–

Since opening my freelance writing course to the “public” I have had the pleasure of working with many aspiring writers. The idea of starting my own course came from the daily emails I receive from individuals who want to break into the industry. Although I still love answering emails, it is exciting to get to know each and every member on a more personal level.

Here are three reasons why I decided to start my freelance writing course, and what it has done for me in terms of benefits:

1. Teach others. This was my number one concern from the get-go. As noted above, I receive regular emails from aspiring freelance writers. By offering a course showing others how to break into the industry, I have had the chance to work one-on-one with quite a few individuals. Even though everybody gets something different out of the course, it is my goal to ensure that every member is in a better place upon completion.
2. As you know, multiple streams of income are essential to achieving big time success online. Even though I earn a good living through freelance writing, my course allows me to pick up additional income each month. And of course, gaining new members is easy because of my freelance writing blog and successful career. In other words, all of my income streams tie together in some way, shape, or form.
3. Working at home as a freelance writer means that I don’t have the chance to communicate with many people. Fortunately, my course allows me to talk with other like minded professionals via email, instant messenger, and phone on a regular basis. Since I love talking about freelance writing and related subjects it is fun for me to communicate with members of my course.

“I want to start my own course!” This is something that a lot of people have said to me in the past, and I am sure to hear it again soon enough. If you want to start your own course, follow these tips:

1. Find something you are passionate about. I chose the freelance writing niche because I love writing, can talk about it for hours on end, and am established within the industry. No matter what, make sure you get involved with a subject you are passionate about. This will help to ensure long term success.
2. Leverage your current situation. One of the main reasons my freelance writing course has become so popular is that I have a “built in audience” via my blog, ChrisBlogging.com. By using my blog as a platform I have been able to bring in new members month in and month out. Do you have a popular blog or website that you can leverage?
3. Don’t do it for the money, but make sure you price it right! Sure, I enjoy making money from my freelance writing course but it is not the main reason for offering it. I have received countless emails from friends in the industry telling me that $100/month for all that I offer is entirely too low. I agree that charging more would be more than possible, but I prefer to keep the course affordable for everybody. Make sure you don’t set your price too high. If you do, it will be difficult to gain traction.

I hope this information shows why I decided to start my freelance writing course, as well as how you can do the same thing with your topic of choice.

–

This post was written by Chris Bibey of ChrisBlogging.com.

Recently Chris blogged about reaching the $9k level during a month through his freelance writing work. Seeing the reaction on a particular forum, I thought I’d nag him for a chat, pick his brain a bit, and see what we could get him to tell you about his success and how you can do the same.

What Chris Does

To kick things off, I wanted to know exactly what kind of freelance writer Chris is. He covers a variety of types of projects, noting recently on his blog that the bulk of his work falls within three categories: feature articles, corporate blogging, and keyword articles.

Upon asking if he takes on any other types of freelance writing gigs, Chris said “I have written more sales letters than I can remember. Some of these are used for online “landing pages” and others in direct mail packages. To go along with this, I am asked for an occasional press release, but this is not an area that I concentrate a lot of my time.”

Feature Articles

Let’s face it – “feature article” can mean a lot of things. Does Chris ghostwrite, or does he stick to bylined work? Does he generally write Web features or does he write for print publications. In fact, he likes to mix it up. Here’s what he had to say:

“To answer your first question, I would say that it is about 50/50 as of late. Some publications only publish the articles online, others only in print, and some do both. Although I like to get a byline where possible, a lot of times this is not always the case. Check out [this link] for a feature that appeared both online and in print!”

Keyword Articles

Chris also mentioned that he writes keyword / SEO articles. These are the types of articles that tend to give Web writers a bad name. You know the ones I mean – the “I’ll pay you $5 to write an incoherent 500 words on something you know nothing about, even if you can’t speak English, just as long as you throw these keywords in there at this density level,” types of gigs.

But not all keyword articles are poorly paid. Some are well written. Some clients even combine feature articles with SEO articles. Honestly, I love this type of work when it pays well. I usually get these clients through my freelance writing site or referrals, but I know a lot of writers pick up SEO writing gigs solely from answering ads. Let’s see where Chris finds his keyword article gigs:

“Most of my new clients find me in one way, shape, or form. Some come from blog, others from referrals. I will respond to ads, but as I have become more established, I am definitely more selective when doing so.”

Corporate Blogging

I have to admit, I don’t do as much blogging for others as I’d like to, but when I do, they’re some of the best gigs out there (for private clients – not talking about blog networks here). They’re also some of the least-advertised positions, so you often have to be more aggressive in finding and getting corporate blogging gigs (which can pay very well by the way). Chris shared his thoughts on corporate blogging and tells you how he gets the gigs:

“Corporate blogging has quickly become one of my favorite writing activities. I love working with these clients because the projects are fun, and I can learn quite a bit along the way. Most of these projects come from referrals. For instance, a past client of mine sent my name to several “partner” companies and several of them hired me within a couple of weeks. If you do good work, your clients are definitely going to pass your name along to others; you don’t even have to ask in most cases.”

In the Money

OK. I know what you really want to know – what about that $9k?? How long did it take Chris to reach that income level? What’s different between his writing career now and when he was still a newbie? Well, I asked him:

“I have been a full-time freelance writer for three years or so, but worked on “side projects” well before that. Within three months of going full-time I was earning a full-time income, and from there I continued to build my business to this current level of income.

The biggest difference between my career now and when I started was the clients that I work with. I am still the same person, but I have learned that there are high paying clients out there and it is important to seek them out.”

I know Chris doesn’t like to share too many details on specific clients, but I’m nosy. So I wanted to know, if he won’t tell us who he’s working for now, what his favorite gig was (to give you a more specific example of the kind of work he’s doing).

“As a huge sports fan, anything that has to do with this topic is always exciting. Perhaps my favorite gig was my most recent book, Open your Hearth with Basketball. When writing this book I had the opportunity to interview many of the biggest names in the basketball world. The completed project was approximately 150 pages, and to tell you the truth, it was one of the most difficult tasks of my career. Writing a book can take up a lot of time; and this one wasn’t even that long. The nice thing about this book was that I earned a small advance, over $1k, and I also earn royalties every quarter.”

How NOT to Earn Like Chris

Are you content not earning as much as you could be from your freelance writing? Probably not. Here’s what Chris thinks your biggest mistake may be if you’re not at an income level you’re happy with yet:

“The biggest mistake in my mind is that freelance writers are content working for low wages and staying in this rut year in and year out. In my opinion there is nothing wrong with getting your feet wet; even if the rates are a bit low. But this is not something that freelancers should get used to. In order to reach a higher level of income you need to find clients that pay better; it is that simple!”

Final Thoughts

And you know I have to go all stereotypical on you and ask the classic question: what advice does Chris have to share with all of you newer writers (or established writers feeling that they’re in a rut) out there?

“New freelance writers should concentrate on offering high quality content and pleasing every client. Money is good, but if you are only working for the pay it is going to show in the work that you complete.

Established freelance writers who are struggling to progress their career should do three things: network, network, network. While that is really only one thing, it is very important in my eyes. If you want to grow without having to market your services day in and day out, there is no better way of doing this than networking which will in turn lead to more work and referrals.”

Now – it’s time to go check out ChrisBlogging for yourself.