Would You Be a Good Freelance Writer?

Freelance writing is not a career for everyone, but you may be surprised by just how easy of a career it can be for some people. Most people assume you have to have an English degree or a "way with words" in order to make money in this industry, when really all you need is an understanding of the English language. This may or may not be a career for you, but you won't know until you understand it a little better. Seeing that I am a freelance writer and have been for nearly three years now, I thought I would make a list of some of the qualities you may want to have to work in this industry. Read on to see if freelance writing is a good career for you.

Constant Communication

I probably go through 10 chats a day with web developers, internet marketers, and other clients that I work with for my writing. In this industry, you have to have a good sense of communication. This may involve anything from checking your emails regularly to being available to instant message when the time comes. Clients want to know the status of their work, and most of them have been burned by bad communication in the past. It is your job to keep them informed about your progress so they feel like their work is getting done.

Honesty

Clients don't like to hear false promises on the web. If you can't get to an assignment for three days, let your client know that ahead of time. That way he or she doesn't feel like you just threw his or her work on the backburner. If you were a CIA agent, you wouldn't tell dispatch that you caught someone that you really had no idea about. The same principle applies to internet writing. You need to be honest with your clients at all times if you want to get repeat work from them in the future.

Efficiency

Freelance writing is very much a volume-based career. You get paid more if you can do more. It is as simple as that. If you can handle a large volume of work in a short amount of time, people are more likely to give you work in the future. This is only true if you do quality work of course, so you cannot sacrifice quality for speed. Doing so will only anger your employers and make them assume that you are rushing through your work. Even if you work on hourly jobs, you need to try to get as much done as you can within an hour. That will make your employers happy, which will ultimately keep you in business.

Time Management

In freelance writing, you have to manage your time well. This will keep you on schedule and ensure that your bills get paid every month. It is easy to forget about your schedule when you work on the web because you assume you can work at any time. That is not always the case though. You need to manage your work just like anyone else would if you want to go a long way in this business. Staying on schedule sucks at times, but it is something you just have to do in this industry.

Marketing

In many ways, you have to market yourself in this business. The only way you will make more money as a freelance writer is by continuing to look for job opportunities that may come up. If you can do that and keep your current customers happy, you will have a better shot at making this a long term career for you. You are the one that determines how lucrative of a career freelance writing can be for you. If you market yourself well, you are almost guaranteed to make good money this way.

How Much Money Do Freelance Writers Make?

Freelance writers are people who write for a living without being employed by one specific company. These people may work on the web or in their home towns, depending on where they decide to have a career. I'm a freelance writer, and I've been doing this for almost three years now. This job has the potential to be one of the most lucrative careers you will ever come across, but only if you know how to become a success with it.

Perhaps the biggest question I get asked about what I do is, "How much money do freelance writers make?" As tough of a question as that is to answer, I'll do my best to give it a shot. Here is a look at what you might make if you decide to work as a freelance writer.

Hourly Rates and Fixed Prices

One of the biggest factors in determining how much money freelance writers make is the way in which they get paid. Some writers get paid by the hour, logging their times online and getting paid based on that amount of time. Other writers get paid per article that they write. For slower writers, hourly rates tend to work out better because they are not penalized for working slower than other people. For efficient writers though, fixed price jobs tend to pay more for them in the end.

Let me break down that concept a little more for you. As a starting writer, I was probably able to get through two 500 word articles an hour. I got paid $.01/word when I first started freelancing, which means that I made roughly $10 an hour. If I had found a job that paid $12 an hour to do the same work, it would make more sense for me to take the hourly rate. Nowadays, when I can write four to five 500 word articles an hour, it would make more sense for me to take the fixed price pay. Then I'm making $20-$25 an hour, rather than $10. Get the idea?

Hourly Pay Expectancies

Unfortunately, a lot of clients want to pay really low hourly rates for online writers because they know they can get people in other countries to write for $1 to $5 an hour. You can usually find places that will pay at least minimum wage online, but it may take you a bit. If you have some experience to show people, you may make significantly more than that. Just don't expect to get paid a lot for an hourly job if you're new to the game. You won't be earning a software engineer salary right off the bat.

Fixed Price Pay Expectancies

It is hard to say what the average pay rate for freelance writers is because that all depends on the client and the type of writing involved with a project. Technical articles (like drug descriptions and scientific tutorials) typically pay more money than "fluff" articles (articles used just to get a keyword on the web). You may get paid $10 for a 300 word technical article, where you only make $3 for a fluff article of the same length. You won't truly find out what you can make until you get involved with the job.

