Three Tips to Six-Figure Freelancing Today

Three Tips to Six-Figure Freelancing Today They’re all over the Internet articles with titles blazing YOU CAN MAKE SIX FIGURES FREELANCING, JUST SIT AT HOME IN YOUR PJ’S! Most people, to be frank, hate their jobs. According to a 2012 survey I started freelance writing in 2002, back in the â€Å"good old days,† before the housing bubble bust, the collapse of Goldman Sachs, and the mainstreaming of food stamps. I sit at home in jeans instead of pajamas, but in the last ten years, I’ve managed to earn six figures for at least three of those years. My articles have appeared in everything from Women’s eNews to The Writer, and I occasionally write for businesses and nonprofits (yes, more money!) This article will show you three ways you can start earning six figures today. Tip #1: Set a goal of 30 queries in 30 days This first tip isn’t actually my idea. I gleaned it from my writing colleague, Indian freelance journalist Mridu Khullar Relph. Recently, Relph made a challenge to her fellow freelancers: jot down a list of your â€Å"dream† markets, such as National Geographic and The New Yorker. Go online, find the contact info of the appropriate editors, and write a query for each of the 30 markets you want to be published in. Send out a query every day in the month of May. I would add that, if you want to approach six figures quicker, make sure that each market pays $1 per word and up. If fifteen magazines and newspapers accept your queries, and you write fifteen 500-word articles at $1 per word, you’ll make $7500 in the month of May. How nice is that? Tip #2: Learn how to over-research When I first started to write articles, I interviewed sources, wrote about their experiences or expertise, and got my pieces published without a thought about re-slanting. Now I realize that over-researching, or gathering more information than you need for one article, is at the heart of a successful freelance career. It certainly makes future queries look more professional. When you add quotes or anecdotes from prior research into your pitches, editors know that you’re familiar with your topic, and won’t go AWOL when the article’s at deadline. Over-researching also makes writing articles easier. You have information from other pieces, and you spend less time in the library and interviewing, and more time writing. You get paid for words not for surfing the Web trying to find stats.      Tip #3: Write the article that the editor MUST have Think six months ahead. What’s the holiday that your potential market covers? Pitch an idea about that holiday an unusual idea. Just as specialist physicians, to paraphrase the comic Milton Berle, have small practices and big houses, focusing on a seasonal topic can unlock monetary doors. For example, if you want to pitch Christmas articles to a parenting magazine, first brainstorm ideas refusing to censor yourself. Sometimes, even the most bizarre ideas become published articles. It’s not about what you think is the right idea, it’s about what the editor must have in her particular edition. If you consistently give the editor what she must have, you’re on your way to a hefty income. Even in this era of high unemployment and job dissatisfaction, people continue to enter their home offices, and make six figures doing what they love. I’m one of them. Are you ready to realize your potential? Oftentimes, it’s as simple as logging on in your pj’s.