Re: "I have even freelanced a while myself; the truth is, you will spend about 30 to 40 % of your time hustling for new work, which can get tiring."
All self-employed folks have to spend half their time on getting business. Heck, I work a "day job" in luxury retail, and they want clientele behavior (bringing the same people back over and over again). You're going to be "hustling" for new work no matter if self-employed or on someone else's dime.
Also, there are many many many hundreds upon hundreds (was that redundant enough?) of small businesses in every town and every business district of America. Many are just little mom and pop type businesses that need even a basic web presence, just to be seen.
Web content writers do need to learn all about SEO, but the competition is much more stiff if going after big clients. One might take on more work with smaller clients and do just fine.
90% of American jobs are with small business, unless my understanding of the statistics is incorrect (would have to double check on that, but I do believe that the actual percentage is very high).
That leaves only a small percentage of large corporate clients to go after, and at that level, of course it's tough competition. Try milking more cows instead of a few fat ones, and it might work out well.
As for the going out to look for work, it's closer to 50% of the time. Just like you almost have to put away close to half your earnings to cover SS/Medicare and quarterly estimated payments to the IRS.
Finally, if you read about Kelly James Enger, she had some regular clients that were a steadier source of work. Once she became well-known, of course, clients went straight to her.
Get her books if you want to write.
http://www.becomebodywise.com
I plug her, because she was once kind enough to give a referral to a good CPA.
And, of course, she has done very very well for herself for someone whose bio admits that she "escaped from the law."
Who would have ever imagined a former lawyer could match a lawyer's salary via freelancing? And yes, I'm sure much of the success came from spending at least half her time getting the business.
Kelly's story is amazing. Do read her books and check out her website.
Angie Koutrotsios
of IL
@
Sep 09, 2009 13:37:53 PM
Great article
A good book on this topic comes from one Kelly James Enger, who gave up her law career to become a full-time freelancer, and I do believe that she, too, has done some corporate writing.
She's got a book out with the eye-catching title "Six Figure Freelancing" (how possible the six figures part may be probably lies with the individual, but you must admit that it's a catchy title that sells well). She has also put out a book about the art of specialization, which sounds like a great way to save time by re-slanting what you're an expert in writing about, instead of always researching new and less familiar topics.
Her focus is on health and fitness (and I do believe bridal-related topics, too), and as a result, she's spun off her writing specialty into a consulting business.
Women should definitely look into the books written by Kelly, especially because she gave up a very lucrative career that many might seem to be more likely to aspire to (law practice), as opposed to writing, and she made it work very well for her.
Oh, here, just go to her website at http://www.becomebodywise.com
Angie Koutrotsios
of IL
@
Sep 08, 2009 19:01:14 PM
"There are a lot of writers out there who are not up to par,"
While reading so many news, or gossip articles online, I have noticed, (as a hard core proof reader), that many are very poorly written. With grammatical errors, misspellings and typos there is much left to be desired. This sounds like a great idea!!
Lauren
of CA
@
Sep 02, 2009 11:36:26 AM
freelance writing
Interesting article. I've been making my living as a freelance writer for over five years now. I make around $60k per year. I do have a lot of flexibility in my work schedule, even with having deadlines. You can't rely only on elance.com to get jobs though, you have to really diversify and be good at marketing to let businesses know you have such skills. Plus, not just anyone can write. You really do need to understand SEO, marketing, writing, article writing styles, etc. If you want to become a writer, you should take writing classes, just like you don't just become an architect overnight. I have a master's degree in my career field. I didn't just stumble into this blindly. And as someone mentioned, technical writing and writing for the Web are two different things.
Jessie
of FL
@
Jul 28, 2009 22:01:59 PM
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Jul 08, 2009 22:54:14 PM
Elance
Warning about freelance sites.
Not sure about Guru, but my experience with Elance as a Graphic Designer was not good. You have 30 people bidding on one project, some bidding way too low to even be able to compete (overseas workers?) and many time they the perspectives don't even contact you back to accept or decline.
I found elance to be a waste of time and money.
All American Graphic Designer
of TX
@
Jun 09, 2009 11:07:31 AM
Writing...
"The ratio of jobs to performers is in my favorite." 'Favorite' should be 'favor'.
Hey maybe U.S. News should hire me to write/edit. ;)
Alissa
of NY
@
Jun 04, 2009 19:54:54 PM
SEO
Google and other search engines put a lot of importance on online media reports. If a website was featured in CNN.com, WSJ.com or other major online publications, it will rank much higher than the sites which have hundreds of link-farm-generated links. Does anybody know of a good list of PR firms specializing in online publicity? Publicity Guaranteed (PublicityGuaranteed.com) looks like an attractive option, as they only charge for the results, without any retainers or hourly rates; however they don’t do online-only publicity. AllPublicits.com seems to be the most comprehensive database of publicists and I posted there my RFP for publicists to bid on, but all resulting bids included traditional media. If I had a larger budget, I wouldn’t mind good coverage in traditional media, but I only seek publicity for my SEO campaign, so I need online publicity only
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Angie Koutrotsios of IL @ Sep 09, 2009 13:37:53 PM
Angie Koutrotsios of IL @ Sep 08, 2009 19:01:14 PM
Lauren of CA @ Sep 02, 2009 11:36:26 AM
Jessie of FL @ Jul 28, 2009 22:01:59 PM
beställ viagra of NE @ Jul 08, 2009 22:54:14 PM
All American Graphic Designer of TX @ Jun 09, 2009 11:07:31 AM
Alissa of NY @ Jun 04, 2009 19:54:54 PM
Max Sminth of FL @ Apr 07, 2009 10:41:49 AM
Pharmd958 of AL @ Mar 24, 2009 04:06:11 AM
Pharmd948 of AL @ Mar 24, 2009 04:06:10 AM
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