15 Oct 09 Are You Planning to Quit Freelancing?

There are many people who have joined the freelancing bandwagon, but didn’t feel like belonging here, thus they quit freelancing and take some other work. It sounds simple and common place, but what if I say that not all quitters are alike, and not all quitters are losers? Some of them are winners too.

We can classify quitters in two categories. The first categories consist of those who lost the freelancing battle and failed to make any mark, hence he is leaving the field all in blood and tears. There is a second group that consists of people who are quitting their freelance jobs because they have stepped up to provide consultancy services or to manage group of freelancer.

The people falling in latter group have done the right thing, but there is something seriously wrong with the freelancers who belong to the former group. These are the people whom I will call quitters because they are leaving or have left freelancing because they could not make this work.

Freelancing is not easy, and whoever told you that this is the easy way to make money then the person was DEAD WRONG! Freelancing is difficult because unlike your 9-5 job, you are your own manager, own worker, and own support person. This is not a corporate job where you are supposed to do just one thing. Here, you have to see forest when your client shows you tree.

Worried?

Do not lose hope. There is always light at the end of the tunnel. In this case, the light will be the tips I am sharing here, which if applied properly, may convert some of the quitters into winners.

How to avoid being a quitter

Find out the reason why you are not getting enough clients. For this you need to ask the following questions:
- Are you not competent enough?
- Is your skill set not saleable?
- Do you have problem in managing time and work?
- Are you in the wrong field?
- Is your rate too high?
- Don’t you have good samples to show?
- Does not your sample speaks of your ability and justify your rate?
- Does your proposal letter include a strong call to action?
- Is your profile worth reading?

Now the next step is to pin-point the exact reason, and to do that, you will have to adopt methodologies used market research agencies.
- First, Identify all the problem areas
- Now, take one problem element at a time, and work on it. Keep rest of the problem elements constant.
- Measure the result.
- If the result is close to what you had expected then change another variable (problem element), and keep rest of them constant, otherwise, rework on the first variable.
- Measure the result
- Repeat the process and fix all the problem elements.

Upgrade your skills
Learn time management
Be patient

Always remember, freelancing is not like a regular job where you have someone to tell you what is wrong and what is right. It is also not a fix-time job, which also means that you can take leave whenever you want. Be patient with this career, rewards at the end are worth the wait.

Tags: Bandwagon, Blood And Tears, Consultancy Services, Corporate Job, Easy Money, Easy Way To Make Money, Freelance Jobs, freelancer, Freelancers, Light At The End Of The Tunnel, Losers, Lost, Many People, Proposal Letter, Quitter, Quitters, Reason, Second Group, Support Person, Way To Make Money

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29 Aug 09 Freelance Writing Checklist Part -2

Taking our discussion on freelance writing forward, I will give you some more items that you need to include in your Freelance Writing Checklist, before you jump on the bandwagon. Without wasting our precious time in stretching the introduction, let us begin with the checklist items.

Is your résumé ready?

Sounds familiar? Yeah…every job requires you to have a résumé, and freelancing is no different in this regard. You will need an up-to-date résumé throughout your freelance writing career, and particularly when you are starting out when you have no portfolio to show. Your résumé will tell your prospective client about your experience.

How good is your cover letter?

You cannot do without a cover letter ever in your freelancing write. You will need this every day and for every project you bid on. It is a thousand times more important than your résumé. You need to know that you are not alone when you apply for an online writing gig. You are competing with hundreds of freelancer who is vying for the gig. Hence, to get noticed, you need to have a very attractive cover letter properly outlining your skills and experiences.

The things written above were good enough for any freelancer, but what makes a cover letter more important to a freelance writer is the fact that through your cover letter your prospective client will get the first glimpse of your writing; hence, if it is very impressive then consider your job half-done.

Do you know how to apply?

Well, doing this is not very difficult. It is just time consuming. Before you apply for a gig, you need to find out how the employer or the freelance board through which you are applying wants your application to be.

