Freelance Writing Job: When It Rains It Pours
Yesterday, I received another freelance writing opportunity. Although it’s not what I decided to place my focus on as a freelance writer it’s a topic I know well. Check out Jim’s post titled Specialist or Generalist. Which one are you?
Whatever interests me I learn as much as possible about the subject. That usually requires a lot of research. Currently my research is freelance writing so I’ve acquired a lot of books on the subject and yes I’m actually reading them. I’ve also been frequenting websites devoted to freelance writing, forums, and I’ve visited numerous blogs.
I’ve always been interested in computers, more specifically, what makes them tick so I learned as much as possible about MCSE, A+, Network +, and I know a lot about CCNA. I received certifications. When I worked in the corporate world, my jobs have been tech related. I traveled a lot and the pay was very good. What was the best part? I was doing something I loved. That’s important. It’s not what I learned in college. In college I majored in Nursing until my third year I switched to Business Finance, much to the dismay of my parents.
The job I applied for yesterday is perfect. Its technology related. I went for it. In my email/query letter, I sold my abilities I also sent samples of my work from some of my websites. One of my websites is technology related. The sample posts I included have received a lot of comments. The feedback was positive. The hiring company is a highly trafficked website and it “community driven.” They look for feedback from their readers. They value comments, and they respond to them. It’s part of their brand. I believe it is what make them so successful. If you notice I respond to my comments here on Addicted to Writing.I know the importance of doing that. I also do it on my other websites. It takes me a while especially on my main website, but it gets done. It’s part of my brand. In my letter, I pointed to the ways I’ve branded myself on my own websites. Not only does branding apply to my business and my websites (they make me money daily) it also applies to freelance writing. Freelance writing is a business. Treat it like one. Create an effective brand and market it!
I sold myself in that email letter/query. Within an hour, I received a response from the owner. He stated that I looked like a good fit, and he wanted to respond if interested. Sure I could have responded with, “yes, I’m interested” but I didn’t. I did some research I went onto the website and read numerous pages. Confident I emailed him and told him why I was an excellent fit for their website. I wrote about specific pages on their website and told how I complimented them I also spoke of the ways that my work will enhance their fabulous service.
I’m confident in my abilities. In order to be successful you have to be. Marketing has always been my strong suit, and I have a lot of ideas about how I can market myself as a freelance writer. If I received this job, it would be one of my highest paying job, thus far, as a freelance writer, and it’s an ongoing project. I previously wrote about my first months earnings in the post titled Freelance Writing: December Earnings 2007.
Over the past few months I’ve learned a lot about freelance writing and I’m still have more to learn.
Question: What’s the biggest gig you received? How did you sell yourself?
Technorati Tags: freelance writing, branding, freelance writing jobs
Related Posts
- Who Me, A Technical Writer?
- Freelance Writing: To Query Or Not To Query?
- Freelance Writing: I’m Officially Booked
- Freelance Writing: I was contacted
- Freelance writing: First media invite
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically each day to your feed reader.
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
Comments
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Opal, I’m excited for you just reading this. You’ve got a heap of knowledge in a variety of subjects and I know you’re going to get heaps of work.
I chickened out of the best gig I was offered. A few months before I started with Rainbow, I submitted a query to a well known monthly women’s magazine in the UK.
The query was accepted but I was so scared that I would screw up on the actual article that I chickened out of submitting it.
It was probably one of the most stupid things I’ve ever done . And to make matters worse, a few months later, I was on a writing novel writing course and found myself sitting next to the editor who accepted my query.
Of course I didn’t say anything - it would have been so embarrassing. And I had quite a common surname then, so either she didn’t realise either, or she was just being polite.
I haven’t had time to do any freelancing for a few years now, but I wouldn’t recommend to anyone to do what I did. You would really end up regretting it.
Catherine,
I think what you experienced is understandable. I’ve experienced self-doubt earlier. Now I keep moving forward. Realizing the feeling is normal especially when I’m tackling something new I work through my fears. I keep moving forward.
Hopefully, in the future, you’ll be able get back into freelance writing and when you are in the same situation keep moving forward realizing they wouldn’t have accepted your work if they didn’t think it was a good fit for their magazine.
One of the things that initially attracted me to freelance writing was the diverse number of topics I could write about. It gave me an excuse to read and learn about so many different things.
The hard part for me was (is) overcoming the self-doubts. It can be a difficult process, but with each success my confidence grows.
Catherine - Don’t beat yourself up too badly over past decisions. We’ve all done things that we could kick ourselves for later. Learn and move on. The next great gig could be just an email away.
Congratulations on the new gig!
It’s great that you’re able to kick off your writing career on the right track. I hope it works out. I’m currently working on multiple small projects, but I hope to land a big gig soon. My two biggest clients were a travel website and a real estate site. Unfortunately, the travel site merged with another company and assignments became sporadic. And after six months of consistent work, the real estate company no longer had a need for web content. I agree - when it rains it pours. When I need an opportunity I can’t find one. Yet, whenever I have too much work, more job offers pour in - I can’t win! 
Congratulations on the new freelance work, Opal! I wish you lots of success. You seem so personable and knowledgeable, you deserve all the “rain!”
Smiles,
Michele
Good job on getting the new project. One thing that I’ve found is that many freelancers start out as generalists, but then over the course of time, develop a specialty. That’s one of the cool things about this business is that you can take on many types of projects and find what works for you and what doesn’t.
Jim,
You’re correct their are a lot of topics you can write about. There is really no reason to become bored if you plan accordingly. Self doubt can be challenging but I would like to think it’s normal, especially when you start something new.
Valencia,
Thanks it’s not mine yet but I do have a good chance of receiving it.
Michele L. Tune,
Thanks so much! I definitely try to be. I’m the same way in person.
The Word Wrangler,
I guess I had it backwards with my first seven clients I definitely those were specialist. I guess the project I might receive is specialist also since I have certifications. It wasn’t something I was planning to write about, lol. However the opportunity was too good to ignore.