Freelance Writing Jobs: Tips and Tricks to Build Your Career
You have been hearing so much about people giving up their regular jobs and earning big while in their pyjamas. You might be wondering who these lucky people are? They don’t have to pretend to be happy with their job. Why can’t I become one of them? You definitely can. But it will take a lot of hard work and persistence to reach that level. Nothing good has ever come easy. So you need to fight hard; real hard to make it through. But there are few simple secrets to becoming a successful freelancer that Nerdyturtlez.com will share with you here.
1. Approach Everyone on your Contact List
The very first thing that aspiring writers should do is make a call to everyone who can give you a breakthrough. It can be someone who has nothing to do with freelancing. You give a call to him/her in the hope that that person would recommend you to some potential employer. Don’t forget to tell them that you are willing to take on projects straight away.
2. Package yourself Well
You are a brand now. You need to market yourself well in order to seize the attention of the employers and clients. Otherwise, no one will know the existence of you and the services you are offering. The best way to sell yourself as a professional freelancer is to make a LinkedIn profile, join relevant groups on Facebook, a professional profile on Twitter, update your Google+ profile. Another interesting way to get engaged with people is posting various types of questions on Quora because it is the easiest way to build contact and get people involved.
3. Know Your Worth
Although freelancing industry has different rates for fresher and veteran, you need to figure out the rates you are eligible to get. Obviously, you would like to earn as much as possible while promising the quality at the same time. But you must know your worth in this industry. A good way to start is to divide your last drawn salary by 30 days. That’s how, you get the per day rate of your work. Now add a third to that sum and there you have it - the rate you should charge from your employer. If it’s not possible to figure out with the last salary; try and research the market in order to get an idea.
4. Focus on Building Portfolio
The first question that your new client is going to ask is, ‘Can I see a sample of your work?’ So you should be ready with the answer. Aspiring writers need to build up a portfolio. It can be something you have penned down recently or something you have written in the past. The best you can do is, select some trending topics and write on them while following the recent writing techniques.
5. Be a Good Planner
Always spend time in planning your next moves. A good planner always has a list of things that they want to see completed at the end of the day. They generally make a to-do-list every morning or beginning of each week. If you want to make each day count, do the same. Have a goal and write it down on a piece of paper and more importantly scratch it off when you are done with it.
6. Have a Little Fear
It is OK to be scared at times, if you are not, you may be invincible or dumb. According to various studies, fear helps people to stay alert. This makes them productive at work. So don’t blame yourself if you feel intimidated after spending days and days in search of jobs. Sometimes, it is good to test your limits and know your strengths and weakness, which can be possible only when you face some adverse situations. This could open your eyes and help you plan accordingly.
7. Say ‘no’ when It is Required
Saying ‘no’ to your clients is hard. But if they like you, they will come back. If you start taking all kinds of jobs, you will not develop your own specialized field. Clients value specialized freelancers more. So you need to focus on taking up freelance writing jobs in the area you are good at. It can be anything ranging from writing science articles or research papers or developing technical articles or you have an inclination toward fashion blogging. In this way, you can put together a specialized portfolio that many employers and client desire.
8. Be Vocal what You need from your Clients
When you hunt for clients, you need to have a clear picture in the head that an ideal client should look like. Before you do so, you need to make distinctions between who and what type of business you are targeting. To understand what type of client you should search for, you need to ask yourself the following questions -
- Can the business I want to work afford to hire me?
- How my services solve the problem of the business in which I am willing to apply?
9. Start Working as a Professional before quitting your Regular Job
If you are ready to put down the paper, make sure you have a backup plan, like doing freelancing as side job. It is recommended that you grow your side income to 50%-70% of your total current income before quitting the regular job. Managing a heavy workload will be hard for you but it will definitely teach you what it’s like to run your own business. Another benefit of picking freelancing jobs while still working as a full-time employee is you can be as selective as you can. As you are not in dire need of money, you can turn down the jobs that don’t pay well and not worth your time.
10. Update your Profiles at Regular Intervals
You must have a blog of your own on which you can post some in-depth blogs on the subject you specialize. This is the best way to attract and convert new clients. Blogging gives you a better platform to express your thoughts and ideas. You take up a subject that is interesting to you and pen down your thoughts. The best thing about blogging is no deadline and no quality pressure. You can pour your heart out. If you are good at word crafting, you are bound to get jobs from clients.
Ready for the last piece of advice? Very important, note it down.
Working as a freelancer means ‘working’ only. Despite the fact that you get to work in pyjamas, you need to complete the task exactly in the manner that your client wants. There are no short-cuts. You have to get up in the morning like usual and start burning your calories while sitting in front of your laptop.
NerdyTurtlez.com Provides The Best Platform for All Aspiring Freelance Writers
NerdyTurtlez.com welcomes all aspiring writers who want to earn a decent living while staying in the comfort of their homes. We provide the best job opportunity for all beginners who want to make career in freelance writing. We prefer candidates, who have an in-depth knowledge in their respective fields of study and possess abilities to write good quality academic papers in that subject. Moreover, the applicants should have a good understanding of academic style, referencing, formatting and presentation of ideas. Writers, who have the aforementioned qualities, are welcome to join us.
Numerous writers from various parts of the world regularly join their hands with us. We have emerged as the ideal platform for providing freelance writing jobs for various reasons. The following is the list of contributors to our overwhelming success:
- Higher rates of pay
- Work from anywhere in the world
- On-time payment
- Chance to select the subject of your choice
- Freedom to become your own boss
- Better freelancing experience
If you want to enjoy these benefits, get registered with us by filling up the free sign up form and take up the necessary written test and start getting freelance academic writing gigs right away.