Freelancing 101 IV

July 8, 2010

As you prepare to embark on the road to owning your own freelance business, along with the items previously discussed comes the planning phase of your business. It is a good idea to sit down, set goals and determine when you should re-evaluate what you are doing. Remember, business ownership comes with a lot of responsibility and it is up to you and you alone to meet those responsibilities.

Setting up your plan

You might think that setting up a plan for a one man show is a lot of unnecessary work. However, failing to set up a plan can only result in failure to succeed. Setting up a plan does not mean writing an entire book, you can simply set up a sheet with a set of goals and ideas for accomplishing those goals. Here is an example of how you could set up an easy to follow plan:

Week 1: Set up profile and online resume
- Items needed: photograph
- Items needed: samples of work (see recommendations below)
- Items needed: Valid contact information (email, phone etc)
- Items needed: email address
- Items needed: PayPal Account (for receiving payment)
Week 2: Set up marketing
- Items needed: Twitter account
- Items needed: FaceBook Fan Page
- Items needed: Website (or blog)
- Items needed: LinkedIn page
Week 3: Bidding on Assignments
- Items needed: Cover letters that are well written and specific
- Items needed: links to samples
- Items needed: references (from prior employers via LinkedIn)
Week 4: Communicating with potential clients
- Items needed: Skype (download, free)
- Items needed: Telephone number (optional or purchase Skype number)
- Items needed: To Do List (great program is tadalist)
Week 5: Handling initial assignments
- Items needed – communicate with client
- Items needed – make sure you have the tools you need
- Items needed – make sure that you have deadline set

This gives you an idea of how to set up and get started as a successful freelancer. Obviously, you can set your own timetables on this, this is meant to be more of an outline. Here are some general recommendations for writers as well that can help achieve these goals:

LinkedIn: Set up a solid profile at LinkedIn and contact prior employers and co-workers and ask for recommendations. This can help you prove your “salt” as a reliable, dependable source. For private clients (e.g. those not through freelance sites) ask them to recommend you after you have completed work for them. Even if you have been hired on a freelance site, there is no harm in asking the buyer to recommend you via LinkedIn after your work is successfully completed.

FaceBook: Setting up a fan page on face book is painless and takes only a few minutes. Using a fan page can help you post information about your services. This is not a requirement by any means but it cannot hurt.

Twitter: Not only can Twitter help you find new work, but it can also help you market yourself. Look into it and see what you think.

Creating Work Samples

Freelance writers have so many opportunities to create work samples (and they can all earn money!). Here are some options:

Helium - Write good quality articles for up front payments (conditions apply) about a variety of topics. Make your Helium “About Me” page your biography. Not only that but you can earn ongoing revenue (promote, promote, promote)

Squidoo – Create Lenses about favorite topics that you know well. Earn money from affiliate sales. Easy to set up, fun to produce. (Verify this but I think you can break your Helium articles and use them in lenses)

Hub Pages - Hub Pages is great for almost any type of writing. Travel, recipes, things to do, product reviews, etc. are all great fits. Original content only. Ongoing revenue from page views (AdSense and Kontera) and affiliate programs also.

Xomba – Create bookmarks (to your articles or blog posts) or post articles. Either will earn you AdSense Revenue directly to your AdSense account.

Blog - create your own blog and monetize it with AdSense, Kontera or other advertising programs. No telling how well yo ucan do with proper promotion.

There are hundreds of other online earning opportunities for freelance writers. These are the ones that I am the most familiar with and use most frequently. You can find more by doing some investigating and fully vetting them.

Summary

Clearly this is not an extensive business or marketing plan but it does give you a place to start. The next segment will talk about successful bidding and how to deal with unreasonable clients.

About Doreen Martel

Well-rounded freelance writer who contributes to various blogs, paid to write sites and revenue sharing sites. Doreen is legally blind and has worked at home for more than 10 years. She uses the lessons learned from this experience to enhance her writing and share information with others.