Freelance Writing Without The Worry

by Karra M.
(Salt Lake City, UT)

Back before I became one, the idea of becoming a freelance writer was romantic. Now that I've been freelancing full-time for about 6 months, the allure is wearing thin.

I have been able to make a nice living in this field. The problem is, I never feel secure. I'm always worried about where my next assignment or sale will come from. The stress is beginning to take a toll.

Is there a way to do this without constantly jumping from one assignment to another?



Faith's Answer


I understand your situation completely. This is the challenge every freelancer (not just the writers) faces. You've got to keep winning bids for jobs and/or selling articles written on spec.

It's nearly impossible to know how much work you'll get from one month to the next.

There are a couple of approaches you can take to alleviate this pressure.

The first is to obtain a long-term assignment. Find a client that needs articles written on an ongoing basis or who wants you to ghostwrite a book.

Another option would be to get a gig with a site like About.com. If you can become one of their guides they pay $600 or $700 per month last I heard.

The second approach would be to use your talent to develop a passive income. You could write articles for the revenue sharing websites. It takes a lot of articles to make good money at this and there are some risks but it doesn't cost anything to do and you don't have to be technically inclined. I've written more about it on this page: Make Free Money At Home

Another way to develop a residual income would be to build your own website. If you are prolific enough to make a living as a freelance writer, you certainly have what it takes to build a successful site.

SBI has a website building system that works. I've built both my sites with them and I really like them. I don't have enough technical knowledge to build a site without the kind of assistance they provide.

They are more expensive than other web hosts--$300 per year vs $120. But I tried other hosts and couldn't get the help I needed to do this.

There is one thing they will tell you that I don't completely agree with. They say (somewhere in their materials) you can replace your full-time income in less than a year by building a website their way. They also recommend you build one page per day.

This has not been my experience. It takes hundreds of pages to draw enough traffic to make a full-time income at this. At the rate of one page per day, I don't think you could do it in a year. Two years is a much more realistic time frame in my opinion.

I hope one of these solutions works for you.