How to Get Started as a Freelance Writer in 6 Simple Steps

How to Get Started as a Freelance Writer in 6 Simple Steps How to Get Started as a Freelance Writer in 6 Simple Steps How to Get Started as a Freelance Writer in 6 Simple Steps By Ali Hale Would you love to be a freelance writer? Maybe youre hoping to make a bit of money on the side of your day job, or you want to find some work that fits around being at home with your kids much of the day. Perhaps youre hoping to launch a whole new career. You might well be feeling daunted before youve even begun, though. Theres just so much information out there: where do you even start? These  six steps are all you really need in order to get going: Step #1: Find Out How Self-Employment and Tax Works in Your Country Before you start freelancing, it’s important to figure out how self-employment (and particularly tax) works in your own country. You don’t necessarily need to do anything about it right away, but you do need to know what to expect. Here in the UK for instance, sole traders (the simplest set up for a freelancer) don’t have to register with HMRC (the tax authorities) from the first moment they start freelancing. They do need to be ready to submit a self-employed tax return on time, though – e.g. by the end of January 2020 for the tax year 6th April 2018 – 5th Mar 2019. If your country isn’t on this list, just search for â€Å"register as self-employed† and your country name, and you should find plenty of advice. Step #2: Create a  Gmail Account (for Email and Google Docs) Do you have an email address that looks something one of these? chocolatelover@hotmail.com GameofThronesfan@yahoo.com I’m sure it goes without saying that those aren’t very professional looking! Even if your email address uses your name (or your pen name), free providers like hotmail and yahoo have a bit of an â€Å"unprofessional† reputation. Gmail is much better regarded, perhaps because it started out being very popular with techy types, and is now so ubiquitous. So I’d recommend setting up a professional looking email address with Gmail, for now – something like yourname@gmail.com or yournamewriter@gmail.com. One important reason for having a Gmail address is that it also gives you a Google account, which you can use for Google Docs – I find that many clients want to collaborate in this way. If you prefer to have a really professional looking email address, then you’ll need to register a domain name of your own (e.g. mine is www.aliventures.com) and then set up an email address at that domain (mine is ali@aliventures.com). Step #3: Figure Out What Topics You Want to Write About Before you go any further with freelancing, it’s a good idea to figure out what you want to write about. You might think that it’d be best to write about anything and everything, in the hopes you’ll get plenty of work – but the truth is that clients prefer writers who have prior experience in a particular area. You’ll also probably enjoy freelancing more if you’re writing about topics you’re actually interested in. When you’re figuring out which topics to focus on, you might want to consider: Your personal life and experiences – e.g. if you’re a parent to school-age children, you could write about pregnancy, babies, toddlers, etc. Your professional life – e.g. if you work in IT, you might want to specialise in technical writing or in writing for blogs that cover techy topics. Your hobbies – e.g. if you love to craft, then you might want to look for blogs about craft or companies that sell craft supplies to write for. You can switch or add topics as you go forward in your career, but you’ll find it helpful to have some idea of the areas you want to focus on when it comes to the next two steps. Step #4: (Optional) Create a Website You don’t have to have a website in order to freelance – so if this is just a step too far right now, then feel free to skip it. At some point fairly early in your freelancing career, though, you’re going to want to have a web presence. You’ll want somewhere to direct potential customers, whether those are your current contacts, friends of friends, or people who read your guest posts (see Step #5). If you don’t want to spend any money at this stage, I recommend setting up a free website with WordPress.com (just follow their process step by step). Your website will have â€Å"wordpress† in the address, so it’ll look something like yourname.wordpress.com. While this isn’t the most professional option out there, plenty of freelancers do just fine with a free WordPress site – and I think it’s absolutely fine when you’re just starting out. Alternatively, if you’re fairly confident about techy things and if you have a bit of money to