Learn to make REAL money blogging for hire
You’re going DOWN, Sophie Lizard!*
In 2014, Sophie collaborated with Gary Korisko on a post and video called “Why Freelance Blogging is NOT a Numbers Game” that contains this tidbit:
Dashing off sloppy pitches to every blog in the universe is not the most profitable use of your time.”
Since my pet saying is “Freelance writing is a numbers game,” I’m taking this very, very personally. What, Gary and Sophie, you lookin’ at me?
Wanna see me get mad? Just watch this video: [Read more…]
There’s more to being a freelance blogger than just writing helpful content.
As a freelancer you’re running your very own business of one, which means that everything from marketing and branding to sales and accounting is on your shoulders.
(And if you haven’t made the leap yet from side hustle to full-time freelancer, you’re probably juggling all of the above and a full-time job.)
But if you’re not careful, all of the administrative and marketing tasks that go into running a business can encroach on your client writing time, and when they do, you’re left scrambling to get back on schedule.
You need a way to get more done in a day without compromising on priorities or the quality of your work.
That’s where automation comes in. The key to getting more done as a freelance blogger is realizing that you shouldn’t do everything yourself. Automating repeatable tasks gives you more time to focus on creating content and finding new blogging clients.
If you’ve never used automation before or aren’t sure where to start, here are 6 tasks that every freelance blogger should automate.
(We’ll get to the $100 prize in a few minutes — it’s all explained in this post, if you read through to the end.)
So your client wants you to use their blogging software to submit your posts.
And now you’re sweating with the fear that you won’t know how to use it and you’re gonna look incompetent.
Or maybe, like a lot of people in the blogosphere, you woke one morning not long ago, logged into your own WordPress website, and saw that — what in holy heck? — after the latest update, WordPress 5.0 has given you a very different looking new editing system… *eek*
Or perhaps you’ve never tried publishing on Medium or LinkedIn before, and you’re not sure how it all works.
Or you’ve been talking with a prospective client who sounds awesome, but they use Squarespace and you’ve only ever used WordPress?
Whatever the scenario, it’s all good. Relax and read these 5 simple ways to get your bearings inside a new blogging platform.
[Read More…]
“I should be grateful, but…”
Has this ever happened to you?
For months your blogging income was stuck at near-poverty level, and you would have done anything for more work. Then, almost without warning, more work started flooding in — and suddenly, you’d do anything to get back the time it’s taking to keep up.
Three months after this first happened to me, the “feast” of work continues and so does the periodic “indigestion.”
Sure, it’s nice to be rid of the financial worries from the time when my regular income was a third of what it is now; but I hadn’t anticipated the recurring fears of inadequacy, the surges of irritability, the lows of emotional depression following the highs of frantic work.
It can be stressful being in a profession where your income rises and falls with busyness — “busyness” defined as keeping up with a LOT of small individual projects at once.
I’m learning to cope. This is, after all, the earning level I hope to stay at or above for the rest of my working days.
My top nuggets of wisdom for other freelance bloggers who’ve been served their first “feast”:
Want to live happily ever after as a successful freelance blogger?
Then you’ve got to get stuff done, get it done well and get it done on time.
Sounds simple, but it’s not always that easy.
Looming deadlines and a rising workload are sure signs business is booming and the dream is coming true. But when the pressure starts to build and the panic’s setting in, you can find yourself lost in the writing woods.
Never fear. Whether you’re struggling to get started on a project, spinning your wheels in the messy middle or challenged by completion, together we can tame the wolves of time and reach grandma’s cottage safely (a.k.a. meet the deadlines, deliver the goods and exceed the expectations of our clients).