You want to be a freelance writer but must learn how to make money. Well, buckle up because everyone loves the part of the hero’s journey where the main character accepts the “call to adventure” and “crosses the threshold” from “the ordinary world” into “the extraordinary world.”

It’s engaging. It gives us hope. It moves the story along.

But we must remember the struggles and problems that will come next.

For people who are just starting as freelance writers:

You may have started with a couple of great clients for your freelance writing, but now you need to turn your passion into a writing business that can keep going.

How to make money with freelancer writing

So, what skill does a great content marketer and copywriter have that lets them offer high-quality services?

Time management.

Time management is the foundation of a good business and content strategy because how you spend your time directly affects:

• Health of your business
• Types of clients you attract
• Value you have to offer those clients

You will need to figure out how to make money as a freelance writer and then be able to sit back, eat bonbons, and watch clients who pay reasonable rates flock to you.

The hero’s journey has obstacles and problems because they help you, your business, and your marketing story grow.

Make Money as a Freelance Writer

But here’s a scary thing that could happen on your way to making money from freelance writing that you might not have thought of:

What if your content marketing turns out to be effective? What happens if you get every client you want? Can you take care of them?

Every service provider needs to answer these questions honestly because what we say we want and what we do are sometimes different.

We may not make the bold, strategic plans that will teach us how to make money as freelance writers because we’re afraid of success.

Without realizing it, self-doubt makes us take weak and safe actions that limit our potential because we don’t know if we’re good enough to build relationships with prospects and handle a full roster of clients.

How to make money writing for yourself

Any business journey will involve self-doubt. If you prepare for the healthy, long-term relationships you want with clients, you’ll be one step closer to attracting and winning over prospects with marketing ethics and confidence.

Check out these 14 essentials for a service business so that you’ll feel nothing but pride when your content marketing dreams come true.

1. Pay attention

Before offering services, you are used to not being in business. You probably do things for others, like reviewing a friend’s resume or sharing their social media posts.

When you start selling services online to make a living, a part of you becomes your “business self.”

It’s the basis for the rest of these tips on how to make money as a freelance writer.

In your personal life, “wanting” to do something might be a good reason. However, you need to think carefully about favor’s or discounts in your business life.

Your service is no longer a hobby; it is now a business.

2. Run your company like a business

Successful freelance writers set the healthy limits that all businesses (and service businesses) need.

At first, working very long hours every day of the week might seem fun, but it always makes people tired.

And when you’re exhausted, you have nothing left to give new clients who might want to hire you at that time. You might even be so forgetful that you bill your current clients on time, making it hard to get money in the door.

To avoid these bad things happening, plan your work and free time. Creative people know that taking time away from work can help them in strange ways.

3. List goals

List your professional goals and keep them near your workspace. It will help you keep your new business-focused mindset.

A digital file on your computer’s desktop works well because you can easily add to it over time. The things on the list should help you as well as your clients.

They will help you most when you have to make a hard choice or are putting off improving a skill, like pitching articles.

You’ll already know what you want to do with your services, so every decision you make should help you reach one or more of your online business goals.

Sometimes you might have to say “no.”

4. Don’t waste your time.

Service providers often work all day and night, and when asked why, they say, “That’s just my lifestyle.” (Been there, done that, and didn’t think it was worth the stomachache.)

Don’t take that route to burnout; don’t start from scratch just because you can make your own schedule.

You can be creative at work and learn from things that have worked in the past, like having set office hours.

Set aside time for:

1. Responsibilities on the job
2. Personal responsibilities
3. Meals and rest periods
4. Leisure
5. Sleep

Like your list of goals, you should have clear priorities here and only agree to activities if they can realistically fit into your work schedule or schedule.

5. Market to the right people to make money as a freelance writer.

Using some of your work time to market your business would be best.

Freelancers often go through the “feast or famine” cycle because they do too much client work and don’t have enough time to market themselves.

If you only spend time helping your current clients, you will only sometimes have new prospects waiting for you when you finish their projects.

The first step in learning how to generate money as a freelance writer and create a successful long-term business is to learn how to turn down additional work because you need to make time for your marketing.

6. Be friendly, not friends

It will keep showing up if you don’t deal with that side of yourself firmly.

