As a freelance writer, you definitely need to have a website that displays everything from contact information to a bio to samples. While this may sound foreign to you, as it did to me early on, it is not nearly as bad as you may think. If you are having a hard time deciding on a hosting company, let me make the decision for you: work with BlueHost.
I have worked with no less than five hosting companies over the years, and BlueHost blows them all away; at least from my perspective. There are several reasons that I feel this way.
1. I find it hard to believe that there is a better customer service team than BlueHost. Not only are they available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but they always answer your questions accurately and efficiently. I have found their live chat feature to be helpful no matter what time of the day it is. A few weekends back I had an issue with a problem that I caused on my own, and despite the fact that it was Sunday I was walked through the solution step by step.
The bottom line is that freelance writers do not always have good technical skills. When you can rely on a customer service rep to help you through the rough times, it makes life much easier.
2. You can host an unlimited number of domains with a BlueHost account. A few years ago this may not have been a big deal to me, but it is a huge selling point now. I currently have several blogs and websites, and am always adding to this list. With the ability to host unlimited domains, I never have to worry about any problems in this area.
3. Price! What more can I say? Even if you have a lot of money, you don’t want to spend more than you have to on web hosting. With BlueHost you can take advantage of a large list of features for $6.95/month. You may be able to find something for a few dollars cheaper, but it is safe to say that the features will not stack up.
If you are in the market for web hosting, or need to make a change because your current service is not up to par, give BlueHost a try. You will definitely be glad with this decision in the end!
How do you track your freelance writing income? Hopefully, you have an answer to this question. If you simply collect your payments and go about your business, you are doing yourself a huge disservice. The fact of the matter is that you need to have a good system in place that allows you to track, manage, and organize all of the income that you earn from your freelance writing career.
You do not need to do anything special when it comes to tracking your freelance writing income. Although my system is far from advanced, it works just fine month in and month out.
1. I have a separate folder in my email account where I store emails from PayPal that state when and how much I was paid. It is important to store these emails in a separate folder so that you can find them quickly if need be. Of course, you could simply rely on your actual PayPal account for these records, but I prefer to have something for myself as well.
2. Once I receive a PayPal payment, I head to my account and print out the invoice. This says how much money I received, when the funds entered my account, and who the money came from. From here, I keep the paid invoices in a folder labeled “Received Payments.†I do the same thing with payments that are made by check, wire transfer, etc.
3. I keep two Excel spreadsheets: one that shows money that is owed and the other for money that I have received. At the end of each month I simply add up the money that I have received, and mark down the total; this is my freelance writing income for that particular month. At the end of the year I add the totals for all 12 months, and that is my income for the year.
Are there better ways to track income? I am sure there are. In fact, I know that there are many software programs that are much more advanced than my method. But with that being said, I have had good luck with this way of doing things for many years; changing now does not make that much sense to me.
When it comes down to it, you need to track every freelance writing dollar that you make. This will not only allow you to keep close tabs on how much you are earning, but it will also help big time when tax season rolls around. Remember, there is no end of the year pay stub that will show how much money you earned.Â
It does not matter how you track and organize your freelance writing income as long as you are accurately doing so.
I recently had a long conversation with an aspiring freelance writer. Although we talked about many aspects of the industry, the conversation kept coming back to whether or not making “real†freelance writing income was a realistic goal. Even though I make a solid living this way, some people still have a hard time believing that they can join me in doing so.
In my opinion, as long as you have above average writing skills and the will to succeed, you can make it to the top as a freelance writer. I never tell people that it will be easy or that they will earn tens of thousands of dollars in their first year, but it is more than possible.
Time after time I hear of aspiring freelance writers who quit chasing their dream for the same reason: too many people told them that it was a bad idea, so they simply put this career path “on hold.†Of course, they never come back to it, and end up working for somebody else the rest of their life. It is very important that you do not fall into this trap. If you do, it is safe to say that a career in freelance writing is going to elude you. Remember, there are always going to be people telling you that working for yourself is a bad idea. They will tell you everything that is wrong with being a freelance writer, but nothing from the positive side.
To build a successful freelance writing career, it is important to set small goals while closely tracking your progress. For instance, your month one goal may be to earn $100. After you reach this mark, set another reasonable goal and move on from there. Taking small steps and hitting your goals along the way will make the process simpler.
In short, if you want to be a freelance writer you need two things: good writing skills and the ability to stay dedicated to your career no matter what others are saying. With these points in mind, begin setting goals and working towards achieving success.
