Talented freelance writers have many money-making opportunities available to them online. At all times there are many writing gigs posted by clients on numerous freelance jobs websites. Depending on the availability of time freelance writers from all over the world are making part-time or even full-time income working from home.
Depending mostly on their talent and experience all freelancers do not earn the same amount of money. Those with established reputations earn much more than new freelance writers. Talent is one thing and is most important but another important thing that determines how much freelance writers earn is their productivity. Productivity is something we can define with how much work can be done in a given amount of time. If you are a freelance writer and you are paid an equal amount of money per word, you could be completing more work in a day and earning more money than you did if you follow the next tips to increase your productivity.
Here are a number of tips on how to get more work done if you are a freelance writer and earn more money working from home:
Good preparation is first step to success for freelance writers
In freelance writing and in just anything every successful job competition requires thorough preparation. Think about whatever you might need during the writing process and have it ready. Have all the keywords prepared in a list, all ideas about what to write worked out the structure of the article or blog post already planned. Also, consider yourself. What keeps you going as a writer. If coffee helps you stay focused then have a cup of coffee by hand. If you feel hungry while working on writing projects then also have a snack prepared before you start. All these little simple things might take out of your time allocated for work and make you lose focus.
Learn how to deal with distractions
The greatest enemy of productivity for freelance writers and many other people that use the internet and computers for work and usually are working from home are various distractions. Working from home has many advantages but also certain drawbacks. The most significant are distractions from other family members. Another set of distractions comes from working on a computer and being on a laptop. It is hard to resist checking your email or your account on social media platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. To be able to deal with distractions successfully you will need a space, a quiet room where you can work, and also to limit your time online to only a few minutes.
Don’t dedicate more time to a single job than it’s absolutely necessary
Writers tend to spend too much time writing a single article. They give too much attention to every detail because they want their work to be perfect and always trying to find the best and most appropriate words they can use for their work. This takes too much time and that is a time that freelance writers might not have on their hands considering they get paid per word. Instead, it is best to write a good, clear and article that is understandable to their clients and the target audience. If there is something missing their clients can ask for revision. A good piece of advice would be to start your writing project with an initial draft and after it is done reading it and see what needs to be changed. As ideas start to flow update them where necessary or you can deliver it to your client and revise it and update it according to his instructions.
Finish the job ahead of schedule
Whenever a freelance writing job is arranged one of the main points is the time by which the work must be completed and delivered. One of the things that clients hate the most is not finishing the job on schedule. On the other hand, if you deliver the project ahead of the deadline then you can count on making a good impression on your clients and establishing a good reputation which in the future will help find freelance jobs easier. By setting the deadline yourself at least a day ahead of your client’s deadline will help you stay motivated ad as well create more te to take on more gigs and earn more money.
Split the project into smaller parts
Many times if you as a freelance writer have a project to complete that may be quite robust and time-consuming may seem intimidating to even sit down and get started in the first place. A good strategy, in this case, is to divide the project into several parts and make time intervals in between for rest. By organizing your work in this manner you will be able to focus on one section at a time and eventually finish the job in less time.
Become a fast typist
Freelance writers do their work in front of computers and produce text according to the demands of their clients. They do their work by typing the words in text processor software. Knowing this it is clear that more work can be done if you could type faster. Average typing skill is somewhere in the range of 30 to 40 words per minute but more skilled typists can type 65 words per minute and more. It would be a good strategy to devote time of day to practice and develop your typing skills. There are many online tools you can use for this, some of them are Typing Master, Typing Club, Ratatype, and others.
Organize your work day for both work and rest
Writing is creative, and some might even say fun but it is also a job just like any other, and no matter how much you love doing it will make you tired after a while. You should set time for rest and relaxation every day because you will not be able to deliver your best work and be most productive if you are exhausted. Every person needs 8 hours of sleep every day as well as short breaks during the working process. Also, a nap in the afternoon might be a good idea to keep your energy levels up during the day.
Also, consider which time of day you are most able to work. Some people are more comfortable working in the morning and others in the evening and plan your work schedule accordingly. During work hours another good idea to keep yourself focused at your work and stay organized is to use a timer or a clock to measure your working time. This way you can set your work periods at 45 to 60 minutes after which period you will set a 5 to 15 minutes breaks. By sticking to this schedule you will be more productive, avoid distractions, and complete the job at hand on time.
Use available software tools to increase your productivity
When it comes to using tools provided by modern technology freelance writers are no stranger. All of them are using computers, text processing software like Word or OpenOffice, and work on online freelance jobs using internet connection. There are also some tools that probably not many writers are using and even know about.
These are mostly software tools that when used properly can greatly increaseth the productivity of freelance writers. There are so-called text expanders like PhraseExpress, Fast Keys, Espanso, and others. These programs help insert phrases and even entire sentences by pressing certain keys or snippets and help increase productivity by avoiding typing the same sentences again and again.
Grammarly (more info about Grammarly here) is another very useful tool that helps by finding and clearing writing errors. It is a very popular tool that many freelance writers and bloggers use. There is both a free and premium version.
There are also speech-to-text software tools that can turn spoken words into text. Although they are not perfect they can increase productivity dramatically because they will help writers complete their projects, not by typing words but simply saying them into a microphone. Some of the best speech to text software tools are Speech to text by Google, Otter, Speechtexter, Dragon Speech Recognition, and others
Leave a Reply