I'm feeling lost & so tired and I need your help

[Sweetrevenge]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been a freelancer since when I was in my last year at the university (2010). I tried many things else before that but nothing beat the freedom and the paycheck I get doing freelancing job. I started as a writer and I still am a professional writer for websites and blogs. I did some other stuff since 2013 also, such as translating, Wordpress web design, transcribing and so on.

The thing is I started to need someone to help me on all of my orders in 2016. I started my agency around that time. It has been great for the first 3 years. I was always willing to help and guide each and every freelancer who had delay in their delivery or those who don’t respect all the instructions. I was always willing to give my nice review each time.

But now, I’m just sick and tired of all of that B.S. I’ve already tried to have people in-house, but they were the worst. The quality wasn’t really there and I had the feeling of being their mother. They really didn’t understand anything I sent or show to them and it was way more exhausting than having freelancers. So I got back to having freelancers.

But now I can’t handle it anymore. In the writing field, there are always some specific instructions given by each client and each writer must do everything to follow them. But most of them just don’t understand that. Because this job is so booming in my country, everyone wants to become a writer. People do the bare minimum to write for each order and it’s like they don’t even read the instructions anymore. I just fired someone last week because I had to redo all what she has already delivered to me because it was pure garbage which didn’t meet anything from the client’s requirements. I’ve just gotten rid of the most exhausting one too Yesterday because I’m just sick and tired of always reminding him what to do and how to do it. It’s like micromanaging, something that I hate to do personally. And I do have someone in between me and the freelancers, the proofreader. She is good at her job and very professional, but she just takes care of the language errors and nothing else.

Seriously, I don’t see myself pursuing this route for any longer. I think I'm burning out for months now. The agency is getting new clients on a constant basis and I have a great professional relationship with most of them, but it the freelancers'part which drain all my energy. I can’t honor every order alone and I really need at least 2 other writers to assist me, but I’m feeling disgusted by all of this and I don’t even try to find anyone anymore. I just want to quit. But I don’t know what to do. I have a little saving though (3 months worth of salary) and I still have a freelancer who takes care of some translation jobs. What we get with that client vary a lot but sometimes it’s more than enough for 3 months in a row.

What should I do in your opinion?

Thank you for reading all this rant (and sorry, English is not my first language nor the language I write into)

Mods: Feel free to move this in the perfect section that best suits it if this doesn't belong here.

 

[Exitwound]

I'm in the content writing field as well and I feel your pain. Getting a competent, trustworthy team together is hard. Keeping it together is even harder.

Nowadays I work solo and couldn't be happier.

I've narrowed my focus from ghost-writing and freelancing to building a single, authoritative website. It took time to make it profitable, and I suffered during the transition (I had to do odd-jobs to stay afloat), but it looks to be paying off finally.

 

[Panther28]

One thing i will say is if you feel like you are burning out you need to drastically cut back your workload, to get some breathing & thinking time, before you get mentally unwell too.

 

[sony1]

Content writing is very time consuming and tough job, and i've always hated content writing myself and when I got freelancers my troubles doubled that's why i can understand your pain.

 

[BrandingCat]

Did you ever try to pay more people? If you don`t stimulate your sub-contractors, sooner or later they will fuck off.

 

[TheBragi]

Take a step back at the very least. Give yourself some space. I wish you the best.

 

[Therealdarkpegasus]

There is always someone that is better teachable with the skills you require and the budget you have, focus on finding those people, and sometimes partnering and outsourcing to fellow professional writers could help

 

[pop3]

I feel really sorry to hear that. I just started on this field not so long ago, and for beginners, like me, developing a writing skill takes so much time and so many courses.

Actually, I don't even understand why people join this field without having some writing background. Writing is not easy, IMO. Especially for marketing, and it's even hard when you're not native in the language.

You should try looking for professional writers, like people who are on the market for 5 or 8+ years and can show you at least some portfolio, because if you keep investing in cheap people, then you'll keep on getting people that only does the bare minimum.

 

[Sweetrevenge]

Did you ever try to pay more people? If you don`t stimulate your sub-contractors, sooner or later they will fuck off.

I feel really sorry to hear that. I just started on this field not so long ago, and for beginners, like me, developing a writing skill takes so much time and so many courses.

Actually, I don't even understand why people join this field without having some writing background. Writing is not easy, IMO. Especially for marketing, and it's even hard when you're not native in the language.

You should try looking for professional writers, like people who are on the market for 5 or 8+ years and can show you at least some portfolio, because if you keep investing in cheap people, then you'll keep on getting people that only does the bare minimum.

I forgot to mention it but I'm already paying people way above the average here, not in the cheap frame anymore. It's been like that for 2 years now and I just made a new raise few months ago. But that seems to not resolve the problem.
I'm just lost and so tired. I'm really thinking about quitting after 10 years in this field. I'm so sad even just by thinking about that.

I'm in the content writing field as well and I feel your pain. Getting a competent, trustworthy team together is hard. Keeping it together is even harder.

Nowadays I work solo and couldn't be happier.

I've narrowed my focus from ghost-writing and freelancing to building a single, authoritative website. It took time to make it profitable, and I suffered during the transition (I had to do odd-jobs to stay afloat), but it looks to be paying off finally.

I was thinking of that one month ago. That's why I launched a journey on the Journey section. But all of this makes it impossible to pursue now.

 

[Reem khan]

I'm also freelancer , I dont have much experience just like you but I have to say we can't continue freelancing for whole life.
P. S I'm not writer

 

[mattvei]

Change your hiring process. Put in response hurdles (like a code/test/comprehension) they have to implement to show they can follow instructions. Following instructions is a character issue. And remember, any time you have employees, it's a giant baby sitting issue

 

[Axeton]

Interesting read on trying to scale up a freelancing business. I’ve worked with freelance writers and it is a nightmare, much worse than other types like photoshop. I suggest you scale down to work solo.

 

[ace44]

Hey, I have been writing as a freelancer for some years now and I can tell you for a fact that it's all about management, first thing is to identify the minimum number of jobs you get in a month, know your weakness in terms of how many you can edit, proofread or manage per month, then seek for good writers, trust me, they are out there, also do a little bit of soul searching, the problem may actually be you and not the writers, apologies if that hurts but you need to just take sometime alone and think, don't give up, don't throw away your hardwork

 

[megaclick]

I feel your pain too. A large % of people just won't and can't provide results you need.