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5 Ways To Find Time For Freelance Writing

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freelance writingI recently came across the Side Hustle Nation podcast and went through some of the episodes. I was intrigued to discover that several freelancers were making between four and five figures per month.

Considering the extra time I have during the summer months, I decided to take a look at freelancing. Why turn down a good opportunity when it won’t have a negative affect your business? In fact, it may even help it.

At the same time, extra time doesn’t come easily. Maintaining a blog, podcast, YouTube channel, Udemy courses, and everything else I do for my business, I need to plan my extra time wisely.

If you are a freelance writer or considering to pursue freelancing as a side hustle, these five time-saving methods work wonders.

 

#1: Build A Team Of Writers To Help You Out

For anything that requires a big time commitment, I will always have a team of people help me out.

At this point, my freelance writing isn’t at full throttle. I am just exploring the possibilities and sending out a few pitches. But I’ll build a team once I start doing more freelance writing.

The key to freelance writing is to crank out as much valuable content as you possibly can. The more content you can write, the better.

On some days, it will be easy for you to think of ideas and write lots of content. On other days, however, thinking of new ideas will be a struggle. But that’s just the nature of writing.

On those difficult days when it’s hard to get rolling, you have a few options: the first is to write out a bunch of outlines and use those outlines to form your content.

The second is to have a team of people who provide you with the outlines. You can then choose which outline works best for you.

Another option is to hire a ghostwriter and then edit the ghostwriter’s work to fit your style. I have never done this but know of several people who do.

Some full-time Kindle authors hire ghostwriters to write all of their books. Ghostwriters allow you to produce more content, but all of the content produced in your name must also be written in your voice and style.

Having a team behind you makes any goal you are pursuing easier to accomplish. A team saves you time and keeps you accountable.

 

#2: Find Extra Time In Your Day

Side hustlers are ninjas at finding extra time each day. To find the time to pursue freelancing opportunities, I had to find at least some extra time in my day.

I have extra time in the summer, but there are many people with more time than me who still don’t manage to accomplish their goals.

When school is back in session, my business will continue moving forward, even while my time is sliced and diced.

The point is that no matter what your schedule, you can make freelancing work.

Think about all of the things you do on any given day. If you are like the average American, you’re watching 32 hours of TV every week. I watch the NBA Finals, the World Series (if the Red Sox are in it), the Super Bowl, The Big Bang Theory, and Super Girl.

But now that the NBA finals are over and all of my favorite shows are out of season, I won’t be watching TV for the rest of the summer.

Each time I make adjustments in areas like these, I remove procrastinators from my life. I welcome these adjustments because as a result I enjoy an overall increase in productivity.

But I still find other ways to procrastinate. While I rarely watch more than an hour of television per week (once the NBA finals are over), I spend a lot of time on MLB’s website when the Red Sox are playing.

What activities are sucking up your time? How can you reduce or eliminate those activities? Asking yourself those two questions will allow you to find the extra time needed to pursue freelance writing.

 

#3: Increase Efficiency

The next place to look for extra time is within your business model and your life model.

For example, if something normally takes you 30 minutes to complete, find a way to get that time down to 15 minutes per day.

There was a point when it would take me at least an hour a day to schedule my tweets. That’s why I decided to invest in HootSuite Pro. Now I can schedule all of my tweets (100+ per day) in six clicks or less.

That one investment has saved me from DAYS of scheduling tweets. I must have saved myself over 1,000 hours at this point. 1,000 small crumbs add up to a cake.

Don’t take my word for how many crumbs add up to a cake, but you get the point.

Look for any possible way to increase your efficiency as long as you stay happy and keep the important people in your life happy.

 

#4: Outsource Other Parts Of Your Business

The more efficient you get, the more difficult it is to become more efficient. Six clicks to schedule over 100 tweets is as efficient as efficient gets.

I can’t get that down to five clicks to schedule over 100 tweets. Even if I managed to do so, the extra .1 second I would get each day wouldn’t add up to much (less than a minute per year).

