I’ve had a single goal in mind for the past month: getting paid for my writing. It’s what inspired me to start blogging initially, but once I realized this was really a thing I’ve been intrigued by the idea of becoming a freelance writer.
You may be thinking:
“Don’t you have enough on your plate? You’re a mom, a blogger, and you have a full-time career. Now you want to freelance on top of that?
Basically, the answer is yes.
I am fully aware that in the year of our Lord 2024 freelance writing is near impossible to get into. Whether you’re competing with AI or writers that are willing to take pennies for their writing, the market is oversaturated af.
Despite this, I’m an optimist and I decided to delve into the waters of freelancing.
How I Keep it All Together
Staying organized with all of these ventures is essential to manage my home life, work life, and freelance/entrepreneur life. Building this blog has been a full-time job in itself. I’m grateful to have a super supportive husband at my side for this journey.
Beyond that, keeping daily, weekly, and monthly planners has been the foundation of my success. I’ve been using my Ultimate Life Planner to keep track of my goals, manage my workload, keep up with my to-do tasks, and manage my projects.
I totally attribute this to my success, and I created it with working moms in mind. So check out the Ultimate Life Planner if you need a resource to help you manage your life a bit!
Back to the freelancing journey!
How Has It Been Going?
In short, it’s going pretty slowly. Initially, I tried platforms like Upwork and Fiverr, but quickly realized that it was a complete bust.
I would get very little engagement despite following all the tips like “Grab $5 jobs to build up your reviews and then leverage them for better paying jobs” or “Optimize your profile” which I probably did 10 times.
I wrote engaging proposals presenting my services in a way that was tailored to each client’s job and tried to be friendly and personable at the same time. Still, very few legitimate connections were made.
I’m not saying that these platforms don’t work, but I decided to shelf them for now and focus on something that can provide more tangible results, i.e., money and experience
My Current Gig
I’m not beyond paying my dues. That being said, I have gotten accepted to write for a “certain unnamed content mill churning out 450-word articles about automobiles”.
I’m getting paid 3 to 4.5 cents a word for these articles which is borderline criminal, but they don’t take me very long to do and I’m grateful for the experience.
It’s not glamorous work but I am ecstatic about this opportunity for a few reasons that I’ll explain.
Why Do I Even Bother?
As I’ve said before, I’m new to professional writing. I don’t have an educational background in writing, and I’m starting from the ground up. I don’t mind doing the grunt work in the beginning and I’m glad to be getting paid from it.
Aside from the small amount of money, I’m mostly grateful for the experience I’m receiving.
The content can be mind-numbing, but I am building my research skills and my stamina in writing daily in a low-stakes way that I’m also getting paid for.
I can continue to build on these skills and transfer them into this blog and writing jobs in the future. So overall, it’s a benefit for me.
By the way, my services are listed here. If you are interested, please reach out!
Benefits of Freelancing
A few benefits of freelancing in general that I’ve found:
- Complete Work/Life Balance: I work when I want, and I determine the projects I work on.
- Earning Potential: Completely scalable and I hold control over that.
- Skill Development: building my writing stamina and committing to writing daily helps me in other projects.
- Portfolio Development: I can leverage this work in my portfolio when pitching to clients in the future
I enjoy working on my terms and making a little money on the side. I also enjoy the fact that someone actually reads and reviews my writing.
Blogging does not necessarily allow for this; I don’t always get feedback on my writing. But knowing that my writing is going to be scrutinized puts me into a different mindset and it helps me always put my best work forward.
My Freelancing Goals
As much as I am enjoying this season of my life, I definitely won’t be at the content mill forever.
My plan is to build my portfolio and continue with my blog writing while networking on other platforms to get better paying clients. I would love to work with other moms who run small businesses, so that is what I will work towards.
I also want to continue to develop my personal skills including marketing and graphic design, all in efforts to build up my brand.
Wherever I end up, I will be sure to take you all on the journey with me through this blog. If anyone is in a similar spot I would love to connect!
Give me a shout on Facebook or send an email.
Grab the Ultimate Life Planner or my new Ultimate Reading Journal if you’re looking for some valuable resources to keep you organized.
Also check out my Writing and Blog Tips Pinterest board where I pin a lot of helpful information for starting a blog.
Comment down below if you are working on starting a business or becoming a freelancer.
Until next time <3
