Definitive tools for Freelance Writing and Blogging

photo credit: Gaetan Lee

The Unjob has been operational for a little over two months now, and in that short span of time we’ve made strides in getting the word out about freelance writing in our own little way. Although we’re certainly below the level of influence that other more popular and experienced freelance blogs command (all of which we enjoy reading, by the way), we’re extremely pleased with our current reader base who are mostly individuals wanting to take the big dive to freelance writing and career blogging. Read more

Escaping your office life

Suspend disbelief for a moment and picture yourself “slaving” over your latest dollar per word blog article that was commissioned by some high-paying online publication as you sip on a refreshing mango-rum concoction in some distant white sand paradise. While getting an early morning tan and an even earlier than usual buzz, you wrap up the article’s closing sentence, hit your word processor’s Save button, then sit back and relax as you take in the sights and sounds of what would seem like another perfect morning in your “hectic work day.”

Sounds dreamy? You bet it is! But unless you’re the heir to Stephen King’s throne or as crafty a writer as J.K. Rowling (do they even like the beach?), you probably wouldn’t see yourself in the situation above anytime soon (or at all, for that matter). But don’t fret: letting go of your 9-5 to blog full time is indeed a real possibility. You may not be basking in the glamour of the Bahamas while you write, but you could forget about waking up at crazy morning hours and working under the brunt of last night’s hangover crushing what grey matter’s left inside your head. Getting rid of all those “impracticalities” to your creative self seems to be a vacation in itself, so what’s holding you back?

Financial Security

The single biggest threat to any hopes of you leaving your job and working on a blog full time is (surprise, surprise) financial security. Indeed, how are you supposed to keep the lights on to help keep that snazzy new Mac with that Apple Cinema Display you bought specifically for your blogging career up and running if you can’t even pay your monthly overhead?

The solution is to begin blogging while you’re still in your current day job. While it sounds the single most obvious thing in the world, convincing yourself to blog for the stormy days ahead that await you once you leave that day job is radically different than convincing yourself to blog today “just because it’s a blog and I have to put something up anyway.” Submitting articles to Helium and other content hosting sites also serve as great long-term investments for your career that may only earn you a few cents a day in the beginning, but when you’ve got thousands of articles earning you those red pennies everyday in perpetuity, then you’ve got a very respectable vehicle for what’s called Residual Income which allows you to laugh gleefully all the way to the bank (or your PayPal account). Think of it as a life insurance plan that gets you small, immediate benefits without you having to die to reap them as a result.

Another way to get some cash coming in is to get a part time job that allows you to work from home. Since blogging would be your “full time” job, applying for something that fills up your free time away from your job might be a good way to keep a steady flow of cash. There are a lot of freelance writing jobs available online, as well as contests that you could participate in such as the ones offered by Helium that allow you to have cash flow spikes which you could use to treat yourself to a delicious six-pack after work or a round for you and your buddies over at the local pub!

Finally, the single most surefire way to obtain financial security as a fulltime blogger, apart from possessing the uncanny ability to predict the future and, hence, predict that your blog would actually earn you enough money to keep you sane, is to make yourself financially independent through maintaining a sizeable savings account and keeping a lucrative investment portfolio. Financial independence allows you to do what you want without having to worry about working for money: according to Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, money should be working for you!

Working in a Non-Working Environment

For some, leaving your day job to blog means leaving the confines of a stuffy, run-down, asbestos riddled office to work in a more pleasant location, such as your ultra-comfortable, post-adolescence bedroom. But working from home presents itself an entirely new series of challenges you never thought existed!

Let’s face it: work isn’t exactly the first thing you think about once you get in your house or apartment, and so the first logical problem you’d have to tackle is bringing yourself to type in front of your computer. With all the distractions you’re bound to have around you such as your video game consoles, TiVo, significant other/s, leftover pizza (not to mention last night’s hangover!), getting your self-employed butt over to your writing chair might be a bit of a struggle.

Try to set a normal working schedule that you could strictly adhere to. The best thing about being self-employed is that you get to keep your own hours, which is an advantage for creative types: if you find yourself to be more productive during the afternoon instead of having just woken up (hopefully not beside someone you don’t know), then set aside some time during that period for you to concentrate on writing and nothing else. Also, get into the habit of really writing as much variety as possible: more writing opportunities present themselves as you become more prolific in other areas too.