The only option left to save more time was outsourcing that part of my business. Not only do I forgo the six clicks, but I don’t have to go on HootSuite every day.

All of the time it would take for HootSuite to load, for me to enter my log in credentials, and get everything set up to do those six clicks now gets taken off my hands.

HootSuite loads fast and is an easy website to navigate, but now I save an additional 10 minutes each day. That adds up to an extra 153 hours each year!

 

#5: Choose More Profitable Writing Assignments

Part of finding more time is to pursue the opportunities that result in more revenue.

Freelancer A writes three articles that are 1,000 words long and gets paid $50 for each article

Freelancer B writes one article that is 1,000 words long and gets paid $150 for that article.

Let’s assume both of them write about topics they are passionate about.

I’d rather be Freelancer B because you make just as much money writing one article as Freelancer A makes by writing three articles.

You get the same result ($150) but save a lot of time. Some freelance writers make over $500 per article.

As you gain more credibility and submit more pitches, keep an eye out for the opportunities that give you more money for the same work.

 

In Conclusion

Freelance writing is a great side hustle for making quick money. While none of the money is ever truly passive, you can use your freelancing money to invest in your business.

If you turn freelance writing into your business, then you can turn that into a full-time income too.

In the long-run, it’s more beneficial to write a successful book. That way thousands of people pay you for the same piece of content.

In the short-run, you may need the extra money to pay for a consultation session, a valuable tool that will help your business, or you have a strong need for immediate money. That’s where freelance writing comes in.

What are your thoughts on freelance writing? Are you a freelance writer or thinking about getting started? Have any stories for us? Sound off in the comments section below.

4 Ways To Read Twice As Many Books

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stack of books
Without feeling exhausted or hurting your vision.

Ever since I went back to my YouTube channel, I decided to read and review one book each week on my YouTube channel.

So far, I have reviewed books like Thrive by Arianna Huffington, Power Of Broke by Daymond John, and The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz (The Pumpkin Plan review was a while ago so I may read the book again and create a new video of me reviewing the book).

Since I suddenly went from not reading at all to forcing myself to get through at least one book every week, I had to read these books fast. The faster I read these books, the quicker I can review them and do other things for my business.

At the same time, I don’t want to rush the books. Rush the books, and then you don’t remember the insights.

I was about to get started with a speed reading course and do some research about that. However, my brother pointed out that speed reading hurts your eyes big-time.

He read an eye yoga book and told me that the speed reading methods make your eyes function similarly to a lazy eye.

Basic summary: speed reading can hurt your vision. And since I have bad long-range vision to begin with, I don’t need that to get any worse.

So this blog post won’t contain tips about skimming through pages or when to rotate your eyes to the next line of text.

I will be discussing the methods that will help you speed read, but at the same time, not hurt your vision.

 

#1: Read Shorter Books 

Theoretically, you could read a 100 page book twice as fast as a 200 page book. Unless it’s ancient text because that always takes forever to read.

If you read shorter books, you will get them done sooner. I like to read shorter books because they give me a lot of great information, usually cost less, and involve less of my time.

A few caveats though. If there is a particular book you want to read, but it is a lengthy book, then read it. I wasn’t going to stop myself from reading Think and Grow Rich because it’s over 200 pages long.

I have read many books that surpassed 200 pages. I don’t care how many pages Seth Godin’s books are. If it’s sitting on my desk, I am going to read it to completion.

But here’s a caveat in favor of reading shorter books. It’s easy to look at a short book and think something like this:

“This book has less than 100 pages. It must be worthless.”

Well, this blog post would barely be 10 pages if that. The fact that you are reading to this point proves this blog post has been useful in some way.

A blog post is not a book, but don’t think that a small page count indicates a bad book or that a book with a lot of pages must be the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Some short books do a good job at summarizing the same points that lengthy books explain within hundreds of extra pages.

