What I’m reading: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
What’s on the iPod: Photograph by Ed Sheeran
I love that we all have something to learn. Every one of us, no matter where we are in our writing career, can learn new things. And sometimes the ones teaching us are writers who are just getting their freelance feet wet.
Emily Fowler is one such freelance writer. I met Emily at Jenn Mattern’s All Indie Writers forum. A freelancer who’s made the transition from 9-to-5 to freelance writing, Emily has some great advice on how to make that transition easier. The wise freelancer will listen — hers is the voice of experience.
When Emily proposed her idea, I jumped on it. Having interacted with her on Jenn’s forum, I saw someone who asked smart questions. Someone like that is going to give great advice of her own someday. Emily, today is that day. Thank you.
Building Your Freelance Writing Business ‘On the Side’
When I hit my mid-thirties I realized that if I ever wanted to pursue my dream of writing for a living, I’d better start soon.
The problem was, I was already in a demanding full-time job and I couldn’t afford to just quit and start writing. Instead of bemoaning the fact that I’d left it too late, I rolled up my sleeves, read a lot of books and blogs about freelance writing and spent 12 months building up my freelance writing business while working at my day job.
It was a tough 12 months – some things I did right, but some things I’d definitely change if I had to go back and do it all again.
With that in mind, here are my 10 top tips for building a freelance writing business ‘on the side’.
1. Be realistic about your timescales.
It’s not going to be an instant process, no matter how confident you are in your abilities. However much I wanted to throw my calculator up in the air (I worked in finance) and shout “I’m a WRITER now!”, I knew I’d have to work hard at building my business first.
2. Have a financial safety net . . . but a flexible one.
When those pay checks stop coming, you’ll need to be confident that you can still pay the bills. If you already have a chunk of savings, that’s great. If not, better start now!
3. Don’t put in less than 100% at your day job.
Trust me, I know how difficult it can be to stay motivated when your dream career is beckoning and winking at you from the side-lines. What kept me giving 100% at my day job was the fact that while I was in the office I was being paid to work, not to daydream about my ideal project or answer client emails.
OK, maybe a five-minute daydream now and then!
4. Don’t burn your bridges at your day job.
Just because you never know what’s around the corner.
I’m 99.9999999999% sure that my freelance writing business is going to continue to be successful, but if I did have to supplement my income with a day job, I’m pretty sure I could go back to my old company in some role or another.
Why? Because I worked my butt off right until the day I left and I left on good terms with everyone.
Here’s a true story:
When I was in my early twenties I witnessed a colleague quitting. It involved him throwing a £5 note on the boss’s desk and telling him to go and buy himself a life.
His new job ended up falling through, and he came back, cap in hand, asking for his old job back.
You can guess what the answer was, right?
5. Don’t tell your clients that you have a day job unless you have to.
It might not be a problem to them – but what if it is? I’m not advocating outright lying, and if one of my clients had asked the question, I would have told them the truth . . . but none of them asked!
You can avoid the question even coming up by following my next tip . . .
6. Plan client calls and meetings with military precision.
If you tell your clients you can only speak to them before 8.30 in the morning and after 5.30 at night, they might wonder why. Make full use of your lunch break if you need to talk with clients, and if your day job hours are fairly flexible it’s even better.
My boss at the time was very understanding, and I often worked extra hours, so I could occasionally slip out early when I needed to meet a deadline or speak with a client.
A bonus of being able to work over the internet means that some of your clients might be in different time zones, so mornings and evenings your time could even be their preferred time to communicate.
The fact that I have a number of clients in Australia (I’m in the UK) did mean a few 4am Skype calls before a full day at the office, but I coped.
7. Leverage your connections.
Think about what your current place of work needs in terms of writing services, then become buddies with the marketing manager and talk to the relevant departments about producing content for them. While you’re still being paid by the company you can do this for free, and it’s a great way to start building up your portfolio.
This is something I didn’t think about until after I’d handed my notice in, and I think I could have made much more of my connections while I was still there.
8. Start marketing.
That means getting everything set up, like your website, before you actually leave. I didn’t market myself particularly aggressively while I was still at my day job, but on the other hand I didn’t want to have to spend the first couple of months of my self-employment chasing down work.
