Want To Become A Freelance Writer? Avoid These Common Mistakes!
New freelance writers often get their businesses started a little awkwardly. If this occurs with your freelancing career, things can rapidly get bad. This article will show you some tips to watch out for in the early stages of your writing business.
1. Not Knowing How to Market Services: The #1 duty when you launch a freelance writing business is to market your services. Are you surprised I didn't say "writing?" Don't be. Freelancers who successfully market their services can write their own ticket. Freelancers who fail to market themselves often throw in the towel and find a steady desk job. Just don't get too crazy and start...
2. Taking Low Paying Work: In the beginning it can be very tempting to take on low paying work. Perhaps you believe you need to take drastic measures, or maybe you're simply not confident in your own ability. Don't do it! Pricing your services too low will risk burn out. Why? It will result in...
3. Booking Too Many Clients: If you take on too much work too fast, you'll risk a crash-and-burn scenario. This usually happens because you aren't pricing your services correctly. Freelancers who work for too many customers will end up slaving day and night, fighting to keep up so they don't risk...
4. Blowing By Deadlines: Your credibility as a freelance writer is severely damaged when you force yourself to start missing deadlines. Clients look to you as the expert, and your professional reputation suffers when you underestimate how long it will take to finish a job. After all, your clients have deadlines too! What will be the repercussions on their business if you can't get their job done on schedule? Unreliable writers end up...
5. Missing Out on Referrals: Present clients are the best source of new work. While you can always ask your clients for more work, it's also a splendid strategy to ask them to spread the word about you to colleagues. You'll often be recommended for better paying work when compared to finding it yourself, and you'll decrease the amount of selling your services to a new party, since you're being referred by a trusted source. On the other hand, don't make the habit of...
6. Working With Poor Clients: You could be tempted, particularly in lean times, to keep bad clients. Whether they're the "detail oriented" type, or the overbearing price-hagglers, a bad client will rapidly kill your motivation to keep working. Know when it's time to fire a client - your peace of mind will thank you. Likewise, try to avoid...
7. Being Influenced by Negativity: When you're first starting freelancing, your friends and family may not understand what your goals are -- even if you explain what you're doing very clearly. Most people have no experience with self-employment; being an employee is all they know. Anything that challenges (or menaces) that lifestyle is viewed with mistrust. Stay strong!
