Making Money As A Freelance Writer
Today I’m thrilled to share an interview with Francesca who has been successful making money in lots of different ways, but today is sharing her experiences making money as a freelance writer.
Tell us a little bit about yourself
My name is Francesca, and I run the blog The Money Fox. I help young women take control of their money through budgeting, and share ways of earning extra money that can be done from home around the kids, even with little spare time.
The end goal is paying off debt and live the life of your dreams – the goal is more. More Money. More Time. More Living.
What’s your money maker and what does it involve?
I have a few money makers, but the one that I am going to talk about today is freelance writing because it’s one of my favourites! My freelance writing work involves writing blog posts for other blogs. I tend to write long, detailed articles for them, and I can see why they outsource it – because it takes a long time.
I usually get sent an outline for a blog post, with sections and keywords, links etc to include, and then I have to do some research and write about it.
How long have you been doing it and what made you start?
I’ve been freelance writing now for 8 months now, although I did think it was longer until I just worked it out!
I started freelance writing because I have always loved writing. Ever since I was a little girl I would write pages and pages of stories, poems and English was one of my favourite subjects.
I’ve always been a big reader as well, which I think helps you with grammar and creatively thinking. When I was younger I wanted to be an author, and although I don’t have a book (yet!), I am really happy that I am able to earn money from writing.
I am always looking for ways to make extra money on the side because I use my extra income to save towards any goals that I have. With all of the extra money that I have earned, I have been able to: pay off my debt, get laser eye surgery, get Invisalign and buy a house.
I’ve been earning extra money for a few years now, so if you are wondering why I waited so long to try out an obvious route, in all honesty…it was a matter of pride.
As mentioned, I had gone my whole life loving writing and knowing that I am a good writer. I don’t mean that in a big-headed way at all, but just to explain why I didn’t take the leap!
The thing that I was worried about was if I was rejected. What if they said I was a bad writer? My whole life thinking that this was something that I was genuinely good at – I really didn’t want someone to tell me that I was rubbish.
Then one day, I just decided to go for it. And I managed to get a client immediately – I was over the moon.
How much money is it possible to make?
It’s one of those things where the more time you spend on it, the more money that you can make.
You can either be paid per word, per hour or per project. The best thing to do is be paid per project, because then you aren’t limited to working only when you have free time, and it means that it’s easier to upscale.
I personally earn a part-time income from freelance writing, but I am considering making it a full-time wage replacement soon, as I love it so much (and don’t really love my office job!).
When you are starting out, you’ll probably end up on a lower amount, and it is up to you to decide how much you are willing to be paid. You can then increase your prices as you gain more experience.
You don’t have to do it that way, but I find it the fairest way of doing it, as you will get better over time and make fewer errors.
What’s your favourite thing about it?
My favourite thing about freelance writing is the fact that I am getting paid for something that I absolutely love to do.
I obviously write for my blog, but the validation of having my writing be good enough to go on some huge blogs makes me so happy.
I also love the freedom and flexibility of it – I can do it at whatever time in the day I want, which is perfect for me as I have a part-time office job during the day and then I go to pick up my daughter from school.
What has been the biggest challenge?
The biggest challenge for me was probably just getting started. There is always a lot of resistance there when it comes to starting anything new, and this was definitely true in my situation.
Once I had decided to just go for it, everything was amazing!
I would also say that a challenge has got to be time management. I have deadlines, and I always make sure that I submit my work before the deadline, which means that I give myself less time!
I have been doing little bits each day, but last night I sat down and did a whole article in one evening (10 pages) and I feel so much better for it, so I am going to try and do that from now on.
Is there any advice you’d give to someone wanting to try it?
Yes, I would say to just go for it! This goes for anything else as well, because we hesitate over things that we just need to go ahead and try.
For me, I found my work from approaching other bloggers in my niche, who I thought would be looking for freelance writers (they have very successful blogs, so I figured that they would want to outsource).
A lot of other people have found great success in Facebook groups by providing value and helping people out so that they become aware of you and want to hire you.
There are also a lot of freelance writing websites that you can sign up to, which I have listed here.
Where can we find you?
You can find me over on my blog The Money Fox, but I also spend a LOT of time over on my Instagram and Pinterest.
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