At the moment I often write for people who needs content for their website, plodding along nicely making as much as I want. I do this part time and I have a full time 9-5 job. The opportunity has come across where a client has asked me to provide daily content on a number of websites which is fantastic and I'm looking forward to working with him. My question is, did everyone else face the decision where they could potentially earn more money doing it full time than their regular job. It's quite scary leaving a solid guaranteed wage to going all out and working as an online copywriter. Just looking for stories you lot may have had which is similar, would love to read them and ease my mind (hopefully ). Cheers Richard
When I went full-time on my own (my PR work; I still only write part-time), I knew I'd be making less than I was at my full-time job. I just decided I was tired of the politics of the non-profit world, and left one day. I'd thought about doing it for a while, but the decision itself was pretty sudden. Never looked back. The beginning will be the hardest when you're working full-time for yourself. As long as you're prepared to work long hours, and market aggressively (even if you have the gigs, you can't stop marketing, or you'll be screwed if that one client leaves), you'll be ahead of most who don't seem to know what to expect when getting into this kind of work. You already seem to have the experience from the part-time work, so if you feel confident that you can fill all of your billable hours in a full-time schedule, go for it, and good luck.
From a salary standpoint, I make a lot more a freelance copywriter. But there are slow times and you need to discipline yourself to put money away and not buy toys. Last year two of my corporate clients went through mergers at the same time. Poof! There went the work despite the fact they loved what I did for them. That's how it goes sometimes. Beyond your control. And so I needed to fill in some blanks quickly which is not a position I find myself in often. You also need to consider insurance. I had a very serious condition about 8 years ago that would have wiped me out financially if I'd not had good insurance. My husband works full time with a corporation. It saved my life. Literally. It can be difficult simply because you have to wear so many hats. But liberating as well because you are the CEO. I could write a book about the subject. By the way, I have been freelance for 16 years.
Yeah, I understand about the quiet periods - I still get that at the moment but I hardly notice with only doing it part time. I also am starting getting a few sites up and running and dabbling in the affiliate marketing side of things. That way when I'm not busy writing for a client I can either write for myself or promote other websites to try and make some additional income. I have too many methods going on to make money most of themare half complete so the idea of having some free time doesn't look too bad at the moment. I would just need to ensure I am financially sound to compensate.
I have been self employed for 30 years without ever working for someone else. And the first thing to consider is, are you cut out to be self employed? It is a different kind of commitment that usually involves a far heavier workload and much longer hours than being employed. For example it is 6pm Easter Saturday as I type this, and I have about three hours work left to complete today. Easter Sunday I will have a good 12 hours plus, next weekend I will have 2 nights and 1 day off, the first since New Years day. Is that the kind of thing you want to get into? If you are unsure it may not be the right move for you.
Hi, I am eager to know how you have been able to get the job of writing almost permanently that you had to leave the job. Please, give some ideas. I have been willing to work as a writer full time but getting the job. Regards, tony707
I went full time with my writing because it allows me to stay home and raise my baby. If I didn't have that motivation I doubt I would have ever been bold enough to make the leap. As it is, I'm completely satisfied and feel completely blessed working at home. If you're cut out to make your own hours, I say do it! There is no time like the present to take the reigns of your own life!
I am not sure I can answer that; you will need to chase all the work you can. You will have to work on tedious, 50 articles about TV stands, to learn how to write interesting articles about mundane things. I have only advertised once for work, but I have a lot of experience in working for myself, so that helps.
I was forced to write full time. I became disabled and the govt would not help with disability. You have to be dead to get what you pay for. I knew IM was my families only way out. It has been hard for me to get started in IM. I have two domains and know I need to get some affiliate pages going and sell some ebooks. I am just having trouble getting started. I have paypal. Not sure how to set everything up. My family still suffers, partly because I write content so cheaply. My content has been praised by everyone I have written for. I am just unsure what the going rates are. I also find that I stay in work charging cheap prices. If someone could PM me and let me know what the standards are it would be helpful. Also, anyone who would help me get started with IM I would appreciate it. I really need to get some income streams coming in that I do not have to work so hard for, lol. Thanks everyone. Trying to save the house and family has been very difficult. I am working hard at it.
dlbott, you'll "work hard" for any kind of income online. If you expect it to be easy, it's not for you. As for standard rates, there is no such thing. You'll find people here who write for as little as less than a penny per word and those who write for more than a dollar per word. Choose a specialty. Make sure there's a demand for it. Become an expert in it. Then take some time to figure out how to set your base rates properly (to cover what you need to earn), and adjust upwards from there if your quality and other factors justify it. If you work for less than your base rate, you're setting yourself up for failure.
