Working As a Writer – What Are the Setbacks

Is There a Catch in Being an Online Writer?

Yes, there is. There are many, in fact. Many students looking for online content writing jobs often have little-to-no idea what is awaiting them. Such young men and women tend to believe that a freelance writing job is something relaxed—or, at least, close to it—free-flowing, and simple. Although this is not a completely wrong idea (it’s all about resourceful conditions—I’ll talk about them in the next blog post), most of the time being a freelance writer is a difficult and demanding job. As for now, I would like to overview some specific aspects of this kind of job which are often neglected by many people beginning freelance writing jobs.

So, What Is So Difficult About Being a Freelance Writer?

• Your salary is not guaranteed, nor is it stable. An office worker has one serious advantage over a freelancer: no matter how good or bad he or she works, the amount of money he or she receives remains the same. Yeah, there is a drawback: during the “hot seasons” of any kind, there is usually much more work to do, and for the same salary; on the other hand, however, there can be periods when all the work an office worker has is to sit in his or her chair and play Angry Birds—and still earn money for this! As a freelancer, you have no such opportunity. Your income depends entirely on the amount of work you do, so there are many freelancers working with multiple customers at once—just because they have to pay their bills and make a living. Huge workloads lead us to the next catch, which is:
• Time management. Disregard a person who tells you that being a freelancer of any kind is easier than working in an office from 9 to 5. I heard people saying, “Wow, you’re a freelancer—you must have a ton of time to do things other than your job.”

This. Is. Lies.

In fact, being a freelancer—and, in our particular case, a freelance online writer—is about how you can manage your time and workload. Yes, it is true you do not have to waste time in traffic jams during endless rush hours. So what? Your time is your money, and you’ve got tons of work to do, remember? Like, having to write four articles for an educational website due tomorrow; edit six more articles written by someone else before Wednesday; rewrite the article you submitted yesterday because your customer suddenly got a bright idea and wants you to redo 60% of the work you’ve already done, and so on. Plus, when you are working from home, your brain can trick you into thinking that you’ve got lots of urgent things to do besides your job; all of a sudden, you will remember that you have some unattended business to finish with your bank, or you will need to pay a visit to a doctor, or help your mom living 500 miles away to move furniture in her house.

• You can burn out. Moreover, you will. One day, you will wake up feeling fed up with all the blog posts, articles, banners, translations, and custom-written nonsense. Even if you don’t, you will eventually find yourself at the point where you stare at a blank page for hours, unable to write anything but “The…”. The good news is that you will overcome it. There are many techniques and methods helping burnt-out writers to restore their creative capabilities (though, the best thing would probably be to practice preventive measures, such as having quality rest regularly).
• No Mac.Most likely, you will not be able to travel around the world with your Mac, as you probably imagined when starting your freelancing career. At least, not in the beginning. Get prepared to spend a couple of years sitting at home, working hard to survive. If you somehow manage to find extra money for travelling during your first freelancing year, you are a genius.
• The freelance writing market has been oversaturated for a long time, and will probably remain this way. So, you need to be a REALLY good and hard-working writer if you want to get better orders.

So, Is There Light at the End of the Tunnel?

There definitely is. As any other job, freelance writing is difficult; it requires resilience, persistence, and the ability to boldly face hardships. But, at the same time, it has a number of perks and bright sides, which I will describe in the upcoming blog post. And trust me, the benefits of choosing an online writing career are worth all the negative moments you encounter.