Bree Brouwer - Be a Freelance Blogger

The Shameless Blogging Success Secret No One Wants to Admit

If you’re anything like me, sometimes you want to punch the so-called “blogging gurus” in the face.

This is probably because you’ve done everything they’ve told you to do. You’ve implemented their social media strategies, and tweaked them for your own blog. You’ve written about controversial topics with a strong, original voice, and you’ve made your blog look clean and spiffy.

Yet no matter what you try, it always seems like a failure.

But guess what?

There’s something very important about all that work you’re doing, a blogging success secret that no one wants to talk about. And it all has to do with that ever-so-frustrating word: failure.

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By Bree Brouwer

5 Blog Post Elements You Sure As Hell Deserve to Get Paid For

Writers tend to be underpaid. As if that wasn’t an obvious understatement, you could be even worse off as a freelance blogger.

For some reason, many businesses seem to operate under the mindset that bloggers are like enslaved robots who can pump out a crap-ton of writing for their robot-like readers [*cough*search engines*cough*] and who will accept a measly sum of cash in return for our robotic efforts.

(I may or may not have watched I, Robot last night.)

But being underpaid is not something you can afford as a freelance blogger, especially when blogging is so much more than just those short (or long) posts you type out.

You know that you have to blog the right way to attract readers, leads, and clients. And the “right way” involves more elements than your potential clients might realize, or more than even you might realize.

For example, do you charge extra if you need to find images? What about promoting your posts? These blog elements are things you can’t overlook if you want to be taken seriously as a freelancer and get paid accordingly.

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By Bree Brouwer

The Jedi’s Guide to Conquering Your Freelance Blogging Fears

You know those moments when you feel too paralyzed to press the Send button, or where you think “I actually suck at this”?

That’s your fear breaking out, and it sucks. I know my many fears surface on occasion, but guess what? Star Wars taught me how to beat them.

For thousands of years before the Star Wars trilogies, the Jedi fought the Sith, a terrifying force who built an empire relying solely on their powers from the Dark Side. Because of their dangerous legend, Yoda is careful to warn young Anakin Skywalker (later known as Darth Vader) in Episode I that the origin of the Dark Side is fear.

Just as the Jedi had to deal with the Sith for thousands of years, freelance bloggers have to deal with their own Dark Sides on a daily basis (which, on a bad day, can feel like a thousand years).

We always have some sort of mental or physical fear we need to overcome. Let’s look at the top three fears that most freelance bloggers have, and how to battle them with the dedication of a Jedi.

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