I Expected an Overnight Success from Freelance Writing – My First Paycheck of $0.15 Proved Me Wrong

But I didn’t stop hustling and neither should you.

I quit my full-time job on September 11, 2020. That job was my only source of income, and I had no idea what to do next. I had some money saved in my bank account that would support me for just a couple of months. As time went by, I did some temporary gigs to maintain enough amount of bank balance. It was during that time when I first heard about freelance writing.

I never considered “writing” as a career or even a side hustle option for myself. I always saw it as a hobby that cheers me up whenever I feel a bit down in the dumps. But many of my friends suggested I take it to the next level and make a career out of it. I guess they saw some sort of potential in me after reading my thoughts printed on a piece of paper. So I decided to give it a shot and try my luck in this career field.

I did some research online on freelance writing and also took some online writing courses to improve my craft. After few months of self-education, I started writing and published my first article on June 19, 2021. I was very excited to have published my work for the first time and I felt proud of myself after a very long time. That feeling of pride slowly transformed to overconfidence as I said to myself,

This is it, I have published a money-making article and in the next few days, I will be filthy rich.

You probably must have figured out how it went, but I was shocked to see the results because they were not even close to what I expected as a newbie overconfident writer.

Fast forward to one month, I received my first paycheck as a freelance writer solely based on that article. Now I wasn’t so sure where to spend that money, even though I had a lot of options. I could’ve used that “large amount” to pay off my student loan, outstanding credit card balances, house rent or maybe put food on my table.

But I decided to back off because my first paycheck of 15 cents, wasn’t going to cut it. I realized having a successful career while working from home wasn’t for everyone, and certainly wasn’t for me. But before I could kiss goodbye to my short-lived career, I decided to reevaluate and see where I went wrong.

My “careful reevaluation” lasted only a few minutes as there wasn’t much to be reevaluated. After I wrote and published my first article, I didn’t do anything other than checking my stats multiple times a day. And I even stopped doing that after one week when my daily visitors dropped down to zero. After that, I sort of forgot about freelance writing until I received my first salary of 15 cents, which made me rethink this career.

I realized I could’ve used the time wasted on refreshing stats multiple times a day to make new content and be more productive. So I decided to start writing again and today I’ve been writing for over three months. My thoughts on freelance writing are different from how they were during the first month. These three months have taught some important life lessons and have encouraged me to keep going.

Here’s what I learned from three months of freelance writing and you can also expect the same if you’re on the same road as me:

Patience

Success doesn’t come overnight, it occurs only if you’re willing to put in some time and effort. And after that, you have to stay patient. But, it doesn’t mean you wait forever to see the results and don’t do anything in between. The time meant for keeping patience can be used to do something productive, for example in my case, it would be researching and writing another piece instead of checking my stats multiple times a day.

Mastering the skill of patience will make your life easier and enjoyable. Now I’m not saying I learned how to be patient within three months, this is going to be a lifelong process. But I’m getting better at it. I’ve been more productive than ever before because I’ve been using my “waiting time” to create new content. Also, I don’t worry about the results because I learn something new with every failure, which helps me improve my craft.

Stay in the present

One of the easiest ways to stop worrying about the future is by staying in the present. And one of the easiest ways to stay in the present is by practicing meditation. Dr. Emma Seppälä, science director at Stanford University in her article about mindfulness and business development writes,

We come up with our greatest insights and biggest breakthroughs when we are in a more meditative and relaxed state of mind.

I got convinced that I’ve chosen the wrong career field when I didn’t see results right away. But when I started meditating, I began to build trust in myself and my decisions. Meditation helped me prepare for the future as I started learning from past mistakes while staying in the present moment. The present moment consisted of me hustling, getting new interesting ideas and enjoying the journey as well, with a belief in light at the end of the tunnel.

Stop comparing with others

You will get inspired and motivated by the stories of people who have worked their way to success. There’s nothing wrong with getting this form of inspiration until you start comparing yourself to these people. According to an article by Victoria Stokes in Healthline,

“When we compare ourselves to others, we focus on all of their strengths and achievements and ignore our own.”

She further shared some tips that helped her stop comparing herself with others.

When I first started, I would look up to a lot of successful writers and read their success stories. I still do that to get inspired and follow in their footsteps. But I don’t allow myself to get intimidated by them because they are not my competitors. I only have one competitor as of this moment, and that’s me. This is my own journey and I’ve set my own goals and I only focus on achieving them.

Takeaways:

“If you think you’re going to succeed in something after the first few tries, you’re setting yourself up for major disappointment”, writes Darius Foroux in his article about the importance of failures. But, there’s no place for disappointment when you’re out there working again after repeated failures.

If you’re starting as an individual creator, chances are you will face failures at the beginning. But don’t take them personally, they are only there to teach you a lesson — a lesson offering improvements. And you can find inspiration in these lessons which will motivate you to keep going. Focus on improving your craft and success will find you when the time is right. If you’re able to handle these failures well, you will also learn:

• patience,
• how to stay in the present, and
• to stop comparing yourself with others.