One of the mistakes has been not updating this blog as much as I would have liked to. I have no excuses, I just didn’t do it. And it has cost me.

I am thinking of breathing life back into this blog again by writing about some of the mistakes that I made in the past two years. The first one is about money.

Why do you write? Is it because you feel happy when you write? Or is it to earn a living?

I want my money. I am not ashamed to say it. The ability to write is a skill that I have and I am using it to earn a living. The pieces that I write for money are not artsy-fancy-creative outpourings of my anguished soul. I have a personal blog for that.

When I started working, I had a client who gave me monthly assignments. It was easy work and regular income. I developed a good rapport with the client and things went well for a few months.

Then the company ran into some financial trouble. Like a nice accommodating little housewife I let them defer my pay for a month. Then it became two months, three, four… before we knew it they were about 9 months behind and they owed me a considerable amount of money. By that time, they were in deep financial trouble and the parent company pulled out. The company wound up and I was left in the lurch.

I followed up a few times asking for them to pay up, but was unable to press hard because we had become too familiar with each other by then. They still owe me a lot of money, and I still haven’t made it rich, so it is not an amount that I can write off as a silly mistake. I was stupid to not ask them to pay up and to continue working for free.

So my advice to aspiring freelance writers is this:

• It is okay to be friendly with your clients. But remember, they are your clients and you are working for them. It ain’t free.
• If your client is in a bit of a spot, should you help out by not accepting payment and continuing to write for free? Umm… I don’t know. Are you writing for your Dad? Then yes, perhaps you should consider that option. Otherwise, don’t. Just don’t.
• If you have become best friends during the course of your work engagement, perhaps you could consider lowering your rates temporarily.
• If the client’s financial woes continue, as heartless as it may sound, look for another client who can adequately compensate you for your time. Give your client sufficient notice to find another writer.
• It is best to keep clients as just clients. Find your best friends elsewhere.

Help your clients by all means, but don’t close your eyes to the fact that if you make yourself available for exploitation, you will be exploited. Not all clients are made equal, there are at least a few who will think nothing of taking you for a ride. Don’t hop on that pony.

There are no shortcuts to success. I do not have the credentials yet to write an insightful and meaningful post about how difficult or easy it is to make money in your pj’s. But being a freelance writer, that is essentially what I am trying to do as well. And I do believe it is possible, but not overnight and not by just creating a blog cum website stuffed with keywords. It takes dedication, commitment and presumably twice the amount of hard work than in a normal job where you work for someone else.

That you are in a familiar environment is precisely the beauty and challenge when it comes to working from home. In an office away from home, you are far removed from the hundreds of little interruptions like the whistle of the pressure cooker or the untimely doorbell. If you are not careful, there is a very real chance that the dream of working in pj’s turns into a nightmare.

The following might help:

Just because you happen to work from home, there is no excuse to be sloppy about the final product that you deliver. Just as you would plan to tackle a major project at work, you must also plan your freelance projects. Take your deadlines seriously and do not compromise on quality. Work as if you are working for a regular boss who decides your next pay hike.

Having a routine is possibly one of the best things that can help your freelancing career. Decide how many hours a day you are willing to work. And make sure that you work for those hours. If you want to do a 9to5 at home, nothing like it.

This is my personal opinion. Sloppy attire begets sloppy work. Sitting in front of the computer, bleary eyed and wearing last night’s clothes does not bring about much energy or enthusiasm that can help you create something worthwhile. Though it may not be necessary to wear your best work clothes and makeup, I daresay going through the ritual of getting presentable in itself preps the body and mind to wake up and work.

In spite of six-figure-income-working-at-home claims, the initial months or even years of a home business of any sort is likely to be dry. Just plod on. Working for yourself ultimately reaps much better dividends than working for anyone else. Emotional satisfaction is guarnteed in all cases and in most cases financial rewards are certain too. You need to work smart, network and always keep an eye on the long term gains.

What is your targeted monthly income?

