3 Common Mistakes Freelance Writers Make

I remember when it was my first time taking on a freelance job. I was nervous and apprehensive. I actually made a lot of fumbles. I either charged too high or didn’t really get to do what was needed.

Luckily enough, I learned from those blunders. Hopefully, I can help prevent you from making the same mistakes. Here are the 3 most common errors budding freelance writers make:

1. Gauging your fee. Just because one freelancer is raking in big bucks from writing, it doesn’t mean you should charge as high. Remember that you are of different skill levels, so you shouldn’t expect the same rates as the professional writer.

Take your tenure and skill level into account before stating your fee. You don’t want to charge too low because then you won’t be earning anything at all. But you also don’t want to charge too high because then you’ll shoo off possible clients with a medium-sized budget.

2. Much ado about research. Well, too much, that is. In this line of work we’re in, you’re going to have to keep polishing your skills every time there’s something new that comes out. However, if you keep on focusing on keeping up or learning new techniques, and not put time into getting clients or doing actual work, then all that research is for nothing.

You have to keep a balance between researching on how to up your skills or make your workflow more effective and writing for your clients.

3. The lack of a running marketing strategy. So you’ve got 5 clients now, that’s good. Does that mean you should stop promoting your services? Not at all. At some point in time, your contract with your client will end. When that time comes, you’re going to have to find clients to work for again.

Not having a running promotional strategy will make it difficult for you to get back in the market, specifically because you’ve been out of the circulation for a while. You’d want to keep on marketing to make sure that you are, at least, visible to the public even when you’re busy with a project.

I’m actually sharing this to help budding writers to avoid the mistakes I’ve made in the past. If you’d like to share your ideas or your own personal experiences when you were starting up on your freelance gig, do feel free to post them at the comments section. I’d be glad to hear from you.