Being your own boss has its advantages and disadvantages to it. The obvious advantage is being able to set your own schedule, while the obvious disadvantage is not having anyone to keep you on top of tasks. As a freelance writer, I’ve found it hard at times to stay motivated. It’s not like working a normal job elsewhere where you have a boss who will tell you what to do, and if you don’t do it, you’re out of work. Thus, it is important to set up a schedule.

I like to set up a schedule for each day. The way I do it is like this:

Before I turn in for the night, I take 10 minutes to set up my schedule for the following day. In doing so, I take into consideration the projects that I am working on and what needs to get done when. I put the most urgent projects at the top of my schedule followed. I like to use Google’s calendar function (calendar.google.com) to make this schedule. Then, I attempt to stick to it when I get up the following day. This doesn’t always happen, but for the most part, it does and this keeps me from being unproductive during the day.

Freelance writing can be one of the most rewarding, enjoyable experiences. Unfortunately, since most freelance writers don’t work for a particular business, they are responsible for finding their own work. As a freelancer, you must market yourself to people in order to attract business. This is a lesson I’m learning the hard way, since I am now breaking into freelance full-time. I previously exclusively used bid sites like Elance and RentaCoder to find work, but am now finding that I can’t find enough new projects there to meet my needs. As a result of this, I’m starting to seek out more work myself.

My first way of doing this is through posting online ads on Craigslist, advertising my services. I haven’t had too many responses yet, but my approach hasn’t been that aggressive, either. My whole idea with this is to get my name out there.

Secondly, using high traffic forums to advertise services is a great thing to do. I’m personally using Digital Point and since posting a thread in their services > content forum a few days ago, I’ve had 5-6 inquiries for my writing. Granted, none of these are high paying (usually $0.01 per word, or $5 for a 500 word article), but they COULD lead to a lot of future business, which would certainly help my earnings. That’s really all it’s about when you are breaking into the business: getting your name out there and establishing relationships with clients.

Right now, through these two things, I’ve drummed up new business. I never thought about doing this before, but I am glad I did, as every bit of new business helps. If you are a newbie to freelance writing, it can’t hurt to advertise yourself on these sites. It could be the break you need to fully get into freelance writing.