I Want to be a Freelance Writer
By: Michele Pittman
Tags: Writing, Life Lessons, Startup, Entrepreneurship, Freelance

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

I Want to be a Freelance Writer

I read a story in my Google newsfeed about a girl, literally half my age, who clears a cool $300k per year in her freelance writing business.

Where do I sign up? How fast can I give you my money? I can make that kind of money from my writing, no problem. I have double the life experience and triple the number of writing courses under my belt. I hated my job at the time and I decided that I. Was. Ready.

Of course I had to buy super successful writing girl’s ebook for $5.

I immediately fell down a rabbit hole of ebooks, confusion, information overload, online self-created courses and a ton of wasted time and money.

The Devil is in the Details

I found myself eager to learn but no clue where to start so I unwittingly wrapped myself in a cloak of minutiae under which I burrowed, warm in the knowledge that I would soon have all the answers. I would know every little hack and insider tip so I could confidently begin my writing career.

See, I get bogged down with the details. I’m a preparer, not a doer and that is why nothing gets done. I prepare to prepare. Every day. I write but mostly I prepare to write.

The details derail any chance of success in doing something I love.

I began this story with the title and then spent so much time debating a sub-title that I almost lost the story. This has happened more times than I feel comfortable admitting. So many stories just gone. It’s as though they got up and left my head sick of patiently waiting to be released while I read ebooks about crafting the perfect title.

This Sounds Suspiciously Like Procrastination

It is. Textbook procrastination.

So after purchasing super successful half my &$#@ age writer girl’s ebook, I went searching for more. I had decided that this was for me and i needed to get my hands on as much “research “ as I could.

Y’all, I bought every course or course bundle out there. I convinced myself that I had to get through this material before I could launch my business. That’s right. I had a business. But first I had 46 course videos to watch and no less than 6 ebooks to read before I could even begin to think about preparing to prepare to write.

I found every reason not to write and not one of them valid.

I had a business because I purchased my name domain and labeled a low-interest credit card as “business” in my credit union’s banking app.

I hired a damn photographer to take some portraits for my new business’s website (ask me if it’s up and running) and my social media and this had to be done before I could write anything. I needed to brand myself so my “tribe” could easily find me. As soon as I had a tribe, that is.

Content Mills are Good Practice, Right?

Right?

Only if you manage to garner a slew of 5-star reviews and you don’t mind selling your writer soul for bargain basement prices.

Uber successful writer chick’s ebook said I should join a platform from which I could sell my work. Did i do it? You bet your Oxford comma I did. I set up a profile, purchased videos from the platform, set up gigs I had no experience in and waited.

Barely out of college money magnet writing girl told me to have patience. She didn’t have her first $30k month for at least two years. These things take time.

Caveat: there will be scammers who send messages but not orders asking if you can write a gajillion words for $.03 per word so they “can see if we’re a good fit” before placing an order.

I was almost lulled into doing this by my intoxication over someone seeking me out. I went back and reviewed my ebook bible for a warning about the possibility of this occurring and saw nothing.

But the authors of those ebooks have to pack a lot of valuable information into them so I can see why there would be no warnings against something like that for writers who are just starting out. Besides, most people are too savvy to fall for that, right?

Right.

My first order came from my sister. My brother-in-law really did need the service so I completed the order and told my sister what her 5-star review should say.

My second order came from my boyfriend and that’s all I have to say about that.

The first order I received from a stranger validated me. The order was a blog post on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. I’m familiar with and passionate about the subject so I felt pretty confident about this order. I completed it, delivered it and waited for her 5-star review.

It never came. There was no review at all. Nothing. The customer clearly hated it. I was only grateful that she decided to leave no review at all instead of a negative one. She never even retrieved it. The platform automatically marked it as “completed ” when three days passed with no action by the purchaser.

Nevertheless I was deflated. But you-know-who said in her ebook that this would happen and not to take it personally. Fine.

The next order required me to turn a handout into article form. I completed the order, the customer accepted it, messaged me to say thank you WITH a smiley face, I might add, and left a 5 star review but no comment.

Not as deflated but my edges are beginning to fray.

It wasn’t that the orders were just barely coming in.

It was that I felt like a word whore.

Still With the details.

I was still caught up with preparing for what I was sure would be a stellar freelance writing experience. I was trying to figure out my niche while attempting to get my website up and running. I was busy setting up a Quora profile and answering questions with long paragraphs that would serve as my portfolio.

And I was busy buying up more courses. Courses that were all over the place. A chaotic jumble of courses that may or may not prepare me to write, edit, market, be a copywriter, establish my brand, become an SEO expert, start a podcast and learn to do voiceovers.

And I was busy telling myself that I must finish them all to gain a complete understanding of how to become an expert in something.

What a bunch of bullshit.

I finally realized what was happening. I was part of the problem. I was perpetrating the very thing I’m lamenting. I did end up finding some useful information on writing sites that were genuinely interested in helping people like me. And there are many.

Want to know what those helpful websites said?

Just write!