Writers: Ask yourself these 3 questions before switching from freelancing to solo writing

Life after writing clients is fruitful if done right

“I cut ties with all my writing clients,” is what I wrote last year around this time.

While typing out that article, I wasn’t sure if I was truly making the right decision. I was walking away from a lot of money without a backup plan. I’m no Kevin O’Leary, but I do know that’s not the greatest start to a new business endeavor.

I was able to sever these ties to clients because I had a few writing tools at my disposal at the time. Most of these avenues were not profitable — at the time — but all of them were promising.

The writing platforms I was already using:

• A substack newsletter
• A niche blog that was only 6 months old
• A few self-published KDP books

That’s it.

The KDP books were earning money at that time, but my newsletter hadn’t made much and Lord knows my niche blog was just a money pit.

All that aside, a year later and all three of those writing avenues are generating income. I actually just received my first niche blog payout.

How was all of this possible in only a year? Let’s talk about that.

1) Have you identified your “why?”

The main factor I attribute to my entrepreneurial writing success is cutting off my clients. If you sensed a skosh of negativity in that last sentence, you sensed correctly.

When I dropped my clients, they weren’t happy with me and I felt the same about them. I was earning them pageviews and clicks while having to chase down invoices and being ghosted on calls. Not fun.

I understand some writers thrive while working for someone else and don’t want the burden of steering the ship while also propelling it forward — but that’s just not me.

In my case, I want to build the ship, propel it, learn how it works, and then potentially steer it into the ground if I see fit. I needed to be in complete control to do that.

Hence there was no fear on my end when I parted ways with these clients. I had already created success for them, so I was confident I could do it for myself. That was my “why”

2) Do you have pre-established writing avenues?

Remember those pre-established, non-income-generating writing avenues I previously mentioned? Having those ready at my disposal was another reason I decided to secede from clients.

Every time I published an article for a client, I thought about how I could be publishing the same article on Substack or my niche blog. This cyclical thought cycle continued until I finally came to a conclusion:

“I won’t be happy until I’m the main beneficiary from of my work.”

Sounds simple, right?

Many content creators and creatives desire to be the main benefactor of our brainchildren. We created it, so why are we handing our creations to someone else?

I see so many freelancers brag about how they have a “10-hour work week” and “work from anywhere,” but none of them mention how they’re giving up licensing and copyright to their work.

Is that truly worth a 10-hour work week? F*** yes, but selling out is selling out, I don’t care how great your work-life balance is.

3) Are you ready for something new?

This question was the hardest for me to answer. Yes, I was tired of giving away my ideas and I had a few projects in the burner that were promising — but was I really ready to get rid of clients?

Some writers go years before landing their first client — if they ever land one — and here I am complaining that I need to get rid of mine.

Getting paid by clients was an exceptional experience for me, both as a writer and businessman. But I could feel myself pulling for something more. Something new.

It started gradually, but eventually, the feeling built up and couldn’t be ignored. I selfishly wanted to be the star of my own show and the clients I was working for were standing in my way.

So I axed them.

Takeaways

If you’re a writer who’s looking to take their own writing in-house, take your time with deciding. I wrote for clients for years before dropping them like a bad habit. I had time to think about it.

Every time something goes wrong with one of my writing avenues, I have to be the one to fix it. Opposed to working for clients who just expected me to write and that was it.

In the end, it all depends on who you are, what you’re looking for and what you think you’ll enjoy most.