Guest Post by: Danielle McGaw
If you have thought about working for yourself with a freelance writing business you have likely already been wondering if you have everything you need to get started. There are not a lot of things that are required but there are some essentials you should make sure to have.
A freelance writing business can be very profitable if you have some talent as a writer and are willing to put in the work that is necessary. Some people think that being a freelance writer is easy but the truth is that freelance writers spend as much time working at getting clients as they do actually writing. But before you can even think about getting down to the business of writing you need to know what you need to purchase and what you already have for your freelance writing business.
Essentials
The first thing that you need to have is a computer. If you have a computer in the house that is used by everyone else you might want to consider purchasing your own computer that is dedicated to your freelance writing business. If you have a new computer, there will be less chances of it having problems and needing to spend time getting repaired. Also, you’ll never have to fight to get access to the computer in order to get your work done.
The only other thing that I consider essential to running a freelance writing business is a place to work. Sure, one of the great things about freelance writing is that you can really work from anywhere (if you have a laptop) but you should still have a dedicated place where you can keep all of your things and where you can go when you really need to get down to business. I do understand that not everyone has an extra room, but your dedicated place does not have to be your own room. You could have it in a spare bedroom, a corner of the living room, or even the kitchen. The key thing is to let everyone else in the house understand that it is your office during specific hours. I even met one writer online who had her “office” in the master bathroom!
Non-essentials
There are a lot of other things that can benefit your freelance writing business but are not necessarily essential. One of the things that I have found valuable is a portable hard drive. Not just a little memory stick but a hard drive with lots of space so that you can back up your computer files on a regular basis. You never know when computers are going to decide to stop working and if you don’t have your material backed up you could be in big trouble!
A fax machine/printer/copier/scanner combination can come in very handy as well. It is great to have one in your home when you have a client that sends you a contract and asks you to sign in and fax it back or scan it back within the hour. If they need it in a short time frame you can’t exactly run to the nearest library to do it. Even if you do have time, it can be inconvenient and time consuming to have to go to another location every time you need to use a fax machine, printer, copier, or scanner.
Notebooks, pens, pencils, paper clips – all these little things aren’t really necessary but they can be convenient. Personally, when I do research, I like to write it down. I don’t like to have to type it into a document. And all those other little stationary supplies – it’s just easier to have them than not to.
A dictionary and a thesaurus are good to have, as well. There are online versions of these, too, but I find that the paper ones are much more comprehensive.
There may be other things that you find are great to have but really, if you want to get a freelance writing business started right away; you really do not need a lot of things. Your computer can substitute for many other things (like paper and pens) and it is the most important tool you will need.
Danielle McGaw is a freelance writer with 8 years of experience writing online. She has just launched her first ebook, Freelance Writing Tips for New Writers and it can be found in the Kindle Bookstore. If you don’t have a Kindle ereader, contact her on Facebook and ask about other format options.
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Great list of essentials and non-essentials. I too believe that a lot of people assume that freelance writing is easy, especially since I see it thrown out as an easy way to start working from home all the time, but in reality, that is far from the truth. It takes a lot of hard work, dedication and commitment in order for a freelance writing business to succeed!
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Thanks Katie. It does take a lot of hard work!
Don’t forget about having a dependable and fast Internet connection! I’m always online, even when writing fiction, so as to check facts, word spellings, grammar, etc. As you continue with your freelance writing, I would also recommend other work items such as a professional website, LinkedIn and/or Contently account and business cards.
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I agree that those things can be helpful but you can get started without them.
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It’s important to consider the software you use to write. We often assume that everyone has a copy of Microsoft Office with Word and Publisher. But there are alternatives for the budget-conscious. OpenOffice is a free alternative to Microsoft Office that includes a word processor and drawing tool. OpenOffice can read Microsoft files, although the transition is not always effortless.
Related to software selection is the issue of the kind of writer you want to be. That decision impacts if you’ll be dealing strictly with words, or with pictures and graphics as well. If you need to work with pictures, again there are free alternatives to the well-known Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. GIMP is a free, open-source alternative to Photoshop; Inkscape is a similar alternative to Illustrator. Online tutorials abound for these programs; I could dedicate a blog post to discussing training options in detail. The important point here is that it’s important to decide what type of writer you are going to be, then find productivity tools that help you be that kind of writer without breaking your budget.
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Software can be helpful but it isn’t really an essential. You just need something to write with. Word, OpenOffice, Google Documents. It does matter. Just write. You can certainly invest in other software if you’re going to specialize but if you’re just getting started, just get those words on the page and start somewhere.
Danielle McGaw recently posted..Freelance Writing Tips for New Writers Release