24 Jan 10 Freelance Writing – What to Do When Work is Slow

Everyone goes through a lean phase, and indeed, it could be very worrying. But, if you have a proper plan in place then you will take the lack of clients as an opportunity to do something big. I am serious. It is as easy to do as it is to write, if you do the proper planning.

What to do when clients are hard to come by?

Look for more clients: This is the first thing you should do, but do not waste inordinate amount of time on client searching. 2-3 hours a day should be more than sufficient. Scan twitter, job sites, and freelance boards and see if you can land up in a good deal.
Work on the basics: There are some shortcomings in your writing which you have noticed earlier as well, but due to unavailability of time, you could not work on improving them. Now as you do not have many works, why do not you take it as an opportunity to improve your writing skills? You may want to revisit English grammar, or you may want to read some books on writing, or attend some class. This is the right time to invest in improving your skills.
Start you own project: In the years or months you worked for your clients, you must have thought of starting some exciting project: may be write an e-book or create an informational product, or a course, or a website, or a blog. This is the time to execute the plans you were making. Why do not you start working on the stuffs you have been planning for long?
Spend time with your family: It often happens with us that when there are lots of works to finish within a tight deadline then we tend to overlook our family. As you do not have much work, you should spend your time with your family, and recover the lost family-time.
Take a vacation: If you have sufficient bank balance to pay for your vacation then cash in on the opportunity you got and take your family for a long due family vacation.

These represent just tip of the iceberg. There are many more things that you can do. Just be creative and plan out something.

Tags: Amount Of Time, Bank Balance, Creative, e book, English Grammar, Family Time, Family Vacation, Freelance Work, Freelance Writing, Informational Product, Job Boards, Job Sites, Read Books, Right Time, Shortcomings, Stuffs, Tight Deadline, Tip Of The Iceberg, Unavailability, Writing Skills

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04 Dec 09 Are You a Freelance Writer, Do You Know How to Fight Distraction?

For a freelance writer, it is quite easy to get distracted because he works from home. For the large part of the day, people in our home keep either talking or watching television, which never fails to distract us. This is frustrating, which further sucks away our productivity.

How to avoid it?

Fortunately, there is a way out of it, which anyone of you can use to avoid distraction, regardless of your situation.

Assign yourself a place of work

This is the must-take action for any freelance writer. It is not good to carry your laptop and sit anywhere in your home to work, well occasional working-in-kitchen will not hurt but do not make it a routine. I know it sounds against the spirit of freelance writing—you can work from anywhere and anytime—but this is worth a deviation. Find a lonely corner in your house and turn it into a workplace.

Fix your work hours

I may sound like talking against the freedom of freelance writing, but my intention is not to drag you back into the 9-5 job that you left in the past, it is only to help you produce more. And as it is you can anytime pull the string and call it off.

Work, no matter what

Once you fix your work hour, you should stick to it, no matter what. Well, you can deviate from “no matter what” principle without any guilt feeling when you know you need to. Occasion deviation never hurts, at least not in our profession.

Talk to your family

At times, getting things write just need a word from us. Talk to your family and tell them that you are working around here, so not to create distraction. Well this might not work with a disgruntled spouse, but in most of the cases, this will be enough. Believe it or not, they understand the value of the work you are doing.

As you can see, fighting off distraction does not take so much of muscle power as much it takes discipline and tactics. What are your tactics to fight this monster off? Use the comment box and tell me your strategies.

Tags: Discipline, Distraction, Freedom, Freelance Work, Freelance Writer, Freelance Writing, Guilt, Intention, Job, Laptop, Lonely Corner, Monster, Muscle Power, Occasion, Principle, Productivity, Profession, Sounds, Spirit, Watching Television

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19 Oct 09 When to Bid Freelancing Adieu?

When to bid freelancing adieu? This is a question that everyone asks us. A similar question is should I bid it adieu for other things?

The answer to both the questions is the age old “it depends.”

I know this answer sounds boring and it does not actually say anything. That is why I decided to write a brief post to describe when one should leave freelancing or one should leave it alone.

Should I Switch?

The decision to leave freelancing or not depends upon the answers to the following questions:

What will you do if not freelancing?
Can you support your family and yourself during the “switch period”?
Are you sure that you want to make a switch?
Is the switch worth the effort?
Are you confident that your clients will accept you in the new role?
Do you have what it takes to make a switch?

Switching career is not an easy task and you already know it. You first tested the sour water of switching when you switched from a full-time job to freelance work; therefore, you must be aware of the kinds of issues one faces when one decided to switch. After a switch, you will again be a fresher in the field. Hence, you should be prepared to fight the same battle that you fought when you first switched from full-time job to freelancing.

What should I do?

You can go for any career you want after free lancing, but there are some career choices which are more related to the works you have done as freelancer. Hence, before you bid adieu to freelancing let’s consider what career choices you have.

You can become a consultant. If you are a freelance writer, you can become writing consultant.
You can become a coach. A press release writer can become a better press release writing coach.
You can start a freelance agency. After working on many assignments for many years, you must know the nuances of freelancing business. Then why not become a freelancing hub that takes work from companies and redistribute among other freelancer.
You can become a freelancer manager for some company.
You can start writing on freelance career choices.

When to switch?

After knowing what you can do, it is time to know when you should switch. In order to find that out, you need to answer the following question to know when to switch from freelancing to another career.

How many years have you been into this? To become a coach, writer or consultant you need to have many years of experience.
Do you think you have acquired enough skill to manage a freelancing business?
Can you be a good negotiator? You must know to negotiate both from clients and freelancers, as it is important for you to make money as a freelance business owner.
Do you know everything that is there to learn to switch from freelancing to consultation?

Tags: Bid, Career Choices, Coach, Faces, Free Lancing, Freelance Agency, Freelance Work, Freelance Writer, freelancer, Full Time Job, Hub, Nuances, Press Release, Release Writer, Sour Water

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24 Jan 10 Freelance Writing – What to Do When Work is Slow

What to do when clients are hard to come by?

04 Dec 09 Are You a Freelance Writer, Do You Know How to Fight Distraction?

Assign yourself a place of work

Fix your work hours

Work, no matter what

Talk to your family

19 Oct 09 When to Bid Freelancing Adieu?

Should I Switch?

What should I do?

When to switch?

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