I like to have a mixture of both types of books, but when I am reading, I almost always read the shorter books.

So how do I read the longer books?

 

#2: Listen To Audiobooks

I am currently experimenting with this option, but I think it has a lot of promise.

The idea behind audiobooks is that you can’t read a book all of the time, so you can listen to the audio version instead. There are certain scenarios that prevent us from reading, but audio wouldn’t be a problem.

I run every day, and if you have ever tried to run and read at the same time, you know it’s a disaster. However, what about running and listening to a book at the same time?

People listen to music all of the time while they run. Why can’t I listen to a book every once in a while?

Say what you may about the audiobook audio speed. First off, if you think the audiobook is too slow, there are ways to enhance the speed. The lowest rate I have seen so far for an audiobook is 150 WPM. I run anywhere from 1-2 hours per day.

When I try this out, I’ll hear anywhere from 9,000 to 18,000 words in each run. I can increase the amount of words I hear during each run by speeding up the audio rate.

Not all books are available as audiobooks. That is why when you create your book list, you should look to see which books on your list have audiobook versions and which ones do not before you decide on which hardcovers to buy.

I use Audible to read my audiobooks. You’ll get a free book every month just for signing up!

 

#3: Turn Reading Into A Daily Habit

I’m not Charles Duhigg, but I do take habits seriously. Habits will make or break you in anything that you pursue. If you want to read more books, you have to read every day.

It doesn’t matter how often you read. On some days, I manage to read for over an hour. On other days, I can barely read for more than five minutes.

However, I read every day, and each day adds more momentum to the last.

Once you turn reading books into a daily habit, it gets much easier to read the books. According to science, it takes about 66 days for something to become a habit.

That means the first 66 days are going to be the hardest, but after that, it’s all smooth sailing from there.

 

#4: Only Read Books That You Want To Read

This is the golden rule. Only choose to read the books that you would want to read. If you are forced to read a book that you don’t want to read, then you will find yourself slogging through it (unless the plot or content is really good).

But why take a chance when it comes to your reading (and your time). Only read the books that you know will fascinate you right from the start. Before you buy a book, you should get an idea of whether that book will be the right one for you or not.

You can do that by reading the author’s blog posts, customer reviews, and/or by reading the first few pages of the book’s free preview (assuming it’s on Amazon).

Once you decide on the book you want to read next, the final decision is deciding which format you will read the book in.

 

In Conclusion

Reading is important because it expands your knowledge. If you get new insights from the books that you read, then you are moving closer and closer to the dreams you wish to accomplish.

Before I put myself in a position where I could start calling myself a digital marketing expert, I read the books and blog posts written by the experts (experts are people who don’t have to tell you that they are experts for you to believe in their expertise).

Each time I read a book or blog post, I saw myself as inching closer and closer to my own digital marketing empire. Also my singing empire.

What books do you read? What are your reading habits? How do you read books quickly? Sound off in the comments section below.

 

How To Brain Dump A Bunch Of Content Ideas Instantly

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Brain Dump
This is how you KO writer’s block.

This might sound crazy. But I feel like writer’s block is never going to be a problem for me again.

Just writing that makes me feel like I lost a piece of my mind. Writer’s block is the biggest threat that writers face. It’s the reason writing the 250 word blog post takes too long for some people.

And the people who know how to beat writer’s block? They crank out 1,000+ word blog posts in the same amount of time it takes for everyone to tie their shoelaces.

Okay, I wish it was that easy. Let’s go back to writer’s block.

The main reason writers get hit by the block is because they can’t (at the moment) think of ideas to write about. Writers in the middle of writer’s block find themselves staring at the screen in frustration as they try to think of an idea to write about.

So if you have an abundance of ideas to write about, the theory is that writer’s block won’t be a problem. You get those ideas to write about by conducting a brain dump.

A brain dump is when you spend time simply thinking of as many ideas as you can. The ideal time to start the brain dump is when you still have enough ideas available.

