Ever been on the receiving end when your friend calls to rant about her job and wishes she were a freelance content writer? She goes on to talk about how you have all the freedom in the world, the best possible job with every perk anybody could ever want. Well, freelance web copywriting is not all it is made out to be. The following is an insider account of the secret world that freelance writers live in.
Freelance Web Content Writing: Of Traffic and Chores
Very often listening to all the ranting and raving about traffic, every freelance web copywriter is bound to thank her lucky stars at avoiding the daily commute. We are bound to retain some levels of peace and happiness because we don’t have to battle through hours of war-zone like roads. What the outsider does not see, however is the extra time that we spend on housework and cooking. It is back-breaking work for those of us who have full work-days mixed liberally with chores around the house. That makes the day a whole lot longer and a whole lot more tiring.
Freelance Content Writing: Is it Really a World
with NO ALARM CLOCKS?
Ever heard that one before? The uninitiated outsiders seem to assume that freelance content writers wake up only in the early hours of the afternoon and have no reason to need an alarm clock ever. To what extent, if at all it is true is a matter open to debate. There is a vicious circle that controls the time that freelancer writers have in a 24-hour day. Nothing as mundane as alarm clocks wake us up of course.
Freelance Copywriting: the First Pit Stop En Route the Vicious Circle – Uncertainty
One of the first things that people remark about freelance content writing is the fact that there is no single authority that the writer is working under. As simple, gilded and liberating as that fact looks, it is simply a veneer applied to the uncertainty of work. As a freelance copywriter, you do not know for sure if, when and where your next project will come from. There is no single authority, in lieu there are numerous clients, all of who have to remain content with the output of articles, blogs or online content.
The Anxious Freelance Copywriter: An Inability to Refuse Work
Owing to the uncertainty, you are bound to take every project that comes your way. The nerve to say “no” to a project is a hard won qualification that comes after many years of experience. The flipside to refusing work is the possibility of antagonizing good clients and hacking a relationship with a new client. With clients quickly turning into good friends, refusing a friend is no easy task. A diverse, varied client base assures the writer of a fairly consistent flow, if only trickle of work. The collecting pile of bills to be paid motivate writers to never say never.
The Deadline Chasing Freelance Copywriter: the Ensuing Workload
The inability to refuse work then manifests as a pile of work in the to-do bin that rarely ever diminishes depending on the client base. Unlike those in the corporate setting, freelance writers do not have the luxury of refusing work owing to the current workload. The flipside to this is the overlapping and conflicting deadlines. Burning the midnight oil and waking up early just to meet deadlines becomes a part of life.
So you see the alarm clock is but one of the things that wake freelance writers up. The anxiety of meeting deadlines and retaining a substantial client base wakes up the writer at the crack of dawn, hoping to squeeze more than just 24 hours from a day. The balance between work and recreation is a hard won balance that takes years of experience and a stable client base that you can be sure of.
The Dilemma of a Freelance Content Writer: the Price to Pay for being Experienced
The many years of working against impossible deadlines and working for various clients will give you a sense of intuition, an inherent knowledge of what works and what doesn’t. This does not however ensure that clients will be respectful and take your advice. The scope of a freelance web copywriter’s work arena does not include giving advice. As in the corporate sector, you might have to grin and bear while novice clients give you deadlines and work orders that you know from years of hard work will just not work.
The Confession a Freelance Content Writer: The Grass is Greener on the Other Side Syndrome
The unstructured work-life balance, the days filled with work followed by days of relative joblessness, the superpowers of understanding clients and their needs, the uncertain paychecks and most important of all, being a lone crusader with no ‘career prospects’ as such can be a daunting combination for the uninitiated.
There are those select few who thrive and relish working as a freelancer content writer. To those few, the next time any of your friends lament their jobs, let them know that the grass is greener on the other side, but tending the grass to keep it looking green is hard work.
