How to make money from freelance writing

I have an announcement to make… are you ready?

The truth is that you can make enough money to live on from freelance writing and you can do it from home, from the beach or from the top of a mountain (well a mountain with internet access).

But… and here is the caveat (bad news)… it’s going to take you a while to build up enough income to give up the day job altogether. Before that can happen you will need to:

• Build up a skill level in whatever writing field you choose
• Grow your base of clients
• Get together a portfolio
• Learn how to budget when the money rolls in more slowly

If you are just getting started or just considering a career as a freelance writer, here are some things that you might want to consider:

1. Working from home gives you flexibility. For example, I like sea-swimming (even in the depths of UK winter) and the best swimming happens at high tide. Being a freelancer I can switch from a pre-dawn dip to a lunch-time bathe as often as I like.
2. Not having a salary takes a bit of getting used to. Even now I think of the 25th of the month as ‘pay day’ but the truth is that my pay drips into the bank account throughout the month and it no longer does it in lumps of £2,000.
3. You are finally going to use those maths skills you learnt at school. If you decide to go it as a freelancer, your days of pay slips will be over, balancing the books, ensuring a steady income and (low whisper) paying the tax man is going to be up to you.

The world of freelancing is intriguing and, from the mundanity of a 9 to 5 job, beguiling. I worked my way into it over four years of unpaid blogging, magazine article writing and children’s book writing, and I did that whilst holding down a full-time teaching job. It was a long apprenticeship but worthwhile.

Sorry I have to go now… the tide’s up again.

Fi Darby Freelance offer a wide range of blogging, copywriting and editing services. For a friendly chat about your needs, feel free to contact us.