[Joshua Rigley]

I'm about to embark on a new journey to find success as a freelancing writer. I'll be following the steps outlined in the book, "Amazon.com: The Freelance Writer's Guide to... ".

In addition to that guide, the only other tools I'll be using will be a To-Do list (you can download one for free here: Keep On Track With A To-Do List & A Nightly Procedure | Kevin Riley Publishing), and a year long calendar (this is the one I'm using: Amazon.com: - IN-FULL-VIEW - 2014 Yearly Planner... ).

The reason for the calendar is a productivity technique that is used by Jerry Seinfeld for his writing, which you can learn more about here: Jerry Seinfeld's Productivity Secret

My goal is to write 30 articles to sell on Constant Content over the next 30 days. I'll update this thread daily with my progress. Feel free to join along.

Thanks for reading!

[Joshua Rigley]

Thanks for the words of encouragement, Alexa. That's high praise, coming from a prolific writer like you.

Day 1

I almost didn't get anything done today. I haven't written any articles, yet. But I'm pleased to announce that I've come up with a very easy method for generating a LOT of content ideas very quickly.

First, I highly recommend that you download this free ebook: 31 Awesome eBook Ideas for Any Niche

It says "Ebook Ideas", but it really should be titled "Content Ideas", because it can be used for any type of content. That ebook will give you more content ideas than you'll ever be able to write. It's a great resource.

Now, here's how I'm using it:

I started out by making a list of niches I'm interested in. Things like Internet Marketing, Writing, Productivity, and so on. Once I had that, I choose one niche (in this case, Internet Marketing) and looked for a forum related to that niche (I used the WarriorForum in this case).

After I had a forum, I read through a list of the threads, and if one of them looked like it could make a good article, I copied and pasted the title into a Notepad document. I did this until I had 5-10 topic ideas.

Once that was done, I took one topic idea (finding a mentor), and "plugged it" into the "Content Ideas" ebook. Doing this, I was able to come up with 10 article ideas very quickly (and I haven't even gotten through half of the ebook yet). Here they are:

1. Finding a Mentor in 24 Hours
2. 30 Days to Finding a Mentor
3. Finding a Mentor In a Week
4. 10 Tips for Finding a Mentor
5. Top 10 Mistakes When Finding a Mentor
6. 7 Ways to Find a Mentor
7. How to Easily Find a Mentor
8. How to Make Money Mentoring Writers
9. How NOT to Find a Mentor
10. Finding a Mentor Step-By-Step

You'll notice there's some overlap, and the titles will need a bit of work before they will "grab eyeballs".

I believe that "recycling" content will be key to writing articles quickly. And for those of you wondering about whether it's "ethical" to do this, let me point you to this quote by André Gide:

“Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again.”

The truth is, there's really no need for me (or anyone else) to write any more content about finding a mentor. There's already plenty that has been said on the subject. But, not everyone is going to see what has already been said, and some may not like what has been said already, so they want a different point of view.

This could segway into an interesting discussion about all of the words in the world and if we're just wasting everyone's time by adding more, but I digress.

I am confident that I'll be able to come up with 50-100 article ideas very quickly using this method. Obviously some ideas will need to be pruned and improved upon, but that's a cake walk compared to actually coming up with ideas in the first place.

Next time, my aim will be to come up with even more ideas, and hopefully create a few outlines for these articles, once again using a very unique method I am certain very few writers know about. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

[Joshua Rigley]

Day 2

Today I was able to generate an additional 12 article ideas. I found that once you get your initial "seed" ideas it becomes very easy to get more ideas by simple changing the topic matter.

I'm enjoying the process of getting article ideas, and I'd like to explore it further to see what other methods can be used.

[Joshua Rigley]

Day 3

Today I outlined an article, as well as generated an additional 11 article ideas, which leaves me with enough ideas to finish this challenge.

I outlined the article by visualizing myself actually writing the article, which worked pretty well. I then wrote a one sentence summary of each paragraph in the article.

The "chain productivity" method seems to be working pretty well for me. I like seeing progress being made on the year calendar I bought (which is shaping up to be the best investment I've made all year).

Also, getting started on my work first thing in the morning also worked well. Not only was it easier to get started early in the day than waiting all day to get started (big surprise), but I also found myself more motivated to continue working throughout the day. I found it easier to quit time-wasting activities and get back to work.

Thanks for reading, I'll see you tomorrow!

[frettcarla]

Wonderful write up. I think so as a freelancer I have not come across such a post in my life. Its really very helpful. Thanks for the information.

[Ravikanth]

Joshua,
Thank you for starting this thread. The resources you pointed out in the first post are worth bookmarking this thread

Please keep posting your progress and any other resources you come across.

Ravikanth

[anwar001]

Interesting thread. Will try to follow this one. Is constant content good source of income for article writers? Why dont you try to sell your article writing services here on WF or sell PLR article packs?

[Joshua Rigley]

Day 4

Today I generated 11 new article ideas, outlined two more articles, and started writing an article, but I'm not motivated enough to finish it tonight. Oh well.

Finally created a to-do list the other night, which I believe helped my productivity.

Also, the markers I'm using don't work very well on laminated paper. They're "washable" kids markers meant for paper, and their color fades on my calendar. Looks very ugly. I'll be buying new markers later this week. Just an FYI, so that you know that not all markers work well on laminated calendars.

I'm not happy with my current outline process. The outlines I have are too vague, I feel, and don't really inspire me to write an article. Part of the problem may be the titles of the articles themselves. I haven't really put any work into making them "zap", yet.

