Freelancing

Being a Beginner Freelance Writer is a Crazy Ride, Don’t You Think?

So, you finally find the courage to quit your soul-sucking job and decide to be a freelance writer. Or, you continue working and muster enough confidence to do part-time freelance writing.

Either way, congrats for being brave enough to change your career path. I know it’s not overnight decision-making, no matter how drained you are of your current job. Because as adults, our jobs are our source of stability and feeling accomplished.

It’s something we’ve learned to do for a long time that gave us meaning and shape our lives. It’s only human to feel a great sense of attachment to familiarity as it breeds stability in our life.

But just because we’re familiar with something doesn’t mean we find pleasure in them for the long run.

Due to the shift from offline to online work ever since lockdowns were implemented globally because of the pandemic in 2020 — many are used to working remotely with less demanding hours.

The comfort and convenience experienced during this period have encouraged many full-time workers to pursue freelancing instead.

According to Upwork, 10 million Americans plan to be freelancers due to work flexibility. With that, the total freelance workforce will have a 17 percent increase.

Why Freelance Writing?

1. You Love Writing

Often, we start with something fun that pushes how far we can go with our imagination. So chances are, you love writing fiction, essays, or poetry in your free time. I used to write micro-fictions in my free time as well.

So one day, you thought to yourself — I’m pretty good with words. I find writing enjoyable. Maybe I can make a living out of this as a freelance writer.

And so, your journey begins.

2. Blogs and YouTube

Reading or watching freelance writers who made it aspires you to be one. If they can do it, you can do it too, right? Their initial struggles speak to you. And seeing how well-accomplished they are, motivates you to do the same.

3. Working from Home

The biggest perk of freelance writing has to be working from home. Maybe being around people for a long-time exhaust you. Not to mention the hectic commute to your workplace.

If you appreciate solitude, which most writers do — you most likely want to be a freelance writer to enjoy this perk.

4. Chasing Those Figures

How often do you see thumbnails on YouTube with a man in shock or a wide-eyed woman covering her mouth, and next to them in bolded text written — I make X figures from blogging, copywriting, or ghostwriting!

It’s only normal to be influenced by these eye-catching numbers. We all want to earn a decent amount of money without working the traditional 7 to 12 hours jobs.

2 Crucial Steps to Take as Beginner Freelance Writer

Now, these are just steps worth taking if you decide wholeheartedly to be a freelance writer. These steps will help you boost your desire and skills to work in this field.

1. Courses

I saw a lot of aspired freelance writers in forums or groups, and even YouTube comments have no idea what they’re doing. Some even asked if they should take a writing course if they’re not good at writing…

­­­­­­The thing is, if you know you need to improve at something, then you should definitely enroll in a course that will help you with that.

We all start at a point of being completely clueless. That’s why it’s essential to take freelance writing courses instructed by seasoned writers.

You learned from their experiences — their successes and failures. Also, you’re provided with tools and examples so that you don’t feel utterly lost.

Good courses will guide you step by step methodically so you won’t get confused about how to start or what to do next. I have a couple of personal favorites I find very helpful.

The first one is, Writeto1k by Elna Cain. It’s a comprehensive step-by-step guide to becoming a freelance writer. It’s thorough and easy to understand, with tools and examples to equip you as a beginner freelance writer.

One of the main reasons I decided to take her course was because she started out being utterly clueless about freelance writing — like many of us are.

After that, however, she worked hard, from starting as a freelance writer to being a professional writer with expertise in a high-paying niche.

So, if you’re taking freelance writing seriously, but have no idea how to start or what to do next, check out Elna Cain’s Writeto1K.

My other favorite is, The Complete Copywriting Course: Write to Sell Like a Pro by Tamsin Henderson. It’s a fantastic bite-sized course if you’re interested in copywriting.

For those of you who prefer visual learning — this is for you, as each video spans two to ten minutes only with a clear and concise explanation.

She’s very vibrant and uplifting, which always makes the class fun to learn. Rather than the dry and dull classes like you had at school. She’s more of a storyteller, making the learning very engaging.

2. Read and Write

We’re very fortunate to have a lot of free reading resources online. Check out all the well-established blogs and study their writing style.

If you find a headline outside of your interest, yet you’re very intrigued with the content — find out why. Question yourself what makes the article works for you even though you don’t usually read about botanical or knitting.

Next is practice writing. Practice doesn’t make your writing perfect. But it helps you build momentum.

You’ll start typing faster, pumping out words gets more manageable, your sentences will be less wordy, and you’ll feel motivated to write more.

Even as you’re going through your courses, before starting to look for freelance writing gigs — always practice writing any topic. You can start with something you’re familiar with, then slowly switch to something outside of your comfort zone, which will help you improve your research skills.

Write as if this is something you’re going to publish in your blog. As if you’re writing for an audience. Eventually, you could use the best ones to build your portfolio.

5 Hindrances to See It Through

When you make a big decision to change your career path, your heart beats fast, and your palms sweat because you’re excited! You’re looking forward to this new chapter.

But after going through a few chapters of your courses or reading many articles, you start to have cold feet. You start questioning yourself if you’re making the right decision.

A few main reasons were hindering me from continuing this journey, and I’m sure you may experience this too.

1. Self-doubts

I remember going through my first course. It started with exhilaration, then gradually fell into a dark hole of self-doubt.

At some point, I kept telling myself how great everyone was at writing. And that I’m not an English native speaker, so how can I be as good as them?

