Get Started in Your Own Business

Get Paid to Write

I am constantly fielding the question, "How can I get paid to write." There is no one answer to this, but maybe a story that happened to me yesterday will help people understand.

I was asked to write brief 'blurbs', about 150 words for a website. Sort of a glossary of tips. I wrote excellent little tips that offered solid advice, were in the website's vernacular, and in a simple grammar style.

The client hedged and balked at paying. They were clearly upset. After two months, I sent this person a query as to the problem. I went through a two hour writing lesson with them, and now things are fine.

This person claimed that my work was full of spelling and grammar errors. Can you see what she thought was spelling and grammar errors in this post?

1. She didn't know what hedged or balked means because she comes from a culture that doesn't use them - so assumed they were spelling mistakes.

2. She was not familiar with using clauses and phrases, so thought I was making a run on sentence. She saw the present tense (see) in a sentence with a past tense (was) and thought that was a grammar mistake.
Freelance Writing

Now - to qualify this, she is university educated, a full time editor, with good credentials. I could have pulled out grammar books and told her curtly to 'crack a dictionary,' but that is not how to get paid.

If you want to get paid to write, then you must know grammar inside out. If not, the only people who will pay you are people who communicate exactly like you do. This is a very limited writing style.

I spent two hours yesterday, learned a new writing style, which did have some merit. Now, I can write for a broader audience.
WAHM

Freelance writers who are making less than $1000 a month, still have the time to study grammar. There are 18 styles of grammer in the USA alone. Most countries have their own style. There are two or three web writing styles emerging. One is born in blogging.

A smart freelance writer can read a post for a bid, a client's email, or the content on their website and pick out the grammar styles, vocabulary use, and writing style. Then, when they bid for the job, or write for the client, they can mimic it.

This is an often overlooked aspect of freelance writing.
Work at Home

Work at home is difficult. Everyone wants to jump in and start making money right away. You wouldn't believe how many people say to me, 'can you recommend a work at home job that will make me $400 a week.' This is unrealistic. All businesses have a growing period. All career people need to constantly upgrade and hone their skills. Anyone who wants to be seen as a professional needs to become 'better than average' - even work at home freelance writers.