Have Your Freelance Writing Aims And Expectations Changed?

August 31, 2011

One of the reasons why I got into freelance writing was that it appeared to be a career that would give me the freedom and flexibility to work when I wanted and from where I wanted.

Ever since I was around 9 or 10 years old, I’ve always wanted to work for myself. Not necessarily from home or on a freelance basis, but I can remember talking to a friend years ago saying that we’d both go to college and university and once qualified as accountants, we’d go on to setup our own accountancy business.

I got into freelance writing after spending a lot of time learning web design and SEO and it seemed like somewhat of a shining light at the end of a tunnel when I, to all intents and purposes, ‘stumbled’ across freelance writing as a career — I’d been trying my hand at various different careers and it wasn’t until I found freelance writing that I felt comfortable and happy enough to pursue it as a legitimate career that could develop into one that would support me financially, as well as giving me the freedom and flexibility I wanted.

Over the years, my aims and expectations have, on one hand, largely stayed the same, but on the other there have been some changes that have had quite a substantial impact on not only how I develop my writing career, but what I want from a career — and to a certain extent life in general.

At the start of my career, I remember thinking that I would do anything at that point in time to be able to work from home full time, writing articles and blog posts, increasing my prices slowly but steadily and always keeping them as affordable as possible.

This is actually the part of my career and life that has probably changed most due to freelance writing, as the more I developed my career, the more I realised that there is so much more that can be done in terms of writing and it opened up numerous avenues for me to explore, with one of the ones I’m focusing on at present being the more rounded communications route.

Freelance writing is one of those careers that can be suited to a whole range of different people, due to the fact that not only is it so versatile, but it can act as a great entry route to numerous different careers.

I used to work for a company that delivered apprenticeships in business and administration, with a strong focus on the latter. Administration isn’t the most exciting of topics, but I always told new apprentices not to be disheartened if they were spending their first few weeks photocopying or filing for seven hours a day, because if they were willing to put the initial work in and become a quality administrator, the skills they would gain — and the contacts they would make — would allow them to enter almost any organization and work their way up the career ladder.

For me, freelance writing is exactly the same as this. There’s no doubt that when you’re first starting out, it can be slightly monotonous if you’re churning out article after article, but as you develop as a writer, your aims and expectations develop, too and if you ensure that your personal development as a writer matches your changing aims and expectations, there’s no reason why you can’t go on to meet or exceed whatever your aims and expectations may be.