As a newbie, what I’ve learned from following other writers and their experiences is priceless. I’ll forever be grateful for the invention of blogs for how they’ve helped me. They’re a source of information worth the most expensive course on freelancing. When I decided to freelance three months ago, all I knew was nothing.

Through reading blogs and online books, I’ve learned three lessons that are engraved in my head. When I reach my first goal for myself I plan on gifting myself with a plaque of top five lessons to never forget, to keep in front of me every time I write.

There are no short cuts.

The best thing I learned is that there are no short cuts to a freelance writing career. It takes time and dedication to be the writer you envisioned yourself to be and to earn half of what you thought you would earn. Be vary of websites screaming that it’s easy to be a freelancer or that you can make heaps of money through it. Sure, there are people for whom it has happened. But its not the norm and its not going to happen to me. Or you.

Don’t sell yourself cheap

The next lesson that I engraved upon my writer heart was to never sell myself cheap. No matter how desperate I was to get work. I found plenty of people looking for writers to write 500 word article for $1-$3. It felt like an insult to my intelligence but I was on the verge of accepting that maybe this was the norm when I read a discussion in the comment section of a blog about how so many writers were doing work for next to nothing which was why they felt that such rip-off jobs were still on the market.

Persevere and eventually you’ll find clients and gigs according to your personal standards.

Be realistic.

Don’t sell yourself cheap, but don’t put too high a price on yourself either. Personal standards should be realistic. Don’t expect to get $500 for a 500 word article. If you’ve got no credential, potential clients won’t hire you at the standard rates either. Lower your rates if you must…but be realistic about it too!

It only took me a week to realize that it was going to take me a long time to land any kind of work. I don’t have a diverse portfolio. I don’t have any references from previous clients, I also have no experience. I knew it would be idiotic to charge high rates. In fact, charging standard rates would have to be let go for the time being too.

If you’re a new writer with no experience, you cannot expect to land a column at a national newspaper or magazine. Even applying for such jobs is folly. Keep them as a goal and gain experience and knowledge to work towards materializing that goal.

Find out what the going rates are for the kind of writing you do and charge according to that. Again, that still is no guarantee to get instant work

The gist of all these lessons is that patience and hard work is the key to success. What lessons has freelancing taught you so far?

As human beings we keep on learning new things. Whether it’s in school, college or on the job. As a freelancer, we couldn’t succeed if we didn’t keep ourselves open to learning every day with every article or at the very least – every gig.

Learning leads to experience which leads to expertise.

That’s the story of a freelancer. You don’t need a Master’s in English, Communication or Journalism to be successful as a writer. All you need is the love of learning. We, as freelancers start learning from the beginning. Our first article, first gig, first pay check, first returning client and let’s not forget – first scam.

Learn from mistakes.

Every writer has either fallen for a scam, missed a deadline, or generally been careless with keeping in touch with a client. All of these happen at some point or other. We’re humans and mistakes happen. But if we keep on repeating them we’re stupid. Learn from them and we get wise. It’s a simple formula really.

Be smart.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. A large part of the learning process of a freelancer is to read, read and read some more of authority blogs and books of established and successful writers. If you’ve fallen for a scam, read up on the kinds of scam there are, what to watch out for and how to avoid them. Missed a deadline? Find out how other writers stick to their schedules and what techniques and tools do they use. Utilize every resource available to avoid making the most common mistakes freelancers make. Sure, nothing teaches a lesson better than a mistake, but mistakes can be avoided by being prepared.

Don’t be dependant on your niche.

Sticking to one genre, or one topic of writing can severely limit a writer’s exposure as a freelancer. Depending on a niche to make you successful is not smart planning. Take one topic or genre at a time. Learn about them. Write about them. Keep them in your portfolio for times when you’re short on jobs related to your niche. Even if you’re not short of work, sometimes a writer needs a break. Writing about a different topic can be a breath of fresh air.

Have something to add to these? Share your views in the comments and add to the list of things we learn on the job. Stay tuned for the things I’ve learned on the job so far.

A freelancer is easy to please. All you gotta do is accept their submission, pay them on time and tell them they do a good job. Really, how hard is that? As a freelancer, I’m learning to appreciate every small thing. Someone replying with a rejection is also appreciated. At least they bothered to tell me they were rejecting my application! That’s more than I can say for a lot of freelance writing jobs out there.

Every freelancer has a bliss. Something that makes them feel successful, happy, content and rewarded. Whether its getting so much work that they have to turn employers away, or getting published in their favourite magazine, Getting that big fat pay check for which they worked diligently or finding out that someone other than yourself reads your brand new blog.

That last one would probably be me if it happened to me. Since it hasn’t yet, my bliss till now is a little different. My freelancing bliss is having my article accepted without a single revision! Yep, you heard me. My web article did not require any changes from the editor. I got a “This article is ready to go” e-mail and boy did it feel good!

What’s your bliss as a freelancer?

When you’re starting out, the real challenge lies in finding work. For freelancers with no experience or credentials, online marketplaces are a good place to start. There are many advantages to writing for marketplaces.

Better Pay

When I started looking for work some two months ago, all I found was $1-$5 articles. No one was willing to take on an inexperienced freelancer whose entire portfolio was related to an industry that was not known to the western world and about topics that they weren’t interested in. Examples being, my write ups covering the private concerts of upcoming rock bands of Pakistan and opinion article on Muslim fashion. All I got were rejection letters unless I wanted to write 500 words for $1.

With marketplaces, if your article gets picked, you’re paid a respectable amount. The articles that don’t get picked are kept on the website servers and they earn money through the traffic they generate and the ads placed on them. Constant-Content has the option to put up an article under an option where your article is bought with one time publishing rights. It can be bought multiple times by different buyers giving you additional income.

Portfolio Building

Another advantage of marketplaces is that they help build a freelancer’s portfolio. When you’re new, freelancing is more of an unchartered territory. You’re not sure about what to write and who to write for. You keep reading that freelancers have a better chance of making it if they carve a niche out for themselves but you haven’t explored enough topics or gained enough experience to decide upon a niche. The upside to marketplaces like Helium and Demand Studios is that they give you topics to write, complete with article guidelines. Perfect guidance for someone who is wondering where to start.

Get Feedback

Marketplaces also often have a great feedback system in place. Their forums are full of helpful writers who are willing to help you out in your writing and answer any questions you might have. A website like Constant-Content even has an editorial team that goes through your article to see if it passes muster before it is put up for sale. If it doesn’t they get back to you with feedback and once you’ve fixed the problems in your articles you’re free to resubmit the article. The editors at Demand Studios send the article back for rewriting only once if the article doesn’t meet with approval. If it still fails to meet the criteria then the topic is sent back to the pool of titles available to writers.

Online Mentoring

A lot of marketplace websites also provide online mentoring along with feedback. They assign online mentors who coach you and generally walk you through the glitches and hitches in your writing. Online mentoring is optional as not everyone likes to be told that they’re doing something wrong or that they need to change some aspect of their writing.

Gain Confidence

The more you write, the more your confidence as a writer grows. Since I’m just starting out there are days when I’m afraid to apply for a writing gig simply because I don’t have the experience. Keep reminding yourself that you won’t gain experience if you don’t write. Writing for marketplaces also keeps your confidence up when you’re starting out. Every article written is experienced gained and credentials made.

One of the most difficult things is the wait after submitting an article. Especially if you’re writing for marketplaces like Helium where they have deadlines by which publishers can buy your article. The one week wait to see whether your article was good enough to make the cut is hard to go through. So is the disappointment when your article isn’t picked. The key is to keep writing and not lose hope. A good writing job is out there for you.