What Freelance Writing…And Working at Home…Means to Me

As I write this hub, I am celebrating my first year as a freelance writer. I started out in an academic site and went on to write in eLance.com. Up to this day, I am still active in both sites and am trying my hand with a third freelance site. I checked my stats and it seemed that I have written over 72 articles / write – ups already! Or an average of 6 articles a month.

I know, I know, 6 articles a month isn’t quite a big deal. I mean, I know there are lots of freelance writers writing 6 articles (or more) a day! But considering I have a day job and I’m only doing this at night or during the week-end, 6 a month is good enough for me.

How Did I Start?

My desire to look for a part-time writing job online started last year, November 2008. Well, actually, I didn’t start out looking for an online writing job. I just wanted to have a part-time job online, period. I started out with taking online surveys. Yup, those online surveys where you will earn cents from answering whole surveys until you reach a certain amount that will qualify you for pay-out. Or if there’s no earnings, gift certificates or other incentives.

So, I became a member of these online survey sites. But I soon lost interest on them. For one, there are a lot of survey sites who only accept residents from the U. S., U. K. and Canada. As a result, I only got to sign up in a few sites. For another, the earnings are so small I don’t even know when I will get my first pay-out. Still another, even if I got in the survey site, sometimes my profile will still not qualify me to take a survey! After realizing all these, I thought enough is enough. Time to look for more online jobs.

Stumbling Upon Online Writing

I might be wrong but I think the first time I got in the academic site is when I clicked on an Adsense ad for that site. Needless to say, I applied, submitted a sample write-up, got accepted then started applying for writing projects. Within six months, I was already a premium writer.

After four months in that online academic site, I was ready to look for more. That was when I ‘stumbled’ upon eLance.com. Although the number of orders I’ve received from eLance is not as many as that in the other site, I’ve been exposed to more clients and more projects.

What Do I Write

Okay, I’m not a creative writer. I’m not even cut out to write ads or marketing fillers or stuff. I write mostly stuff that I know about – accounting stuff. You want me to write about IFRS, the U. S. GAAP, financial statements, disclosures, simple financial analysis, management, business, auditing or answer accounting questions? I’m your man (I mean girl). I think I’ve researched, read and written about accounting and auditing standards more than I’ve ever done so in my whole working experience.

Other things I wrote were about strategies for teaching, a short look at the current crisis and fraud. Right now, I’m trying my hand at blogging (for another blogger, not mine) about the life in an auditing firm in another country (uh, I have the right experience, just not in the right place). I still have a number of blogs to go but it’s kind of exciting when I receive comments from other people who want to learn more about being an (licensed) accountant.

Other Stuff

Okay, I did say I’ve been exposed to more stuff in eLance.com. By more stuff I mean I’ve tried my hand at researching / data entry. The topics? Trivia facts (I think about 600) of some well-known sites in the world and unique wedding ideas (400 ideas!). Jeez, can you imagine how many hours it took for me to finish those all by myself? But it was really fun and interesting. It got me over my (short) boredom in writing academic reports.

Earnings

Hmmmm, do I need to reveal how much? I would say around $1,500 to $2,000 for the last 12 months. If I live in the U. S., the pay may not be much. But I live in a country where the exchange rate is much higher so that amount is nothing to scoff about here in my country. Plus, it’s all part-time earnings! So all I can say is, not bad!

The Future

So what do I see for my future in online writing? More projects, more clients, more earnings and more things to learn. Right now, I’m in HubPages and if all goes well, I’m hoping to reach the first pay-out by end of this year (keeping my fingers crossed, really). Another of my goals is to have my own blog in the (near) future. I just hope I get enough strength to boost everything up. Here’s hoping for the best! Thanks for reading this far and wish me luck!