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3 Types of Freelance Writing Gigs and How to Find Them
Most freelance writers have several sources of writing work where they can get paid to write articles. Some are ongoing, some are one-off, and some are gap-fillers. All can be good. Read on for a bit about each of the above categories and how to go about getting those types of writing jobs.
- Ongoing
Finding regular writing clients can be a good thing. Do a good job and you might get ongoing writing work.
- One-Off Jobs
By marketing yourself, you can find writing jobs that are one-off scenarios. Someone might need a press release written, might decide that they want to write a new sales letter, want help re-vamping their website content, or want another freelance writing service. Marketing can help these clients find you.
- Gap fillers.
There are content companies and busy clients that may offer you an all-you-can-write buffet. Having a few of these eggs can be a good thing because you can make fast money writing when you need to up your earnings or when you have a gap in your schedule. You an also spend some of your gaps working at upping your passive income streams through writing for revenue sharing sites, such as InfoBarrel and HubPages, or through developing content for your own sites and blogs.
How to find Writing Gigs:
Find ongoing and one-off clients by marketing on an ongoing basis. Freelance writers who market can get found by clients and some of those clients could provide you with regular work.
In terms of gap fillers, sign up with a writing agency, start a profile on a freelance bidding site such as Elance, sign up with content companies such as Textbroker, Internet Brands, and Demand Studios so you can dive into one of these options as and when you need to.
Getting paid to write articles can be a business of feasts and famines. By diversifying your incoming writing work sources and by continually marketing yourself you can have a wide array of options available.
Freelance Work At Home Tips: Diversifying The Egg Baskets
Working at home as a freelancer has its perks. Beyond the lax dress code you can save money on commuting, dry cleaning, lunches, etc. If you’ve found a great work at home gig, it can feel like you’ve hit the jackpot. If you’re a freelancer, you really don’t have just one boss and it can be liberating to be self-employed. A lot of freelancers find one big client to help pay the bulk of their expenses and extra clients are ‘gravy’ clients.
But is it save to work for one source?
If you’re a freelancer, you might consider diversifying your streams of income so you’re paid from more than one source. Or, do your best to get a contract. Freelance writers, freelance photographers, freelance web designers that get the bulk of their work from one client are in danger of being unemployed if they don’t have any type of work guarantee. Today could be payday and tomorrow could be the bread line if you’re not careful.
If freelancing and you have no guarantees of specific quantities of work from a big client, you need to diversify your income so that if there’s no chance of a contract and notice of any volume changes, you’ll be safe.
What if the big client eats up all your time?
If they keep you so busy you don’t have time for anyone else, do your best to put a buffer amount in savings and keep the pavement pounded regularly to watch for other jobs just in case.
Some clients don’t ever give you a contract and the work never runs out but if you’re not watchful, the rug could be quickly pulled out from under you and you could find yourself in trouble.
Budgeting, savings, a contingency plan and keeping up to date on available work at home jobs in your niche will all be helpful.
WAH Jobs: Telemarketing
There is an increasing number of telemarketing companies that have decided to use a remote workforce. The cost of office space makes this work really well and with technology advances, they know they can adequately train off site employees.
Is telecommuting in a telemarketing capacity right for you?
There are pros and cons to telemarketing jobs. If you enjoy sales or customer service work, this could be the work at home job for you. It could be something that’s self paced and doable in your spare time considering that calling customers could be done in various timezones so this can work around your schedule if the employer permits.
On the down side, this isn’t likely a job you’d do with children underfoot. Some work at home jobs can easily be done with your kids at home but when you need to talk to customers, you don’t want your two year old hollering in the background or trying to climb up on your knee.
On the down side, some of these jobs could be commission only so may not provide a guaranteed income. Some telemarketing companies will offer salaried positions plus bonuses so it could be lucrative for you if you find the right job marketing the right product.
Above and beyond selling stuff, you could do things like customer surveys on the phone which is in the telemarketing area but can be easier than having to sell items through cold calling.
This type of position could be a WAH job with benefits such as medical and dental and the company you work for should provide you with the equipment you need to do your job. There could also be some tax write offs for home expenses.