You don’t want to have to think of ideas when you are staring at the screen in frustration. Especially when you’re staring at the screen because you are struggling to think of an idea in the first place.

So you should do the brain dump before you run out of ideas to write about. However, if you do run out of ideas, conduct the brain dump anyway. Without the brain dump, you won’t have content ideas, and you need those to actually write the content.

 

How To Find Ideas On The Web

Do you have any idea how much content has been published on the web? I don’t, but I bet if all seven billion people on the planet teamed up to read all of the web’s content, there would still be pieces of content that we wouldn’t get to.

In short, there are a lot of ideas on the web. When I look for ideas on the web, I find myself going back to three main sources for inspiration that you can use too:

 

#1: YouTube

I watch videos related to my niche, and if something interests me about the video (not just something in the video, but also a particular point mentioned or the video’s title), then that inspires me to write a blog post.

For instance, if I watch a video about boosting productivity, and Pareto’s Principle gets mentioned, maybe I am inspired to write a blog post about Pareto’s Principle.

You can also learn more about doing videos because you will be introduced to different styles of delivering content (talking head videos, PowerPoint presentation, etc).

 

#2: Other Blog In Your Niche

Same thing as looking through other YouTube videos. I usually skim through blog posts so I can read as many of them as possible and retain the good stuff.

Many of the top bloggers make it easy for people to skim through their content. And all blogs should be that way.

Think about it: your readers (and everyone) are very busy people.

You want to provide them with a lot of value in a short period of time so they come back for more.

That’s one of the reasons I use big fonts for specific tips. People who speed read my blog posts still get the important stuff out of them.

But if you have loyally read this blog post word for word, then you’ll be even happier if you stick around 🙂

 

#3: Your Past Blog Posts

Looking back at some of your first blog posts conjures up one thought, and one thought only, “What was I doing back then?!?”

Sure, I occasionally think, “Look how far you’ve come,” but that first thought reigns superior 99% of the time.

This one section where I talk about using your past blog posts for inspiration is longer than most of the blog posts I wrote in the past.

Sometimes I have to look at those blog posts and wonder what I was even trying to convey.

It may be intimidating to look at those blog posts because you don’t want to go back to them. However, you will see certain points that you did not discuss in enough detail.

Maybe a Part Two is necessary? Maybe you write an entirely new blog post based on that point that you didn’t discuss.

And don’t just look at the oldest bits of content on your blog. Look at as much of it as you can until you have enough ideas.

I may look at this very blog post a few months from now, find a point that I believe deserved more attention, and then write a new blog post about it.

The more blog posts you have on your blog, the better this method will be.

 

How To Find Ideas Off The Web

For most of my brain dumps, I find myself on the web looking for ideas. I rarely go out of my house to find the ideas because the exit signs in town don’t say things like, “6 Ways To Get More Blog Readers.”

But I recently stumbled across a new way of thinking that has resulted in me looking for more of my blog post ideas off the web.

I was recently walking from my university class back to high school (the university and high school are on the same campus, so the walk isn’t terrible). However, it was cold that day, and a lot of snow was on the ground.

Most people would be more focused on speed walking and getting inside. For about 80% of that walk, I had that same mindset.

Then, the blogger in my emerged on top. For the rest of my walk, here was my thinking process.

It’s freezing, and people want to go inside to get warm. We go inside so we don’t get frozen. Businesses also get frozen, and people don’t like that either. I know a lot about social media. I should write a blog post called 3 Ways To Fire Up Your Frozen Social Media Strategy.

In less than 15 seconds, I suddenly had an idea without staring at my screen. Then I went in my high school and retreated from the cold weather.

If you go around thinking like a blogger, you can think of numerous blog post ideas just by walking around.

I recently saw a tree (we have all had the experience), but then I thought that trees sprout from the ground. Maybe I write a blog post called 5 Ways To Sprout Your [something]. I could substitute [something] for business, social media marketing, Twitter account, or something else, and then I would have a complete blog post title.