I know nothing about any high-paying niche, so how can I make a living out of this? Also, will anyone agree with my rate once they know I’m not from an English-speaking country?

My doubts were eating me to the point of many sleepless nights.

I choose to do what I like because I want to sleep at night. Yet, I ended up feeling groggy and unproductive from sleep deprivation.

2. Website

It’s highly encouraged by many experienced freelance writers to have a website. It’s a home for your portfolio and shows professionalism to potential clients. But you don’t need to have it immediately if you don’t have a budget for that.

I immediately bought a domain to build my website in my earlier days going through courses. But, unfortunately, I was completely clueless and struggled a lot to make it work.

Other freelance writers advised me to hire a web designer instead. But at that point, I’ve spent a lot on multiple courses. So, I was trying not to use more of my savings. Besides, I wanted to learn how to build it myself to gain a new skill.

Yeah, it wasn’t my best idea…

I was very stressed to the point of losing interest in writing. But, after two weeks of struggling to learn the ropes myself by referencing YouTube tutorials, I finally found my way around it — mostly thanks to great plugins available in WordPress.

So, if you have the extra money, it’s worth spending on a web designer or a helpful step-by-step course on how to build your website. It would’ve cost me less headache if I had done that initially.

3. Finding A Niche

Niche. The word I grew to hate as I learned more about freelance writing. Niche this, niche that, niche everywhere…

You get a niche. You get a niche, and…you get a niche! Everyone gets a niche!

Except for me…and many novice freelance writers.

Having a niche as a freelance writer is beneficial as it shows expertise. Hence, adding more value to your work means getting paid more.

Plus, focusing on a niche makes the research process less complicated as you’ll only be writing for one to two types of clients.

That’s what paralyzed me exactly from building my portfolio. I had no idea what to write. All the headlines I came up, were thrown out of the window because I didn’t think it was profitable enough.

I kept telling myself — no one would hire me from blog posts about online piano learning or mental health wellness.

Having a profitable niche does give you better chances of earning a good income as a freelance writer. But overthinking about it will just stop you from writing at all.

That’s when you feel discouraged and probably even start looking for an “actual” job, as the old-timers would say.

4. Other Freelance Writers

So, I’m in a few private Facebook groups for freelance writing. And whenever a new freelance writer announced their success, I felt discouraged.

I do feel happy for them. I know how hard it is to start as a freelance writer, and they proved that it works!

But I would start feeling down and wonder if these are the success stories everyone knows, and I would end up being the unheard story of a failure.

Keep in mind.

Never compare yourself with others as we reach our goals at a different pace. It doesn’t matter who gets there first. It’s not meant to be a race. What matters is — you get there! 😊

5. Information Overload

It started with your first course. Then, you found a good deal for another course. Then another, and another, and another. After that, you found articles, after articles of all the stuff you need to know to be a fantastic freelance writer.

By the end of the day, you’re overwhelmed by hundreds of information on the same topic. Then you start to contemplate whether you should continue with this or not.

The millions of what you thought was helpful information consumed — lost its value as it freezes us from taking action. And if we’re incapable of doing so, 75 percent of the information is gone.

3 Ways To Stop Yourself From — Well, Stopping Yourself

1. Take One Step At A Time

We tend to have doubts and anxieties when there’s so much going on in our minds. We occupy our thoughts with worries of the future that’s not set in stone yet.

That’s normal. It’s very human of you to feel that way. But this is also what will stop you from seeing it through.

Instead, you should take one step at a time. Choose to resolve the matter at hand first. Then, you move on to the next one, and the one after, and so on…

So, let’s say you need to build your portfolio. Start by outlining and writing one blog post first, and block your thoughts of other stuff you want to get done.

Just focus on that one article. Then, when you’re done and content with your work — move on to the next task. It’s less stressful, and life seems more bearable once you learn to focus on doing one thing at a time.

2. Limit Number Of Daily Content Consumption

So as we’ve learned earlier, consuming too much information could stop you from taking action. But sometimes it’s hard to stop ourselves from reading or watching more subjects of interest to learn…

Especially with how the algorithm works these days, the internet constantly offers us more content of our preferences. It’s a constant flow of data that our brain can’t catch a break!

Do this instead — limit the number of articles and YouTube videos to 3 to 5 a day. At least, that’s what works for me. You can set your number of contents you know won’t melt your brain.

3. Dare To Explore

If you feel stuck because you have no confidence to write what you know, or you’re overwhelmingly concerned about not having a profitable niche — stop for a moment, and take a deep breath.

Look, not all of us will immediately know what we’re good at. That’s why we have to start somewhere.

Dare to explore deeper in a familiar path. And dare to explore the ambiguity of the unknown. Only then you’ll be able to figure out what you’d like to focus on more.

Final Thoughts

Freelance writing has its perks and gives us opportunities to work in our own time. But of course, it’s not always a fun and easy ride when you’re starting to be one, especially when you’re used to working in other areas for many years.

The flip of a career path can be very daunting, leading us to change our minds and regress to the state we wish to outgrow.

Always remember not to rush yourself and take one step at a time. You might feel inept that you end up sponging way too much information than your brain could handle. Narrow down your daily content consumption. Your mind needs a break too!

Instead of dwelling on your feeling of incompetence, see it as an opportunity to learn new skills and grow. But, of course, the path of freelance writing isn’t always going to be a smooth ride…

Still, if you’re adamant about being a freelance writer, you’ll find ways to push yourself through even when it gets tricky.

So are you just starting as a freelance writer? What are your ways to cope with this crazy roller coaster ride?