#1 Tip for Becoming a Successful Freelance Writer: Stick With It

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Felicia Williams.  Felicia is one of my mentors on the subject of freelance writing!  Her blog, No Job for Mom provides great insight.  I am excited to share her insight on my blog. Read more about Felicia in the footer.

All too often online freelance writers become discouraged and quit writing because they either get burned out (early on you might have to write a lot of articles for low pay), or they listen to the negative talk and quit.  My goal is to encourage writers to hone their craft and stick with it.

Traditional Job Market

Back in the old days, folks would go to school, graduate, get a job, work the same job for a number of years, retire with a gold watch and live the rest of their years in retirement.  Things have changed quite a bit since then.  Today it’s rare that anyone sticks with a job for 20 or 30 years. The average is more like 3 to 7 years.

The short job tenure is not because employees are fickle, it’s because of layoffs, downsizing and changes in the industry.  If you’re lucky enough to survive a RIF (reduction in force), you’re stuck doing the job of two to three people for the same or less pay.

Back to Online Writing

Let’s say you just discovered online writing.  You never knew you could earn money in your spare time by writing online. You start out by writing as many articles as you can in order to earn as much as you can.  You’re pleased to see the money coming in.  You’re able to pay a few bills and make a few financial plans for the future.  The only downside to writing at such a break-neck pace is you eventually face burnout.

Here’s where many folks quit.  You want to take two weeks off from writing to get a much needed break, but if you do, you have no money coming in (unless you had put money aside in advance).  You then start to doubt this whole online writing thing because, after all, when you had a job you did get sick time and vacation pay.

Working Smart Not Hard

If you’re new to online writing, my recommendation is this; start building a foundation of articles that earn money residually.  Initially you may not understand what residual income is all about and you may not be sold as yet on the validity of it.  The thought of writing an article and not getting paid until sometime in the future is hard to swallow if you’re new.  However, when you truly understand the power of residual income, you’ll be glad that you started writing a few residual articles early in your online freelance writing career.

The income you earn from your residual articles will hold you over when burnout hits. You can consider it the equivalent of sick or vacation pay.

Mix and Match

Don’t fall into the all or nothing mentality. You’ll find there are times when you will concentrate more on residual income and other times, such as the holidays, birthdays or upcoming vacation, when you’ll spend more time writing articles for upfront pay.  You have the option to choose how to make the most of your writing time to meet your current financial needs.

Give it Time

Earning a decent living as an online freelance writer doesn’t happen overnight.  Be prepared to put in several years of writing and honing your skill before you reap the financial rewards.  In that respect, online writing is no different than working at a traditional job.  You either put in the time preparing for a high-paying job while you’re in college or you get on-the-job training.  Either way it takes years and it doesn’t happen overnight.

The one surefire way not to reap the financial rewards is to quit.

Tagged as: freelance writing, motivation, productivity, writing, writing inspiration