7 Insane Habits to Kill Your Freelance Writing Career
It takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it. I am pretty sure the majority of you are familiar with this quote. It’s applied in a freelance writing career as well. Providing writing services are amongst the easiest ways of generating income online, although it may take a while to start building up confidence and earn a decent income you can live on.
Nevertheless, you can just as easily destroy your freelance writing career the same way you built it. This is a “wake-up” article that states 7 insane habits that you should get rid before they destroy your freelance writing career.
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1. Selling yourself short
“If you sell yourself cheap, you will never get out of that hole.” This is another quote that fits like a glove when it comes to selling your services for what you are worth. If you possess a writing talent that is able to deliver content that meets your clients’ needs then you obviously should get paid for the value you provide.
You have your rights as a freelancer. The rights of negotiating your rates and the power of saying “no” to assignments that pay pittance. Don’t sell yourself short, it hurts your professionalism and kills your freelance writing career.
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2. Overindulging in social media networks
Twitter, Facebook, and any other social media network can have a destructive impact in your freelance career. We all know how important and beneficial they are for a freelancer; however, they may harm your productivity if they distract you from performing your duties.
To avoid social media distraction, log off all your accounts and stay focused on your tasks. Moreover, set a favorable and regular schedule only dedicated to social media purposes for a proper time management.
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3. Winking at criticism and rejection
Nobody is perfect. In freelance writing you will encounter a lot of different clients; some of them are rigorous and pay attention to every single detail in the work you submit. Some of your work may contain silly grammar and spelling mistakes, and in others, a weird tone or unsuitable wording. These clients will criticize your work and in the process, will cast doubt on your potential.
However, criticism is essential in any career. One should take it in a positive way with no hard feelings before it fizzles out confidence. After all, critics make a better freelance writer because there is always room for improvement. Objection to criticism and rejection may harm the relationship with your client, as it is often believed that “the customer is always right.”
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4. Claiming to be an expert
This is common practice among freelance writers. Pretending to be an expert in a certain field in order to increase the odds of getting hired is a misstep. If all you do is research, then don’t sell yourself as an expert.
The moment you state your expertise in an industry, your clients will expect you to deliver high-quality content as a person who really knows the field inside out, not an average researcher who just takes bits and pieces of information and put them together, or worse, plagiarize the work of others.
If you fluff producing compelling work for your clients you will end up losing their trust. Trust is very critical for your business and in many instances it determines success. Don’t push yourself beyond your limits if you don’t intend to put your credibility at stake.
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5. Over-stacking projects
Most of the time, you are eager to reel in as many writing projects as possible in order to earn more money. Without realizing the amount of work to be done and the tight deadlines to meet, most likely, you will end up delivering content of dreadful quality.
Great quality work is what clients want from you. If you muck up while churning out your tasks, you will slowly be digging your own grave as a freelancer.
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6. Procrastinating
Procrastination is unmistakably a productivity killer that hinders success. It is a formidable habit to deal with. The syndrome of “I will do it tomorrow” has caused the ruin of many careers. You should figure out a way to crack it, or avoid it before it affects you.
Forcing yourself to get your work started, breaking up your tasks into feasible parts, writing even when you don’t feel like you are in the mood, are among a variety of actions you should implement to avoid procrastinating on your work.
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7. Under-promising and over-delivering
I guess this isn’t the first time you have heard of under-promising and over-delivering. Over-delivering is a sublime tip. Keeping your clientele impressed and oversupplying them with value is great for your business. It leads to repeat business, referrals and ultimately an increase in your income stream.
On the other hand, under-promising is a dangerous habit. You probably don’t want your clients to think that you are not capable of undertaking more challenging projects. That might just make them go to other freelancers first, offering additional work to them just because they didn’t think you would be able to handle the job required.
Conclusion
Generally saying, it’s fairly easy to earn money by just writing for people. In fact, “insane” habits can turn your career as a freelance writer into a notable flop. If these habits cause an adverse effect on your productivity and keep sabotaging your competence as a writer, then, you should cast them aside before they kill your line of business.
The capability to obliterate habits that will eventually become dead weight for your career as a freelancer is really important. If you cannot keep them away from your lane, you will be destroyed very soon what took you so long to build.