Freelance writing

My very first venture into freelance work is through writing.

I was inspired by my former colleague who is now a full time work at homies mom. She initially started with Write4Pesos and earned her first pay via paypal. Write4Pesos however only gives you a payout after you have written or submitted 100 articles. The good thing about this site however, is that you don't have a deadline. You set your own pace and target as to when you would like to get paid.

It seems to easy specially if you really have the time but I still had a day job that time so, waiting to finish 100 articles seems an eternity to achieve and isn't practical because I have to pay some bills therefore had to concentrate on my dayjob for that. I didn't stop there though, I searched the web for small Philippine writing projects first.

I came across a blog of a Filipina who had a ton of writing work. I registered and wrote 10 articles for her and got paid for that via G-cash. Because I still had a day job at that time that I had to work long hours for so, I was only able to write 2 batches of writing projects for her. I guess it was a blessing in disguise because when I once again had free time to write, I was reading posts from fellow writers following up on payments with her and her blog hasn't been updated for a while.

I was able to chat with one of my fellow writers and she told me that she did a research and found out that the owner of the blog encountered some problems with several employers and wasn't paid which is why she still owed a lot of writers who did those projects for her. This fellow writer started her own site and gave me several projects. She also paid me through G-cash. She gave me several sites to visit that also offered freelance work for writers since her employers were getting a bit strict so she was limiting handing out projects to writers and doing the work herself. I can't blame her. She of course doesn't want to get into the same problem our previous Filipina employer had.

I tried out one website she recommended and I didn't have to pay to be a member of this site to get projects or work from their clients. I tried my luck placing bids on getafreelancer and got my first project there. I came across several clients who awarded me short article projects. Short articles that pay $2 for 500-word articles, $1.50 for 400 word articles, $1.25 for 300 word articles and $1 for 250-word and below articles. I didn't mind the low rates because I get a minimum of 5 articles to write anyway which isn't bad considering I was just starting out at that time and I don't have a portfolio to show clients anyway.

After I have submitted and have been paid for the clients that I worked for that were based in the UK, Texas, USA, and 2 from India, I am now getting additional projects from them and am struggling a little bit to fit them all into my schedule. I had to turn down a few of them and I concentrated on just 1 client who was very easy to deal with and paid me through paypal after I submitted my articles. She is now the source of my income. I get writing projects from her in batches of 5 in a day. In the event that I am able to submit my work to her early, I can still request for a few more for the day.

Making $14-15 a day 7 days a week is as good as if you were working in a regular office only you don't need to pay for transportation to get there and you can take a break when you're tired. Maintaining this income from working from home of course requires patience, proper time management and discipline. You have to allot the same number of hours as when you were working in the office, to make it work.