Freelancing the Hard Way Part One

Substitute teaching is only one of my jobs. My other job takes up less of my time but makes me more money: freelance writing. I work for at least four different websites and write for a magazine. Being a freelance writer is an exciting but worrisome job for many different reasons. The pros and cons are plenty.

 Picture licensed to Wikimedia Commons.

The pros may be more obvious than many people are willing to admit. One pro is that you can work at home and often as much and as little as you like. Sites like Demand Studios, Associated Content, Suite101 and many other sites are willing to pay varying rates of pay to suitable writers. Many of these sites let you pick your subjects, imploring you to focus on your passion and your true loves. This can make for excellent and well informed writing. These online freelance writing jobs are perfect for people working between jobs or just looking for extra cash.

Another pro is the wide range of freelancing opportunities available. Writers can write for online sources as well as magazine. If you have a passion, that passion is likely to be published in a magazine. Magazines pay hundreds of dollars per article and getting an article accepted and seeing your name in print is a thrilling prospect.

However, there are also many cons to the freelancing business. These cons may scare away many people. For one, the market is very competitive. There are thousands, if not millions of people looking to find these types of jobs and you are likely to be turned away from at least a few sites or magazines. This can be very disheartening to the budding freelancer.

Another problem comes in working with editors. Editors vary on their style and strictness and can sometimes be needlessly harsh. Sometimes it's impossible to please them and you'll end up throwing your hands up in defeat. That highlights another problem, which is the pay. Some sites pay by page view while others pay by how many times people have clicked on your advertisements. Not having a flat pay rate for articles can make starting out hard, as you see no monetary gain until you've built up a considerable amount of work online.

The biggest problem and concern that I've run into is that freelance work is often not taxed. This may seem like a boon until tax time: you have to pay in a significant amount of that money every year. That fact alone may scare off many budding freelancers.

I don't mean to scare off people with this post. In fact, I think freelancing is one of the most adventurous and exciting ways to make money while sitting at home. I make over half of my income sittingt in my pajamas for eight hours a day writing. I take frequent breaks, work out, listen to music and answer only to myself and my editors. Try out a few writing sources and see if it works for you. Check out sites like Freelance Writing Gigs. These sites post listings for writers, editors and even copywriters.