I know I would not be alone in stating that I’ll be happy to see 2020 finally come to an end. It has been one of those years that has impacted all of us in one way or another around the entire planet. COVID-19 is the main issue, in my mind, but I also experienced some serious health issues early in the year that was carried over from late 2019. I’ll be dealing with these well into 2021 but I am much stronger now than I have been so I’m not too concerned about my recovery following my next procedure. I think I can also point to COVID-19 as having an impact on my freelance business. My numbers continue to slowly dip and I think that uncertainty in the online marketplace - where I get all of my writing business - has had something to do with this. Not only are web developers not spending as much on contracting out for services like mine, but some are also switching to creating these things themselves in-house. At least that’s my take on it.

Let’s Look At The Numbers

In December 2020 I completed a total of 14 jobs. That amounted to 36 articles and 34,225 words. Although December does slow down, my stats are not far off of November 2020 (17 jobs, 44 articles, and 31,400 words) and just down slightly more from October 2020 (20 jobs, 49 articles, and 47,500 words). So when I look at the work through comparisons of previous months, the dip is not quite that significant. Maybe this is a sign of stabilization on the horizon. I should point out that during December I did spend some extra time “cleaning up” my Fiverr profile and adding a few new Gigs to my profile there thinking it could generate some more activity. I did get a job out of that so maybe more is on the way. My job split for the month saw 5 of the 14 I completed coming from Fiverr. The remaining 9 jobs, except one of them, were all from regular clients.

Where The Work Came From, What I Wrote About

I saw a slight shift in where my business was coming from this month. I had 6 jobs from Australia and 4 each from the United Kingdom and the United States. The majority of my work during the month came from a contract I have in place with a US-based content service that I have been working for since October 2019. As for topics, December 2020 is another mixed bag of subjects. I wrote about sailing products, healthcare concerns, sports gambling, collectibles, dental care, unusual fonts, how to furnish a man cave, and coin collecting for beginners. With very few exceptions, I have little idea of what sorts of topics I am going to encounter on any given day. I say that this is one of the things I find that makes freelancing so interesting as it is never the same thing two days in a row.

Interesting Developments

One of the regular clients I have has been making good use of my years of experience in the newspaper business. I have rewritten and edited several news releases this past month converting them into 1,000-word articles. It has been a lot of fun to be able to put that skill back to regular use. I suspect that I’ll see several more of these types of jobs from this client in the coming months. I also interviewed for a contributor spot with a US-based firm that has developed a medical device. The interview was just before Christmas break so I may hear more about it early in January and I’ll be able to say more about it at that time. I will say that the firm sought me out after following me on Instagram and liking some of the content I have posted there. The fact that I am a freelance writer made me a bit more attractive prospect.

An Anniversary Coming Up

It will be in early January when I will mark my 7th anniversary as a freelance writer. The time has gone by rather quickly and I have to admit that I have truly enjoyed what I have been doing in this, my third career. I didn’t turn to freelance full-time right away as I was using it at first as more of a side hustle than anything else. However, there was a time when making it a full-time career made sense and it still does. Hopefully, I will be able to continue to write and be in demand for my web content for several more years. And as I have noted above, it will be good to close the door on 2020 and hopefully, the New Year is going to be filled with positive things for all of us.

Although I have not experienced a complete shutdown of my internet-based ghostwriting business, there is sure evidence that the pandemic has impacted the business of those I write for. As an example, one regular client of mine based in Australia has indicated that during the months since the coronavirus was identified as a pandemic, he has shifted his focus onto websites where he is selling products as opposed to working for clients developing websites. I get a lot of my business from web developers who require new or fresh content as they either build or rebuild web pages. Another client of mine, based in the UK, has been working a great deal on video services which has pulled him away from web development projects. These are just two examples I am aware of. Thankfully I have several more clients I work for.

The Numbers Show A Steady Dip

I completed a total of 17 jobs in November 2020. That's down slightly from 20 in October and quite a bit off from the 27 jobs I had in September. This past month I wrote 44 articles for 31,400 words. In October 2020 it was 49 articles and 47,500 words. In September 2020 it was 110 articles and 53,925 words. I did see a slight increase, percentage-wise of work coming from Fiverr this past month with 7 jobs. That compares to 8 the previous month. I also picked up a job from Upwork in November. I decided one night to check out some of the job listings there and submitted two proposals. One was accepted and I got a writing gig out of it. However, I'm having issues claiming my payment through that platform and may not use it again. At least getting paid from Fiverr is easy.

