writing-freelance, jobs, courses

navacooper

Mon, Nov 23 2009, 10:50 pm

Hi Elana,

I am a freelance writer working from home, but I'm not sure I have any quick shortcuts for you. I have a degree in English but worked in offices for years as an executive assistant until my second child was born. Then it was cheaper to stay home!! Rolling Eyes

So to my parents' great joy, I finally found a way to use my degree. But I don't think you need any formal degrees, maybe not any correspondence courses either, as long as you write well. That's what clients want.

To make a REALLY long story short, I now write for Hamodia and Mishpacha occasionally, as well as several corporate clients. I do press releases, business newsletters, web copy and the occasional blog post or op-ed piece. It pays well but requires a LOT of discipline!

I found a lot of business on Guru.com, where there are a lot of "fluff" jobs posted and a lot of employers who want to pay you peanuts. But if you bid on enough jobs and build up your portfolio and ratings, you will get more quality clients. And many of them will give you return business outside of Guru -- that's where I got almost all my major clients, who are still with me 3 or 4 years after that first project! (It does cost some money to join Guru.com, but if you're persistent in bidding on jobs and don't sell yourself short, it pays for itself pretty quickly.)

You can also check some books out from the library related to whatever type of writing you want to do. That's very helpful.

Good luck!! Hope this helps...

NC

Roses4me

Tue, Nov 24 2009, 3:10 am

thanks navacooper.

writing was something I really enjoyed over the years when I was in school, but lost touch with it over time due to time constraints. But lately have been thinking a lot about it as an option from home. I have a finance degree but dont think I can use it now. (as they usually have only full-time jobs in this industry- which doesnt fit with being a Mom with little kids.)

Plus I dont live in an English speaking country atm, which is why I'm looking for a course to do thru distance learning - to refresh my skills.

Did you have to create some samples for the job applications? Is there anything specific you can suggest I read or look into? It would help a lot as I feel a bit lost atm.

Also, how much time do u spend writing?

thanks a lot!

shalhevet

Tue, Nov 24 2009, 3:17 am

If you speak another language (which I imagine you do) and have excellent English skills consider translation - you can combine your finance degree too and specialise in financial translation.

I think you will find you can make a lot more money than from writing (or you can combine the two once you freelance).

navacooper

Tue, Nov 24 2009, 11:45 am

Hi Elana,

I agree that you should write about finance! So many people who want to do freelance writing are already covering things like parenting and health topics. And there's a big need for that. But you'll probably have an easier time breaking into freelance writing if you have a special area of knowledge that you can write about, like finance.

For Guru (or any potential client), it does help to have writing samples the client can look at.

The time I spend on writing varies, but usually it's like a full-time job that I do at weird times: when I get up before the kids, while they're in school, and after they go to bed! I don't have much free time, but I'm able to decide when to be "off". It's nice to be able to bake cookies with the kids when they come home from school. Smile

I find this "job" very fulfilling and would not want to go back to full-time employment!

Hatzlacha!

NC

merelyme

Wed, Nov 25 2009, 4:29 pm

Which aspect of the financial industry did you work in? What is your experience in the financial field, and what interests you?

Now ask yourself the same sort of question about writing. What is your experience with writing? Have you written financial reports or presentations? Are you good at creative writing? What interests you?

Then see if you can figure out how to put both of those together.

Which publications interest you? Which do you read on a regular basis? What sort of article could you knowledgeably write for each of those publications that would interest their readership?

pm me if you'd like.

Hatzlacha!