And the holy grail for thinking of more blog post ideas? The shopping mall.

I kid you not. And stores within the shopping malls like Target and Walmart— they’ll provide you with dozens of epic blog post ideas alone.

I do not work for Target, I do not work for Walmart, and I have definitely not gone crazy.

If you want to discover more blog post ideas, go to the closest shopping mall. Look through the isles and pay close attention to the products within those isles.

Looking at those products and thinking like a blogger will suddenly allow you to come up with more blog post ideas.

Maybe you come across a LEGO set. You know that LEGO sets contain pieces that can be built into a car, airplane, house, or something else depending on the LEGO set.

So you think of the blog post idea “7 Ways To Build Your [something].”

Maybe you see a cool t-shirt. You remember that people want to feel cool. In the business world, that would mean being the boss.

So you think of the blog post idea “3 Ways To Feel Like A Boss.”

It’s as simple as that. If you spend enough time in the right stores, you could have over 100 blog post ideas by the end of the day.

Now do you understand why I think writer’s block will no longer be a problem for me (or you)?

The Brain Dump Itself

When you brain dump, you are only brain dumping. You are not writing any new content or surfing the web on your smartphone.

If other activities get in the way of the brain dump, then the brain dump loses its potency.

So when you decide to conduct your brain dump, nothing else gets in the way. You only begin to write the content once you have written enough ideas down.

 

In Conclusion

Brain dumping is the best way to come across various ideas that you can turn into blog posts. It is such an important process that nothing else can stand in its way.

There are plenty of places to go to conduct a brain dump. Lately, I have been walking/running and thinking like a blogger.

I see a long road in front of me. The road to success is a long one. Just like that, I have a blog post idea.

The more comfortable you get with that type of thinking, the easier it will become to think of blog posts in your every day life.

Once you have an arsenal of ideas in front of you, then it’s just a matter of writing the content.

What tips do you have for thinking of more blog post ideas? Which of these tips was your favorite? Sound off in the comments section below.

When To Take A Break From Blogging

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Blogging break

At some point this year, I took a month off from writing blog posts. My blog still got updated three times each week, and I responded to blog comments and tweets. Basically, it was an invisible, unnoticed absence that did not require me to sacrifice my consistency.

I pulled it off by scheduling numerous blog posts in advance because of my policy of always having one month’s worth of blog posts scheduled in advance. Having this many blog posts scheduled allows me to focus more of my time on writing the content and less time stressing about the deadline. I had over two months to write this blog post, but I still wrote it well before the deadline. If I wrote this blog post on the day before the deadline, I would have stressed, and the quality of my work would have suffered. When I take a break from writing blog posts, I make sure it is possible without the risk of me losing my audience or publishing subpar content.

 

Why I Took My 1 Month Break

The break I took from blogging was used to reassess my strategy and see what I could do differently to reach more people and generate more revenue. Part of the strategy was to take Udemy seriously again. After the first two months of creating my Udemy account, I created two training courses that did well. For some odd reason, I stopped creating training courses and didn’t update my old ones, and I lost a lot of ground.

Now, I update my training courses often, and I have plans for several training courses. I have created a course about productivity and several about social media success. I also devised a plan for publishing books in a more effective manner to get more sales and publish them in bulk. I will publish several books by the end of the year, and I have already published a couple of books in 2015.

I did my research in the same manner I started my research a few years ago to discover how I could get more Twitter followers. I read dozens of articles about getting more Udemy sales and even took several courses where successful Udemy instructors discussed how they got more sales.

Basically, my one month break was not one of those breaks where I avoided my computer and stopped working like an entrepreneur. I put in more work during this month than I put in most of the previous months. This one month break helped me catapult forward when I continued writing blog posts and started to take Udemy seriously again.

 

Was It A Complete Break?

