Just like every freelance writer, you are probably most interested in high paying jobs that are fun to work on. For instance, I have completed 1,500 word feature articles on various sporting events for close to $1,000. Unfortunately, these jobs come around only so often. Of course, as you grow your freelance writing career, they are sure to become more and more common.
The question is: what are you going to do until you can build up a decent amount of high paying work? For me, chasing high quantity, average paying projects is the way to go. As you can imagine, “high quantity†and “average pay†means something different to every freelance writer. Generally speaking, it depends on what stage of your career you are in, how fast you work, and what you currently charge clients.
I recently picked up a job that I would describe as high quantity with average pay. I am being paid $250 per week for five articles per day of 250 to 300 words. This is not a large project by any means, and some may even see it as a time waster. But for me, it works out to an extra $1,000 per month for a relatively small amount of work.
If you are searching for jobs that fit these criteria, make sure that you are very careful. You do not want to accept a job that requires 100 articles per month for a total pay of $200. If you do, you will find out soon enough that you are not spending your time wisely. It is always important to breakdown any project offer that you receive. By break down I mean find out how much time you will have to put in, and what per hour rate you will be able to earn. This will give you an answer as to whether or not you should accept the project.
Until you start to consistently reel in high paying regular jobs, you may want to consider those that are high quantity with average pay.
As you probably know, I believe very strongly in getting paid a certain percentage of a project’s price before getting started. This is not something that you have to do with established clients, but for first time jobs, you definitely want to look into this. But just like anything else concerning payment, there are some potential problems with receiving prepayment. Personally, I have encountered two issues in the past on several occasions.
1. What is your plan if you receive prepayment, but the client does not like what you turn in? You have two options if this is the case. 1. You can work with the client until they accept your work. 2. You can refund the money, and part ways. The problem with number two is that you may have already spent or transferred the money that the client prepaid. To avoid this issue, make sure that you always have enough money in your PayPal account to cover refunds. Although refunds are few and far between, you still want to be prepared if this situation comes up.
2. Many clients confuse prepayment for full payment. You need to be 100 percent clear in the wording that you use. If you are asking for prepayment for the entire cost of the project, that is fine. But if you are only asking for 50 percent, you need to make sure that the client knows this. There is nothing worse than sending an invoice for the remainder of the payment, just to have the client say that they already sent the whole thing. To avoid this, make sure you and the client are on the same page.
Remember, this is not to say that you should avoid prepayment. But it does mean that you should be careful about what you are doing. Yes, prepayment is a good thing, but only if you do it right.
One of the most exciting times of my freelance writing career was day one. Although that was many years ago, I can still remember some of the tasks that I completed. In my opinion, the way that you start your freelance writing career will have a lot to do with the success that you achieve later on. Additionally, if you get off to a good start there is a much better chance that you will stick with this career choice for the long haul.
So what should you do on day one of your freelance writing career? Just like so many things within this industry, the answer to this question is based on opinion. In other words, the things that I did on day one may not suit your career. But at the same time, maybe they will.
Here are three general things that you will definitely want to take care of during your first day on the job:
1. Make sure that you are organized. There is nothing worse than having to stop what you are doing because your details and paperwork are not in order. Since you probably won’t have a lot of work to complete on day one, you might as well get organized.
2. Do you have a business and marketing plan? If not, this is a great day one task. You may not think that a freelance writer needs these plans, but nothing could be further from the truth. With a business and marketing plan in hand, you will have a track to follow as each day goes by.
3. Spend some time learning about the freelance writing industry. This can be done by reading posts on popular message boards such as Absolute Write or Digital Point, or by simply perusing freelance writing websites. Just remember one thing: you do not want to spend hours on end researching and learning what others are doing. While this is a big part of a successful freelance writing career, you need to make sure that you are putting time into building your own business as well.
Just like any career, your first day as a freelance writer will be full of unexpected twists and turns. If you have no idea where to start, the three general tasks above should keep you busy on day one.
