23 Dec 09 What Freelancer Writers are Afraid of

We all are afraid of something. Sometimes fear is good, it helps us from wandering off the track, but when it starts affecting our growth it becomes troublesome. This is true with freelance writers as well. They too are afraid, and this has nothing to do with their present condition. Even the experienced freelancer writers have these fears. The most common among them are described below.

Fear of unknown

Being afraid of things that we do not know is quite natural. It is human to be afraid of things that we do not have any knowledge about. Each one us has this fear. This fear is natural, but it tastes sour when it starts intimidating and thwarting our development. When a newbie faces this fear he freezes, but when a seasoned professional faces this fear he deals with it.

Fear of not earning much

This is the fear that has stopped many deserving men and women from achieving what they always wanted. Having a financially stable life is everyone’s desire, but if this desire is pushing you to get everything quick and now then you should stop to think. You will get what you deserve, but not now. It will take some time. We all have to start small.

Fear of not getting enough work

This fear is related to the fear we discussed above. Not having enough work to justify the career change freezes the new entrants. When starting out you may not get enough work, but as you establish yourself in the field, you start getting works.

Fear of not getting recognized

People in general seek recognition from family, friends, and neighbors. They want their jobs to be recognized and respected. For undeveloped mind, freelance writing may not be a career to respect, and sadly most of the people have that. This thing keeps many from opting for this career, despite all its lucrative benefits.

Tags: Career Change, Desire, Family Friends, Fear, Fears, Freelance Writers, freelancer, Friends And Neighbors, Jobs, Lucrative Benefits, Men And Women, Newbie, People, Stable Life, Will Take Some Time

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19 Oct 09 When to Bid Freelancing Adieu?

When to bid freelancing adieu? This is a question that everyone asks us. A similar question is should I bid it adieu for other things?

The answer to both the questions is the age old “it depends.”

I know this answer sounds boring and it does not actually say anything. That is why I decided to write a brief post to describe when one should leave freelancing or one should leave it alone.

Should I Switch?

The decision to leave freelancing or not depends upon the answers to the following questions:

What will you do if not freelancing?
Can you support your family and yourself during the “switch period”?
Are you sure that you want to make a switch?
Is the switch worth the effort?
Are you confident that your clients will accept you in the new role?
Do you have what it takes to make a switch?

Switching career is not an easy task and you already know it. You first tested the sour water of switching when you switched from a full-time job to freelance work; therefore, you must be aware of the kinds of issues one faces when one decided to switch. After a switch, you will again be a fresher in the field. Hence, you should be prepared to fight the same battle that you fought when you first switched from full-time job to freelancing.

What should I do?

You can go for any career you want after free lancing, but there are some career choices which are more related to the works you have done as freelancer. Hence, before you bid adieu to freelancing let’s consider what career choices you have.

You can become a consultant. If you are a freelance writer, you can become writing consultant.
You can become a coach. A press release writer can become a better press release writing coach.
You can start a freelance agency. After working on many assignments for many years, you must know the nuances of freelancing business. Then why not become a freelancing hub that takes work from companies and redistribute among other freelancer.
You can become a freelancer manager for some company.
You can start writing on freelance career choices.

When to switch?

After knowing what you can do, it is time to know when you should switch. In order to find that out, you need to answer the following question to know when to switch from freelancing to another career.

How many years have you been into this? To become a coach, writer or consultant you need to have many years of experience.
Do you think you have acquired enough skill to manage a freelancing business?
Can you be a good negotiator? You must know to negotiate both from clients and freelancers, as it is important for you to make money as a freelance business owner.
Do you know everything that is there to learn to switch from freelancing to consultation?

Tags: Bid, Career Choices, Coach, Faces, Free Lancing, Freelance Agency, Freelance Work, Freelance Writer, freelancer, Full Time Job, Hub, Nuances, Press Release, Release Writer, Sour Water

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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