3 Reasons Why Freelance Writing is Great

If you’re passionate about writing and learning, then freelance writing is the best job in the world.  It’s not an easy job, though.  

If you’re passionate about writing and learning, then freelance writing is the best job in the world.  It’s not an easy job, though.  You have to be willing to put in the hours, drop a lot of social engagements and submit to seemingly bizarre revision requests.  If you are willing to do all of that, then you will discover all of the reasons that freelance writing is such a great career – flexibility, variety and stability.

Flexibility

You work your own hours.  This doesn’t mean that you get to watch YouTube videos for hours and call it “research.”  You have to get your behind in the chair, fingers on the keyboard and churn out the work.  But the more you write, the easier it is to get in the habit of writing. 

There is no one to ask vacation dates from, so you can set your own vacation dates.  You may not be able to go on vacations for the first few years of your freelance career, but eventually you will be able to.  You may be able to incorporate article ideas during your vacation.  Expect to do rough drafts or article outlines while on vacation.

Variety

The Internet provides thousands of places to turn your words into money.  If you are able to get into traditional print media, great, but the bulk of freelance writing jobs are online.  On the same day, you could be writing for blogs, press releases, brief news items, how-to guides and advertising.  The subjects also vary wildly, which keep you from getting bored.

When you begin freelance writing, get out of your comfort zone and write about as many topics as you can.  This gives you more job opportunities and more clips to show to future clients.  As your career progresses and you have your pick of clients, you can pick which subjects will be your specialty. 

Stability

In a traditional job, you went from your home to a building and did your job for one business.  But how about if that business tanked?  You’re left without any income.  With freelance writing, you avoid this scenario by having many clients.  You can keep on assessing the clients you have, dropping those that are irksome and taking on more clients.  Try to have at least six clients at any one time.  That way if one fails or just does not have enough work for you, you can still bring in income with the other five clients.

Even though you are your own boss, you still have to be disciplined, professional and know your limitations.  These are things best learned on the job.  In freelance writing, you can learn these skills while still bringing in an income.