How to Overcome Fear of Freelance Writing

As more and more members of corporate America begin to become frustrated with making money for other people, freelance writing as a career option is attracting more and more working adults.

All over the country there are full time workers moonlighting as freelance writers. Men and women are becoming part time bloggers, citizen journalists, contributors, and researchers by the hundreds. Then there are the brave few who have decided to take on the world of freelance writing full time.

Whoever and wherever those people are, there are still plenty of people in the world who have yet to realize their dream of becoming a freelance writer. While the majority of fears tend to be related to the finances, other triggers of fear do exist. This is an overview to help get past the financial fears.

Try these:

Make a plan. It doesn't matter what you plan, as long as you plan something. If you already have a full time job that you love and never plan on leaving but just want to write part time for some extra cash, then make a plan about how much extra cash you want to have. Make plans for what you would do if you had the money already in your hands. If a person is perfectly content with life and maybe would like to be a writer in their spare time, that person will be very de motivated to even start the process. So make a plan. It's harder to stop something half way if you can look down at a piece of paper or drawing and see how much of your plan you've completed.

Put something in savings. Having a buffer of a few months worth of savings in a bank account will make many people more comfortable with the idea of leaving their employers. If it doesn't seem to be working out after the first month, use the rest of the months to find a temporary job and try again later.

Use some vacation time: Find out the amount of money that you need to make in order to pay your bills and live comfortably. This will be the target amount that you will reach for every month. Divide that number by 30 and round up to the nearest dollar. Your goal every day will be to generate enough revenue to meet this amount. First, work on your writing skills for about a month. Sign up for the sites you want to submit to and learn all of their submission requirements until you know what they are without checking. When you feel that you are comfortable with your knowledge of what your chosen sites expect of you then ask your present employer for a few vacation days. Don't take too many because this will really be a waste of them...but good practice for freelance writing. No more than 4 vacation days should be necessary. Or just take 2 vacation days before or after a weekend. Your choice. The point here is to wake up every day of those vacation days and type your brains out. Type on every site that you signed up for. Article after article, word after word. Each day try to reach your minimum daily required income. Many sites may not be able to tell you immediately what your sites earn, but watch those sites. Come back in a week and see how those sites. If the total amount earned isn't greater than you minimum required daily income then you shouldn't consider telling your boss that you quit just yet. Just get back to the drawing board and keep practicing and finding more revenue sharing sites like Associated Content. Keep in mind that even articles that didn't earn so bad for your vacation test will still be earning revenue on most sites that pay writers for content.

Google it: Type this phrase into Google, "full time [enter name of revenue sharing site here] income". So a search of "full time Associated Content income" would yield multiple articles in regards to the sort of income that people make writing for Associated Content. These articles are generally not scams because the authors have very little to gain by lying (unless they're selling something, in which case don't buy it). Just in case, check out some other articles by the same author. If they offer a lot of variety then chances are the author of that paper is a legitimate full time freelancer. If, on the other hand, every other article by the author has something to do with some great program and making money on Associated Content, proceed with caution. Finding articles of people who have actually managed to make full time income from free to join revenue sharing sites can be very motivating. Sometimes reading enough of those articles will give you real hope when you're feeling unsure.

Know what you're getting into. If you are 100% sure that this is what you want to do then go for it. But don't take this leap of faith into the unknown thinking you'll be o.k. You have to know for sure. Your confidence will do more for you than your abilities.

That's about it. There is no way to really get around the fear of diving head first into something and not knowing how the whole thing will play out. If you have any doubts then please continue to live your life of security. If you are absolutely certain that freelance writing is the life you want, and nothing can change your mind of that, then chase after that goal article after article and take a jump into the who knows.

You'll be fine.