3 Misconceptions That Discouraged Me From Becoming A Freelance Writer (5-minute read)

It’s been two months since I started my freelance side gig and I’ve made over $3500 from multiple sources of income. I still cannot believe I’m doing this because not that long ago, I didn’t want to be a freelance writer. 

I never thought I would be a freelance writer

When I first started blogging in 2017, I had no idea where it was going to lead me. I was a new mom who was working her 9–5 and trying to find some balance at home. Writing became my source of reason and means of therapy.

Jump forward 3 years later and I’m at home on my second maternity leave, changing my son’s poopy diapers. I knew I was going back to my 9–5 but I also knew I didn’t want to do that forever. I wanted to figure out how to turn this hobby into a dream career.

So I started reading some books that my sister bought me years ago about how to make money from writing. She thought it would help me pursue my passion. They had been collecting dust and I decided to peruse one on a whim called, “The Well-Fed Writer: Financial Self-Sufficiency As a Commercial Freelancer in Six Months or Less” by Peter Bowerman

To be honest, I haven’t finished the book nor do I remember everything that I read. But despite not consuming it from cover to cover, the book gave me 3 of the most enlightening insights about myself. I didn’t consider freelance writing because of my ego, ignorance and arrogance. I was getting in my way. Here are 3 misconceptions that discouraged me from becoming a freelance writer.

First, I thought freelancers only made money by writing about things they didn’t care about

I didn’t want to write what I didn’t want to write. I wanted to stick to what I knew and topics I thought were interesting and cared about. I thought freelance writing meant I had to write about pet food, automotive parts, paint thinner, semiconductors, basically anything that is thrown at you. You know, because beggars can’t be choosers right? Writers are a dime a dozen.

Obviously, I was wrong. I didn’t read anything about what freelancers do and merely assumed that they are forced to write about things they don’t care about just to make ends meet. But mostly, I underestimated how many things I would actually be interested in writing about. 

So as I continued reading the book and other articles about what freelancers do, my mind was blown, completely surprised. I can write what I want to write because there are actually a lot of topics that I want to write about and are interested in. But the most important piece is that there are a lot of companies, small businesses and organizations that want me to cover the same things.

When I went through the list of topics that people want to pay writers to write about, I resonated with over 80% of them. Here’s a list of some of the topics:

Personal Finance and Money

Culture, Race, Equality, Feminism, Women Empowerment, Asian Culture, Language

Lifestyle, Relationships, Family, Parenting, Motherhood and Pregnancy

Food, Cooking, Nutrition, Gardening

Health and Fitness, Mental health, Self-care

Personal development, Self-improvement, Mindfulness, Philosophy

Writing, Content Creation, Creativity, Film and Television

Freelancing, Leadership, Business, Remote Work, Marketing

Healthcare, Society, Psychology, Science, Neuroscience, Education

And the list goes on…

Two months into my freelance writing career, I have only written about topics I cared about.

Next, I thought my work would be wordsmithed like crazy

I thought freelance writers meant you wrote a bunch of stuff, sent it to some black hole and then you received your money. The misconception that I believed was that whatever the final product you were helping to create would be edited and polished to a point where you can’t even see your original idea anymore. So why bother? Might as well stay at my 9–5 right?

I thought freelance writers didn’t have control over how they wrote, that there would be no freedom to be creative since whatever you’re writing won’t be left as is. I wanted autonomy, ownership of my words, story, style, language and everything in between. 

But obviously, I was wrong.

Here’s the thing: when you’re a freelance writer, you’re charging a client by the hour or by the amount of work you’re doing for them. 

Why would a client want to rewrite, do major edits or completely alter your words if that’s what they’re paying you for?

The more edits they do, the less time they have to do what they should be doing. They’re giving you money to free up their time and energy so they can focus on the parts of the business that require their attention. They don’t want to redo what they’re paying you for. And if they’re redoing a bunch of stuff, they either have control issues or your work isn’t up to snuff.

With the freelance work that I have done so far, I would say over 90% of my original words are kept and the edits are minor by the time it’s finalized. It’s incredibly fulfilling to see my exact words published for a client. It helps validate that I am as good as I think I am. 

Lastly, I thought I wanted my name on everything.

I honestly thought I wanted to take credit for everything I wrote. I thought I wanted to be this super famous writer who was a household name. But as I self-reflected on who I am, what my values, beliefs and priorities are about, I actually don’t care too much about the attention nor do I want my name on everything I write.

I want fortune but not too much fame. I don’t mind being the words behind someone else’s face if it means allowing the person or business to shine. 

Freelance writing doesn’t only mean writing for other people. From major publications, websites, writing platforms (Medium, Vocal, Popsugar etc), blogs, magazines to books, there are a ton of opportunities to put your name out there and get paid (with credit) for writing.

In my freelance writing journey so far, I have a good balance of writing with my name on it and writing that doesn’t. 

I don’t assume that it’s going to be like this forever.

I’m only two months into this and it’s still a side gig while I’m working my 9–5. As a realist, I know and expect there will be ebbs and flows to the work I do. 

Once I’m a full-time freelance writer, there may be times I’m writing about stuff I’m not super passionate about. There may be times where most of my original words are obliterated from what’s actually published. There may be times everything I’m working on at the moment won’t give me credit.

However, at the end of the day, what I care about is finding meaningful work and getting paid to do it. 

So readers and fellow writers, did you jump into freelancing right away? Or did you have some misconceptions?