As of late, I have been thinking a lot about which months are best to me as far as freelance writing income is concerned. Obviously, some industries have particular times of the year where they do more business. But is this the case with freelance writing?
After a lot of thinking and plenty of number crunching, I cannot find a solid answer to this question based on my past income. For instance, last January I eclipsed $8k for one of my biggest months ever. But through three weeks of January 2008, I am nowhere close to that mark. Is this because January is a slower month, but last year I got lucky? Does the economy and fear of a recession have anything to do with this?
On the same token, you would expect December to be a traditionally bad month due in large part to Christmas, etc. But once again, comparing my last two years of income did not get me very far. In December of 2007, I earned $6,304.50. But in 2006, I only broke $4,500.
By looking at my freelance writing income stats, there is no trend pointing towards the best and worst months. Of course, this does not mean anything; it could just be me.
What do you think? Are there some months that are consistently better in terms of income? If you take a look at your past stats, you should be able to see if there are any trends. For now, I’ll go along thinking that freelance writing is a great money maker during all 12 months! Care to change my mind?
As a freelance writer, you have the ability to set your own schedule. But even though this is a benefit in many ways, it can also act as a drawback as well. Since you do not have anybody telling you what to do, you are responsible for staying on track and getting your work done on time. One of the most common ways to get yourself in trouble with clients is to send them work past deadline. Not only will this infuriate them, but it will probably force them to leave you and find a new writer.
For me, the best way to save time for writing is to cut out extracurricular activities during the workday. Personally, I like to work between the hours of 700am and 5pm. While all of this time is not spent on writing, most of it is for business related activity. Early in my career, I had a difficult time staying at the computer all day long. After all, I had never worked from home with the freedom to do whatever I wanted.
Some of the most common time wasters for freelance writers include:
1. Watching television and/or listening to the radio. Not only will this slow you down, but it will also mess with your concentration at the same time. In the end, this will result in lost time as well as sub-par work; both things that will bring down your freelance writing business.
2. Leaving your home office for personal reasons. While this is often times impossible to avoid, you should give it your best shot. For example, you may want to do your grocery shopping during the day, but if you are supposed to be working, you should fight the urge. Flexibility is a great part of being a freelance writer. Just make sure that you do not abuse this benefit.
3. Spending time checking email and/or browsing the internet. All in all, this is the number one time waster for freelance writers as well as other professionals. In fact, many companies are coming up with new and innovative ways to block employees from wasting too much time online. Of course, since you have no boss, you will need to exercise self restraint. It is entirely too easy to look at one website, which turns into two and then more. Before you know it, you will be losing valuable time without even realizing it.
As a freelance writer, your main goal should be to write as much as possible during your business hours. This does not mean that you should get rid of your flexible schedule, but you definitely need to cut back on any extracurricular activities that waste time and steal your attention.
On most business days, I usually receive at least one email from a potential freelance writing client. Although not all of these turn into a project, it is always nice to see what people have to say and offer. If you are like me, you will want to take these inquiries very seriously. After all, you never know where your next client is going to come from.
It is very important that you know how to respond to a potential freelance writing client via email. While this is usually simple enough, I have seen how some writers correspond – and it is not pretty. Here are three tips that will help you to successfully answer an email from a potential client.
1. Carefully read the email that you received before doing anything else. In the past, I have been guilty of not doing this. I will browse a long email, and then shoot back a reply before knowing all the details. The end result is the client writing back asking the same questions as the first email; this makes the writer look bad. Do yourself a favor and always make sure that you know what is being asked of you before you respond. Some clients will simply want a price quote, and others will be ready to send upfront payment within the hour. You need to know what you are dealing with.
2. Even if the job is not up your alley, make sure that you are cordial with your reply. If you do not plan on taking the job, thank the person for their time and explain to them why you are passing. Remember, you never know when somebody will come back to you in the future. Of course, if the project sounds intriguing, you will want to be just as nice. It never hurts to be accommodating to everybody who gets in touch with you.
3. In addition to answering questions, ask any follow-ups that may be on your mind. It is better to get your questions answered sooner rather than later. This way, if the client does not agree with you on something, you can either compromise or move on. It is always better to move on early in the process; this way you do not lose too much time.
Once your initial reply is sent, you may correspond via email for a few days. As you know, some freelance writing clients move much slower than others. Every situation is different, and you need to be ready to deal with anything that comes your way.
For the most part, the three tips above should help you to successfully correspond via email with potential freelance writing clients.
