The freelance world can be a bit difficult from time to time. You spend hours seeking out jobs and writing the perfect articles, but what happens if you don’t get paid? It can be stomach turning for the end of the payday to arrive and not have received payment. While you may get angry, or sit there in complete shock, there are a few ways to deal with late paying clients. Give Them the Benefit of the Doubt It may look fishy to not receive payment, but things happen. Your client may have internet problems, been in an accident or [Read more…]

One of the most terrifying parts of being a freelance writer is the notion that at any point, a client could call, IM or email you and say something alone the lines of, “This is completely not what I want. Change it immediately.” This is especially scary if you’ve just paid all your bills and you don’t even have ramen noodles to eat. When you need the job, you need to deal with the client’s complaints. But you also have to stay cool. Clients are like dogs — they can smell your fear. The following tips will help you a [Read more…]

I used to co-blog at Kommein, a blog for community managers. It was my place to talk about social media, especially community management. The problem was, FWJ became too big for me to manage on a part time basis and most of my personal projects fell to the wayside as I worked hard to grow this network. So Kommein faltered for a while. It’s time to dust it off. The truth is, I miss discussing social media. I know I touch upon it here from time to time, but you’re here to learn more about writing than anything else. So [Read more…]

I get a kick out of the various search terms folks use to find Freelance Writing Jobs. A few months ago, we served up a sampling of some of the more unusual search terms used to bring readers here and we’re back for a second helping. Enjoy some of the interesting words and phrases used to bring people to the FWJ network. “My dog is chasing my cat” If your cat has claws, he’ll take care of that in a heartbeat. “Bunny slippers” “Map of the Caribbean” “How does Deb Ng pronounce her last name” It sounds like “ing.” “I’m [Read more…]

Reading my stats always gives me a giggle. It’s not the numbers that are funny, but rather some of the search terms leading folks here. I began taking collecting some of the more interesting searches to share with you here. Behold, some of the more unusual search terms leading to FWJ. My comments are in italics. “Is my husband clueless?” Something to hide? “Should I call my boyfriend if we’re on a break?” There’s a reason it’s called a break, Rachel. “Deb Ng has warts” Um…not THIS Deb Ng “Freelance writing on flower cards” WTF? “How come I’m not rich” [Read more…]