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e1fac931
Community Member

Trying to be patient

As a full-time mobile psychiatric emergency social worker and author of an award-winning and best-selling book, I joined the freelancing world one week ago. My side gig is editing. I'm grateful for receiving the Rising Talent badge already but haven't gotten any contract offer yet. How long does it usually take for new freelancers to get business? 

7 REPLIES 7
martina_plaschka
Community Member


Lynn N wrote:

As a full-time mobile psychiatric emergency social worker and author of an award-winning and best-selling book, I joined the freelancing world one week ago. My side gig is editing. I'm grateful for receiving the Rising Talent badge already but haven't gotten any contract offer yet. How long does it usually take for new freelancers to get business? 


A day, a week, a month, a year, never. In short, there is no typical. All you can do is stand out, convince a potential client through your proposal and profile that you are the best person for the job, and keep applying. 

Edit: you talk ALOT about yourself, maybe tone that down a bit, and put more focus on the services you provide to a paying client.  

Thank you! I will edit my profile immediately. 

martina_plaschka
Community Member


Lynn N wrote:

As a full-time mobile psychiatric emergency social worker and author of an award-winning and best-selling book, I joined the freelancing world one week ago. My side gig is editing. I'm grateful for receiving the Rising Talent badge already but haven't gotten any contract offer yet. How long does it usually take for new freelancers to get business? 


Another thing: technically, you may offer to work for free, but a client is never allowed to ask for free work. But it is considered unprofessional to offer it, so take that wording out. You never work for free, full stop. A client may want to see a test, but that should always be a paid test. 

Low rates and free work are not the way to your first job. Free work, aside from not earning money, will not result in feedback and a work history on your profile, plus we never want to teach cheap clients to expect it. 

Thank you!


Lynn N wrote:
Thank you!

You should also remove the website address from your porfolio item since it has your contact info and that's against TOS. 

 

Why are you selling services as an editor? I see a lot of grammatical errors in your writing, but with  your subject matter expertise, I would imagine you'd find a lot more traction as a content writer in the medical/health/wellness genre. I think you'd do a lot better as a content writer with your subject matter expertise. Just a suggestion. 


Amanda L wrote:

Lynn N wrote:
Thank you!

You should also remove the website address from your porfolio item since it has your contact info and that's against TOS. 

 

Why are you selling services as an editor? I see a lot of grammatical errors in your writing, but with  your subject matter expertise, I would imagine you'd find a lot more traction as a content writer in the medical/health/wellness genre. I think you'd do a lot better as a content writer with your subject matter expertise. Just a suggestion. 


Hi Lynn,

I agree with Amanda's suggestion--not only because I work as an editor and don't really want more competition in an oversubscribed sector (I don't think we have the smiling emoji with the horns on this forum). 

It seems like you might be overlooking skills and expertise that might more solidly land in your wheelhouse. Writing and editing are closely related discplines, but good writers don't always make good editors and vice versa. I know people who do both, but it takes a particular kind of gear shift between projects.  

In terms of portfolio items, something I would suggest is to write a short essay that relates to a topic in your book to post on a platform like Medium  (I suggest getting someone to edit it because it's hard to read your own writing objectively). Then you could use the article as a portfolio item, and it might also attract interest to your book.

Just some grist for the mill.  

Thank you! 

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