Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Making the Leap to Private Clients

Since starting my journey to become a freelance writer in April, I have stuck to content sites. I have browsed the various freelance job sites, but haven't taken a chance on applying or bidding for anything. Considering how well suited I was to several, I'm kicking myself for letting fear of getting turned down stand in my way.

However, the last few weeks have shown me that if I can just get a client to let me do one article, they usually come back for more. Last month, I had several clients on NAA that liked my work so much that they put up additional articles for me to do. Today alone, I had messages from two NAA clients offering me more work on the basis of my original article. One offered 20 articles and the other offered 50.

To truly make a career out of freelance writing, I need to take the leap. While writing for content and ghostwriting sites has allowed me to get my feet wet and gain confidence, it's difficult to make a living on them alone. I did reach my income goal last month, but I also turned out a lot of writing, approximately 39,000 words, to do so. If I had did the same amount of writing at a slightly higher rate, say 3 cent a word, I would have made enough to cover most of my family's expenses. At 5 cent a word, I could have paid everything and had a little left to put into savings.

This month I'm taking that leap. I'm starting small with a commitment to apply for or bid on at least one freelance writing job per week. At the end of the month, I will have hopefully landed a private client.

Have you taken the leap yet?

*Photo by Jeff Hallam.

2 comments:

LP said...

Good for you! It's not as hard as some might think. Make sure you know who your clients are (if you are a specialist, this should be easy), make sure your portfolio has a tight message with a narrow focus that speaks to your target client, and just start getting yourself out there. Remember, ask yourself in forums, LinkedIn groups, etc., "is my target client here?" And if the answer is no, then don't waste your time there.

Denielle Radcliff Koch said...

Thanks for the advice Yolander. I'll keep those things in mind.

Post a Comment