12 Lessons I Learned from My First Year as a Freelance Writer
Roughly twelve months ago, I created my first freelancer profile online and began working with clients from all around the world. One year and dozens of projects later, freelance writing is now my number one source of income and how I’m able to afford my travels around Southeast Asia. Ever since I started sharing bits and pieces of my freelancing journey on social media, I’ve been receiving a lot of messages from people wanting to know more. The thing is, most of my success is the result of trial and error, and I believe that learning from experience is far more beneficial than simply taking advice from someone like myself. Therefore, I came to the conclusion that sharing twelve lessons I learned in twelve months of freelance writing would be a better approach to this post, that way you can do with them what you will. Good luck!
1. Life experience is just as valuable as your degree and work history, sometimes even more so.
I’ve experienced quite a lot in my lifetime, more than most people my age, and I’ve learned to use that to my advantage in the world of freelancing. The majority of applicants will either have an impressive degree or some sort of relevant work experience, so your life story is what can truly make you stand out from a group of freelancers. For example, the fact that I lived in Nairobi when I was younger got me hired for a project about living in Kenya, out of fifty applicants! Clients not only want to work with individuals who are knowledgable, but they also want to find writers who are relatable. Almost anyone can do the research, but only a handful of people can write from personal experience.
2. You are more qualified than you may think, or you can at least convince yourself (and others) that you are.
I would never fabricate my experiences or lie about my past, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with getting a little creative from time to time. What I mean by this is that everyone has things they can draw on from their lives, beyond personal experiences, college degrees, and previous employers. For instance, much of my father’s work for the United Nations focused on energy and poverty in the context of climate change. I mentioned this in an email to a climate positive company looking for someone to write a creative press release, and I was hired immediately. Now I don’t actually believe that my father’s expertise made me more qualified for the position, but I do think it got me noticed, and I was confident in my ability to perform the work as described.
3. Working online doesn’t have to be lonely, especially when there are communities for everything.
I personally love spending time alone, but I acknowledge that not everyone feels the same way. The thing is, freelance writing is really as isolating or as social as you make it because in today’s society, there are communities for absolutely everything — both online and in-person. From groups on Facebook and hashtags on Instagram to lists on Twitter and subreddits on Reddit, I’ve been amazed by the amount of support and motivation that quite literally exists at my fingertips. Then there are sites such as Meetup and Eventbrite which post details for in-person networking events in cities all around the world. Furthermore, co-working spaces seem to be popping up everywhere nowadays and are a great alternative to home offices and coffee shops for individuals who crave human interaction on a daily basis.
4. Be careful not to bite off more than you can chew.
Thankfully I have never put myself in this position, but I did come close one time. I know better than to apply for jobs which require coding experience as an example, even though I got an A in my college coding class, but a posting for a sexual health blog writer was a whole other story. I apply to most positions with ‘blog writer’ in the title since providing a link to my blog often gets me hired and I find it fun to write about topics that I don’t typically cover on my own blog, but little did I know what this client meant by ‘sexual health’. Luckily, I asked for the article topics before signing the contract and when I received the list — anal beads, nipple clamps, and vibrating panties — I politely declined the offer. If you’re comfortable writing about those products then more power to you, but it’s certainly not my forte.
5. People have different priorities in life, and some simply value time over money.
My freelance writing career began with travel itineraries. I mapped out road trips through Norway, customized train journeys across France and Italy, recommended hotels in Sweden and Poland, identified flight options from California to Greece, designed self-guided tours to the Sahara Desert, researched activities in Cape Town and Durban, and the list goes on. When I first shared some of the work I had been doing with a friend of mine, she looked puzzled and asked if I’d been to all those places, and the answer is no. She didn’t understand why someone would pay me for information they could easily research themselves, but that’s just it. Some people in this world simply value their time over their money, and my travel experience was enough for those clients to trust me with their itinerary, even if I hadn’t visited the destinations myself.
6. Having a blog, or another type of online writing portfolio, is a must.
Like I said, the fact that I have an active blog gets me hired for all sorts of writing projects. I know this because responses to my applications typically start with something along the lines of ‘I was so impressed with your blog’. I even had a client ask if I could expand on an idea from one of my posts for her female entrepreneurship magazine. Moreover, I believe that my blog is the main reason clients hire me for any project, regardless of whether or not it’s exclusively related to writing. When a potential client clicks on my website, they not only find examples of my work and my writing style, but they also get to know the girl behind the keyboard. I can’t stress enough the importance of establishing a personal connection with clients in the world of online work, and I think a blog does a great job of that.
