For new freelance writers as well as those who are considering embarking on a new and exciting freelance writing career, one of the most stressful aspects of the job involves finding work to keep you busy. When you are a contract worker, as is the case with freelance writing, if you aren’t writing, you aren’t making money. Most freelance writers are indeed working for the money and have bills to pay and mouths to feed. So if you are like many new freelance writers, you want to know what you can do to fill up your work schedule and stay busy. Here are some ideas to consider:
Find Regular Clients. That may sound like a difficult prospect indeed, especially when you are struggling to find any clients at all! However, there are several great websites designed to connect freelance writers like you with potential clients. You only have to do a quick Internet query to get a number of great websites you can use. These sites largely will display jobs for one-off jobs. When you need work to fill your days, you may not necessarily in a position to be selective about what work you take on. However, you can spend a few extra minutes of your day searching for those jobs that offer the potential to become a recurring gig. When you are starting out, you will want to take time to find a handful of great gigs that you can work on for at least a few hours each day. This equates to stable money for you. These will be jobs that you can work on each and every day, and that over time can provide you with a reliable source of income.
Ask For Work. Even for gigs that don’t outright offer the possibility of continued employment, you will be surprised at how many can turn into a regular, steady gig if you only ask. Now first, you should only consider turning a one-off gig into a regular job if you like the client and like the work you are doing. If so, when you submit the completed work to the client, you can state that you enjoyed working on the project and would love to offer your services any time the client has a need. So many times, this will result in an client sending you more work to do within a very short period of time!
Save Time for One-Off Gigs. Many freelance writers who stressed initially about not being able to find work will overbook themselves with steady gigs as they become available. One of the perks of freelance writing is being able to control your schedule, and if you have committed yourself to completing what equates to a 50, 60, or more hours a week to your regular clients, that pretty much negates the flexibility of the job as a perk. After you have spent some time building up your regular client base, you will find just how easy it is to find clients to work for. So with this in mind, you should feel comfortable structuring your work schedule so that you work largely for regular clients, but so that you also allow some flexibility in your schedule, too. To do this, you will want to commit maybe 75-80% of your work day to regular clients, and then leave the rest of the day open for whatever comes up. Sometimes this may be personal obligations, and other times you may have time to take on a quick side job or two.
It can be rather intimidating at first to try to fill you your work day, much less your work week, with freelance writing jobs, but it will happen before you know it! Keep these tips in mind as you search for jobs and get a steady work schedule established.
