January 4, 2014.

That was when I "officially" started my career as a freelance writer. The first few months were exciting and scary. I wasn't sure where it would take me, but just over two years into it, I moved from writing part-time on the side to writing full-time. 

I had contracts, regular customers, plus a steady flow of occasional customers. I had no idea how busy I would be from one week to the next. Nor did I know if I would remain busy. 

It was an amazing ride.

However, with AI bursting onto the scene, and contractors changing expectations, I found the last couple of years a struggle. It reminded me much of what I experienced when I first launched my home-based web content writing business Looseink Freelance Ninja.

Eventually, in October 2023, I took on a part-time job at a local grocery store thinking my freelancing days had ended. At the time, I had very little writing business coming in but maintained a small stable of regular customers. 

Since then, my writing business has picked up again.

Oddly enough, some of my new work is rewriting AI-generated content to "humanize" it. That's a full-circle thing, I think. Plus, the internet search engine world does not seem to like AI-generated content, which has worked in my favour...for now.

So, to mark my 11th Anniversary as a freelance web content writer, I present to you a short list of the pros and cons of this crazy game I've been playing for just over a decade.

Pros
Let's start on a positive and look at some of the benefits of being a freelancer...

You Get To Work Remotely, Which Isn't Always Home
When I started freelancing, I liked the idea that I just had to go upstairs into the home office to write. For a while, I worked in the home office in my pajamas. After all, I wasn't going to an office to work, so the dress code around here got quite relaxed. 

Then one day it dawned on me. I needed to approach each day as a freelancer as I would going to a job site or office. I needed to at least get dressed for the day. That changed my attitude about freelancing and helped me take it more seriously. 

But the remote part is very true. Because I don't have an office downtown to check in at, I can do my writing anywhere. I have taken writing projects on the road with me and completed them out of town. I like that flexibility so I can work on something and not need to be in the home office.

You Are Independent And Call The Shots
This is something else I've really enjoyed about being a freelance web content writer. I am at a place now where I can pick and choose when I want to work and who I will work with. However, in the beginning, I turned down no one and worked whenever I was needed.

I am currently the staff writer for a web company in Australia, and working with them is great. I get a steady flow of work, the deadlines are flexible, and I don't have to write every day to keep up. Just the other day, I turned down a writing job from a potential new client.

I didn't like the "sound" of how things were going in the early stages so I politely backed away saying I was booked solid and could not meet their deadline. I also don't work full days anymore. I may work on a project in the morning one day or in the afternoon. It's always up to me.

You Have Full Control Of Your Workload
I currently write about 20 to 30 1,000-word SEO articles a month. Sometimes there's more, sometimes less, but that is the average. It's a comfortable volume for me. At one point, I had a contract where I was writing that many articles in a week. It was a lot of work.

Although I was able to keep up with their strict deadlines and editorial guidelines, at the end of each 5 or 6 day work week of writing, I was pretty worn out. If you are a writer, you will know how much mental exercise that is. I needed a break each week just to recharge.

Now that I write maybe 5 articles a week, it's not as much work and I can usually complete a 1,000-word article in an hour, provided I've researched the topic beforehand and printed off notes I will use as part of the article. The important difference when I'm in control is there is no stress.

You Are Your Own Boss
Probably the thing I like most about being the boss in my web content writing business is that I make some important decisions. My rates are one of them. I have messed around with my writing rates for as long as I have been writing and I still think I'm not charging enough.

But because I get a lot of my "extra" work through online platforms, I have to monitor rates. Sadly, some freelancers are just starting who will charge bargain basement prices just to get the work. That gives me a disadvantage as many website owners are frugal.

I mean that nicely. They spend a lot on their website but try to save money with low-priced content writing. I get it, but I don't get it. But, as the boss of my business, I can fudge my rates or whatever. That has helped me to gain a new client every now and then.

Cons
Now a look at the downside the being a freelancer...

You Don't Get Employee Benefits
As an independent contractor, things are very different if you are used to being an employee working for a medium or large business. Depending on the terms of employment, you will earn paid leave, medical and dental coverage, possibly pay into a pension plan and other perks.

When you work for yourself as a freelancer, these things do not exist. While you can use most of your business expenses to benefit your tax situation at income tax time, there are few perks. For some freelancers, it is a big deal. I had worked for myself for many years before so I knew what I was getting into from the very beginning.

You Do Not Have Job Security
When you work for someone else, and you have committed to give that company 40 hours a week of your time for a set amount of money, that is the way it will go as long as you choose to work there. Freelancing is at the very opposite of that scale on many counts.

First, your hours will fluctuate from zero to whatever and change daily. Your income will fluctuate as much as your hours on the job. Plus, when a client says they were so happy with your work that they will keep hiring you for more work, that doesn't always happen. In my experience, it rarely happens. 

You Will Find That The Work Will Be Sporatic At Best
Aside from long-term contracts, or regular customers you have built a strong, trusting relationship with, you will encounter a lot of um, sketchy situations. There will be big promises, big money, and big deals. But some of the clients who offer those will cheat you out of that.

I've had what seemed like sweet deals happening until the client decided they didn't like my work or made it out that I didn't follow directions or (pick any reason not related to the freelance agreement) and demanded a refund. So, I did just that. But then I blocked them.

Sadly, there are a lot of scammers out there on the inter-web and freelancers are also a target. Besides that, freelance work will be tough to maintain if you do not have long-term contracts in place. You can still do okay, but it's a risky business regardless.

