This month our Featured Freelancer is Wendy Hughes. I had the great pleasure to learn about what her life as a freelancer is like on a daily basis and some great tips for aspiring freelancers.
What originally peaked your interest in Freelance writing?
I’d been working in marketing and communications for many years, and once my children were born I wanted to find part-time work which I could fit around the family, but which also allowed me to use my skills and experience, as well as giving me a sense of fulfillment.
It was a bit of a big task! But the freelancing world has been great as it’s enabled me to build the right balance for me, my career, and my family.
I’ve been told that there is no such thing as a typical day for a freelancer. Would you agree with that and if not, what is a typical day for you? What different kinds of work have you done since you started as a freelancer?
One of the things I love about being a freelancer is the variety of work. It’s amazing to be working with so many different clients every week.
A typical day for me at the moment includes copywriting for a new website which I’m helping an Australian tourism business with, then a bit of maintenance and analysis for a client’s Google Adwords account, followed by some social media posts for a restaurant and a tour company who I regularly work with. I’m also working on developing a marketing plan for the launch of a new fashion outlet.
Do you currently look for new clients or do you have a solid base of work? If you are looking for new clients, what tools do you use to locate new clients?
Right now I have a solid base of work, but I always keep an eye and ear out for interesting projects as well. A lot of my new work comes from pre-existing business contacts and word of mouth, but I also use freelancing websites such as freelancer.com and Elance.
I’ve heard many freelancers talk about how hard it can be to find work. What are some other issues that you have encountered working as a freelance writer?
My specializations are marketing and writing, and I am very fortunate to have several long-term marketing contracts at the moment for clients who I really enjoy working with.
I know starting out as a freelancer can be pretty rough due to lack of work. Was there ever a point when work became sparse for you? If so, how did you make ends meet?
Starting out was quite difficult at times, but it definitely gets easier as time goes on and you start to build a reputation. Perseverance is a great virtue!
Having 14 years of solid industry experience before I started freelancing helped enormously, as did studying for professional marketing qualifications. This meant I had developed all the right skills to get me started.
What would you say your greatest success has been as a freelance writer?
I mentioned before that the reason I became interested in freelancing was my goal of balancing a fulfilling family and professional life. As my husband often tells me, I want to “have my cake and eat it too”! I feel very fortunate that I’ve been able to achieve this.
Do you have any tips for people who are looking to get into freelance writing, as well as people who have worked as a freelancer for years?
I’ve found that with any type of work, you get out what you put in.
I always choose which projects I bid on very carefully, so that I know my skills match what is needed and I make sure it’s a company or product which I will feel very passionate about and want to be involved in. If you target your projects carefully you’ll always do a great job for your clients – and you’ll always feel very fulfilled in your work.
Check out the links below to learn more about Wendy Hughes.
photo credit: Raoul Luoar
Freelancing is my life. It's what I know, it's what I'm good at, and I can't imagine doing anything else. You can call me "Freddie the Freelancer"… because I'd prefer not to use my real name for reasons that I'll tell you about in a moment.
