Here’s a short video offering time management tips for freelance writers. Hmmn, that thing about interruptions? That one’s tough for those of us with little ones at home – even with a babysitter helping out.
It’s nearly month end and with that comes invoicing, setting aside money for income taxes, and other month end activities. In addition to the accounting tasks, I usually perform a few additional month-end tasks including:
I’ve always had specific monthly income goals and have found that setting these goals and then breaking them down into daily targets helps. I usually count the number of business days in a month and then calculate how much I need to write per day in order to reach my goal.
My income budget has worked well for me. Now, I have a new budget to work on each month: my marketing budget. I plan on spending a predetermined amount each month on marketing or professional development activities.
What type of month end writing activities do you do each month?
As one of Constant-Content.com’s top-selling writers, I understand that a lot of newcomers to the site want to know about my Constant-Content earnings. While I understand this, I also grew up with a modest upbringing where discussions of personal income were frowned upon. I’m not the type of person who will post screenshots of my PayPal account to show others exactly how well I’m doing with this site, a different writing project, or any other venture I may be pursuing. However, I will say this: I’m earning a decent, full time income writing on Constant-Content.com part time.
Yes, I’m doing well. My Constant-Content earnings are probably higher than most. This brings me to the second reason why I’m not willing to reveal my exact Constant-Content.com earnings: I’m one of the exceptions. Other writers I know are doing well with the site, and several are doing quite well. But I also know many writers who have submitted one article and have done nothing since. “CC just doesn’t work for me,” they grumble. In fact, I know dozens of writers who have signed up and have never submitted a single article! Others have submitted only to give up soon after receiving the first article rejection notice.
It takes hard work to get to the point where your Constant-Content earnings become significant. I know this well because I live it every day. I’m regularly writing nearly 100,000 words each month. I’m selling those words and I’m proud of every penny that I make. It’s not easy, and not everyone who gives the Constant-Content.com freelance writing site a try will do as well as I have, but many will – if they’re willing to work for it.
David Kool of Constant-Content.com announced yesterday that CC now offers a bi-monthly payment option. Like the monthly option, the payment date is fairly loose with payments occurring “around” the first and fifteenth.
In order to collect your Constant-Content pay twice per month, you’ll need to sign into Constant-Content.com and click on Edit My Account. Scroll down to Payment Frequency and click the down arrow. Choose Semi-monthly and then click the Save Changes button.
Last week I mentioned a Web site that shows you the average wages of writers (and other occupations) by state. Knowing how much your peers make definitely helps when considering how much you should charge for your work. However, do you really know how much your time is worth? Are you charging a rate that ensures that you are adequately compensated for your work? Or are you just guessing?
For example, if you know that writers in your state average $25 per hour, are you charging at least that much? If an article takes you two hours to write, are you charging at least $50 for it?
Having an hourly wage in mind is crucial. It helps you stay focused and waste less time as well as provides you with a benchmark when determining if a project or offer is worth your time.
Don’t forget that as a freelance writer, you are self-employed. You don’t have an employer paying half of your Medicare and Social Security taxes. So if you’re accustomed to making $25 per hour in the corporate world, you’ll need to make a lot more as a freelancer in order to bring home a comparable amount of money after taxes.
Spend some time considering how much you need to make on an hourly basis. Take a look at CareerStop.org to get an idea of the median wage for writers in your area as a benchmark. In addition, consider how much you can make in the corporate world and mark that up by at about 30 percent. Keep these figures in mind as you calculate how many words you can write per hour.
From there, take your ideal hourly rate and divide that by the number of words you can write per hour. End result: your per word rate.
For example, if you determine that $50 per hour is your ideal hourly rate and you know that you can regularly write 1000 words per hour, then a per word rate of .05 per word would help you reach that target. If you will be selling your articles on sites like Constant-Content.com, factor in any commissions or fees that you must pay. One of my favorite pieces of Constant-Content advice is to price your articles after the 35% commission. Since a commission will be taken out of your sales price, you’ll want to first determine how much you need to net and then mark up the price accordingly.That way, once the article sells and your fees are deducted, you’ll still make your predetermined hourly wage.
A number of different factors come into play when pricing your writing. Start tracking your writing and find out exactly how many words per hour you can regularly produce and determine how much per hour your writing is worth. Doing so gives you a good idea about what you should charge or which offers you should accept for your articles.Otherwise, if you don’t know this information, you won’t know if the offers are fair or not.