invest, I’d recommend purchasing web hosting, registering your own domain name (e.g. yourname.com) and setting up self-hosted WordPress on that site. Most web hosts have a simple â€Å"one click† installation process for WordPress, as it’s so popular. Step #5: Get Some Published Experience Before you can start landing freelancing clients, you need some experience: published pieces that you can show them as examples of your work. But how do you get that experience when you don’t have any clients? One simple way is to write guest posts for large(ish) blogs: a big advantage of these is that your posts will be online, so it’s very easy to send clients a link to them. You can also create a â€Å"Portfolio† page on your website with screenshots of and links to your work. Ideally, you’ll want to target blogs that fit in with the areas you want to write about, so that you’ve got relevant freelancing clips. Most guest posts are written for free, and although some freelancers feel you should never work for free, I think it makes sense to do so when you’re just starting out. (Don’t spend ages at this stage, though; three to five published pieces should be plenty.) You’ll almost always get the opportunity to write a â€Å"bio† to go along with your guest post (normally at the bottom of it). You can use this to promote your freelancing services, writing something like: Ali Luke is a freelance writer, specialising in blog content for small businesses. You can find out more about her and her services at  www.aliventures.com. If you want to freelance for magazines or print publications, rather than blogs or websites, then you’ll want to look for ways to get some experience with print. A good place to look is local free newspapers and magazines – they probably won’t be able to pay, but they’ll likely be very willing to publish your work. Step #6: Start Finding Clients If there’s one thing you take away from this post, make it this: Don’t use content mills. If you’re not sure what a content mill is, it’s a site where you sign up and get sent writing jobs. They often promise lots of work, or tell you how much writers can make – but the reality is that they pay peanuts. They often call themselves â€Å"article writing services†. Textbroker is a well-known one; Copify and iWriter are other examples. Content mills can’t afford to pay much, because their main selling point to their clients is that they’re a cheap way to get lots of content. So where else can you find work? Let family and friends know that you’re freelancing, and tell them what type of work you’re looking for. You never know when someone will know someone! Look at the ProBlogger jobs boards and Freelance Writing Gigs’ daily round-up of writing work. (There are plenty of other similar job boards online, but I’ve found that between these two, they cover all the good opportunities.) Pitch directly to websites (or magazines, or whatever type of publication you want to write for). Target local clients, perhaps with an ad in a local paper, shop window, or library, or by attending local small business networking events. Browse the website of companies that offer services related to your niche and in case they dont have a regularly updated blog contact them offering your writing services and explaining the benefits that fresh content would bring to their website. Think beyond writing articles. You can offer services such as crafting email marketing campaigns, writing e-books and reports, website editing and proofreading and so. Finding your first paying client can feel like a huge hurdle but once youve found one client, more will follow. In case you want more help, I have a 6-week program that covers all the aspects of getting started as a freelance writer, from improving your writing productivity to landing high-paying gigs, from promoting yourself online to running your freelance business efficiently. The course has been offered for 8 years and over 1300 students enrolled during that time. I offer a complete money back guarantee, and surprisingly no one ever asked for it! In order to celebrate its eighth anniversary we are offering the course for just $29, so check it out below before the promotion ends. Above all, if you decide to try freelance writing, make sure you persevere. Getting results takes time, as with virtually all endeavors in life, and the biggest mistake I see aspiring freelance writers making is giving up too soon. Hang in there for 6 to 12 months before you evaluate your results. Good luck! Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Freelance Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Apply to, Apply for, and Apply withRules for Capitalization in Titles15 Names and Descriptions of Effects

