Is freelance writing worth it? 10+ benefits that say yes

I’ve been a freelance content writer at least part-time for the past four years (except for the one year in between when I worked at an agency).

In those four years, I’ve:

• Bought premium hearing aids out of pocket for my child with hearing loss.
• Helped my partner recover from a huge business loss.
• Bought my first real estate property.
• And worked with recognizable brands — like WordPress, BetterUp, and Zapier.

But more than just the money, I believe this is absolutely the best job to have in the world right now. Here’s why:

Prefer video? Watch my story + why I think it’s the best job in the world.

Be there for those you love

Freelance writing lets you stay home with the people that you love.

Whether it’s your kids, your spouse, or your pets, you can be there for them when they need you to be there for them.

It’s a location-independent job and that means that you can travel to exotic places with your kids without worrying about work. Go on a trip to Disneyland, for example. You can still catch up on client work at night.

You could work out of the Starbucks next to home, or you could be traveling the world, living your life in fantastic places, and not have to worry about pulling in an income.

Get paid to learn about interesting stuff

If you’re someone who’s curious, you know that you’re always seeking out new knowledge. Well, there’s never been a better way to learn than being paid to write about something you don’t know anything about.

When you’re a freelance writer, you sometimes get assigned a topic that you’re unfamiliar with. In cases like that, you need to research and learn about it on your own.

Recently, I wrote about a topic called “group think at work”. Before I wrote that piece, groupthink was Spanish to me. But by the time I was done, I’d learned about a very important topic that I could now recognize at play in my home, church, and other places I cared about.

It’s so cool because I have so much knowledge right now. I could easily chat with a lawyer, a doctor, or any professional at all. Because I’ve had to do some research and learn little bits of things in their space. And I’ve been paid to do that too!

Write for companies you can brag about

You get to write for some of the most amazing companies in the world. 

I’ve written for a brand owned by Prince Harry, another brand that Google patronizes (so my words might have well-influenced buying decisions at Google!)

Legit bragging rights when you need to!

Want to learn how I’m able to write for companies that big? I have a free freelance writing course coming soon. In the meantime, subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can watch my free videos on freelance writing and making money online.

Learn about value exchange and how to get what you want more often

An underrated benefit of freelance writing is the opportunity to work one-on-one with Founders.

You get to look into the heads of smart founders and you get to understand how people create awesome products. And it sort of changes the way you look at things.

You become more attuned to the invisible value exchanges that happen between buyers and sellers. You’re seeing how founders differentiate their products in the market after all.

That shows up in your daily conversations. It becomes more likely for you to get something you want because you realize that you have to offer something in exchange, and you can predict what you need to exchange.

Control your income and schedule

You have complete control over your schedule and your income.

You could wake up in the morning and decide “hey I’m not gonna work today”, and there’s no one who’s going to fault you for it. You’re your own boss!

We’re in a period now where tech companies as big as Facebook and Stripe are laying people off. As a freelancer, you don’t wake up in the morning and find that your single income stream (your salary) has been cut from you.

Instead, you’d have two to three clients or more at a time, so even if one client stops working with you, you still have other clients you can lean on.

You also decide how much to price your services. At the beginning of last year, I charged $750 for a blog post, 8 months later, I doubled that rate. You don’t get a 100% raise at your job in one year!

No commute, yay!

If you’ve worked a job where you need to go into the office every day you’ll love this one. 

With freelance writing, you don’t need to drive through crazy traffic, spend a lot of time in the commute, and come back late in the evening every day. 

The commute you have with this work-from-home job is from your bedroom to your desk. You could be wearing your PJs, messy hair, whatever you want, and you still get to do your job and earn money.

So you save money on gas, save time, and sleep in when you want to (barring kids that is 🥲).

Learn to manage your money

An underrated benefit that comes from freelance writing is how it helps you to learn how to manage your money.

And this is true of every freelance business, whether it’s freelance transcription, freelance bookkeeping, or whatever.

You manage your money because there’s no set paycheck coming in every month. And so you know that you need to save up at least three months’ worth of income.

It teaches you to understand the value of spending when you have it rather than spending in advance.

Make the coolest friends ever

If you are someone who values friendships and networking you’re going to make the coolest friends ever.

You’re going to make friends with people who love doing business, and people who are really smart people, who love to break the status quo just like you.

For me, my friends helped me begin to challenge my mindset, the way I think, and the things that I place value on.

Last year, for example, I started to cut back on work even if it affected my income. Because I wanted to be able to do better for my mental health and for family time. All this would not have happened if I didn’t have a community of freelance friends who constantly remind me of what is important.

Get several mentors for free

Instead of being in one company, you get to see the strategies that different companies are using to grow their business.

For example, if I have four clients, that means that I get to work with four different marketing managers.

I get to learn what each one of them knows and this is very important because nobody is a hub of knowledge.

Learn to communicate better

Personally, this has been one of the biggest benefits I’ve experienced as a freelance writer. 

I used to be someone who couldn’t properly articulate my thoughts before I started freelance writing. Today, I get invited to keynote events and have spoken at a TEDx. Check out my YouTube channel about building wealth to see how my speaking skills have improved.

What happens is that when you start writing as a freelancer, you get to work with editors who teach you structure and logical thinking. 

You learn how to clearly articulate your thoughts and so with time, you begin to develop better communication skills.

You’re conscious of the what’s, the why, the how, the who, and the when in your conversations, and understand when you need to bring them so the other person understands what you’re saying.

This reflects in my written communication skills and my speaking skills. I also have a lot more positive relationships now because I’m able to easily communicate how I feel about whatever is going on.

Learn to sell stuff and negotiate better

It teaches you marketing, psychology, and sales, and those are handy skills to have.

When you go out to buy stuff and you negotiate there’s a psychological exchange going on. The skills you pick up marketing for your clients help you understand the triggers that make people buy.

That gives you the upper hand during a negotiation because you can tell when people are trying to trigger the buyer in you.

Final words

This is not an all-inclusive list of the benefits that you get from being a freelance writer. But I hope that these inspire you to get started as a freelance writer.

Freelance writing has opened up my mind to so many possibilities. Learning new things expands the way I think, and that reflects on the quality of my life.

If you enjoyed this article, you’ll love watching videos about freelance writing on my channel. Head over to Activating Wealth on Youtube, subscribe, and chat to me about your questions and I’ll try to answer all of them.

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