Becoming a freelance writer was probably the best choice I ever made, and it's kind of interesting to say that now. There was a time of my life where I thought I would never "resort" to making money online with my writing. Don't get me wrong—I always loved writing, but when I got on the internet and found out people were charging $3-$5 per article, I pretty much laughed the idea into extinction. But it turned out there was a lot I just didn't get about what was possible. Sure, people are charging pennies, but there's plenty of reasons why that doesn't have anything to do with what I can (and do) make as a writer. Here's why. First off, a lot of these people aren't even native English-speakers. They are outsourcers from India and the Philippines. While these people can be pretty amazing at the mechanics of the English language, when you're not born and raised speaking the language, it comes across in an article. It's the little things. The "way" you say things and your method of delivery. Humor. Cultural references. In short, stuff you can't be taught. There are native English-speakers out there that charge these prices too, but in an English speaking world it's a recipe for getting burnt out. And when you're only way to make more money is churn out more $5 articles, you're going to write faster and faster and cut corners. And in the end, you're either producing a lower-quality product or not meeting deadlines because the pay just isn't' good enough to care. When I saw what I was up against, I saw that becoming a freelance writer was a definite possibility, and as I ventured forth, there were a few things I quickly learned. One was among the best lessons I ever learned business-wise. If you have 50 customers and you double your rates, you might lose half your customers, but you've just effectively cut your workload in half. Not only that, but in this game, customers are a lot less resistant to price increases than you would think. With this and a handful of other great lessons, I went out here and started right off charging twice what other people were charging at major freelance sites and had a FULL schedule instantly. Before I knew it, I was raising prices to effectively "fire" my customers and charging $20 per article. The other reason starting off as an online writer worked so well for me was that the people I found myself working for at the freelance sites were the movers and shakers of the internet world. These were people who outsourced the grunt labor of the online world by hiring writers, and not only that they were paying top dollar. They were successful IM'ers. It wasn't hard to see that these were people I could learn from, and as I started offering add-on services people like these needed, I paid attention to what they were doing. Before I knew it I was making thousands of dollars marketing for people. I'd gotten an education in making money online, and now I could put it to use. Becoming a freelance writer gave me the skills I needed to become a marketer. I still write, but I only write what I want to write, and I've begun to build a team of people to back me up. VA's in the Philippines and the U.S. English-speaking writers from around the world. It's all uphill from here, and I spend my time working on my newer income streams. All because of becoming a freelance writer .
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