The Importance Of Remembering Why You Started Freelance Writing

By Dan Smith

For those of you who aren’t aware, we’re currently in the middle of Lent.

Lent is a Christian event whereby we’re encouraged to give up a luxury item for the period, which lasts for 40 days (a really basic overview, I know, but I’m not one for preaching about the teachings of Christianity). I used to give up chocolates or sweets when I was younger, but in recent years I’ve given up alcohol.

For me, Lent gives me time to think about the basic things in life that I need, as although chocolate and alcohol are great, after I’ve gone 40 days without them, I feel I could go another 40. Take me away from my fiancé for 40 days, however and I’d find it a lot, lot harder.

It’s thinking about this that got me thinking about my freelance writing career and how it has changed and developed over the last few years. As some of you will know, I kind of fell into freelance writing after coming across a thread on a forum looking for someone to write some SEO articles. I was freelancing as a SEO consultant at the time, I’ve always liked writing and so I put my name in the hat and was chosen for the project.

At the very beginning, I wanted a career in freelance writing so I could work for myself, whenever and wherever I wanted. That freedom has always appealed to me, right since I was 7 or 8 years old.

What I’ve realised in recent months, however, is that although this goal is still the same and to a certain extent, I do have a lot more freedom than I used to — I work from home a substantial amount of the time — I’ve lost sight of that goal of working for myself.

On one hand, this isn’t a bad thing at all. I’m working with a fantastic agency, I love the work and it’s great to be involved with such an exciting project.

On the other hand, it’s not what I initially set out to do, as the intention of working for myself was so that I could have several of my own projects on the go at once, earning an income from each of them.

I set up my own blog (which doubled as a portfolio) and had another blog which was receiving a great amount of traffic. A little more development and there’s no reason why it wouldn’t have started to bring in a good residual income.

But as my career developed and I took on bigger projects that required more time to be devoted to them, I was unable to keep updating these blogs and looking at them today, it’s been nearly two years since any fresh content has been uploaded.

I need to point out here that I wouldn’t change my current position. I really do love my career. My issue is I’ve lost sight somewhat of my end goal, which was to be comfortable financially right throughout life, irrelevant of whether I was employed / hired or not.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to try and relaunch — or at least update — my two blogs a bit more. I was proud of both of them and saw a lot of potential in one of them in particular. It might mean a few late nights and I might not get the chance to update them as much as I would like, but I’ve realised that I need to focus on my initial aim as a freelance writer and ensure I do my best to meet it.

For those freelance writers who have several years under their belt, do you find you’ve lost sight of what you started writing for?

For new freelance writers, are you writing for any particular reason? Do you have an end goal? If so, are you prepared for it to change?

Image: Madebycedric (fotopedia)