Speaking of titles, I found another great resource for getting article ideas: 20 Plug-N-Play Blog Post Ideas | BuzzBlogger.com – How to Increase Traffic and Build a Lifestyle Business Online

As the title says, just plug in your topic, and you have an article idea. Pretty helpful.

The most interesting idea to me was #6: Tips to Retweet. I realized that these kinds of articles would be very valuable to clients, since they have a much higher degree of viral potential than normal articles. Adding HTML code to certain parts of the article for retweeting or what have you will be a great way to add value to my articles.

I'm going to do some more research on ways to outline articles, see if I can find a more efficient way of doing it.

And now, on to feedback:

Originally Posted by frettcarla

Wonderful write up. I think so as a freelancer I have not come across such a post in my life. Its really very helpful. Thanks for the information.

No problem. Glad it could help.

Originally Posted by raviandkanth

Joshua,
Thank you for starting this thread. The resources you pointed out in the first post are worth bookmarking this thread

Please keep posting your progress and any other resources you come across.

Ravikanth

I'll do that! Thanks for the feedback.

Originally Posted by anwar001

Interesting thread. Will try to follow this one. Is constant content good source of income for article writers? Why dont you try to sell your article writing services here on WF or sell PLR article packs?

I believe so. Compared to other freelance marketplaces, Constant Content writers can command much higher rates ($0.10 per word is not unusual). Compared to the usual $0.01 a word rates you see on this forum, it's obviously a more attractive option. Although they do have much stricter requirements on the spelling and grammar of the articles you submit.

I haven't ruled out selling the articles as PLR packs. We'll worry about that when we get there.

Thanks so much for posting in my thread everyone, it means a lot to me! I'll keep you posted.

[Joshua Rigley]

Day 5

Today I have finished the article I started yesterday. I may have shortchanged my outlines a little bit; I was able to finish the article without needing to pause for thought or do any additional research.

The article will need to be edited a bit before it becomes "sellable", but that shouldn't be much of an issue.

[Joshua Rigley]

Day 6

The article I wrote yesterday doesn't need as much editing as I thought. I'd still like to change some things in it to make it more sellable, but haven't quite decided on what yet.

I also wrote a "Tips to Retweet" article, and decided that it was too thin on content. Simply have a list of tips for people to tweet doesn't offer enough content to be valuable, so I'll flesh it out tomorrow.

I almost didn't write anything today. I was overwhelmed, and was only able to overcome that by telling myself to write just "one tip" for the article I wanted to write. By doing that, I was able to take that momentum to write the rest of the article.

[getrichquickexperiment]

I am going to be reading with interest - subscribed to the thread and will be taking at look at the recommendations over the weekend also. Always on the look out for ideas to try and build viable money-making projects.

[Joshua Rigley]

Day 7

Today I finished the "Tip to Retweet" article, and I may have went overboard with it; it's over 1,000 words long. :p I also started another article, which I'll hopefully finish tomorrow.

I noticed that I've tended to wait until after 11PM to get started on writing, since my "deadline" is technically midnight. So, I decided to make it a goal to write just one sentence as soon as I turned on the computer. Funnily enough, I went straight to my browser, even as I made that decision. Some things are just automatic. So I compromised and decided to write the one sentence after I sorted through my email. I took a "micro-step" of opening my word processor before I replied to a message.

I think I will be more successful if I focus on getting started in the morning, since I tend to procrastinate the things I want to do all day long.

Originally Posted by getrichquickexperiment

I am going to be reading with interest - subscribed to the thread and will be taking at look at the recommendations over the weekend also. Always on the look out for ideas to try and build viable money-making projects.

Awesome. Hope you find this thread helpful!

[Joshua Rigley]

Day 8

Didn't get much done today, since I wasn't feeling so well. I added a bit to the current article I'm working on, though. It's important to keep consistent with these things, even if you have days when you don't get much done. It's better than doing nothing at all.

[Joshua Rigley]

Day 9

Today I finished the article I was working on, and started a new one. I noticed that when I put "finish article" on my to-do list, it forces me to actually finish the article. I tried doing "write one sentence for article", but that gave me permission to write a little bit and stop.

I find that "write one sentence" is good for starting new articles, but "finish article" would probably be best for finishing them. The reason why I tried just putting "one sentence" was because "finish article" makes it hard to get started, but I'm able to talk myself into starting the task by just writing one sentence before I open my web browser.

[jmgf]

I'm loving your updates. Looking forward to how it will work out for you!
To your success, Cheers!

[Joshua Rigley]

Day 10

Today I barely managed to finish another article. I put it off all day long. I noticed that I can be pretty productive in the morning, but outside of that I tend to put things off all day long. I may need to try to implement deadlines into my schedule, and see how to make that work for me.

Can't believe I'm 1/3rd of the way through this challenge already. Time flies.

Originally Posted by jmgf

I'm loving your updates. Looking forward to how it will work out for you!
To your success, Cheers!

Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying this so far, and I hope you get something useful out of it. Thank you for commenting!

[Joshua Rigley]

Day 11

Today, I started and finished another article, bringing my total article count up to five. I've also decided to put this challenge on hold until the end of this month, because of a different project that holds a much higher priority for me.

I may be able to resume this challenge sooner than the end of this month, or I may be able to update it during this month, but I'm not sure. One way or the other, I'll keep you guys posted. Thanks for understanding, and for sticking with me thus far. I look forward to what the future has in store for us.

[grantveronica]

This is good. Thanks for sharing!

Good luck on your journey!

[seekdefo]

Good luck, it took me one year to have some success in freelance writing.

[laurencewins]

Hey Joshua, what happened here?