You can be friendly and professional with your clients without getting too close to them and becoming their friends.

I’m not saying you can’t or won’t become friends with one of your clients over time.

7. Make your first impression straightforward.

Many reasonable solutions lose customers because they need to be easier to understand.

When you explain your offer clearly, it shows that you care about getting results.

As a side effect, “simple” attracts people who like to do business with as little fuss.

If your business style needs to be more organized or easier to understand, you are more likely to attract people who are also messy or dramatic.

8. Give a list of the terms of service

You can stay in the “friendly, but not friends” zone with a term of service agreement.

It looks like a boring business document, but you can use your creativity to develop a set of rules that will help good working relationships grow.

Instead of making your terms of service dull, show what it’s like to work with you and how the client can make a contribution to the relationship in a positive way.

You can answer often-asked questions and explain how your customer service works.

For example, you don’t have to answer emails or phone calls within minutes. If you set yourself up to work that way, you will likely feel stressed and dislike your job.

Your terms of service can say when you’re open for business and when customers can expect to hear from you.

9. Set up a payment policy and schedule.

Your terms of service should include information about how and when people should pay.

Without one, “when the client gets around to it” is the only rule for getting paid, which is bad for your cash flow.

Many writers who are paid per project want half of their payment upfront.

1. If the project went according to plan, the writer will send an invoice for the rest when they are done.
2. If the project didn’t go as planned because the client needed more work than they requested, the writer will bill the client for the difference and fees for the extra work when the project is done.

For example, when I was a freelance editor, the price quotes I gave to prospects were based on the draughts they sent me. Because of this, my payment policy included a penalty if a client sent me an updated draught to edit after they had already paid me.

It not only made it less likely that clients would send me false documents, but it also made it clear what to do if a client’s needs changed after I had already started working on their project.

10. Have ready-made solutions for everyday problems

To learn to make money as a freelance writer, you must be ready for the unexpected. But even if you take precautions, some clients may cause problems by accident.

I say “innocently” because they might not know that they are asking too much (or doing whatever else is annoying) and don’t mean any harm.

If the client isn’t doing anything wrong, think, “get back on track” before you get too angry.

Plan for everyday things that will throw you off so you’ll know what to do, even if you get flustered initially.

Your “go-to” plan could be as simple as pointing to the part of your terms of service that says what the client wants is the protocol.

Consider your terms of service and payment policy as “living documents” that you can always change for future clients if you develop new business standards.

11. Mark your emails and save them

Everyone will use different ways to stay organized, but email is something we all share.

I can handle what’s in my inbox without a fancy or strict system. I use Gmail’s labels, and archive features the most.

If you don’t use Gmail, you might have something similar in the email interface you do use.

Each client should have a unique label so you can quickly locate your correspondence.

When you don’t need an email in your inbox anymore, you can use the archive function to get rid of it. Since you’ve given each email a label, it will stay in your sidebar under that label.

12. Keep learning

Using your work time to learn more about marketing would be best.

In a sea of freelance writers, you must offer something unique to stand out as a qualified content marketer.

Keeping up with the skills your clients need and innovative marketing trends can help you show that your services are the only sensible choice.

You’ve probably realised by now that I wasn’t joking when discussing time management.

People ahead of the curve are freelance writers with strict work schedules and a lot of discipline.

13. Like an artist who practice’s

You are an intelligent marketer because you know how to talk to people.

You become a more valuable service provider by improving your writing and editing skills by working on creative projects, like publishing excellent blog post ideas, teaching your online training materials, or learning how to make digital products.

Prospective clients like to see how good the work that freelance writers do on their own is.

14. Don’t second-guess yourself; focus on serving.

If you start to doubt your skills, use that energy to think of new or better ways to help your clients.

The work will take your mind off self-doubt and make you feel like you’ve accomplished something.

If you’re building your freelance writing business with content marketing and copywriting, you’ve probably already learned a hard truth:

We live in a time when there is a lot of great stuff to read and watch.

Your ideal customers and clients have more content to consume than they could ever get through in a lifetime.

So it makes you wonder:

Why should a person read your great content instead of something else?

That’s why it’s essential to know a lot about digital marketing. So you know how to get people’s attention and set yourself apart enough that people choose you.