Congratulations! You’ve started your journey as a freelance writer. You’re done with the corporate nine to five and now you’re free to live life as you want, write about what you love, and be your own boss.
Now what? This is the question that many freelancers face when they first start out. It doesn’t matter if you’ve started to work before you freelance full time or if you are starting out on your journey with no experience at all, the first six months as a full-time freelancer, while liberating, can be a little scary and confusing, as well.
Below is a short guide to the most important things you should do in your first six months to make your life easier and the transition smoother.
#1 Fill Out a W-9
You are an independent contractor now and every client, from a content mill to a Fortune 500 company, is going to need your completed W-9.
You can find it from the IRS website and you can keep a saved copy on your desktop with your information typed into the form. It’s a simple form that takes about five minutes to fill out and if you have it at the ready your life will be much easier.
#2 Know Your Productivity Rate
It is crucial that you know how many words you can write in an hour, including research and thought development. Don’t take a typing test that only requires you to copy content.
These types of tests don’t take into consideration the actual pace of a writer who is coming up with words on his or her own, researching, and thinking over ideas.
Instead, open a blank word processor document and set your time for an hour. Write something, anything, consistently for an hour as you would if you were working on a book or an article.
Don’t rush, just work normally. At the end of your hour, see how many words you’ve typed. This process should give you a good idea of how many words per hour you can write.
#3 Know Your Billable Rate
How much are you going to charge for your writing? If you don’t know, you need to figure that part of your business out right away.
While rates will almost always vary across clients, industries, and project types, you should know the minimum rate you need in order to make the income your lifestyle requires.
#4 Find Your Minimum Rate
Your minimum rate can be anything you want it to be. However, if you’re looking for some help, here’s an idea.
This suggestion is by no means the only formula to use, but it can be helpful for new freelancers who have no idea where to start when it comes to rates.
• Find out how much you need to make per year to cover bills, office supplies, taxes, etc. Let’s say for example’s sake that you need to make $60,000 per year.
• You’ve already found out how many words you can write an hour. How many hours are you willing to work per day? Let’s say 10.
• If you said you could write 500 words per hour, and you’re working for 10 hours a day, that means in one day you can write 5,000 words in a day.
• If you are working six days a week, 10 hours per day, you are working 3,120 hours per year. (60 hours per week x 52 work weeks per year).
• You need to make $60,000 per year over 3,120 hours. You need to make $19.23 per hour.
• If you write 500 words per hour, $19.23 divided by 500 words means your minimum rate is three cents per word.
While this system is by no means a scientific or absolute representation of exactly how your work life will progress, it’s a nice indicator of the minimum you need to be making in order to meet your goals.
Some writing jobs will be higher or lower in rate, but none should fall below your minimum.
Writers decide their minimum rate in many ways, but for the new beginner who has no clue where to start and would like a formulaic approach, this formula works well.
#5 Figure Out Your Weekly Goal
Many new freelancers get so excited about the idea of freelancing that they forget to cover the basics. Make sure you know how much you need to make a year to cover everything from rent to office supplies to taxes. The quickest formula to find out your weekly goal is this:
• Decide how much, in total, you need to make a year. As an example, let’s say you want to make $100,000 a year.
• Divide that number by 52 for the number of weeks in a year. In this example, you’ll need to make $1,923 per week.
• The number you obtained tells you how much money you need to gross per week to make your goal.
• From here, divide this number by the rate per word you charge. Let’s say you charge $0.10/word. At that rate, you will need to write 19,230 words per week in order to meet your goal, assuming you’re getting paid your standard rate.
• How many days a week do you plan to work? Let’s say you plan to work six days per week. 19,230 divided over 6 days equals 3,205 words per day.
• Now you know how many paid words you’ll have to write per day in order to meet your goal. Is it always this simple? No. But it gives you a good idea of where to start.
#6 Keep Calm and Write On
All of these exercises and tips help you set up your writing business for success.
But above all, remember to stay calm and take things one project and one day at a time.
Eventually you will find your groove in the writing world, but until then remember that consistency and an entrepreneurial mindset are the keys to success.
Photo Credit: William Brawley via Flickr