No matter how perfect we think we are,
freelance writers (and freelancers for that matter) make mistakes. Some of
these can be simply missing a grammar error or spelling error in a piece (I
know for me that writing and proofreading my own work do not always go
together, no matter how many times I read something) but other mistakes are
more serious. Here are what I consider to be the top five mistakes as a
freelance writer.
Number
One: Taking On Too Much Work
When I was starting out with writing, I would
take on as many projects as possible so that I could make as much money as
possible. While in theory this was a good idea, in practise it was the worst
thing that I could do! The issue with taking on a lot is that it often leads to
overworking. In my case, I had three deadlines that were all due within 18
hours. This led to constant writing, very little to eat, no breaks and a lot of
coffee. Since doing that, I’ve never done it again! I’ve spaced out my
deadlines and said no if I cannot get something done.
Number
Two: Putting All Eggs into One Basket
As a freelancer, you can’t put all of your eggs
into one basket; meaning that you can’t rely on just one gig. You never know
what will happen in the future. One website may work out extremely well for a
couple of months but then it can suddenly dry up with titles or change the
payment system that works better for the company than you – after all, each
website is a business and needs to make themselves money!
Have many different places to write, whether
this is through private clients, blogs or websites. It is often worth having a
couple of sites that you can post articles on every now and then to earn
residual income while also working for upfront payments; this will give you the
best of both worlds.
Number
Three: Not Promoting Yourself
A lot of writers are guilty of this. They spend
all of their time writing and not enough time promoting. Using different
marketing methods is extremely important if you want to be noticed by those
looking for content or you want to gain the residual income from rev share
websites. There are plenty of options out there, including social media, video
marketing and even good use of search engine optimisation and backlinks.
Number
Four: Not Asking for Payments Upfront
This is a mistake that most writers will make
at some point in their life, especially when taking on private clients. For
some reason, writers seem happy enough to trust their clients and will do the
work before being paid. This leads to the client having the work and they can
run off without paying. While there are options in getting anything they use
taken down, it is a hassle and generally not worth it.
While you may find that clients don’t want to
pay the full amount upfront, you could ask for half of it. This will mean that
you are at least paid some of the money to do the work. You could also talk to
the clients about putting the money in an escrow account so that it can be
released when the work is completed.
Number
Five: Missing Deadlines
When you work as a freelance writer, you have
to stick to deadlines! If you miss a deadline, you will ruin your reputation.
Of course, there are times that something will come up and it will lead to
problems – a couple of months ago, I had a power cut for two days due to high
winds in my area and ended up missing a deadline. Luckily, I was able to get to
my emails through my phone and sent a quick message to all those that were
waiting for work from me and they understood.
You usually have the freedom of setting the
deadlines to make sure that you have enough time to complete everything;
sometimes, the client will request a deadline instead. Whichever way you work,
make sure that you leave enough time to complete the work. It is fine saying
“it’s not for another week, I have plenty of time” but that week will come
around very quickly. I tend to give my clients a deadline that is a couple of
days after when I know I can get the work done; this gives me a couple of days
leeway, just in case something does happen.
So, that is my top five common mistakes that
freelance writers make. You may have something different. Why not leave a
comment and tell me your common mistakes or those that you have heard of others
doing?
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