So You Want to be a Freelance Writer? Pros and Cons from a Veteran Perspective

Thinking about freelancing?

As someone who took the plunge over a decade ago, I feel uniquely qualified to offer pros and cons of joining the freelance club.

My goal here isn’t to sell you something. I’m not trying to be your digital career guru. I don’t have a course to offer, and I won’t send you a listing of exclusive freelance job opportunities.

I’m just offering my relevant experience and insights as a freelance copywriter. I sincerely hope it helps.

A little about my freelancing career

​I got started in freelancing after my second child was born. It made financial sense for me to stay home, but I lost my identify somewhere in the mounds of dirty diapers and badly executed Pinterest crafts.

I needed an outlet, so I started writing.

I had a few things working in my favor.

First, I went to college and worked professionally for 10+ years in a relatively small geographic area. I had been a newspaper reporter and hospital marketing director. People knew I could write, and I had work samples to prove it.

Second, I didn’t have to pay the bills. My husband’s job did. I could afford to take risks and work cheap.

Third, the timing was perfect.

Remember: this was the early days of content marketing. Digital marketers were just starting to recognize the power of SEO and explore ways to harness it.

Keyword stuffing and spinning articles ran rampant. It was like the wild west out there, and I was Calamity Jane.

My first job had a couple of “real life” clients, but I wanted to expand. I started working on a digital platform called oDesk. It’s now called UpWork, and it may be great. I haven’t worked there in years.

But back then, oDesk was my proving ground. Even though I had writing experience, I didn’t have stars on Odesk. I had to earn them.

That meant I had to work for nothing.

• I don’t mean less than I think I’m worth.
• I don’t mean slightly less than my hourly rate.
• I mean literally nothing.

My first Odesk job paid me $25 for 10, 500-word articles.

Do the math. That’s $2.50 for each article. 0.005 cents per word.

Why did I do it?  It came with the promise of a 5-star review and a glowing reference. From there, I was slowly able to land better paying jobs.

But it was a slog. It took two years to attract the type of clients and rate I wanted.

I’m not telling you this to earn your respect or admiration. I’m telling you so you understand that freelancing is a sacrifice. As a creative, you must prove yourself, especially if you have no relevant work samples or references from legit brands.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. You just need to go into with your eyes open and a realistic outlook.

With that, here are my pros and cons of freelancing based on my 11 years of experience.

Pros of freelancing

• You can basically set your own hours. Wear pajamas all day. Work in the middle of the night. Play hooky and go get your nails done on a random Tuesday.
• Working-from-home is ubiquitous. LOTS of people do it, and the technology to support it is readily available.
• Finding jobs is fairly easy. There are job boards galore. My favorites are LinkedIn, Indeed and contentwritingjobs.com.
• You don’t have to accept work if you don’t want to do it or get a weird vibe from the client.
• You can focus on one industry and become an expert.
• Conversely, you can be a generalist and work in any industry that interests you.
• You can set your own rates.
• You can live anywhere. I’ve moved across the country three times in 10 years and never lost a client.

Cons of freelancing

• You will have to promote yourself almost constantly. You will probably have to step out of your comfort zone.
• You will not earn as much as you think you should. At least not at first. You’ll get there but don’t expect it to happen with your first freelance job.
• Freelancing is cyclical. Sometimes you’ll have more work than you can do; other times you won’t have any.
• You will have to pay taxes on your 1099 income. Put money back from every job for taxes. Make this a habit.
• Some clients will pay you late, and some may not pay at all. Expect to get burned occasionally.
• Sometimes jobs will take longer than you estimated, which could impact your earnings or your ability to take on new clients.
• You may feel socially isolated, especially if you’re used to working in an office environment.

 
Key takeaways if you’re thinking about freelancing

Take it from someone who knows. Freelance writing is pretty great. You have the flexibility to work when and where you want. You can pick your clients and, for the most part, set your own rates.

But it’s also a journey. Go into it expecting some lean months and even years. It takes time to accrue the types of work samples and connections that bring big dollars.

Other insights? I’ve be interested in hearing others’ thoughts about working as a freelance writer. Email me and let me know what I’ve missed.