From time to time I get inquiries from work at home moms who want to become a freelance writer or want to expand their career by joining my company Unique Words. Sometimes I hire on new writers other times I don’t. If you are a freelance writer wondering why your career is not where you expect it to be this article was written specifically for you.
You Don’t Take It Seriously
PCG’s National Freelancers Day event (Photo credit: solobasssteve)
Believe it or not there is some work at home moms out there who feel that they literally are the ones who control their schedule. They do not understand the importance of meeting deadlines and communicating with their bosses. Not to mention the fact that they come up with random excuses as to why the work is late and sometimes never respond back at all. In this business you cannot do that. Imagine if you showed up late every day at an out of the home job. How long do you think that would last? So, the point is if you wouldn’t do it at an out of the home job don’t do it at a work at home job either.
You Don’t Market Yourself
In order to maintain a steady income each and every month it is important to constantly market yourself even during the times when you are swamped with work. If you feel you don’t have time to do so during your business hours get up and hour earlier or stay up and hour later. Trust me you will be glad that you did because even the most stable job can come crashing down without any warning at all. If you don’t believe me check my earnings. You will see I started making a ton of money from content mills then it shifted towards my income mostly coming in from private, and then shifted to Odesk, and so on.
Overall, there are numerous things that are hindering your freelance writing career yet these are the main two things. Other factors that are contributing to your failure will be discussed at a later date. However, if you have some things you want to point out feel free to share them in the comments section below.
Marketing is so important! How can people hire you if they don’t know you exist?? I see this all the time. People start a business and then don’t know why they don’t have a tons of Facebook likes or website hit. People aren’t going to just come to you, you gotta go out and get them!
great post people don’t take the work at home jobs seriously sometimes. I think its is great if you can work at home and spend more time with your family. You still have to work hard and meet deadlines.
You made a lot of great points in this post. My favorite was this one “work at home moms out there who feel that they are the ones who control their schedule.” My friend found out the hard way being a work at home mom normally means more work. She says all the time it feels like her job is never done.
Savannah,
That is exactly how I felt until I started incorporating a work schedule and actually allowing myself to stick to it.It always felt like I was working. I was even waking up out of my sleep to check emails lol.
Marketing IS Key
Great advo!