Self Discipline and Freelance Writing: Guest Post

Launching your career as a freelance writer can be a difficult endeavor, and many who venture down the path of the freelancer soon find themselves overwhelmed.  There are deadlines to meet, content to produce, and clients to satisfy.  All romantic notions aside, freelancing and working from home is a job—and it needs to be treated as such.  Here are a few self-discipline guidelines to apply to your life if you’ve made the move from the office to the home office. 

Have a dedicated space for your work.  This is probably the most important part of working from home.  You need to have a dedicated space to work from where you can spread out your notes and other materials, free of distractions.  Hopefully, you have a dedicated home office or spare room.  You should not try to work in an area where you will be disturbed often.  Even though you’re at home, you’re still working.

Maintain business hours.  For the night owls, you can certainly work whenever is best for you, but the thing is you really need to be available for clients throughout the day.  After all, as a freelancer you are running a business.  If you want your business to be successful, you must think about keeping a regular schedule to answer emails, find new clients, and market yourself in addition to your regular workload.

Set realistic goals.  It is very easy as a freelancer to bite off more than you can chew.  If you are fortunate enough to have a lot of work coming your way, set up long term projects so that you manage your time wisely and don’t get burned out before reaching the finish line.  Setting goals for yourself can help you feel a regular sense of accomplishment, which is very motivating indeed.

Build your portfolio.  Keeping track of your publications and clients, as well as having a fully functional online portfolio can really help you to attract a bigger client base.  Work on adding to and updating your portfolio regularly to help generate more business and work for yourself.

Keep learning.  Whether you need to learn a new format or want to improve your vocabulary, lifelong learning is the cornerstone of all successful business people.  You will constantly need to learn new things and be able to change and adapt to meet market demands.  Make lifelong learning a habit that you don’t give up. 

About the Author

This post was contributed by Kelly Kilpatrick, who writes on the subject of masters of science in marketing. She invites your feedback at kellykilpatrick24 at gmail dot com