If you have become disenchanted with the rat race or fed up of the monotony and restrictions of working for The Man. Then you may feel like freelancing is the way to go (and why wouldn’t you? It’s the best!) However, your main stumbling block may be that you have no idea where to begin.
So, you search on Google.
Before you know it, you are swamped with ‘free’ courses, e-learning, downloading whitepapers and reading blog after blog about the pros and cons of freelance writing. Maybe headings telling you that you can earn £100,000 a month by freelance writing are tempting you or unleashing your cynicism.
The problem is by now; you have way too much information. It is even more confusing to know where to start.
Should you have your own blog, should you write for sites that may pay such as Medium, or should you find yourself a set of clients?
Then, you’ll no doubt start to think about what kind of writer you want to be? Investigative journalism? Copywriting? Social media content creator? Creative writer? Ghost-writer?
So, how can you see the wood for the trees and work out your new career as a freelance writer?
Get reading
There are some great books out there that serve as a fantastic introduction to freelance writing.
The Essential Guide To Freelance Writing by Zachary Petit is a good starting point. As is Writer’s Market 2019 which not only discusses how to find and manage work but also includes thousands of different publishing opportunities available to freelance writers.
Once you have found the niche you are passionate about, you can then refine your library search to books that focus on the writer you want to be.
Find out who is leading the industry and whom you aspire to follow in the footsteps of, then look out for interviews, webinars, videos and articles they’ve written which share their secrets of success.
Practise, practise, practise
The great thing about becoming a freelance writer is you don’t have to jump in at the deep end. You can spend your spare time out of work writing articles and submitting them to publications, just for fun. Then, when you’re ready to go full time, you know what you can expect.
However, if you’ve been meaning to go freelance for years but are reluctant of letting go of the comforting reassurance of your salary, then it may be time to do something radical and embrace the FEAR. You’ll never know unless you try. So be brave, quit the job and give yourself the motivation you need to succeed at freelance writing.
You may even find your first job right here on Techlancer, so get your profile set up today.
