Freelance Writing the Honest Way September 23, 2015My CareerOff

As a freelancer, your reputation is your life. You must always behave yourself both professionally and honestly, or the consequences can be so harsh as to cause a crash in your career life.

What does it mean? Well, as a professional freelancer, your clients depend on you to be upfront and honest no matter what you do. It means that when you say you can write about soccer, you actually are knowledgeable about the sport competently and originally. It means that if you’re going to set a deadline, you must meet it. You must be in constant, friendly communication with your client especially if they’re confused and upset. It doesn’t mean that you have to tolerate them if they’re rude but simple respect will be great.

You have to be professional to your clients as well as yourself. If you’re not doing things at your best, you’re not going to work out professional relationships with your clients. This means having things in order: using the right software that you know how to operate, keeping your computer maintained and working in perfect conditions. No sodas and snacks and pets spread all over. You sit down to write and get the job done right. You have your references ready such as dictionary and thesaurus and use them appropriately. Basically, if you don’t have your tools in order and don’t know how to use them, it will show up in your work.

Never, ever, copy or plagiarize another writer’s work. If you get a reputation or a lawsuit that establishes you as such, anyone with any sense whatsoever will want to have business with you. Why? Because you have established yourself as a major liability and a potential source of lawsuit, fine or even worse. Be original, look at your topics, the niches you’re working in and use a real outline so that you can follow it. Don’t spend too much time on making things look fancy. Writing should flow, not be robotic or look like you’re trying to look cool instead of covering the primary topics at hand.

Establish your duties, client expectations and pay beforehand. Always get confirmation from your client as to what they want. If they get nebulous, or evasive, then they don’t know what they want. It’s up to you at this point to decide to accept or pass. Try to talk to them through a point of understanding. If you can’t, don’t do the job. You both would be sorry in the end. For example, let’s say your client wants an article about skiing. Well, skiing, hah? It’s a huge global industry. If they remark that they just want a general article about skiing, whittle them down to something specific as you could go anywhere with something general. Get them to realize this and focus on something like ‘the history of skiing’ or ‘modern day skiing equipment’. You can get more precise but it takes clear and cordial communication to do so.

Remember, your work experience is your responsibility alone. Having your integrity intact means you’ll always find work and higher pay.

Another never-to-do thing is outsourcing with the intention to deceive. If you’re swamped with work and need to outsource, that’s fine. Make sure your client knows this and that the writer you subcontract to is as good as you are or better than yourself and of high standards.

Overall, honesty is the best policy. If you want to earn money by freelance writing then thepensters.com is the best place for this.

Photo by Kazoka | Shutterstock

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