You love writing and you want to be a freelance writer for the flexibility of time. You have read about many freelancers make a living from doing that. All successful writers have their own ways to make it to their brand today. Below are the 8 important tips for success in freelance writing that you need to know.

8 tips for success in freelance writing

1. Ask yourself if freelance writing is what you want

We know that there are many successful writers and beginner writers out there. There are working hard in helping individuals and business in providing contents for their needs. They are working for themselves to earn a living.

You have to ask yourself if you want to work for yourself, be disciplined, and organized. You have to be responsible for your income. You have the flexibility of time schedule but you might have to work harder than the 9 to 5 job. There are many places for you to look for freelance writing jobs.

2. Treat it like a business

To be a successful freelance writer, you have to treat it like a business. You have to prepare yourself in the way that you are starting a new business.

You need a plan on how much income you need to make a living. Your budget is important at this stage so you will not give up half-way due to short of earning.

Set up a small home office where you can keep your paperwork and your schedule.

3. Set a schedule

We all know we get distracted easily. Setting up a schedule is very important. Otherwise, you will not accomplish as much as you wanted to. In the beginning, you need to be self-discipline as you are working for yourself. The best way is to have a daily routine which includes the hours you need to work. Without having the number of working hours, you will find that at the end of the day, you do not have much work done.

You have to set up a daily schedule that you can follow, and write it down. Your schedule should include the time for writing, marketing, and miscellaneous work. Set up a time for marketing will make sure that you always have jobs in hand. This will lower the risk of not having jobs for days.

4. Financial planning

As you are working for yourself, you are accountable for your own income. Knowing how much money you need to make a living is part of budgeting. You be able to work out your hourly rate, this is how much you are going to charge your clients for any jobs.

Now you know how much income you need to make and the rate you charge for your job, you can work out how many hours you need to work every day. You might need to spend more hours working at the beginning due to fewer jobs and lower rates you charge for each job. As you get more experienced, you will have more jobs and your rate for each job will be higher too. By then, you can work fewer hours.

You have to figure out your expenses too. Spend on whatever is necessary and try to live on less. If possible, set aside some emergency funds for the days you have no jobs. This will help you continue building your freelance writing job.

5. Decide on doing it full-time or part-time

You have work out your financial and now you have to decide if you want to do freelance writing full-time or part-time. If you think you need a stable income, stay with your current job, and start freelance writing part-time. When you gain more experience, and having more clients, you can go full-time.

It is good to decide on this at the beginning, so you will not give up half-way when you run into financial problems.

6. Create a work-life balance

It is nice to be a freelance writer working from home. It can be boring following routine and working all the time. Do not forget your social life. You have to make time for your family and friends.

It is a common problem that many freelance writers find themselves missing their social life because of work. Building a healthy work-life balance will increase your productivity and help you succeed in freelance writing.

7. Find a writing niche

Many successful writers have a writing niche that established them as a specialist. There are also many writers who are not specialized in any niche. They can write on any topic with some research.

As a specialist in any niche, you can charge more for your work as many businesses are willing to pay more for that. Some popular niches are health and nutrition, mental health, personal finance, online marketing, and so on.

8. Marketing is important

Do not forget marketing. You have to continue doing your marketing so that you will always have clients and jobs. You do not wish to land on a situation when you are running out of clients and without jobs for days.

There are a few ways to find new clients

• Build an online portfolio where you can write about your experience and showcase your work.
• Create online visibility by building a website for your portfolio
• Be active online by joining freelance writing communities, forums, and bloggers’ Facebook groups. You are able to build relationships and finding new clients
• Learn to write good cover letters when applying for freelance writing jobs online

Conclusion

Above are the 8 tips for success in freelance writing. If you have decided that freelance writing is what you are going to do, you have to treat it like a business. Even though you are working for yourself at home, you need to set a routine to work and a daily schedule to get the job done.

Next, you need to have financial planning so you know how much money you need to earn for a living. You need to do some budgeting for living on less when you start your freelance career. If you need to have a stable income, you will have to decide if you want to do freelance writing full-time or part-time.

Find a writing niche to establish yourself as a specialist in that niche that you can charge a higher rate for your work. Continue on marketing to find new clients by creating an online presence with a good portfolio.

Lastly, do not forget your social life. It is important to create a work-life balance.

Do you have any tips as a freelance writer that you can share with us? If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. We love to hear from you.