My Freelance Writing Journey To $500 Per Month

Unfortunately, the ebook writing job fell through. The client wanted me to complete the work send it to him and then pay. The client wouldn't even consider half payment. Honestly, when running a writing business, I think you should always collect a payment before you start writing. Too many times in the past I've done work for people only to have them run off with the content and never pay.

Although you want work, you also want to ensure you do what is best for you and your time. Imagine sitting there and working so hard for nothing. That doesn't make sense.

No worries. I still have clients and things I'm working on.
 
Really different one. Happy journey, you can reach your goal soon. Looking forward to update
 
Good luck :-)

Maybe you should start a BST here on BHW?
 
How did you go about deciding how much to charge for your time? How many words a day is it possible for your to write?
Thanks.
 
Good luck :)

Maybe you should start a BST here on BHW?

I've been thinking about doing that and probably I should. Will work on this soon.
How did you go about deciding how much to charge for your time? How many words a day is it possible for your to write?
Thanks.

For me I can charge a low price because I can create content at a very rapid pace. If you are slow the the best thing would be to charge something that would cover the time you spend on jobs.

On good day if I'm in a groove I could hit about 10k words per day but as I said if I'm in a groove. On a regular day because of my day job I could hit about 5k words per day.
 
Wow thats a lot of words. Did you find your rate of work increases the more experience you got churning it out? Or are you just naturallly quick. I'm aiming to try and get to 4k words realiably. Any tips?
Thanks.
 
I must say I am impressed with the number of words you write each day. If you can persist with the same quality, at a decent rate, you can set up a content shop pretty soon.

I, myself, always had a problem that if I write more than I feel I can, I end up creating the last pieces of content every day poorly and I usually rewrite those.

My tips:
  • Try to aim for higher paying jobs- Even though consistency plays the biggest role in the writing business if you are a beginner, I highly advise you to reach more for the better paying opportunities rather wasting time writing for peanuts.
  • Improve continuously- If you want a good stream of orders, you must improve your skills constantly. Always aim to get better, read the work of other writers and learn from them.
  • Set up a website- If you want to look like a professional, it would be great if you build a good looking website along with a personalized email address. This will make you look more appealing to the possible customers.
That will be all.
 
Wow thats a lot of words. Did you find your rate of work increases the more experience you got churning it out? Or are you just naturallly quick. I'm aiming to try and get to 4k words realiably. Any tips?
Thanks.


I think the more that I wrote the better I became. For me the hardest part of writing articles is finding the motivation to do it. It's not easy writing on boring topics all day long.

I must say I am impressed with the number of words you write each day. If you can persist with the same quality, at a decent rate, you can set up a content shop pretty soon.

I, myself, always had a problem that if I write more than I feel I can, I end up creating the last pieces of content every day poorly and I usually rewrite those.

My tips:
  • Try to aim for higher paying jobs- Even though consistency plays the biggest role in the writing business if you are a beginner, I highly advise you to reach more for the better paying opportunities rather wasting time writing for peanuts.
  • Improve continuously- If you want a good stream of orders, you must improve your skills constantly. Always aim to get better, read the work of other writers and learn from them.
  • Set up a website- If you want to look like a professional, it would be great if you build a good looking website along with a personalized email address. This will make you look more appealing to the possible customers.
That will be all.

I already have a website. The biggest thing for me is doing research. Research is the part I spend the most time. I honestly believe if I can research faster then I'll be able to make more money.

Also thank you for your input. I will work on making my site even better.
 
Update:

I haven't forgotten about this thread. I've just been busy with my day job. We had to move to a new location, and that's been eating up my time. The good thing is I've been able to continue writing. I had a few jobs so now I'm up to about $207.

Thoughts:

Writing is boring, and I am trying to find ways to do it even faster. For me, research is the hardest part. Trying to find content to write on. Sometimes you just get topics that suck, and you spend so much time trying to gather research. Other than that I've been chugging along.

Another thing is when you send work to clients there is hardly any feedback you get. It's a weird feeling but you just have to keep pressing along.

Been thinking about writing a guide on how to get started with freelance writing and probably selling it. This is just something that's in my thoughts though.

Tips:

Two Words.........WORK HARD

If you can do that you will have all the things you want to have in your life.

Until next time.
 
Update:

I haven't forgotten about this thread. I've just been busy with my day job. We had to move to a new location, and that's been eating up my time. The good thing is I've been able to continue writing. I had a few jobs so now I'm up to about $207.

Thoughts:

Writing is boring, and I am trying to find ways to do it even faster. For me, research is the hardest part. Trying to find content to write on. Sometimes you just get topics that suck, and you spend so much time trying to gather research. Other than that I've been chugging along.

Another thing is when you send work to clients there is hardly any feedback you get. It's a weird feeling but you just have to keep pressing along.

Been thinking about writing a guide on how to get started with freelance writing and probably selling it. This is just something that's in my thoughts though.

Tips:

Two Words.........WORK HARD

If you can do that you will have all the things you want to have in your life.

Until next time.
The way you can speed up the research and writing process is to have a dual monitor setup. Use one monitor solely for your writing, and use a tool such as Calmly Writer. It helps you speed up the process of writing by eliminating distractions. Use the second monitor for googling about the topic, and doing different kind of research you need for your writing project.

This will, literally, cut down your writing process in half.

If you see writing as a boring profession, consider changing it. There is other branches you can freelance in, such as web design, graphic design, programming just to begin with.

If you see writing as a boring profession only when you write about topics you personally do not like, try micro-niching yourself to a single industry you like. It will take you more time to build a profitable writing business doing this, but you will surely build a client base who will pay you more money.

I hope any of this helps you. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask them.