I did not write a blog post for an entire month, but that doesn’t mean I did nothing for my blog. I outlined some of the blog posts that I knew I would write after the month was over. I wrote a list of key points I would write about. That way, I gave myself a foundation for when I wrote blog posts again. Creating an outline for a blog post takes as little as five minutes, but it saves you from a lot of thinking while you are writing the actual blog post.

It takes me anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to write a blog post, so only taking five minutes to create an outline saved me a massive amount of time. I used this extra time to do my research.

 

Would I Ever Take A Break Just For Fun?

I consider writing blog posts a fun activity, so I wouldn’t take a break just for the fun of it. The only two reasons I would take a break form blogging would be if I need to do extensive research on something or if I am on a vacation. When I am on a two week vacation, I like to embrace the vacation, and my productivity dips for obvious reasons. I can’t do any videos since I don’t bring the massive desktop with me (I don’t know the exact dimensions, but it is bigger than my suitcase, and it is fragile) and my microphone equipment is at home. That’s okay, and I don’t mind. I bring my Mac Book Pro with me to interact with people on social media, but that’s just about it. If I am at my house, then I am always doing something for my business.

 

You Never Know When You Need The Break

Some events may pop up, and you may not feel like writing blog posts for an extended period of time. It happens, but you have to be ready. Scheduling blog posts for at least one month in advance will allow you to take those unexpected breaks without sacrificing the consistency of your blogging. You may burn out one day and want to take the week off. Those small burn outs occasionally happen. Having blog posts scheduled in advance will allow you to take a break during the small burn outs without you worrying about your blog getting updated.

 

In Conclusion

There comes a point when writer’s block takes the joy out of blogging and a time when we must shift our attention to other things. We must be prepared at any moment to not write blog posts for an extended period of time. That is why I schedule numerous blog posts in advance. As I mentioned before, I always have over one month’s worth of blog posts scheduled. However, I also have a bunch of blog posts that I already wrote but did not schedule. In some cases, I could have as much as three month’s worth of blog posts scheduled at one time.

Having the blog posts scheduled in advance allows you to take a break without sacrificing the consistency of publishing a certain number of blog posts every week. Many dedicated bloggers may view taking a break from writing blog posts as sacrificing the commitment needed to become a successful blogger. However, if you write blog post outlines and make the transition back to a blogger (which is easy if you write blog posts often), then that won’t be a problem for you.

In some cases, the break you take from blogging can be more beneficial than if you were to continue blogging. When I did research to learn more about Udemy, I learned an entirely new method to generate revenue, and now Udemy is emerging as my top revenue source. I learned valuable lessons from taking the small break that I would not have learned if I was blogging at my rapid pace. Sometimes, especially in our busy world, a break every once in a while can be a good thing. With automation, you can take a break, and your audience still gets the content as if you never left.

Your Blog Is A Book

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I have the word count for all of my blog posts. Instead of blogging for free, I could have turned all of this content into a 200 page paperback book. People wouldn’t listen as much.

The secret to writing a book is that it doesn’t have a price tag. It doesn’t have to be a paperback or a digital copy being sold as an eBook. The truth is your blog is your own book. What’s even better is that your blog is a book that never ends, and it’s free for everyone.

You’re the author, and you’re in charge!

Why Writing Will Survive Past The 21st Century

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There are many changes happening all around us. Typing is one of them, but it won’t eliminate the need for writing. For most people, it takes less time to type a sentence than it takes to actually write one. Typing is an easier process which allows more content to be added to a blog post or article in a faster amount of time.
However, it’s easier to make errors while typing. We’ve all had that moment when we type too fast, spell something wrong, and then hit the backspace button and start over again.

Writing is different. When you write, it takes more time, but you’re almost always going to spell the words correctly if you write them. After many years of practice, writing has become natural for us. Writing allows us to think of more ideas as well. In addition to that, writing your goals is much different from typing them into a document where they risk getting lost later.

There are many things that are going to change in the next couple of years. However, writing will remain the way it is even in the 22nd century. Some old traits never go away, but not all of them are worth keeping. Writing (with the pen and paper), however, is worth keeping.