Some boards just need one cover letter, which you post with your bid, while others may ask you to write a brief introduction while posting the bid, and the rest of the details in a private message.

There is one more difference. The difference is in the way your client will accept your samples: some will ask you to send them links to your sample, while others will be okay with your attachments, and you will also find a handful of clients who will ask you to paste a brief article in the body of a private message. It is also not uncommon to find a client who wants you to write a custom sample for him on the topic or on the subject chosen by the client himself.

Get these things ready, I will be back in the next installment with some more checklist items. Meanwhile, I will also request you to tell me what you feel about the items I have listed above.

Tags: Bandwagon, Cover Letter, Experiences, First Glimpse, Freelance Writer, Freelance Writing Career, freelancer, Freelancing, Gig, Job, Online Writing, Precious Time, Private Message, Prospective Client, Regard

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27 Aug 09 Freelance Writing Checklist Part -1

If you are starting out as a freelance writer then there must be many things bugging you, or is there anything about freelance writing that can possibly bug you?

These questions are the two aspects of the same story, but with different protagonists: do you know what it takes to be successful as a freelance writer? This blog-post and the coming ones will provide you with a list of things that you must accomplish before venturing out for freelance writing.

I have organized this list of items to verify before jumping on the freelancing bandwagon based on the closeness of the topic to a freelance writing fresher. We (You and I) will begin this journey with you and your attitude towards writing, then will move ahead to see how the market is and what all you need to know before you commit. So, let’s get going.

Have you rounded of your writing skills?

Writing for someone else for money or without money is entirely different from writing for yourself or your term papers. The former requires precision in writing techniques, which may or may not require in getting the latter job done. I do not doubt your writing skill. I just want to say is go and brush up your grammar and writing skills to prepare yourself for better gigs.

What type of writer you are?

This is the second basic question you need to ask yourself. Are you a fiction writer or a non-fiction writer? If fiction is your genre, do you write stories, or poems? If you are a story writer, do you write short story, very short story, novella, or novel? What kind of story on that: crime, detective, erotic, historical, psychological, etc.? If you are a non-fiction writer, what kind of non-fiction you write? Do you write articles, press releases, sales letters, blogs, website content, political essays, term papers, magazine articles, news stories, or what?

As you can see this is a huge question, and you must have guessed, you will require a soul searching to know which genre fits your type. Not everyone is a “writing Leonardo “who can write on anything and everything with equal gusto, and produce equally mesmerizing output. Some people can do that, and rest of us can just hope to.

Where is your portfolio?

If you thought only a designer (graphic, fashion, web, hair, or any kind), a model, or a photographer, etc., needs a portfolio then it’s time for me to break the news: “A freelance writer also needs a portfolio!”

Build a portfolio that consists of writing samples from all the genres you want to get work in. yes, you can write in more than one genre!

Give me your URL?

C’mon, don’t say, you don’t know what a URL is!

Just joking.

When you are starting out, you many not feel the need to have a website, but once you move up the ladder, you will feel the need for one, and then you might think, “Why I didn’t have it yet?”

You are going to need it eventually, then why not now?

Tags: Bandwagon, Closeness, Detective, Fiction Writer, Freelance Writer, Freelance Writing, Grammar, Latter Job, Leonardo, Magazine Articles, Many Things, Non Fiction, Novella, Political Essays, Protagonists, Sales Letters, Short Story, Story Writer, Term papers, Writing Skill, Writing Skills, Writing Techniques

Filed in Writing with 1 Comment

15 Oct 09 Are You Planning to Quit Freelancing?

How to avoid being a quitter

29 Aug 09 Freelance Writing Checklist Part -2

Is your résumé ready?

How good is your cover letter?

Do you know how to apply?

27 Aug 09 Freelance Writing Checklist Part -1

Have you rounded of your writing skills?

What type of writer you are?

Where is your portfolio?

Give me your URL?

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