Freelancing is a great way to establish yourself and become your own boss, no one can deny with its importance in the internet online Earning world. Imagine your life when you actually don’t belong to a single company but still can make thousands and thousands of dollars, simply by cashing your skills, that’s great to think even. This is what you get when you decide once to start your freelancing career.
We have already discussed about the top platforms which provide you with the opportunity to become a freelancer, and now it is time to start the business. It is important to admit the fact that if you think just writing articles is all what is expected, you are wrong then. Don’t forget that there are about millions of freelancers available of the internet and you have a good deal of competitors in the current market. You need to have something beyond the writing skills, which I say – your X- Factor!
Here are top 12 tips that you need to follow to make a good use of your skills in the freelancing world and making an individual and exceptional position for yourself in the field.
We shall discuss the first 6 in part 1.
1. Develop a Comfortable Communication
Emphasizing on the power of communication skills, this tip comes on top of the list. According to some rough estimates, about 70% of people do not care of their speaking skills while addressing others, in the under developed countries, like Pakistan. However, the e-world is all about how effective your words are, to impress your client, for whom your written content is your identity. I have seen and read many articles of many people and it’s easy to sense whether the author is confident enough about what he is writing.
Freelancing is all about a written interaction, with your client firstly and then to the entire world via your client. This means that you have to rely completely on enhancing your writing skills and interact with your reader with it.
There are possibilities that your client might not like your tone of writing (every writer adopts a tone to write the content, take it as a person’s mood), then you have to be flexible enough to be pleased to mould your content according to the clients will. Don’t forget that it’s a business and you have to Market yourself.
Before even getting a job, which document you think needs most of your attention? That’s your CV. In Freelancing that’s a query letter. A query letter explains the concept of what you’re proposing to write, along with a very brief explanation of your experience and qualifications. Always make an effective Query letter because this is what that will bring you clients.
2. Prove yourself as an extraordinary writer.
I stated above that only being a good writer is not enough, but this clearly doesn’t mean that a person who has never written articles in his life, starts freelancing. No. to be a good scientist, you need to be a super mathematician and just like that, the soul of freelance writing is how extraordinarily great you prove yourself in your articles.
The things you need to consider before even opting for article writing are:
Are you capable of producing something original?
Are you comfortable with the language you have chosen to use?
Do you have a command on its grammar and punctuation?
Can you express yourself with clarity?
Are you ready to deliver what your readers might want from you?
Answer these questions to yourself while standing in front of mirror.
When I ask people about what they write, they say they write articles! It’s really important to figure it out that what you can write the best. The next thing you need to do is to:
Decide whether to write on fiction or non-fiction. My personal experience says that Non-fiction is much easier to sell than fiction
Decide whether you want to write for a living, for extra money, or for fun. Make it clear that freelance writing as a full-time income will involve a lot of hard work and establishing yourself in the niche.
Ask for help if you don’t have got expertise in writing skills. You may take assistance of those who have got some diploma or have a command on writing skills. I would suggest you to do some course on soft skills, if you want to opt freelancing as your soul career.
3. Make yourself Strong- Write your article
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Many of you might know who are actually making dollars with freelancing that your clients ask for a sample article at times to judge your capabilities. If you haven’t already sent a full article but just the query, then it’s time to get started once the client or employer confirms that they want your writing. This is your first achievement, trust me. Write in your own unique and brilliant way to prove yourself better than other available competitors.
If you notice in my articles, I never repeat a certain word again and again in the same paragraph at least. For example, ‘a good writer is the one who writes good articles and publish them on good websites, making good money out of them’. If a writer writes something of this sort, the reader will only think that the poor writer knows nothing except ‘Good’!
Then, what to do? Always keep a thesaurus, dictionary, and grammar book with you no matter how much expert you think you are. This is important to have resources especially if you are writing in a language, other than your native tongue.
4. Choose types of Articles you are good at!
Article writing is itself a very vast field in this time. Classifying it into two fields, we have a print writing, which includes Magazines, trade publications, newspapers, newsletters, etc. and the other is online Writing, like, Blog writing, content writing, etc. Meeker people take the advantage from both. However concentrating on one particular is also a god approach.
Now here, you have to judge yourself that what is specialty? Choose the one which can generate the most revenue for you.
5. Prepare yourself to resist your Hatred for your most Passionate job!
There are times even when I find it all a mess. No matter how great writer you are or how much passionate you are about your writing, but sometimes you are asked to write on topics you are least interested in. for example if I have had to write on how electromagnetic fields work in spherical coordinates, I would have banged my head on the wall. However this is something you will have to resist. Being your own boss in freelancing doesn’t mean that you will write on your most favorite topics, leaving out the rest – un touched! No. You have to be professional enough to accept it as a job and not a hobby, in such cases, keep your hatred or exhaustion a side and just do it, regardless of your feelings.
6. Manage yourself
People, I don’t know why, always misuse the leverage given to them. Once you start up with freelancing, don’t take it lightly. This is the business you are running from your living room but it holds the same importance as your other physical job. Freelancing demands a strong sense of responsibility as you are answerable to your clients.
Be regular with your invoicing, tax filing, and reconciliation of accounts. You cannot afford to be careless when it comes to your income!
The people who have proved themselves in the world have one thing in common, they were all organized. You need to be well- planned and organized. Schedules your days, work dedicatedly, maintain your resources, be consistent, keep some precautionary lifelines for unexpected bad times, and most of all, take care of yourself, because Writing daily can do terrible things to your posture if you don’t take good care of it, and in e- business, there are no holidays granted! Mind that.
Keeping yourself in isolation with an excuse of doing the work might make you a good poet, but not a great freelancer. You need to keep yourself updated. Communicate well and regularly with your clients and potential clients.
In my last job, I learnt one thing, which I love that I learnt. And that is, ‘either it’s a yes or a No in a business’. So learn to say No. you need to know your limits of what you can do and how. Don’t take on more than you can do. Money obviously has its evergreen charm to influence but judge your capabilities before making promises, because, unfulfilled promises in e-business means – the End!
This was all for now, wait for the next and most happening and valuable tips in Part 2!
There are no technicalities behind success; it’s only the determination which takes you a head. Always aim higher because it’s my believe that you get, what you aim. So is the case with freelancing, if you want to be a freelancer, become the Best Freelancer!
All the Best,
a nice descriptive articles..i think or in my opinion earning from freelancer sites is so much difficult ..specially i feel it..cause i spend almost halt of year in freelancer sites…and i only earned lessons,….:D any way after freelancing i come in world of blogging and make my blog more spicy specially by using some of tricks by mbt ….and now i was successfuly working on my blog(shown in my nick) ..and give a big thanks to Mohammad Mustafa Ahmedzai 🙂
freelancing and blogging are too different worlds, good to know that finally something worked out!
getting proposals as a freelancer is the most tough part, but still, nothing is impossible,the only thing required is to play it correct .
🙂
Thanks for sharing the awesome topic. I have basically ver much impress with- Prepare yourself to resist your Hatred for your most Passionate job! and Prove yourself as an extraordinary writer headline contents. Now i have get much more knowledge.
Proove Yourself as an Extra Ordinary Writer … Thanks Nida
There is noticeably a lot to know about this. I feel you made some nice points in features also.