the blogging side of things, you can set similar goals. Many bloggers set goals based around traffic numbers, backlinks, and of course, income.
As you move forward, you will want to make sure that you adjust your goals to suit your needs. For instance, if you have a goal of earning $1,000/month via freelance writing, you will want to work hard until you succeed. But guess what? At that time, you should set a new goal; one that will push you even higher. Over time, as you reach each goal you will be able to look back at your starting point and see just how far you have come.
Through my experience, setting small goals with your freelance writing and/or blogging careers is the best way to go. This will help you to reach your large goals sooner, and in turn keep you motivated as you move forward. Â