9. Make sure you factor in ‘you time’.
This was my biggest fail, by a long shot.
Even if it means you have to put D-day off by a few months, don’t take on so much work that you literally have no time for yourself. It’s not fun for you or your loved ones.
The last six months that I was working full-time I had so much writing work on my plate that I had no time for myself, a social life or my relationship. I got up early in the morning to write, went to work all day and then wrote late into every evening.
Weekends were great for me, a whole 48 hours to write, but not so great for my boyfriend. Despite the occasional complaint that we never went out or spent quality time together anymore he was amazing – he knew there was an end-game in sight, so he supported me as much as possible.
Which leads me on to . . .
10. . . . . appreciate the support you get.
I was so lucky to have the support of my boyfriend, friends, family and even my boss at the time (I think the fact that I gave four times as much notice as I needed to helped). It made it that much easier for me to make the transition to full-time freelance writer, and I really appreciate it.
Reading this very blog, and Jenn’s support over at the All Indie Writers forum have also been invaluable to me – so thanks ladies, I appreciate it!
Emily Fowler is a crazy cat
lady who quit her day job earlier this year to become a full-time freelance
writer. She admits that she doesn’t post on her own blog often enough, but you
can find her mixture of business tips and random thoughts at http://www.emilyfowlerwrites.com/blog.
Writers, how did you make the switch?
What was the toughest part?
Particularly like leverage your connections… always a good idea.
Great advice, Emily.
I dipped my toe into freelancing in college, and skipped over the whole "day job" thing, and in retrospect I wish I had spent a couple years at a magazine or even a corporation. I'm sure I would have learned a lot of valuable things from the experience.
I'm glad you've made the transition to full-time freelancing.
Thanks both!
Anne, despite the fact that I didn't really make the most of my connections until I was about to leave, it has come in handy with connecting to trade publications in the industry.
Paula, I'm glad too :o) My day job gave me lots of business writing skills and industry knowledge, and my experience of 'working for the man', so to speak, makes me really, REALLY value freelancing!
Emily, thank you again for a terrific post!
You're right about not making the most of connections sometimes. We're all guilty of that to some degree. Yours is a reminder to rethink every connection in a new way.
Such good tips and advice. When students ask me about this I also tell them to not burn bridges. I tell them to have another skill which will always be in demand too. Touch typing is one. People will always need them. If things don't work out, and you can type, you'll still get some money! Cultivating other 'skills' with words – e.g. translation, teaching kids English grammar – is a bonus. I think it's about having safety net. That fear of it all going wrong tomorrow – which in some ways never leaves freelance writers – can sometimes by motivating, but sometimes paralysing and stressful … which you don't want!
Great tips! Invaluable for people in your situation, do I or don't i?
Thanks
Alex, I love your additional advice! It's true — a safety net is not a bad idea. There's only one case in which it might not work: when it's used as a crutch. When I first started out, I had the safety net of temporary work. I didn't put a ton of effort into making freelancing work because I reasoned I'd always have temp work. A friend snapped me out of it and said words I still live by — treat this job like it's your only option.
But I do agree the fear can paralyze in the beginning. Your advice is golden for that, especially if new writers treat it like a temporary situation.
She's good, isn't she, David? And if you need more help, holler. We're here to help you through your decision. Seriously. No one can know if it's right or wrong for you, but we can arm you with enough resources to make it easier to figure out.
Number 5 is a killer. I've seen freelance writers mention they have a day job and something just clicked in the customer's heads -boom, they no longer believe you will finish the work on time or have it revised, or worse.
Sorry, Writing. Your comment went straight to Spam.
I've seen it, too. The less they know about your day job, the better, as Emily points out.
Great tips, Emily. I find me-time remains the biggest challenge.
Thanks Sharon, for me it's been the little things that I've noticed really making a difference, like the fact that I'm enjoying cooking again! I used to come home from work, rush through cooking dinner, eat it and then work. Now my boyfriend joins me in the kitchen and we talk, something he couldn't do when I was working 2 jobs because I'd snap at him. I think he likes me better now 🙂