As for your referral system, however, the problem with that is that your low-paying clients might tell potential clients, “Yeah, try her — she’s really cheap.” Then you have a problem quoting “current” rates, because they’ll say, “But you do it for so-and-so for only X amount.” Retaining low-paying clients can make it really difficult to move up to the next level, especially when your old clients and your new clients know each other.

Also, while I can certainly see the distinction if the work takes up all or most of your time, at least in terms of freelance editing, I’ve found it profitable to continue working for my original clients even though they pay at my old rates just because I get so many referrals from them to new clients who pay the current rates.

Thanks you for the encouragement!

They are good for getting your feet wet and for discovering if this is what you want to do as well as for building a portfolio. They are also good if you are switching the emphasis of your writing.

They are not good if you feel you that you must turn down a more lucrative job in order to meet your commitment to a low-paying job. They are not good if you are forced to work unendurable hours just to get by. Finally, they are not good if you work quality suffers because of the quantity that you must produce.

Good topic!

Thank you for all the great advice and job postings!

I’d be satisfied with any writing job…..even low paying.

I wrote over sixty articles for http://www.inspin.com over a year. I received quite a few positive comments as well as some negative comments (but I got more positive comments….the negative comments were aimed more towards my opinions pertaining to the article topic).

They were great to work for. But they are a ’sports information’ web site in Costa Rico. Writers were paid by placing money in a interbet sportsbook and we could either gamble with it or take it out. After the U.S. government really started cracking down on sportsbooks and their payment sources a couple of months ago, the supposedly fired all the U.S. writers.

Since then, I have inquired about many jobs posted here. But I am going against many many other writers with much more experience and skill than I have. It’s been very tough with all the rejections.

The hardest rejections was the writing position that was open on about.com where they were looking for writers to write about a diverse range of topics about Indianapolis where I currently live and have lived for over thirty-four years.

I have many great connections and I knew I could get in any door and talk to anybody here! I even had great references here.

I told them that I’d even be willing to work for less at first until they see whether or not they liked my work.

After I didn’t hear anything from them in over two weeks, I inquired about the position and they told me that they received ten applications and reject four. I was one of those four.

That just crushed me! I really felt like I was more than qualified and I just knew I would do a great job.

The part that really bothers me is, I disABLED and on an extremely fixed income. I really would like to supplement my income.

When I inquire about a position, I try very hard to convey in my inquiry that what I lack in experience I will more than make up for enthusiasm,willingness and dedication!

I have very few distractions (i.e. kids,car payments,house payments etc.) so I could dedicate quite a bit of time on a project. But I still have gotten nowhere.

I have an extremely rare disorder and have had *334* surgeries as I think that all my ‘life experience’ would be great in my work on a certain project…. espically humor,motivation,determination etc. experience related projects. I also have had over twenty-five years of computer and on-line related experience, but I just cannot find somebody that is looking for such a writer to agree enough to hire me.

I had a blog with blogit.com but I didn’t think I was accomplishing much

I apologize for the length,’whining’ and unintentional selfishness. It really is not me at all. But I am just very discouraged and needed to vent.

I’m sure there are literally millions of writers that feel the same way as I do. At least I’m not facing immediate homelessness and/or starvation like many writers do!

Does anybody out there have any advice and/or ideas? I am more than willing to work very hard for very little if that is what it takes!

Thank you in advance.

And thank you very much for this site and daily leads Deb! You keep me going!

Regards,

Sean

It was tempting to stick with it, because if I was diligent I knew I could make $150 or $200 a month to supplement my regular income (for a high volume of short, time-consuming pieces and no, expensese were not reimbursed).

The beginning of the year seemed like the right time to take stock and re-evaluate my writing projects and I realized that although this one was steady income, it was taking up time that I could be using to break into bigger markets.

Another factor was that my editor had just left and her replacement wasn’t following through on the promises she’d made. That made it easy to say “you know I appreciate the work you’ve given me, but I think it’s time for me to focus on other projects.” Since their accounting department required that you invoice at least ten articles at once, I made sure to leave after I’d written and invoiced the requisite ten.

I managed to finish up his project but I decided not to start a new one that was laborious and low paying.