6. You Don’t Have a Website: In my opinion, if you’re serious about making money as a freelance writer, you need a website. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just clean, simple and professional. Include an About Me page and some samples, and you’re good to go.

The best thing about getting a website nowadays is that technology has progressed to the point where it’s easy to build one yourself, even with no skill. I use FrontPage, an almost obsolete software now, to maintain mine (the new one I’m having built is a WordPress design).

But, it took me a few web designers and a few thousand dollars back in 1999 before I learned that doing it myself was not only the best way to go, it was the most cost effective.

7. You Don’t Know How to Negotiate: Like marketing, negotiating is a skill. Where many freelance writers shoot themselves in the foot with this is that they’re so afraid of losing a client that they’ll take on almost any assignment, without realizing the long-term ramifications.

Consider this recent scenario I just had:

How I Lost a 30+ Blog Posting Gig – But Have No Regrets

I sent out an eblast to past contacts. One prospect got back to me who said that he had 30+ blogs that he wanted to have updated at least once a week.

I started to salivate – bulk, ongoing work – just the kind I like! He wanted to know if my rates were negotiable. I told him sure, as I like to develop ongoing relationships with clients, especially those who have continual projects.

I asked him for more detail before I could let him know how low I could go. Now, my blog posting rates are not that high to begin with. Once he sent me the list, I saw that most of them were highly technical internet marketing blogs that required specialized knowledge of the industry.

A lot of this stuff I know off the top of my head. But I also know that when you’re updating a blog weekly, you have to come up with fresh, original content constantly, and if you don’t have a deep knowledge on several levels it’s going to require some research to produce even a 150-350 word post – that drives traffic (which is the whole point).

I sent him my proposal based on the time I knew I would have to invest in each post. He said he couldn’t afford it, so I lost that potential account. But I didn’t feel bad about it at all because the time I would have spent on each post in comparison to what I would have been making just wasn’t worth it.

As a freelance writer, time is the commodity you trade – and there's only so much of it; you can’t get it back or manufacture more of it. When you negotiate remember this: figure out what minimum hourly rate works for you. And, don’t go below that. Pass on jobs if you have to and hold out for ones that pay you what you determine you need to make as a freelance writer.

Or, find another profession. After all, you’re not in this for the glory – you’re in it to be a self-supporting professional.

8. You Don’t Have the Energy: As you can see by all of the points mentioned above, freelance writing takes energy. You have to market for work (the biggest chunk of your time), do the work, do your billing, follow up with old clients, add new services, research, blog, update your website, etc.

My days are 8-10 hours usually. Some days, I may put in 12 or 16 hours (remember, I have personal projects I work on as well to create passive income). If you’re not a naturally energetic person, you may be better off with a job that you don’t “take home with you.” Because, especially in the beginning, you’re going to have to put in a lot of hours to start getting work. 

9. You Don’t Keep Up with Technology: As I talked about in Freelance Writers Technology Month, technology is as important for freelance writing as any other profession. More and more companies need writers who are web savvy, because many of them are moving their marketing efforts (hence, ad dollars) online. This is why SEO writers are so in demand now.

In order to capitalize on this, you must keep up with technology. A good place to start doing this -- especially as it relates to internet marketing -- is to read WebProNews.

10. You Lack Confidence: Now, this is a concern that is completely understandable and can easily be overcome – with some guidance.

Let’s look at a recent interaction I had with a participant in my Freelance Writing Ecourse. She  wrote me the following:

“I'm reading Part 5. I liked Part 1; however between part 2-5, I've become a bit nervous. I've never written in any capacity... even articles. Where do I start? How do I know that my writing is good enough to do freelance writing?”

This participant is an RN looking for a career change. Following is a brief bit of what I wrote to assuage her fears:

You don’t have to be a genius or have some type of special writing ability. Simply the ability to write well (eg, structured, grammatically correct materials that flows and makes sense is all you need to know how to do). The fact that you were a nurse (advanced education) tells me that you’re used to analyzing material, writing papers and probably business correspondence as well.

You have a couple of interests that segue way nicely with your medical training, eg, organic food, tooth fitness/health, boxing training/exercise. You can write on these subjects from an experienced medical background. Use this to your advantage and query these types of website owners, trade publishers, advertising agencies, etc.

Many freelance writers start out with way fewer skills than you have, and go on to create successful careers. You’re actually in an enviable position in that you have marketable skills (ie, medical) in a niche where not many can complete. So, work through the fear and trust that what you have to offer is good enough – because it is.

11. You Whine Too Much: I was watching CNN one day and they were talking about the senator who made a “blunder” by saying that he thought the American public were a bunch of whiners. I actually agreed with him on a certain level.

Do I have my whiny days? For sure. Do I stay stuck there? Hell no! You see, I tend to be a doer and I have little patience with those who sit back and whine about why something can’t be done, as opposed to looking for ways that it can be done.

Many freelance writers (and experienced ones are way more guilty of this than inexperienced freelance writers) whine about rates, about other writers charging too much/little; about client expectations; about how things “used to be,” blah, blah, blah.

Enough already!

The beauty of freelance writing is that it is YOUR business. You decide the types of projects to take on, what deadlines you can make, what type of writing you want to do, the types of clients to deal with, what to charge, etc. It’s your baby.

Will you land every project? No. Will every client be a dream to work with? No. Will you have to negotiate rates on some projects? Yes. But, this is life. It’s all about compromises. Throughout history, whining never fixed anything. If anything, it just holds you back from doing what you need to do to get where you want to be.

What’s Left Off this List of Freelance Writing Sins

Notice what’s NOT on the list – eg, you’re not talented enough. I think that most who desire to be a freelance writer can. After all, you’ve probably been stringing two grammatically sentences together for a good number of year and you more than likely have some keen research skills (most interested in writing do). And, if what I read on the web on a daily basis is any indication, even these two skills are not necessary.

Address your weak area(s) – and come out swinging! Freelance writing is a career you can definitely have – if you avoid these freelance writing sins.