Category: Featured

People ask me all the time how to become a freelance writer. Sometimes people seem to think becoming a freelance writer is like setting up an office and putting out a sign: If you build it, they will come. This is false. Writing jobs almost never come to the freelancer; the freelancer has to find writing jobs one by one, sell herself and her ability to do that individual job, and get that job done  — made to order, so to speak — on deadline, every time.

There’s no magic formula, but the ingredients I can identify for being a working freelance writer are: connections, ideas, time and persistence.

Connections

Some people start with connections. Other people are like me and research to find the right person to contact in order to find a gig. I cold email editors all the time, usually after scouring an outlet’s website or social media feeds for contact details. I ask one connection if they have another. It helps that I work full time in media and have media connections: If I know one editor at a certain outlet, they can usually direct me to the correct editor for the topic I want to freelance write about. Connections build on connections if you follow up. Freelancing requires being a consistent networker.

Ideas

You are selling your ideas as much as your writing. If you don’t have ideas  — things you are longing to write about — you can’t be a freelance writer. Do you read your favorite blog or magazine and find yourself thinking, I wish I had written this? That’s the start. Write down you ideas. Develop them by brainstorming who you could interview to provide insight or where you might go to observe details. Sometimes the idea comes first; sometimes the outlet does. Matchmaking an idea to an outlet that might be interested in publishing it is a key part of the process.

Time

Freelancing takes an almost painful amount of time  — which is why you have to be passionate about your ideas to do it. I don’t make my living freelancing, but I have for periods of three months at a time (while between full-time salaried jobs) and it’s really, really tough to make the cost/benefit ratio even out. I prefer freelancing with less concern for monetary ROI. There’s no consistent pay scale for freelancing: Jobs can pay anywhere from $50 per article to $800, in my experience, with no regard for how much work went into each. Freelancing for a living requires taking jobs you don’t love in order to make ends meet and to balance out the time involved in developing, pitching and executing each idea. At this point in my career, I freelance on the side on passion topics like beer and movies simply for the joy of writing about things I enjoy.

Persistence

Idea. Research editors and outlets, send a pitch. No response. Research and pitch again. Repeat. Get an assignment. Report and write. Revise. Repeat. 

The cycle of freelancing is all hustle. The payoff is watching those bylines pile up. My best advice is to stop to enjoy the accomplishments. You worked hard for it!

Working remotely sounds so great but also like an indomitable challenge, right?

And yet more and more workers are doing it. A Gallup survey last year found that 43 percent of employed Americans said they spent at least some time working remotely in 2016. Millennials rate flexibility in work location and schedule more highly than any other generation.

Not every job — and not every employee — is going to work remotely. But there are some proven steps you can take in that direction if you want to dip your toe into the #digitalnomad lifestyle.

Win over your boss

1.  Use some of the stats provided above. Explain that this is a job benefit with a great cost/value ratio that hugely benefits you and doesn’t impact your employer’s bottom line.
2. Try a test run: Start with a few hours or a day a week.

Nail down your home workspace

1. You can’t prove yourself if you can’t actually work from home, so get a good desk and ergonomic chair. Get a better lamp than you have in your office. Make sure there’s physical separation between your workspace and your homelife in order to avoid distractions – even if that just means you’re facing a wall or put up a screen.
2. While you’re working from home, assess realistically what helps/hurts you in an office environment. Does having other people around help you think through work challenges? Does having a window nearby keep you centered and focused? Do you benefit from having to get up and go to the watercooler/bathroom/lunch? Are you capable of “staying in the zone” through everyday distractions? How do you address these potential challenges and can you reasonably overcome obstacles to make remote working work for you?

Scope out working spaces 

1. Once you’re serious about this, you will need to find “third place” spaces to work somewhere between your home and office. Working from home can create “cooped up” feelings and a sense of unreality if you never leave.
2. Needs for a good third place option: Close to home. Good internet. Comfortable chairs. Food/drinks on tap. A sense that it’s safe enough to leave your stuff on the table when you run to the bathroom (yes, this is a real concern in some places – think about it).
3. Options include cozy coffee shops, some cafes (Panera is actually a popular choice; McDonald’s also typically has WiFi) and co-working spaces like WeWork or CoPass.

Set up boundaries

1. If you don’t live alone, make sure everyone in your immediate environment is aware you’re working specific hours and just because you’re home doesn’t mean you’re “available.”
2. Separate your life from your work as much as possible. Use a personal computer for personal things and a work computer for work things. Don’t make your bed your desk. Prep meals before work, just like you would if you were traveling to an office.
3. If you can, take breaks during work hours. Go out for a walk or lunch. In general: Leave the house sometimes!

Traveling while working

1. There are a wealth of resources and communities for people who travel while working remotely. Nomad List ranks cities for ease to digital nomads. You can buy a membership to an international co-working space or a flexible co-living/working community like Hacker Paradise. (Note that setting up a work-and-travel lifestyle can also go very wrong – read and learn from my own horror story). Just remember to plan ahead for all the same needs you have working from home: Distraction-free workspace. Internet. And add in time zone issues.
2. My pro tip: Stay urban not suburban. Working from home in a location where you can’t quickly transport to a third location or interact with other people is going to drive you crazy.