After you have thunk[sic] this through, you will know what you need to earn on a daily basis. Consider the opportunity cost as well. That should be the minimum you should aim for. How many projects would you need to do to get there? Eg. You want to earn Rs.1000/- daily. How many projects would you need to do? Now this depends on what kind of writing you do as well which leads us to the next point.

What kind of writing do you want to do?

Do you want to write feature articles? Maybe you need to write one each day to earn your thousand bucks. And if you are a newbie with a zilch portfolio you may need to charge less per article. Which means you need to write more articles. Or if you are established writer, you can charge much more per article and you need to look for a new project only once a week.

Project Size

Are you interested in writing sidebars, blurbs, blog posts and articles? Or are you interested in helping companies develop websites? The latter might pay you a bulk amount which could possibly earn you 5 or 6 days worth of targeted daily income. For larger projects you charge more. Duh.

Amount of time invested

There are certain topics that you may need to research thoroughly to come up with even a short 200 word post. Do not hesitate to charge more for those.

How wet behind the ears are you?

Drink up your Horlicks and eat your veggies to grow up big and strong. When you do become a Shobhaa De, you can possibly think of charging a cool twenty thou for a column. She probably charges more. But as long as you are so wet behind the ears that you don’t even need gel to slick your hair, you are better advised not to be so greedy. Concentrate on building a shockingly good portfolio before you go there. And after you do, go ahead, be greedy because you have earned it.

Direct mailers are those catchy, hard-to-resist advertising mails which I’m sure everyone has received at least once.

You can sign up for ‘Bencivenga Bullets’ where he reveals his copy writing secrets.

I have signed up and received the introductory mail today. Already learnt one thing – he writes short sentences.

Mostly one sentence in a paragraph. I’m sure that makes for readable copy.

It is a common technique that we always used to explain a concept to the higher ups in our organization. As you know, if you can make a high ranking executive understand a concept, you are an exceptionally brilliant communicator. Because, higher ups are notorious for their simple thinking. Which is how it should be, and that’s why they are up there while the jargon spouting know-it-all’s end up working for them all their lives.

5 W’s are What, Who, Why, When and Where. I will try and split the freelance writing hair with the help of my 5 friends.

What?

Oh, that’s important, isn’t it? It is writing obviously. But what kind? Any kind, really, which is offered for a price, to anyone who is willing to buy the service. Freelance writing clients range from small business owners, magazines, newspapers, e-zines, online businesses, bloggers etc. to even other freelance writers who outsource work.

Who?

Freelance writers are mostly independent professionals who work for several clients at the same time. They are not exclusively associated with any particular company or client; if they are, they are then the employees of the company or client. In my opinion, anybody who can construct a readable sentence without any glaring language errors can be a freelance writer, or at least be trained to become a reasonably good writer. You do not need to major in English or publish a novel to be considered as a serious freelance writer. You just need to have a good grasp on the language, have the common sense to understand client requirements, ability to do basic research and the skill to convert thoughts into words. Of course, the sharper these qualities are in you, the better you will be.

Why?

Simple. Because there is a demand. Especially now. Have you looked at this complicated network of computers called the Internet? The amount of content out there is mind boggling. And fresh content is generated everyday. Who do you think writes all these up? It’s the same with print media as well. A large number of freelance writing professionals along with exclusive writers, journalists and other assorted writer types fill this gaping void of demand.

When?

Freelance writing always existed. But it is with the internet revolution and information explosion that it became really popular. Whenever there is a requirement for some information that needs to be passed on to a larger audience, freelance writers come into play.

Where?

Wherever people read. But the most profitable arena for freelance writers is the internet. With so many online businesses trying to sell anything and everything, there will always be demand for writers who can write fantastic copy. So is the case with other content providing websites, blogs, e-zines and the print media.

This is a burgeoning market that still has potential to accommodate a large number of serious writers. Most of the writing is done in a conversational tone, so you don’t even need to be grammarians and carry a thesaurus around. But you do need to understand what you are writing about and talk about it lucidly. Also, have respect for your audience and the client. They read you and pay you respectively, they know you are not Shakespeare, but you can’t expect to make a living out of writing with shoddy language and non existent spelling sense.