What are your biggest challenges in freelance writing? Common challenges include under-employment, marketing your business, and getting clients who can afford to pay you more than peanuts.
Although the gig economy is booming, third parties such as the freelance marketplaces tend to get the profits.
The best thing about freelance writing? You can write your way. Write what you want, when you want.
Here’s a friend’s story. She went from happy freelancing to a day job. (Bet you didn’t expect that. Me neither.)
Freelance writing: from freelancing to a day job
A couple of weeks ago, a friend who’s been freelancing for ten years took a day job. “I want a regular income I can show the bank,” she told me. “We need a bigger house for the kids, and I want something in the country. That means applying for a bigger mortgage.”
One of her regular clients hired her. They know the quality of her work and the company is growing, so hiring my friend was a no-brainer.
When I asked how she’ll adjust to a daily commute and other hassles, she surprised me. She’s on a flexible schedule, so as long as the work comes in and gets done, no one cares. “I’ll miss my regular freelance clients,” she said. “But two of them offered me a retainer when I told them about my new job, so I’m still writing for them. When I go back to full-time freelancing—after we get the mortgage—I’ll build my client base again.”
The moral of the story? You can write your way. Freelancing is whatever you want it to be. You can dip in and out of full-time freelancing, but once you have clients who know you and trust you, they’ll stick with you.
Copywriter and marketing pro Angela Booth maintains a busy copywriting and ghostwriting practice. Fascinated by online marketing, she wrote one of the first business books for internet marketing, published by Allen & Unwin. She’s been an enthusiastic blogger since the late 1990s.