You Are Your Own Boss
Wasn't this on the list of pros? Well, yes it was and it also happens to be the only pro that can also be a con. Here's what I mean. As the boss of your freelance business, you are responsible for the business end of the business. That's everything from legal to financial and beyond.

Did you remember to send out invoices for the work you completed last week? Did you deposit money in the bank to cover bills coming out of the same account? Did you send that proposal to that potential new client you've been in contact with? Did you do any writing yet today?

As you can see, being your own boss may sound like a great gig, but it can also be the toughest gig you've had. Before I started freelancing, I had spent several years as an independent business owner. I had a clue. But I still made mistakes. It's not as much fun as it appears.

Conclusion

There are challenges and rewards to being a freelancer. I plan to continue to be a freelance web content writer for as long as I have clients interested in my work. It's shifted from a side hustle to a full-time career and back to a side hustle. Because I've always been a writer, I think freelancing will always be a tool in my toolbox.

I hope I've given you reasons to consider trying it out for yourself. It is both exciting and scary, as I've explained, but sometimes you have to go through a rough patch to get to the good stuff on the other side.

Well, 2022 is just a few hours old at this point. The start of a New Year gives me a reason to do a quick review of my freelance web content stats to see how things went over the past 12 months. While I was quite certain that 2021 was a slower year for me, I was somewhat surprised to find that I was far busier than I thought I was. Not only did I end up writing a lot more than I imagined, but I also received jobs in the past year from some unlikely places. Here’s a quick breakdown of the actual numbers.

Far More Articles Than Jobs

My notes reveal that I accepted a total of 123 writing jobs throughout the year. That figures out to be roughly 10 jobs a month. Although that may not sound like a lot, it was the number of articles for the year that truly tells the tale. I wrote a total of exactly 500 different articles during 2021. To give you an idea of what that means, 500 articles break down to 9.5 per week. That is very close to an average week of writing for me. As for the word total, I have not figured that out but it will be pretty close to 750,000. A normal week for me is two 1,000-word articles per day, five or six days a week. There are days where I will only write one article and others where I will write three articles. The important thing to keep in mind here is that I just write for half a day. I’ll get started between 8:00 AM and 9:00 AM each morning and try to be finished between 1:00 PM and 2:00 PM at the latest. The odd day runs to 3:00 PM and there are times I will break up the day to where I may finish an article in progress sometime in the evening. I try to keep my afternoons and evenings open.

Where The Jobs Come From

In 2021, as has been the case for the past three years, the majority of my work comes from the contract I have in place with a web content firm in the US. Out of the 123 jobs I accepted last year, 49 of them were from that working arrangement. Another 28 jobs came from a handful of regular clients of mine in Australia with another 21 jobs coming from my Fiverr profile. I paused my Fiverr account for part of the year as I was receiving jobs that I did not want to do. For me, Fiverr is just a place for “extra” jobs that fill in my normal schedule. Every so often I will pause my Fiverr activity and work on other sources. The rest of my writing jobs in 2021 were from the United Kingdom (9 jobs), and other US-based firms that I write for from time to time.

Then There Were Some Local Projects

The most unusual thing for me in 2021 was the fact that I was hired for six local writing projects. I don’t normally receive much in the way of local business as my web content freelance writing is more geared towards large corporate websites using the material as part of their backlinking strategy. I don’t know of many local sites that employ that tactic. Anyway, I did get hired twice to provide articles to a daily newspaper in the region (both ended up front-page stories), I also accepted two writing jobs for marketing material from the local economic development office. I was hired twice to provide content regarding my congestive heart failure recovery for a medical app program. My story was also the front cover feature of a US-based medical magazine. Then there were two very unusual requests. One was from a local church that needed me to write up their history for a handout that was distributed at the final service of that church, and a local performing arts group approached me. The job they had allowed me to rely on some of my knowledge of local history and well, it should be a lot of fun once the group finishes creating the project.

And…Eight Years Later…

January marks an anniversary for me. It was on January 4, 2014, when I officially started what has since become my third career - a freelance writer. My goal at the time was to just provide content for website owners in the form of blog posts and articles. I also get asked from time to time to write product reviews or product descriptions. While I much prefer to stick with blogs and articles, I’m okay with some review work, depending on the source. I got past the point where I was more interested in certain topics when I started doing contract work early in my career. I found out quickly that there are a lot of different things that website blogs cover and I guess that is one of the things I like most about what I do - there is a variety.

Speaking of Topics

As I’ve indicated that there are some subjects I prefer writing about over others, the past year has included a lot of different ones. I write a lot about online gambling, including casino reviews, and articles concerning the legalities of online gambling in specific parts of the world. I write a lot about dentistry, with a particular focus on false teeth. I write about automotive services ranging from basic car maintenance to specific repairs. I also write a lot about home humidity, sleep apnea and the products to aid with that, cats and cat care, SEO (search engine optimization), online business development, and random things that clients need for various in-house or other projects they outsource the writing to me to handle.

Where Will 2022 Take Me?

Well, I would be happy to see much the same activity this year as I experienced last year. I also took a bit of time off here and there, so I suspect I’ll be doing the same this year. Typically, I just take a weekend here and there, but I may halt writing projects for a couple of weeks during the year to accommodate a holiday or a couple of getaways. It depends on what I am up to and how much time I need to take off. Currently, I get at least a day off each week, but since I just write half days usually, it often feels as if I have more time off per week than I do. Regardless, I know I will need a bit of time off to deal with a couple of health issues if they end up getting resolved in 2022. Otherwise, I’ll keep the pace and see where it takes me!