A Writer’s Self-Sufficiency Plan, Part 3
Continuing our discussion of my own “self-sufficiency” freelance writing plan. If you’re just stepping in, you might want to read Part 1 and Part 2.
Step 2: Online Articles and Publications
Many freelance writers start here, browsing job boards and bid sites and building their repertoire with each job attained. The two big problems with starting here are first, the difficulty in getting the good jobs when you have no experience/clips yet, and second, the vast amount of spammy and/or insultingly under “funded” article writing jobs. Each of those obstacles can be overcome, but it can also take time. That’s why I started blogging first: it gave me something consistent to work on, a daily way to build my reputation as a writer, and even when I wasn’t getting decent jobs, or any jobs at all, I was still building my writing skills, my online, SEO, and blogging knowledge, and my professional experience.
Now that I have more blogging experience, I can use that as well as the non-blog writing experience I have (most of which was from offline sources) to gain the better blogging jobs and the better article writing jobs. Since I know I can get the better jobs, I don’t even bother applying to anything that sounds spammish at all or that offers less than what I’ve set as my standard (for now): $0.10 per word or $15 $20 per hour.
My plan is to increase my minimum pay standard as I gain jobs, gain experience, and set up more sources of income. Right now, Step 2 is where I am on my self-sufficiency journey. I’m enjoying it.
If you’re not sure there’s any point to pursuing self-sufficiency (via freelance writing or any method), take a few minutes to read this article by Steve Pavlina.
How about you? Where are you? What step is next?
Make it a good day.
Image Credit: extranoise.
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