Thursday 2 February 2012

$1500 A Month After Six Months As A Freelance Writer

By Brent Hale


Some of you may be wondering how you might be able to make some extra money by writing online, or you might even want to start writing articles as a career. In any case, I've got some experience that you might find to be beneficial to where you are at. No, this isn't going to give you a surefire formula that will get you filthy rich overnight. Instead, this article is going to show you the steps I took to find fairly quick success as a freelance writer, and I'm certain that, if you take the advice given below, you will have a good idea of how you can start earning some money by freelance writing on the internet.

About six months ago I made a decision. I said to myself... "For the rest of your life, you will work only on your terms." I meant it. Now I don't have anything against the people who work nine to five, in fact, I believe they are the backbone of this country. However, that life isn't for me. I like a little bit of freedom and I don't like it when someone is looking over my shoulder. So, I made the decision and, even though I hadn't the slightest clue of how I was going to make money writing, I started exploring my options.

I didn't have a degree in writing and I had very little experience with the way things worked. But, it didn't matter. I knew I'd have to start out writing cheap-paying articles and that if I produced quality work, I could come across better paying opportunities. The amount I was going to get paid and how long I spent writing didn't matter to me... I was, without-a-doubt, confident that I had the ability to get to where it was that I wanted to go. It didn't matter what happened, I was going to find a way to make freelance writing work for me. And this attitude I had was probably the best thing I had going for me early in my career. You have to have faith. You have to realize that you are going to find success in your undertaking and you HAVE to be prepared to hurdle the obstacles that get in your way. For the first time in my life, I knew what it was going to take to become successful...

When I first started, I was writing nearly 14 hours a day and I was only earning about $3 for ever 500 word article I wrote. As I look back now, I know that I was working more than necessary for so little money, but, at during that time period, I was unaware of how little I was being paid. It was so awesome to me that I was actually getting paid to write! The positive attitude I possessed made me look pass the little income I was earning. Having a positive attitude and being enthusiastic is a vital component to being successful in any line of work you find yourself in. The bottom line is, you will never find a job where every task you do is completely satisfying. However, by having a positive attitude and enjoying your work, you can get past those inconveniences that come your way.

So, as my attitude and faith in knowing that I would make it as a successful freelance writer, provided my support, I began searching for better opportunities. About one month after deciding to start freelance writing, I came across a site that was in beta testing. I figured that if this site was just starting, maybe I'd have a chance to get on something that would turn out to be more lucrative down the road. At first, the work available on the site was non-existent. In fact, in the first month writing for the new site, I had only written one article and it was on a topic that I knew NOTHING about. But I got paid $11.50 for completing it. (During that time period I continued writing my $3 articles to give me something to fall back on.) About a month later, I grabbed a couple more assignments on the same topic. With each assignment I took, I made sure that I was producing the best work I possibly could.

I don't know what it was about this site, I just had a good feeling about it from the get go. After a few assignments on the subject I knew little about, I was contacted by one of the editors. She asked me if I'd like more work, and of course I said yes. This was my first big break (really, I've only had about two 'big breaks' in my short sixth month career... but it sounds cool to say 'my first' because I'm expecting a ton more in the future). So, I started getting regular work and this subject that I used to know little about, I was starting to learn a bunch more about. And whenever they asked if I could take on more, I ALWAYS said yes.

In my past, there was a few jobs that I had that I could have excelled at. However, I never had the attitude and correct mental state to do what it took to get ahead. Instead I always just did whatever was required of me to get by. With this new career, I am eager to say 'yes' to EVERYTHING that comes my way... and that take on this whole thing has helped me get off to a successful start.

As the work kept piling in from my one client, I became more and more efficient. After about two months, I was making about $1500 a month writing for them. Now, there's a lot of people out there making a lot more than $1500 a month and that's awesome for them, because that's what I want. But $1500 now, from where I was six months ago, might as well be a billion dollars. I didn't know how I was going to make money... not even the slightest clue. All I had was faith and enthusiasm.

A couple of weeks ago I got a second 'break'. I had just turned in an assignment and I got an idea I wanted to bring up to the client I wrote for. So, I did. The next day my client messaged me asking me to email her. After I emailed her back, she told me that she needed one writer to write a database of articles for a new client of their company had gotten. And, although it wasn't what I proposed to her, it was a better opportunity than I currently had. The articles I wrote for the database would pay four times as much as I was currently making. Without hesitation, as you can imagine, I gladly accepted the new assignment.

It's incredible to me to see what happens when you take a chance. You MUST take chances if you want to find success. Sure, what I pitched wasn't considered, however, I was given a far better opportunity than I currently had. And that was HUGE.

In the first six months, I think I have done a lot of things right, and have done other things that I need to learn from. However, I believe my success has stemmed from three different factors, they are: have faith, be enthusiastic and take chances when they present themselves.

I believe that no matter what kind of undertaking you come across in your life, be it a freelance writer, business owner, or food eating champion, those three things will always help you be successful. They are definitely how I've gone from nothing to something in such a short amount of time and they are definitely how I will continue to grow.




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