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What's the next step?

by Woodsusa
2 replies
Hi!

I am a little lost...I sort of started working online in September when I stumbled onto iWriter and Textbroker and thought, 'Hey, I can do that'. I am a stay at home mom, and we need extra money, and I love to write....

Once I started seeing money come in, I told myself I wouldn't settle for just a few dollars a week. I wanted to step it up a little, so I signed up for other content sites, but there is rarely enough work for me to squeeze out more than $50-70 each week writing for several sites. So....

I joined Elance and Odesk, and found book review gigs. They are great, but not steady. And I seem too petrified to apply for any writing gigs on these sites, since I don't really have any 'specialty'. I can research most topics and write what I consider to be reasonably good articles, but the ones on the freelance sites either pay way less than the content mills, or intimidate me into thinking I can't pull them off.

I'm not sure if it's just a case of lack of confidence in my skills, which I am trying to improve daily, (It's been a long while since I had written anything before these sites), or if I genuinely need to learn a whole lot more before I can make more money.

I want to be able to make money doing what I love (writing), but also learn new skills, such as internet marketing. I have found a few gurus online, and follow some of their blogs, and I so want to make a success of myself!

Does anyone have any advice on the best way to break down my barriers to success with the freelance sites? Or, maybe just a good ole' bucket of patience to dump over my head, so I will learn to appreciate the fifty bucks a week I am managing to make, while balancing a baby on one hip and a laptop on the other, lol?!

Jessica:confused:
#confidence #freelance #step #writing
  • Profile picture of the author heavysm
    Think about offering your services here in the warrior for hire section? I personally never go to odesk or elance.

    The trick to making it here that I have seen from quality writers:

    Create a blog for your writing service, have samples on various topics available.

    Try to keep your topics within common evergreen topics like relationships, diet stuff, financial or credit stuff, ebusiness...and a few others I'll add through edit later as i think of them

    Charge no less than $1 per 100 words. This is what i pay my current writer and she does awesome work. $1.2/100 words is permissible for stuff that takes more time, or technical content.

    When you offer your service, offer 3 -5 review copies. Make sure to deliver on these reviews.

    Make sure your paypal account is nice and ready to receive payments.

    If a customer isn't satisfied, offer free rewrites within reason. You'll have to gauge which customers are just asking too much for what they're paying.

    So far this is all i can think of from all the experience i have with writers, and momentarily being a writer myself a few years ago. It's not hands free stuff, but you're not looking at that.

    Just aim at developing a loyal customer base that keeps coming back to you. That's your key to continuous success.
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    The Dirty Little Secret I Use To Boost My Businesses (not what you expect)
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  • Profile picture of the author gabibeowulf
    +1 for building your clients base. If they are happy with your services they will come for more, and more, and more. Expand everywhere, Warriors for hire, Fiverr, other IM forums. Build your own blog where you exhibit your articles. Build a list of customers (get a getresponse or aweber account). Send periodic promotions like 20% off for 10 articles package, etc.

    Turn freelancing into a real business in time. When you have too much work start hiring people and pocket a small percentage.

    As you enjoy writing, if you have idle time on your hands I recommend trying your hand at writing books and publishing them on Kindle. Could make a nice side income and you also use them as portfolio.

    - Gabriel
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