Surround yourself with work and blog related material such as your business phone, fax machine, references, etc. instead of your Nintendo DS. Doing so will decrease the likelihood that you’d get lazy and indulge in another one of your “Mario Kart online noob-pwning” marathons. It’s recommended that you designate an area in your home specifically for working, keeping you away from material distraction nuisances as well as nuisance friends and family who are just dying to distract you because they think you have all the time in the world since you’re “working for yourself anyway.” Have your work necessities at hand in this area so you won’t have to keep walking around and going in and out just because you left something beside your bed. If you don’t, you’ll be snoozing away before you know it.

In closing, quitting your day job to pursue a blogging career is a reality: it’s been done, and it can be done, but your chances for success are really slim. It’s your duty, once you’ve convinced yourself to follow your passion for blogging, to make the necessary preparations for that particular future. It may seem totally more Hollywood to just take a nose-dive into fulltime blogging while giving your former employers the finger as you walk away, but when your career and financial future is on the line, you’ve got to protect yourself in any way that you can while feeling your way through. Innuendos aside, penetrating the online writing market and being a career blogger could possibly be the single most satisfying activity for most writers out there.

Comments and Commenting

It’s all too easy these days to comment just for the sake of commenting and link building. Found a post from Dosh Dosh about the real reasons you should be posting relevant, sincere and insightful comments on blogs that you love, as well as some tips from Kelly Stone about getting readers of your blog to participate more in your site.

Blogging and Freelance Writing: Resources to get you on the Right Track

The web hosts a wealth of information regarding ways to get into career blogging and other freelance writing work. Here are some sites I enjoyed going through, and proved to be a great sources of info:

http://www.writingforward.com/freelance-writing/how-i-launched-my-freelance-writing-career

http://www.chrisblogging.com/start-a-part-time-freelance-writing-career/

http://www.dailyblogtips.com/101-blog-tips-i-learned-in-2006/

http://www.dailyblogtips.com/ways-to-make-money-online-with-website/

http://www.thegoldenpencil.com/

http://www.webwritinginfo.com

http://katherinehuether.com/freelance-writing-top-tips-to-break-into-a-new-market/

If you want to attend a workshop on blogging basics, check out The Digital Filipino’s Blogging 101 Workshop to get a clearer idea of how blogging can turn into a lucrative pastime, and even your full time job!

Blogging as a Career

photo credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

You may find yourself in a 9-5 office situation wherein you’ve done all your work for the day already, made sure that the boss has gone through all her appointments without a hitch, and have replied to all company e-mail correspondence and forwarded them to concerned parties as necessary. You sit back and marvel at your industriousness as you smile victoriously while glancing towards your office issued desk clock, expecting it to read somewhere within the boundaries of 3 and 5pm. It’s usually at this point that you’re shocked to see that it’s only an hour and a half past lunch.

It isn’t uncommon for the free-spirited writer to run out of things to do inside an office cubicle, no matter how well equipped or comfortable it is. If writing is a passion and you’re in some job you don’t want to be at in the first place, you probably ask yourself over and over again one of the most fundamental questions of human existence: Why?

The principal answer to that question is money. Your day job (or whatever it is) puts food on your table, and without that you probably wouldn’t even have a table at all. But then again, are you cursed to forever living in a claustrophobic, corporate existence when you know that you’d really want to do the opposite? Blogging as a career seeks to provide a solution for both: as a way to earn money that isn’t connected to any office, and as an avenue for your writing zeal.

A great way to get into blogging as a career is to start a professional blog during your free time at your day job. Aside from it having a very, very minimal startup cost (just the fee to pay for your domain name, web hosting and, if ever, design) and a virtually low career risk financially since you won’t be leaving your job just yet, you’ll suddenly find yourself less bored at the office because there’s something for you to do that would be a source of residual income in the future.

To properly start blogging as a career, take into consideration that the actual blogging or writing aspect of it is only a part of the entire process. Aside from journaling consistently on a regular basis, marketing your blog is a definite must if you’d want to increase the number of hits to your site, such as by visiting other blogs and linking them, and joining online forums and discussion groups where subjects related to your blog are concerned.

More hits to your blog increase your viewership and potential for influence, and this provides for a win-win scenario because an increase in traffic to your site inadvertently increases the chances that visitors will click on content related banner ads from Google (you did sign up for some, didn’t you?) and products from sales partners such as Amazon.com. These services are one of the main forms with which to build a stable flow of residual income, and are integral in blogging as a career.

Blogging as a career doesn’t have to begin as dramatically as making a grand exit from the office ala Jerry Maguire. It’s a lot more practical, not to mention easier, to get started right now in the discomfort and claustrophobic atmosphere of your own office cubicle. The internet has certainly become a boon to moonlighters, hobbyists, and multi-tasking employees the world over.