Pop Culture and Technology Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

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Corporate finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 4

Corporate finance - Essay Example Breakavia is a newly formed country. The country has been formed recently by splitting from earlier communist states. The newly formed government of this country has recognised that there are many advantages in developing a democratic country and forming capital principles to regulate the country. Government also identified that the country has enough natural resources like oil and mineral reserves and therefore, it can functions as an independent state depending upon these huge natural resources sufficient for sustainable development of the country. As a newly developed country, the government thinks to invite the European multinational companies to enter to this market and use the natural resources which lead to overall development of the country in terms of many areas like economic development and employment and many more. For this purpose, the finance department of the country has decided to develop a standard tax regime and banking systems which will provide low cost finance for commercial and domestic housing development opportunity for developing tourism industry in the country. The government is also aiming to setting up Stock Exchange in Heeritis, the capital of this newly formed country. Therefore, to develop corporate sectors consists of domestic as well as foreign companies; the government is seeking corporate financial advice regarding development of a standardised corporate reporting for regulating businesses sector in the country. For this purpose, the finance minister of this country needs advice regarding two important areas of corporate finance. First, advice for standardised corporate reporting development by adopting any existing international standardised financial reporting. Second is importance of corporate governance in business and as an important part of annual corporate report the companies. International Accounting Standard

Corporate finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 4

Corporate finance - Essay Example Breakavia is a newly formed country. The country has been formed recently by splitting from earlier communist states. The newly formed government of this country has recognised that there are many advantages in developing a democratic country and forming capital principles to regulate the country. Government also identified that the country has enough natural resources like oil and mineral reserves and therefore, it can functions as an independent state depending upon these huge natural resources sufficient for sustainable development of the country. As a newly developed country, the government thinks to invite the European multinational companies to enter to this market and use the natural resources which lead to overall development of the country in terms of many areas like economic development and employment and many more. For this purpose, the finance department of the country has decided to develop a standard tax regime and banking systems which will provide low cost finance for commercial and domestic housing development opportunity for developing tourism industry in the country. The government is also aiming to setting up Stock Exchange in Heeritis, the capital of this newly formed country. Therefore, to develop corporate sectors consists of domestic as well as foreign companies; the government is seeking corporate financial advice regarding development of a standardised corporate reporting for regulating businesses sector in the country. For this purpose, the finance minister of this country needs advice regarding two important areas of corporate finance. First, advice for standardised corporate reporting development by adopting any existing international standardised financial reporting. Second is importance of corporate governance in business and as an important part of annual corporate report the companies. International Accounting Standard

Expectation Interest Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Expectation Interest - Coursework Example Usually, the defendant would be awarded damages that equal to the cost of cure. For most defective goods, that equals to the diminution in their value. But for some defective goods, the diminution in value is not equal to the cost of cure (Ruxley Electronics v Forsyth (1996)). In those instances, the courts would ascertain damages that are just and fair pertaining to the merits of the case. These are called ‘loss of amenity’ damages (see Ruxley).   Where the breach is caused by non-delivery, the buyer may also sue for damages which would be calculated by the difference between the market value and the contracted value of the good (s. 51 SGA 1979). If, on the contrary, the buyer refuses to pay, the seller can claim for the loss of profits on the good (Charter v Sullivan [1957]).Reliance loss  This seeks to put the claimant into the position as if he never entered into contract (McRae v Commonwealth Disposals [1950]). Often, the reliance interest is already covered by the expectation interest.Restitution Interest   In this claim, the contract is set aside and the claimant seeks to obtain the price paid for goods that were not delivered (Whincup v Hughes [1871]). This claim may also be used to recover profits that the defendant made as a result of the breach (Attorney-General), though it is only allowed when other forms of remedies are exhausted and even then, the courts may order the defendant to award the claimant a share of the profit instead of the entire sum. The claimant is also under a duty to mitigate losses.... Thus, if both parties knew that the claimant was going to use the goods to make a profit, he is entitled to recover those lost profits (Victoria Laundry (Windsor) Ltd v. Newman Industries Ltd (1949)). Damages for pain and suffering may also be awarded where the claimant has expressly stated his concerns (such as presence of aircraft noise before buying a new property close to the airport) at the time of contract (Farley v Skinner [2001]) A claim for damages will fail if the damages are too remote. It will also fail if there is no causal link between breach and damage, and independent third party acts (London Joint Stock Bank v. Macmillan [1918]), natural events (see Monarch Steamship v Karlshamns [1949]) and claimant’s own unreasonable acts (Lambert v. Lewis [1982]) will keep the claim from succeeding. Word Count: 510 Q.2 Becka would be looking to pursue her remedies for breach of contract, as there is a possible breach of s. 14 of the SGA 1979. On the facts, she is a consumer , which brings in operation s. 15 conferring on her a right to reject the goods and be awarded damages at the same time at the discretion of the courts. The car was described in the ad as â€Å"regularly serviced, 2007 model†¦Ã¢â‚¬  along with other traits. S.14(2) of the SGA requires the car to be of satisfactory quality and s.14(3) requires it to be fit for purpose. Since Tower Hill is a business, these two are conditions. However, these conditions do not apply where the buyer has inspected the goods before purchasing or defects have been specifically brought to her attention before buying. Becka’s test drive may bar her from claiming on faults that she ought to have noticed. However, the facts are

