I hate scammers and unfortunately there are far too many of them around. David Hobart from Purecontent has contacted me to help him get the word out about this one, and I am happy to oblige. People who work for this company are not required to download this software. Please e-mail David@Purecontent.com if you are contacted by this person. We have become the latest target of one of the many Online Criminals. An advert was placed by someone pretending to be an employee of Purecontent who purported to be attempting to sign up new writers. Why you may ask yourself [Read more…]

My New Oxford American Dictionary defines “handicap” as follows: “a circumstance that makes progress or success difficult.” When it comes to finding work or completing our assignments, freelance or otherwise, we all have them. It could be a fear of rejection that keeps us from applying for a freelance writing gig or making a pitch to someone we really want to work with. The barriers may be due to a health condition, family responsibilities, or a lack of support from our nearest and dearest. In no way am I suggesting that we should all dump our respective baggage and find [Read more…]

Bullying is not limited to the schoolyard, unfortunately. Even though I am way past the age when I would be going out for recess, I still get bullied. No, I’m not talking about people who use keyboard courage to say something snarky. The worst bully I know is…me. We all have an inner dialogue and there are times when mine is particularly nasty. It tells me things that I would never say to another living person. What does my inner bully have to do with finding freelance writing jobs? Well, it used to prevent me from applying for certain gigs [Read more…]

Stop being afraid you’re going to get fired. When you are freelancing, you are working for yourself. The only person who can fire you is….you. The relationship between yourself and a client is not the same one that exists between and employer and an employee. When you are dealing with a client, you are an independent businessperson and – dare I say it – your client’s equal. When you are an equal, you negotiate terms instead of asking your boss for permission to do something. A client can’t take your job away from you like a boss can. If things [Read more…]

Before I continue with this post, I want to clarify that when I am talking about content provider companies, I mean those that pay a half-decent rate, not $1.00 for 500 words. I’ve worked for content providers, and I think there are some positive aspects to working for them. Steady Work Since their business is providing content for site owners, these companies can probably supply you with work on a regular basis. You don’t need to find the work – the company looks after that aspect of it. Exposure to Several Topics When you are just starting out or you [Read more…]

There are some clients you can usually count on to keep you supplied with a steady stream of work. I call them “bread and butter” clients. The work can vary, depending on what the client has available, and if you develop good relationships with a few of them, you can avoid a lot of the “feast or famine” times that seem to be a part of so many freelance writer’s lives. The Trade Off I have a few bread and butter clients that I’ve been working with for awhile now, and the arrangment works out pretty well. I know that [Read more…]

To be a freelance writer, you need to have good writing skills. That’s a given. You also need to be able to follow instructions carefully so that you clients get what they want. Having good communication skills helps you to develop good working relationships. All of these are skills that you can develop and improve on over time, but there is still a piece to the puzzle that is missing….we talk a lot about being “cool” like it’s something we should be striving for, but I wonder why we don’t value being passionate about what we do.

by Ellen Goldstein In Lisa Sonora Beam’s book The Creative Entrepreneur (Quarry Books, 2008), she presents the following journal prompt “Who is in my business advisory circle?” For the beginner freelance writer or editor, this can be a potentially traumatizing question. However, it doesn’t have to be. You don’t need an army of smart-phone-using, business-suited colleagues to have a business advisory circle (although for a few hours it might be nice); just a few people, some of whom you may already know, to give you advice about running a business. Mine your friends and family. Just as you have certain [Read more…]

I’ve been doing some reading about whether all clients are created equal, and most of what I have found suggests that they should be divided into categories depending on whether they are likely to give you more work and/or referrals. The idea is that you give better service to the clients that you have decided are most worth your while.

Marketing should be a regular part of your schedule when you’re a freelance writer, but are there times when you should just focus on what you have in front of you? It’s a judgment call, and most people who work freelance know only too well that there can be times when you are so busy that you don’t know how you will ever get everything done and times when you are scrounging around for work. Ideally, you get to a point where you have steady work and you have a certain level of income every month, but that can change [Read more…]