If you don't set your rates yourself as jhmattern rightly pointed out, you'll have your rates set for you and they won't be good. In this line of work, you are your own boss and you should give yourself a few raises/promotions as you get better skills and knowledge/experience Hike your rates gradually and see where that takes you.
I have been offering my services here for quite a while now at the $1.5 per 100 words which I think is unbelievable compared to now. After speaking to people here I just bumped up my rates to 4 cents a word minimum, I still have lots of people coming to me and have began to build a small regular client base. My advice is the exact same as I recieved when I was in the same situation as you, go for it If you believe your writing is good, value yourself more than slave labour. Don't be afraid that people will assume your too expensive, people understand you often get what you pay for - you just have to show them that.
JH, I never meant to say I expected it to be easy. I meant to say that I need to get some affiliate and IM income streams coming in that work for you all the time and do not necessarily demand attention every day. Writing good content is fun but it is hard work. I do not mind that. I enjoy it. Nothing on the Internet is easy. I meant I need to get some things set up and earning me money all the time without having to do anything. I see folks talking about their affiliate sites earning them 80 - 100 dollars a day etc., That would be great for me, nice goal. That residual income coming in is needed and would put my family back in the black. I am just having trouble getting started with it. I started writing for a penny a word and my content is good. So a few clients are paying more premium rates for larger articles. I guess I need to follow lightless advise and slowly raise the rates. Thanks everyone for comments. I find it hard to believe there are no standard rates. You would think that rates would be standard or very similar writer to writer for competition sake. I know I got a few nasty emails about my rates. I replied I would gladly raise them if they would tell me what the going rate is. I got no replies, lol. So it was o.k. for them to bash me for offering such good content cheaply but not educate me or work with me, lol. Some were really angry. Did not know what to make of it. I always held the idea that everyone gained by working together and passing it forward. thanks again everyone
Even affiliate income streams take work. You won't earn money by not doing anything. It may mean you're not writing as much, but you'll still work... even passive revenue streams aren't 100% work-free past the setup. With affiliate marketing you may still be writing articles to push the products, you'll be link-building, working on improving your overall SEO, etc... you need traffic to make affiliate sales. It's still work... just a different kind. There are no going rates, because there are too many factors. For example, you have the article quality. You also have the experience of the writer - not just writing experience, but experience that qualifies them to write on the specific subject. Then you have length differences, style differences, etc. You also have to factor in the niche itself... an expert author in a highly technical, medical, etc. niche is likely going to be able to charge more than someone writing about something more basic, like reviewing CDs. You need to figure out where you fit into all of those things, and then find similar writers. See what they're charging, and what their experience is compared to your own if you want to try to base your rates off of others'. Just don't compare yourself to a different type of writer, or you'll find that your rates probably won't make much sense to clients.
i did it many many years ago, and have since helped many others....its ALWAYS scary...majority of the time its very worth it. It also is the FIRST of many "scary moments" and "risks" you have to be willing to take to move from employee to employer...think about it oh yeah and GO FOR IT!
I hope I can be on this rate the soonest. I am now writing at 1 cent per word but I have one client that is paying me at 1.50 per 100 word. I am determined to set my price at 1.50 per 100 words as of the moment.
One thing that can help you earn more money is when you have an expertise in a particular subject matter. People will look to you to write articles about subjects that you are skilled in. So any skills that you have -- even hobbies and fun things you do can help lead to more gigs. That can help you make the jump from part time to full time.
I have started my own writing business with a friend. It is a lot of work, but I love doing it because I am able to set my own hours and take on as much work as I like. I am a full-time grad student getting my Masters in Health, so our writing niche is health and beauty which are subjects that will always be in demand.
The most important thing to consider (IMHO) before making the decision to work online full time is work discipline. It is a totally different thing to work when a boss is making sure the work is done as opposed to working when you are the boss. Many people think they can do it but get distracted too easily and never accomplish much. You have to be strong enough to not turn on the TV and get things done. I've been working online for about 8 years now and I can tell you that it took some adjusting in my thinking before I was successful. At first I worked very hard but after a short time I found myself taking too many breaks to watch something on TV or other things that didn't make me any money. Its one thing to be able to say "I set my own hours" and another thing to actually work those hours. You have to be a self starter and motivated enough to get things done. Unless you are 100% certain you can do this don't quit your day job. Also if you are only looking at doing copywriting you are putting all your eggs in one basket. You should also branch out into other things like affiliate marketing, adsense, etc. Its always nice to know you have income coming in from more than one source. For me, Like I said before I started out strong but quickly got lazy and it took a slap in the face with some unpaid bills to get me back on track. Since then I've made set hours for working online and don't allow any distractions during this time. TV shows can always be recorded to watch later. Jacob