Pollution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Pollution - Essay Example â€Å"Total six percent of maritime transport of the world is done through and on the coasts of Red Sea. Red Sea is connected to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Sudan, Israel, Yemen, and Djibouti. Not only is the maritime trade, tourism also one of the most significant factors†. (Nasser, 2003). Red sea is one amazing body of water with high salinity and wonderful marine life which attracts hundreds and thousands of people from around the world every year. It is stuck among some of the most important countries of the world, hence all the Tourism. Despite all the beauty and utility, the security and survival of the sea is a major concern. Red Sea’s coral reef, eco system, and marine life is in danger because of the oil spill, waste dump by all the surrounding countries, mighty natural evaporation and lack of input by any rivers, and last but not the least is absence of awareness among the government and responsible people about the issue. Red Sea is no longer a scene of pure nature and complete harmony. Unnecessary buildings in the form of hotels and restaurants in order to accommodate tourists, has also diminished the natural and awe and beauty of the place. The concerns of the area not restricted. There are numerous problems affecting Red Sea. One of which is unrestricted fishery. The adjoining countries have been unable in bringing about effective rules and regulations for fishery and the consequence is disappearance of world’s precious species and marine life. Apart from unhindered developments of tourist resorts and unrestricted fishery, Oil spill in the area is also a huge concern. Since the sea is a major connection connecting Europe with Asia, it has numerous ships in waters at bays all the time and this causes mighty pollution. One of the factors to be understood is that the Countries that surround the sea are oil rich countries. They export oil and their oil rigs are almost constantly present in the sea and they

Strickland vs. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) Research Paper

Strickland vs. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) - Research Paper Example He said that his lack of ability to support his family caused the stress. While the attorney was preparing for the hearing, although he spoke with the defendant about his background, he failed to ask for a psychiatric evaluation of the defendant, to seek a presentence report or to look for character witnesses. His decision of not presenting evidence concerning the emotional state and character of the defendant reflected his judgment that as to such matters, relying on the plea colloquy for evidence was advisable in order to avert the State from carrying out a cross-examination on the defendant as well as presenting its own psychiatric evidence. The article further states that the reason behind the defense attorney not requesting a presentence report was that it would have included the criminal history of the defendant, which would in turn undermine the claim that he did not have any considerable prior criminal record (1). Finding no extenuating circumstances that would make it rule otherwise, the trial court pronounced a death sentence on the defendant. The defendant, following the exhaustion of his state court remedies, filed a habeas corpus petition in a federal district court in Florida. He challenged the death sentence arguing that there had been a violation of his Sixth Amendment right for the reason that during the sentencing proceeding, his defense counsel had not represented him effectively/adequately. Subsequent to an evidentiary hearing of the defendant’s claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, the District Court denied relief. Although the Florida’s federal district court rebuffed the petition, the defendant appealed in the United States’ Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which reversed it holding that according to the Sixth Amendment, criminal defendants had a right to receive plausibly effective help from the counsel given the totality of the