How To Determine If You Have The Skills Required To Become A Freelance Blogger
With the state of today's world economy, many otherwise successful people find themselves either out of a job (as a result of being laid off) or on the verge of losing their employment (as a result of down-sizing, right-sizing, etc.). As a result, more and more people are turning to the world wide web to start a blog or interest business to supplement their rainy day funds. The common advice given around the popular IM circles is to create multiple streams of passive income. One of the most effective methods of creating passive income is through article writing. Ideally, most would-be freelance writers would prefer to capitalize on Google Adsense or Adwords to utilize their writing skills to work from home. Unfortunately, not everyone possesses the skill set required to become a successful freelance blogger. The following skills are usually demonstrated by the top bloggers.
Things You Will Need
Patience and determination.Step 1
As A Freelance Writer, You Must Possess Self-Motivation And Discipline. Without a doubt, having self-motivation and discipline is the number one trait of successful bloggers. Unlike the corporate world where an employee has less than a handful of bosses, as a freelance internet blogger you will have your clients as your bosses. More clients means more bosses. However, those bosses usually only pay you for a completed project, with an emphasis on the word "completed." As a freelance writer, you will make your own schedule and take on your next project at your own discretion. As a result, you must possess the discipline to turn off the television and get to work. Self-motivation is a key factor in being able to use writing to work from home.
Step 2
As A Freelance Writer, You Must Possess Extraordinary Organization. Because of the unstructured nature of blogging for profit, those that are unable to develop their own structure often find it extremely difficult to succeed. Before starting on your blogging empire, invest in some basic organizational supplies. While always a good investment, waiting to purchase an expensive filing cabinet is a prudent way to save money at the initial stage of your freelance writing career. Instead, contact your local grocery store and ask them to save their empty water boxes. Not only are they very sturdy, they are stackable and large enough to store a decent amount of research. Used in conjunction with Manilla envelopes and a Sharpie marker, not having to look for that source material you found last week will save you precious billable time. Because you are now in the business of selling your time, you cannot afford to waste the time and money that being disorganized will cost you.
Step 3
As A Freelance Writer, You Must Possess The Ability to Budget Your Time To Make The Most Of Blogging Empire. The make money by writing blogs are full with countless stories of bloggers lamenting over the fact that they cannot figure out why the time seems to go by so fast after sitting down at their computer to knock out some writing for their business blogs. The problem is, however, that when scheduling their time, freelance bloggers often only think about the actual process of writing. However, there is much, much more to making money with a blogging internet business. The following activities must also be considered in budgeting your time to develop a successful blogging business. First, you must keep track of your billable time. This is the meat and potatoes of your activities as a blogger. For each project that I start, whether it is working on an authority website or simply drafting an article for publication, I assign that project a file number. I also have a computer program that I use to keep track of every second I spend on each project and I constantly assign time to each file number as I go through the day. At the end of the day, I have a report of the time spent on each project, which is extremely useful in determining whether that particular project was profitable or a waste of time. If you do not have computer software to help you track your time, simply make a hand written note of your start and finish time on each project to accomplish the same result. Next, you must keep track of your administrative time. Although that trip to Office Depot to buy additional writing supplies does not directly translate into money in your pocket, you should nevertheless track that time so you can accurately determine "where your day went." Third, you must set aside time for selling and promoting your work. While it may seem obvious, it is pretty hard to get paid for an article no one knows you wrote. You must take time to promote it. Finally, you must, as painful as it seems sometime, set aside time to continue developing your personal and professional skills. Whether its brushing up on proper grammar or learning how to use Photoshop so the pictures you insert in your articles look better, successful bloggers continually reinvent themselves.Step 4
As A Freelance Writer, You Must Have Flexibility. If you can not adapt to change and multi-task, writing a blog for a living might prove difficult, if not impossible. You will need to be able to balance your daily activities to accomplish many things - from publishing your latest article, to calling your clients, to sending out your invoices for services rendered. Starting and finishing a project from A to Z, without interruption, is probably a thing of the past.
Step 5
As A Freelance Writer, You Must Communicate Effectively. While it is true that you are selling a product (i.e., your e-book, advertising on your blog, etc.), you need to be an effective communicator to be a successful blogger. First, you must remember how you are being paid for your time. If an advertiser is paying for real estate on your blog, remember to send out your bill (unless you have managed to get paid in advance, which is something that is always highly recommended). If you get paid when a user buys a product after reading one of your articles, remember to follow up with your client and collect your check. More importantly, however, is your communication when a client is past due paying your fee. How you approach that conversation is directly related to whether you get paid. Approach sternly but with caution.
Developing these skills will help you in your goal of becoming a successful blogger.
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Comments
OK then its a job! So do you think it is possible to build up a blogging business whilst also working full-time? There is surely a cross-over period when you must do both.Unless you have unfortunately lost the full time post obviously.
I definately think it is possible to work a full-time job while building up your passive income empire. However, consistency is the key. Many times writers get caught up with how many articles they can write in one day when it is probably more important to make sure you write at least one article every day.
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