My First Week as a Freelance Writer

The very first week of my freelance writing career, my total "paycheck" for the week was just about $50. Ouch. I decided to write for Associated Content because I became a freelance writer on a whim, it wasn't planned; the decision was made in less than three days. I knew absolutely nothing about working on a freelance basis. I thought it would be just about the same as working in a nine to five job, but, boy was I wrong. I've always had an entrepreneurial mindset, but I had never actually operated a business before. The writing came easy to me; it was just the whole part about managing a business that left me clueless. In all honesty, that's why I chose to become a writer for Associated Content. All you have to do is write what you know and you get paid. No marketing, invoices or rewrites involved.

Associated Content claimed to pay writers between $3 and $20 for a 400 word article. Being the newbie I was, I of course thought, "If I get paid $20 for an article that takes me one hour to write, I'm raking in a total of $800 per week, sweet!" Well, the hard truth is that Associated Content does not pay out $20 for content anymore. They used to several years ago, but now writers are lucky to receive an upfront payment of $5 per article. I quit my job on Monday. Tuesday, I bought a crappy used laptop. Wednesday, I was officially a full time freelance writer. That was the biggest mistake I've ever made in my life. Don't get me wrong, I love being a writer. But, if I would have taken the time to create a viable business model, I would have been landing $600 copywriting clients rather than getting paid $3 per article.

My first three articles all received payments between $4.01 and $4.22. Believe it or not, it was all downhill from there. That $4.22 was the highest payment I've ever received from Associated Content. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, my first full work week as a full time freelance writer, I earned a whopping $50. I found this to be very disappointing, to say the least.

With that said, I love being a freelance writer. I'll admit that 60% of the time it is very frustrating. I've cried more on this job than any other job, but in the end it's worth it. You just have to know how to track down those high paying clients. Use Associated Content as your stepping stone, rather than your fulltime stream of income and move on to higher paying gigs quickly. Create a writer's resume and use your samples at Associated Content to land higher paying jobs. You can take your freelance writing business in any which way you please.