“If you wish to be a writer, read a lot and write a lot” – Stephen King.
Freelance content writer is one of the fascinating terms for millennials and the Gen Zs of the world.
Are you one of those?
Do you have an interest in writing?
Are you looking to make a career as a content writer?
But do you know how to start as a freelance writer and make it big in the industry?
Don’t worry.
By the end of this article, you’ll have a crystal clear idea of the issues with beginner freelance writers, tips to overcome these issues, and how you can brush up your writing skills to become a world-class content writer.
Freelance content writing is one of the most talked-about career options in today’s world.
Do you know why?
There are various reasons, like:
- Freedom to work at your hours and write from the place of your choice
- Number of breaks you want to take
- The choice to work with the clients you want to work with
But that’s not it; there’s a catch!
Freelance content writing can be a double-edged sword as there are certain problems that every freelancer faces at different stages of their career journey.
Let’s go through the most common challenges for freelance writers and understand all the nitty-gritty related to them.
Problems Freelance Writers Face
Based on the experience of a freelance content writer, we have categorized the problems into two sections. Let’s discuss:
For Beginners Writers
Lack Of Knowledge & Experience
Many beginner content writers don’t know how to mold the content writing approach and strategy for different content pieces.
For example, writing a blog article requires a different approach and mindset than writing a crisp and solid Facebook ad copy.
Lack of knowledge is one of the major setbacks a beginner freelance content writer faces in today’s business industry. It only piles up to losing clients and takes the career graph towards the downward slope.
Apart from knowledge, experience is a major concern for a beginner freelance content writer. Businesses want their content to be written by a professional to match the high content standards for their business.
But being a beginner, you don’t have the experience and testimonials to back up your skills in the bag. You don’t know how to represent yourself as a skilled content writer and gain orders as a beginner.
Lack Of Confidence In Writing Engaging Gigs
Even if you somehow grasp the knowledge about how to craft different types of content pieces. You can’t fulfill the client’s requirements without having the confidence to write enticing and error-free content pieces.
Lower confidence levels are why many beginner freelance content writers don’t reach their highest potential in the industry.
You need to understand a few things:
- You don’t need extensive vocabulary and perfect grammar to become a professional content writer
- You don’t need to be gifted, creative, and talented to ace in the content writing work
You can write unique, engaging content for top-notch clients if you get your basics right and have the confidence to give your 100% while creating copies that speak for themselves.
Not Knowing The Industry Standards
Having little industry experience is one of the major roadblocks many beginner freelance content writers face.
If you are not aware of the industry standards and the price brackets you need to charge for your content writing services, then you won’t know what will work for the business and what will not.
All this industry inexperience can become a big hurdle for any beginner to build a solid career in freelance content writing.
No Proper Guidance
Without proper guidance, you’ll make many industry mistakes that can slow down your career growth.
Most beginner writers are unaware of how to approach their career ahead, what practices and strategies can help them scale to new heights.
And at times, it becomes difficult to manage difficult clients, which will lower self-confidence.
These are some of the major speed breakers that you’ll face as a beginner freelance content writer. Things get more complex for an experienced freelance content writer.
For Experienced Writers
Increase In Competition
When you have a few years of experience or have worked with a few clients, and you want to increase your price. But a business may have multiple other content writers who may work at highly lower prices because of stiff competition.
You’ll lose a lot of potential clients just because there’s an increase in competition. But there are multiple ways you can use while not having to compromise on the price and still convert a potential prospect into your client.
Managing Clients
With an increased clientele, you’ll face a lot of difficulties managing different clients. You need to deliver premium quality content to all your clients within the promised time.
You need to manage your time and clients with finesse to deliver the best experience. You’ll face clients with different perspectives and mindsets; you need to sync with everyone and associate with the right ones to save all the trouble caused by difficult clients.
Managing difficult clients creates a high-pressure situation that can take a toll on your mental health. It takes determination to manage everything with utmost professionalism.
Payment Issues
Not every client will act professionally and give you timely cheques after the work is completed. Sometimes, clients may not approve of the quality of the work you delivered and that might become a barrier to your payments.
Many undesirable scenarios may arise in your client management process and result in payment issues if you don’t know how to tackle those situations.
Maintaining A Balance Between Quality & Quantity
Once you start with the scaling process, you’ll gain clients and more content writing gigs. Maintaining a balance between quality and quantity can look like climbing a mountain for many freelance content writers, resulting in stress and difficult times.
You can even hire when you scale and cannot manage things alone. Then you can switch your time towards focusing on the management part rather than writing on your own.
Not Knowing How To Market Themselves
Even if you know all the writing skills, you need to market your skills to get the clients you have been dreaming of. How to use the right marketing strategies is still a big question in the minds of a lot of beginner freelance content writers.
You may find it hard to attract the right leads and customers with your content writing skills.
But you don’t need to worry; by following a few handy tips, you can ease off some of the pressure of handling all the problems. Have a read:
Tips To Overcome All The Issues With Beginner Freelance Writers
Be Determined & Positive
You need to be determined and positive to tackle situations of any stature. You can’t lose hope and let the bad times get the better of you.
Being in the creative world, you need to improve your skills and have a determined mindset to tackle situations.
You’ll face hard times and feel things are going your way during your journey, but you need to be consistent with your work and trust the process.
You’ll get content related to different niches, and sometimes it will be hard for you to write a specific type of content, but don’t reject the opportunity and try to learn and give it your best shot with a positive attitude.
Time & Client Management
You need to improve your management skills and coordinate with your clients more effectively. s You need to find ways how you can improve your productivity and manage your clients professionally.
It will be difficult initially, but once you set the flow right, all the puzzle pieces will solve smoothly for you. You can use multiple management tools or look for certain management strategies to avoid any hiccups in the management process.
Proper Guidance
The most vital and underrated tip is having proper guidance for building a career as a freelance content writer.
There are two ways to grasp all the learning and industry knowledge in the freelance content writing industry: Either you learn through making mistakes and gaining experience over the years, or you can use proper guidance from experts to skip all the mistakes.
Which option sounds simple and effective?
The second one, right?
But where can you get the right expertise to ensure that you can build a career in content writing as a freelancer? You can join certain courses or look for industry experts to guide you through. You can read a few blog articles or YouTube videos to get your basics right.
Once done with a little digging, then you’ll be ready to manage your next client with minimal troubles and roadblocks.
Kickstart Your Career As A Freelance Writer
Writing for the web is different from all the previous content you have written in your life. It’s like talking through the words in the most simple yet effective vocabulary.
Considering industry standards, content writing for the web and client management are unique skill sets that are not taught in schools or colleges.
You need to integrate the right skill set and knowledge to match the industry standards so that you don’t need to rely on any company or any person to earn a handsome living for yourself.
So, are you ready to progress ahead in your freelance writing career?