Where My Work Came From/What I Wrote About

November saw me pick up work from clients based in just four different countries in the world, which was a little unusual for me. Typically I see business from all over the globe. This time around the majority of jobs (nine, to be exact) were from the United Kingdom, five came from the United States, two from Canada, and one from Ireland. I don't think I've worked for more than just a couple of clients in Ireland so it was nice to see that country pop up on my list this time around. As for topics, I wrote about music, data recovery services, online sports betting, landing pages for three different services, collectibles, data loggers, gift-giving, and SEO.

December Is Off To A Good Start

As I am writing this on the last day of November, I can tell you that I already have a couple of jobs lined up for December. I plan to keep my writing schedule as consistent as possible during the month. Although that may change as I am still waiting to hear on at least two medical appointments that will involve trips out of town. I am currently still writing what I call "half-days" Monday through Saturday where I work from 9AM to about 1PM, with a short lunch break. Some days I will work to 3PM to finish projects that are time-sensitive. I also take work outside of the platforms I usually use to get contacts. For example, if you are a web developer looking for a content writer, I spend most of my time writing blogs but I also do other things. To find out my rates and other details, you can email me at looseink@gmail.com.

In Conclusion​

Although 2020 has been a difficult year for businesses of all kinds, I have managed to stay busy with my ghostwriting business. To find out what I'm writing about today, give my Facebook Page a LIKE and you will be able to follow my daily schedule.

With the combination of a time change and a Full Moon on Halloween, you never really know what to expect out of October. As for my home-based business, it was a steady month of ghostwriting although my totals took a slight dip from September 2020. Here is a quick review of the numbers and then I will share with you details on what a typical writing day is like for me.

The Totals For October 2020

During the month I had 20 different jobs. That's down from 27 a month ago. Out of those jobs, a total of 8 of them came to me through my profile that can be found on Fiverr. The rest of the work I saw this month was from regular clients. As for article volume, I wrote 49 different articles this month, down from 110 recorded in September 2020. Although the numbers dipped from last month to this month, my word count was still pretty high. In October 2020 I wrote 47,500 words. That is just slightly down from the 53,925 words written the previous month.

Where My Work Came From

October was a strange month in a way as all of my writing jobs came from just five different countries. The United States led the way with 10 jobs followed by the United Kingdom with 6 jobs. I had 2 from Canada and one each from Australia and the Philippines. The latter one being a new client. As for the various topics I was hired to write about during the month, I covered a large spectrum of subjects. I wrote about cellphones, sports betting, socks, multi-level marketing, dating, cleaning services, legal services, and tree cutting services to name a few.

What A Typical Writing Day Is Like

Through a fair deal of trial and error, I have developed a system that seems to work best for me when I have writing to do. The process has several steps to it and I'll break them down for you to explain what takes place with each step.

Step 1 - The Job

The first step is always the job. A client may contact me through Fiverr or via e-mail directly with a writing job they need me to do for them. This usually includes a bit of information such as the length of the article(s), titles to be used, keywords to include, and often links for reference.

Step 2 - Scheduling

As I am writing six days per week, I will usually slot time for a new job as soon as it comes in and I confirm that I can either do the work or have received the work. Some jobs get priority, but most of them get scheduled in the order they are received.

Step 3 - Research

Although some writing jobs come to me with links for reference, unless the idea is that I do a rewrite of that linked page, I will spend a few hours the night before I write an article or set of articles researching the topic online. I will make notes, create files with information, and print all of this off so I have a hard copy to work from.

Step 4 - The Writing

Depending on the day, I may write a single set of articles for a client or several different articles for different clients. A normal writing day for me starts at 9:00 AM and I'll take a short break after each article is completed. I'll stop for lunch at 12 Noon or as close to it as I can. With rare exceptions, I am finished writing for the day by 2:00 PM. I do this Mondays through Saturdays and take Sundays off. I will normally write between 1,000 and 3,000 words per day.

In Conclusion

I love being a ghostwriter as it is a career I can continue to work at from home for several years if I so choose. It took me a few years to get established but now that I am, I had to devise a system that kept me on top of the jobs that were coming in and getting finished work to clients within a reasonable time frame. To find out what I am writing about today, you can follow me online by giving my Facebook Page a LIKE.