Perks of being a freelancer

It is, for any aspiring writer, somewhat difficult to be able to earn a living from writing. If you are in it solely for the money; to be the next JK Rowling, you may as well stop right now. But of course, writing comes in various different shapes and sizes, so to speak. If you are a budding novelist, earning a full time wage from your writing is going to be difficult. It is now easier than ever to publish your novel but harder than ever to get attention to your work. Google estimates that 130 million books have been published in human history, with electronic publishing, becoming an ‘author’ is easy but earning a living from being an author is anything but.

On the other hand, there are other ways to earn a sustainable living from freelance writing. Many journalists become freelance writers; journalists that have family commitments, journalists who are fed up of commuting into an office, journalists who don’t want orders shouted at them from unruly editors. There are even other jobs which involve working from home: the most modern of which; being a professional esports athlete – being payed to play games.

Of course, not everybody can be a pro gamer and becoming a freelance journalist is not a given, you need a list of reliable contacts/editors who can be trusted to regularly pay you for articles that you have written and if freelance writing is to be your only source of income, it is vital that your contacts can be trusted to pay you your fee on time. But the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward, if you manage to earn a living from being a freelance writer there are lots of perks.

You can work from anywhere around the world

Thanks to the internet and the thousands upon thousands of online publications, freelancers are now able to work from pretty much anywhere in the world – Antarctica even has an internet connection these days- albeit a ‘painfully slow and expensive one’. Imagine the scene of waking up in a quiet Italian town, the sun shining through the window onto your bed; readying you for a morning/afternoon of writing for various publications on the internet, you could even grab a Mediterranean breakfast before your ‘working day’ begins. Of course, dream and reality are two different things but if you have a good contacts book and are able to earn enough money to cover your travel expenses, there is no reason why you can’t travel the world whilst working freelance with your laptop by your side.

No boss

What employee hasn’t wished at least a couple of times for their boss to just leave them alone? A freelancer is their own boss. A freelancer doesn’t have a boss looming over their shoulder, barking out orders and stamping in his/her superiority complex unto them. To live without a boss is most people’s dream and is just another perk that freelancers are able to live with.

Choose your own working hours

It’s 7am, dark, wet and windy outside. You roll out of bed half asleep and prepare yourself for another day ahead – the 9-5 grind – tedious to say the least, right? Now imagine you’re a freelance writer, you wake up at 7am, it’s dark wet and windy outside but instead of leaving the comfort of your warm bed you afford yourself a couple more hours in bed so you can wake up extra relaxed in time for a late breakfast and then you can start work without even having to leave the house. Sound good? Freelance writers have this privilege. Of course, some days they may have to get up early in order to have a Skype meeting with a contact, for example, but they won’t have the monotonous routine of the travel to work and office grind each and every day. Plus, being able to choose your own working hours is great for the parents out there. For example, a parent is able to get their children ready for school etc in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon as they can just incorporate their working hours around the schedule of their children.

Build up a fantastic list of contacts that can help you in future jobs should you ever wish to stop freelancing

Being a freelance writer means you will be able to build up a list full of contacts from around the world. Building relationships with other people in your chosen field is a remarkable trick that will help your drive for success in your chosen field of work. Building a positive relationship with editors will also mean that, should you ever wish to settle down in an area with a steady job, you have a list of people within the industry you may be able to offer you a role, maybe even without an interview if you know them well enough.