I had always wondered why I don’t see any advertisements for
such jobs. May be if these advertisements come out, clients will be subjected
to millions of emails and filtering one will just be impossible. Frankly I
don’t know.
When I started out freelancing, after a job switch, I began on freelancing sites,
and there were only low paying jobs, which for me were pretty enjoyable to be
honest. The reason was I didn’t know if there were any high paying freelance writing jobs around. Some would be around half a cent per word, or at the max 1 cent per word.
Image credit: kzenon / 123RF Stock Photo
However, I came across forums, where it was mentioned that writers have been earning around $100, $200 and even up to $400 for writing even less than 1000 words. It was then I decided to find them. But it was never easy. Even in forums, no one will come out with any suggestions of a client’s name. It was just vague information about the availability of such jobs. But I knew it existed.
“They are somewhere near”, I thought. It’s just a matter of
finding them. But how? This is what many writers who had been freelancing think
often. I have been lucky enough to get assignments that pay me 15 cents to 20
cents per word. These clients never push their requirements. You have to hunt
high paying freelance writing jobs by writing regularly for various online websites. Some of the clients I
managed to get hold of because they had been through some of my articles
online. When clients come searching for you, you can ask for a price, but when
you go running after them, it’s the other way around, and the prices fall over.
Build your online
presence
What I can make out from all the years that I have slogged
around is the fact that unless you have something to show others, no one will believe
you. If you are rich, then you have cars, a decent house, and lots of gadgets.
The more you get richer, the expensive cars you have. You don’t have to tell
someone how rich you are, it’s what you have will reveal how rich you are.
It’s absolutely the case with freelancing, with more successful
online projects your presence becomes domineering. Once you have a trustworthy
online presence, you can at least hope for getting hold of better paying
projects, many freelancers fail to realize that it’s extremely difficult to create
an online presence. You will have to trudge around for a long time, and
sometimes without getting any or too little financial benefits.
Always remember, it’s the established freelancers who command
the price in the market. Greenhorns have to work a long way and needs to have
lots of patience as well before imagining any kind of whacking payment coming
their way.
Your patience counts
When I started out, I found some of the writers were just good,
not excellent in a way, but still used to command a high price for their work.
That puzzled me a lot. The only reason I was able to draw at that point of time
was they must have been around for a while. These writers are established, and
they have established themselves with their hard work. They have built their clients
with some honest work. Most importantly, they had been patient enough to wait
before they started earning bigger.
To be good is not
just enough
If you are able, and have tremendous quality in what you do,
that doesn’t guarantee you success or higher pay. There are many writers I came
across, who have been remarkably good. They were skilled in aligning words, and
were able to find the best topic and express well enough. This group of people were not committed, and
would just bask in the glory of one successful project, and that’s the reason
they failed along the way. Nurturing relationship with your client should also
be one of your priorities. Not being able to do it would hit your hopes of
earning bigger.
Why I guess this is because big paying clients are a rare
breed, and once you get them, you have to learn to manage them, that’s the
secret.
By Rajiv Sighamony
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