On overage, I would say that starting pay for freelance writers is about $.005 to $.01 per word in an article, meaning that a 400 word article will pay between $2 and $4, depending on the client. Once you have a little experience under your belt, you'll make more money. Most writers will bump up from $.01/word to $.015/word. Then they move up to $.02/word. That is roughly the industry standard for most work online, but there are clients that pay higher. I have seen a few jobs that pay $.03/word to $.05/word, but most of those were for technical jobs. If you work with a company long enough, you can earn more money based on raises - just like you would with any other line of work.

That Still Doesn't Answer the Question…

As I said before, there is no definitive answer as to how much money you will make as a freelance writer. There are too many variables in play to pin that out. If you're good at your job and you actively seek out clients, you should be able to make very good money in this profession. You just have to dedicate yourself to the career. Otherwise, you may want to make this a side job until you get enough work to sustain your living habits.

Is Your Handyman Pulling In More than You Are?

It's no surprise that this economy blows chunks! That's right, I said it and it looks like there is no relief in the horizon. Everybody I know got a bailout except for me! The job market is awful and the price of everything has skyrocketed. Real estate on the other hand has taken a nosedive. Do you see where I'm going with this? Who comes out on top in this economy? You guessed it - the multi talented handyman.

Both my husband and I are recent graduates of Kaplan University, he with a degree in corporate paralegal training and mine in software developing and are both well-employed.  But in spite of graduating with online accredited courses, the economy still has us tightening our purse strings. But guess who is walking away with a big chunk of change - the handyman.

With people hanging on to their appliances longer through repairs and staying on in smaller houses for fear that they may sell at a loss, people are looking more and more towards the handyman to make this possible. Fixing that old microwave works out much cheaper than replacing it with a new one. It was unheard of for Americans to fix anything that cost more than $50 in repairs; it is so much smarter to buy a new one with all the bells and whistles that the latest model offers. Not anymore! This economy has most Americans going back to our grandparents’ ways where frugality was the order of the day.


Today, handymen are in great demand considering that they can fix the dishwasher, change out the lighting fixture, swap out the heating element in your rusty hot tub and even change the oil in your jalopy. With this wide skill set, it is no wonder then that the handyman is making a killing in this economy.

Even five years ago, nobody held onto a starter home for more than 3 years, but today the starter home has been reconfigured with the help of the handyman to meet the needs of a larger family. New additions are being put on to starter homes, when just a few years ago the hassle of obtaining an expansion license and not to mention the dust and other inconveniences of construction would have not even been considered too much. But today a good handyman can mean the difference between taking a big hit with appliances and real estate and financial independence. So don't resent your handyman, take him along for the ride and everybody wins!

Lucrative Careers in a Bad Economy

In this fast waning economy, jobs are few and far between. Few job industries have shown no growth whatsoever in the last decade. This is in spite of people getting transferred, retiring or quitting. This makes choosing the right career vital to employability in the future along with getting paid handsomely. So which jobs pay the most money in America today? This is not the easiest question to answer. Instead of looking at specific jobs, this list will focus on specific fields that feature the best jobs.

Medicine: This field is never going to go out of style, that's for sure. Nurses are always high in demand and make upwards of $85,000 a year. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, a projected 27% increase is anticipated in the future. Especially with the baby boomers retiring, the need for good health care professionals can only increase. The changing demographics are always indicative of the fields with the most job growth. This sent me on a path to seeking online colleges for nursing to join one of several accredited online nursing programs

Technology: Information technology has had a meteoric rise in the last two decades. This makes software architects and systems engineers, a highly employable group. Median salaries of this sector range in the $90,000 bracket. Their job growth potential is projected to be over 34%. Even an entry-level software engineer will make upwards of $60,000.

Money management services: If you're good with numbers there is no other place to be. Certified public accountants or CPAs are increasing in demand with companies getting rid of pension plans. Accountants are able to help employees with planning for retirement. The median salary for a financial advisor is over $100,000.

Teaching profession: A side effect of a poor economy is people heading back to school. This drift is accompanied by an increase in the demand of college professors. On an average, professors make about $70,000 a year with a projected increase over the next decade of 23%. However, this profession requires at least a graduate degree in a field of study.

Sales jobs: If you have the gift of the gab and can make your employer money by selling his brand, then you can be rest assured that your job is secure. It does come with a high stress level but the money is well worth it. And average salary of a sales supervisor is close to $130,000 a year.

Engineers: Civil and structural engineers will see a tremendous job growth in the next decade of over 24%. Due to poor enrollment in engineering programs across the country, there is most definitely a high demand for good engineers. Engineers easily make over $75,000 a year and for more senior associates the number is exponentially higher.

With companies continuing to cut funding and jobs, it is important to gear your career towards a more sustainable field. But in order to remain truly relevant, one must constantly be working towards keeping abreast of the newest technologies. Even a degree in the coolest field can't rescue you from ignorance of what is considered cutting-edge!