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5 Things I Wish I Knew As a Brand New Freelancer
#4 might surprise you.
New freelancer on the block, eh? Your mind can explode into scattered bits with ideas and information overload. Just google freelance writing or copywriting, and you’ll fall deeper than the hole into which Alice once fell.
Before you waste another minute binge-watching how to get started or how much a freelancer can earn in one year, I’ll get you pre-started with my no-BS steps; you can start as soon as you finish reading this.
1. Create a Separate Email Address
You’ll subscribe to several newsletters initially. Experts throw in a bunch of freebies, aka bait-cheese, to grow their newsletters on their websites. As a newbie, you’ll often feel compelled to subscribe to every other newsletter.
But giving your primary email address everywhere is asking for an inbox flood.
If you’re an experienced 9–5er, you might have previous companies’ offer letters, statements and receipts of your EMIs, investments, and other important conversations in your primary email.
So use a new email address for your new career. Another important tip is to keep a tab on e-mails that make you yawn and often lie un-opened. Make sure to hit unsubscribe to such emails.
It saves both of you time. You’ll also have a better chance to find people that vibe better with you.
2. Editing Makes Perfect
In my very first freelance writing job, the client asked me to write and then edit my content using Grammarly and get a 95+ or have a Hemmingway score of less than 5. My first task was to find out what they were.
So these handy helpers will be your editors when you can’t see your misspellings and bad sentence formations after staring at the text on your screen for hours.
I’d say check out Grammarly, Hemmingyapp (free) and Prowriting Aid. Even the free version is good to start.
“Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.”-Stephen King