There are many freelance writing guides out there by the way. Most people are giving them away for free, and if you decide to sell them, you surely won't make a lot of money if you know nothing about marketing or traffic generation. If I were in your shoes, I would go down the path of giving away the eBook for free in exchange for an email address. Later on, utilize the power of email marketing and sell all kinds of products and build a long-lasting income.
 
Good luck on the journey!

The more realistic the goal is.. the easier you can obtain it and reach for the next one at hand..

When running a marathon, you cannot see 28 miles ahead.. you can only see a few hundred yards.. make THAT your goal.. and you will reach where you need to before you realize it..
 
The way you can speed up the research and writing process is to have a dual monitor setup. Use one monitor solely for your writing, and use a tool such as Calmly Writer. It helps you speed up the process of writing by eliminating distractions. Use the second monitor for googling about the topic, and doing different kind of research you need for your writing project.

This will, literally, cut down your writing process in half.

I have heard this as well, as I am also attempting to get my freelance writing off the ground. Im nowhere near as fast as op, I can do 4k words a day in a reasonable time, of well researched material. Easilyy the thing that seems to take me the most time is tabbing between windows, to refrence the research I have done. A friend told me getting a second monitor cut the time he spends on writing content by half as well. And with your post I have heard this several time from different people. Guess its time to buy a nerw monitor.

Good luck in your journey OP. I am keeping an close eye on this as you are doing exactly what I am!
 
I have heard this as well, as I am also attempting to get my freelance writing off the ground. Im nowhere near as fast as op, I can do 4k words a day in a reasonable time, of well researched material. Easilyy the thing that seems to take me the most time is tabbing between windows, to refrence the research I have done. A friend told me getting a second monitor cut the time he spends on writing content by half as well. And with your post I have heard this several time from different people. Guess its time to buy a nerw monitor.

Good luck in your journey OP. I am keeping an close eye on this as you are doing exactly what I am!
It is a reasonably small investment considering the fact that you will be able to seriously increase the amount of content you do per day.

Keep in mind that even though the amount of content you produce per day can increase the income, too, the focus of your writing business should be on producing quality rather than quantity.

Writing 3000 words a day is much better than writing 10,000 words a day, if you get paid more for less work done.
 
It is a reasonably small investment considering the fact that you will be able to seriously increase the amount of content you do per day.

Keep in mind that even though the amount of content you produce per day can increase the income, too, the focus of your writing business should be on producing quality rather than quantity.

Writing 3000 words a day is much better than writing 10,000 words a day, if you get paid more for less work done.

Yes, I agree. My focus is 100% going to be on creating qualiity content. There seems to be a never ending supply of super cheap content writers, but from what I have seen of thier work a lot of it is quite poor. I think I'm going to pick up a cheap second monitor today. Obv I would like to increase my output, but I think just making the content I can make already easier to produce will go a long way.
Thanks for your replies.
Nick
 
It is a reasonably small investment considering the fact that you will be able to seriously increase the amount of content you do per day.

Keep in mind that even though the amount of content you produce per day can increase the income, too, the focus of your writing business should be on producing quality rather than quantity.

Writing 3000 words a day is much better than writing 10,000 words a day, if you get paid more for less work done.

This is exactly what I am thinking about at the moment. It's better to do quality work for more pay than to be doing quantity work and getting paid less. Definitely the route I will be going in the future.
 
This is exactly what I am thinking about at the moment. It's better to do quality work for more pay than to be doing quantity work and getting paid less. Definitely the route I will be going in the future.
True. It's the right decision in my opinion.
 
The way you can speed up the research and writing process is to have a dual monitor setup. Use one monitor solely for your writing, and use a tool such as Calmly Writer. It helps you speed up the process of writing by eliminating distractions. Use the second monitor for googling about the topic, and doing different kind of research you need for your writing project.

This will, literally, cut down your writing process in half.

If you see writing as a boring profession, consider changing it. There is other branches you can freelance in, such as web design, graphic design, programming just to begin with.

If you see writing as a boring profession only when you write about topics you personally do not like, try micro-niching yourself to a single industry you like. It will take you more time to build a profitable writing business doing this, but you will surely build a client base who will pay you more money.

I hope any of this helps you. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask them.

There are many freelance writing guides out there by the way. Most people are giving them away for free, and if you decide to sell them, you surely won't make a lot of money if you know nothing about marketing or traffic generation. If I were in your shoes, I would go down the path of giving away the eBook for free in exchange for an email address. Later on, utilize the power of email marketing and sell all kinds of products and build a long-lasting income.

I've thought about getting more into web design. I've designed some websites for clients before and have been paid to do it. Now I am seriously thinking it's something I'd like to do. I can type fast, but most of the time when I am creating content I see it as more of a chore than something that I enjoy doing.
Right now I am just writing to save some money to invest in CPA marketing. That is truly the field that I want to get into.
 
I've thought about getting more into web design. I've designed some websites for clients before and have been paid to do it. Now I am seriously thinking it's something I'd like to do. I can type fast, but most of the time when I am creating content I see it as more of a chore than something that I enjoy doing.
Right now I am just writing to save some money to invest in CPA marketing. That is truly the field that I want to get into.
That is the real problem with freelance writers getting in the game of writing just for the sake of making a quick buck. They burn out quicker than they initially thought, and the problem arises because they feel like they are not doing the job they like.

Keep in mind that you are surely going to lose a nerve at one point, as you are not enjoying what you are doing every day.
 
Good luck OP.

I'm also thinking about getting into content writing. I used to love writing, in some ways I still do, but I absolutely hate TYPING.

Writing good content is extremely time-consuming.

I would be delighted to write full-time and churn out 700-word articles for approximately €150-€200 a pop.

Unfortunately, I just don't think people would pay those prices so I need to figure out how to speed up. :)

Will follow this thread closely.
 
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