7. Writing is work, and you won’t always feel like doing it.
Some days are an absolute breeze — words pour onto the page, sentences fuse together effortlessly, paragraphs convey my ideas better than I ever could have imagined. Other days are completely demoralizing — words are scrambled in my brain, sentences feel impossible to form, paragraphs simply fail to come into existence. In the latter case, I used to chalk it up to writer’s block and call it a day, but I’ve come to realize that only writing on the good days won’t get me where I want to be. Even if I don’t have a pressing deadline, I know that the sooner I turn in my current assignment, the sooner I can take on a new one, and the more I can earn that month. In order to make a living from freelance writing, you need to treat it as a job and work when you don’t feel like working, otherwise you’re just setting yourself up for failure.
8. Reading will make you a better writer.
I used to have this false belief that the more I read, the less I would be able to write. It’s completely illogical, I know, but here’s my old ‘reasoning’. I find that reading and writing demand similar environments (comfortable, peaceful, inspiring) and mindsets (creative, focused, growth). Since the same external and internal conditions are conducive to both reading and writing, I feared that time spent reading would detract from optimal writing opportunities. Typing that out just now makes me feel incredibly silly because, in the words of Stephen King, “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” Once I worked through my foolish belief and began reading regularly, I realized that writing came much more naturally to me again.
9. There are considerable differences between working as a ghostwriter and being listed as an author.
This may be an unpopular opinion, but I much prefer ghostwriting to having my name printed on a piece of work for which I don’t have the final say. Everyone has different preferences when it comes style, voice, and tone in writing, and when I’m working for a freelance client, I try to fulfill the vision of the client as best I can. I would never turn in work that I’m dissatisfied with per se, but I have definitely written pieces in the past that I wouldn’t want to associate my name with, either because my creative freedom is limited or the content doesn’t reflect who I am as a writer. I recognize the advantages to being listed as an author of course, but regardless, I’d rather remain a ghostwriter for projects which are not entirely my own.
10. Writer’s block is real, or is it?
I don’t think the writer’s block debate will ever die down in the writing community, so I want to share my opinion on the matter. The question up for debate is whether writer’s block is a real struggle or perhaps just a figment of one’s imagination. Personally, I believe it does exist, but more so as a symptom of creative burnout than a crippling condition that is unique to writers. Anyone working in a creative field will inevitably run into creative blocks from time to time and in my experience, mental fatigue typically occurs after exhausting all my creative energy on a tiresome project. That said, writer’s block has never kept me from meeting a deadline and I don’t think it’s as debilitating as some writers make it out to be. I’ve found the biggest culprits are stress and perfectionism while the best cures are yoga and meditation, after all, there’s nothing that a little zenning out can’t solve.
11. Having people who support you and celebrate your successes makes the journey so much easier.
I take pride in being a very independent person, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate some words of encouragement and celebratory messages every now and then. I have my family, my friends, and the people who read my blog (that’s you!) to thank for getting me to where I am today, because writing certainly doesn’t come without moments of uncertainty and self-doubt. I experienced so many highs and lows when I first got into freelance writing, and I still do. Starting and completing contracts is exhilarating, but the in-betweens can be rough, always either drowning in assignments or scrambling for work. Being able to share both the victories and the frustrations makes the highs more exciting and the lows more bearable.
12. Meaningful work is far more rewarding than high paying work.
While I don’t believe that wanting to make money is necessarily a bad thing, I do find that working on meaningful projects leaves me feeling more fulfilled than receiving a large paycheck ever could. One of my favorite assignments to date was editing a short story which was going to be published as a gift for someone important to the author. The client didn’t have the largest budget, but I thoroughly enjoyed the editing process because I felt so honored that the author had chosen me to bring his vision to life. I do of course need to cover my living expenses and start paying back my student loan at some point, but money really isn’t my driving force or my main motivator. As long as I can afford a relatively simple lifestyle and continue exploring the world, I’m perfectly content with that, at least for the time being.
