What Are the Major Challenges for a Freelance Writer?

Freelancing industry has observed a massive boost over the past few years. People who were finding it difficult to satisfy recruiters and get their desired jobs are now able to market their skills and work as their own boss. Many companies are also inclined towards outsourcing many tasks by hiring freelancers. Writing is one of the major tasks outsourced in this digital age, and with the rising demand, a great number of people have started their careers as freelance writers. 

Even though the demand for content writing is boosting, many freelance writers face various challenges in this lucrative field. Working in this fierce competition is not an easy task for a freelance writer, as gaining the trust of valued clients is becoming tougher. The primary reason behind the reluctance of clients to trust freelance writers is the rise of incompetent people entering this field.

Being a freelance writer isn’t an easy job, especially when you are doing it for a living. You might be struggling severely to hold stability in your freelance writing career. It’s a matter of concern, but you should know that you are not alone.

What are the major challenges for a freelance writer? How to overcome the issues haunting the lives of freelance writers? 

If these questions are popping in your mind, then you have landed at the right spot. In this blog, we will delve into the challenges you might be suffering from as a freelance writer. Also, we are going to offer solutions that can help you overcome the issues arising in this field. 

So without any further ado, let’s get started!

Inability to Find Clients

Freelance writers face a heavy burden in the race of finding clients. And when they do, the abundance of work leaves them with no time to scratch even their heads. In times when there’s almost no work available, many freelance writers start getting frustrated and begin to question themselves about changing their earning path. Well, the situation is quite understandable, as most of us are dependent on writing as a sole mean to meet our expenses.

However, the reason behind this suffering isn’t based on luck; there are mistakes involved in the strategies formed by freelance writers that make them suffer from this drought of finding work. Based on the surveys, most freelance writers get work based on the network they have formed. Making contacts and networks couldn’t be an easy task for an individual who has just entered this spectrum. However, if you are looking forward to reaping fruitful results in the long run, it’s time to reshape your strategy. The short-run will always lead you to face times when you might either have no clients for several days or have work in abundance.

The easy way out of this nuisance is by using marketing tactics to generate leads and get recurring clients. Take opportunities as doors, and keep knocking at them until you find the door that helps you meet the desired results. The question you must ask yourself is who needs my services. If you can figure this out, you can make a pitch and turn their attention towards acquiring your expertise. The list of prospects who might be interested in getting work done from you will help you strengthen your network. If you do this job carefully, your freelance writing will flourish, and you will never face the problem of finding clients again.

Receiving Low Rates

Working 6, 8, or even 10 hours might not help you match up the earnings that will keep you from falling below the line. The major challenge that leads freelance writers to face this issue is receiving low rates. Getting more work or clients isn’t the issue; the main problem is that your charges are quite low. The massive supply of writers on freelancing platforms like Upwork gives clients an easy way of finding an individual who can complete their tasks at the lowest rates. In such a situation, people like us start fearing that charging high would keep us away from acquiring the attention of the clients.

So, the question is, how to showcase your worth to the clients? How to charge high without getting worried about freelancers charging low rates?

Well, you need to change your perspective of working as a labor and start thinking of yourself as a business owner offering solutions to clients. The content requirement for all the clients is for marketing purposes. On a big scale, they are going to reap a lot of benefits from the content taken from freelance writers. Now, the thing you need to do is make yourself excel and specialize in a specific industry. You might be wondering that writing for different industries could be more profitable, but it’s not true. It’s not about putting questions on your writing skills. It’s actually about finding the right path for writing and getting what you really desire, i.e., high rates.

Fluctuating Requirements

Freelance writers are involved in getting clients from various industries. One day you’ll be writing a blog for a healthcare site, and the very next day, you could receive an order to write about tech gadgets. No doubt, a writer needs to be versatile and must possess the capability to write about anything. However, the varying requirements can significantly impact their productivity and lead them to face writer’s block. This major issue can bring a downfall to their career in freelancing, as dissatisfaction of clients and their bad reviews on your profile will put a question in the minds of future clients.

If we talk more about this problem, you will agree to the fact that content nature varies between its types. In some cases, your tone needs to be conversational, while in others, you need to be formal and stick to the point. The requirements for blogs and descriptions could vary greatly, and it’s a major challenge faced by freelance writers.

You can overcome this concern by making your profile and gigs specifically to a specific type of content. In this way, you will be able to target the clients that match your expertise. On the platforms where you receive orders, such as Fiverr, you can create gigs with specific keywords that will portray what kind of writing you offer in front of the client. For instance, if you are specialized in writing Amazon descriptions, you can curate your gig according to it. Only the clients willing to get Amazon descriptions will be able to view your gig. It will save you from fluctuating requirements issues and help you get orders that you desire to do.

Lack of Flexibility

Last but not least, the challenge encountered by freelance writers is the lack of flexibility in working hours. Although, it’s considered that freelancers have full authority over the time they put to work. But in the case of writers, it’s not true at all! Working in different time zones and meeting deadlines for foreign clients become a major concern for freelance writers. If they don’t match up with their clients’ work timings and prefer working in their own comfort, then they can easily lose in this race. If you prefer working in the day, you’ll still need to take out time late at night, as that could be the daytime for your potential clients. Therefore, the whole routine of a freelance writer is messed up in the hunt for acquiring clientage and completing orders before deadlines.

You cannot set a specific working timeframe as a freelance writer, as the opportunity can knock at your door anytime. In the freelancing world, first come, first serve is a common phenomenon. If a client has reached you, but you aren’t available at that time, he/she will move towards other options and hire an individual who has responded efficiently.

 This issue can be easily resolved if you work on balancing the time you are giving to work. Look for the time when most clients are online and give pitches to them for getting a better response. Leave the writing task for a time when you can work without interruptions, as it will be more lucrative. Adequate time management will surely help you thrive in the competition among freelance writers.

Solution!

No matter what challenge you are facing as a freelance writer, you can easily overcome it by making necessary changes in your strategy. The assistance of online platforms like Rewrite Guru can aid you a lot in the freelance writing career. While delivering quality content to your clientage, you need to ensure that your text contains no traces of plagiarism. Put the content into the plagiarism checker and if some portions of your text are duplicated unintentionally, there’s no need to fret and write the whole text again, as the paraphrasing tool can help you in this regard. There’s always a way out of every nuisance; if you look into the solutions discussed with the challenges above, you can easily get rid of them without facing any intricacies.