|
Interview with a Writer of Online Content
|
Are you a strong writer who enjoys professional flexibility and the option to work from home? In this interview, a freelance internet writer shares her experience making a living writing for online websites and retailers. She warns of some career pitfalls such as clients who don't pay, but ultimately shares only enthusiasm for the field that has embraced her, and helped her to make a comfortable living on her own schedule.
Q: What is your job title and what industry do you work in? How many years of experience do you have in this field? How would you describe yourself using only three adjectives?
A: I am a freelance internet article writer. People from all over the world come to people like me mostly for website or blog content. I’ve been at this for a little over a year now and it’s really been fantastic. For somebody who is spontaneous, creative, and flexible, the job fits like a glove.
Q: What’s your ethnicity and gender? How has it hurt or helped you? If you ever experienced discrimination, how have you responded and what worked best?
A: I am Filipino woman. I don’t know how it is for other people of my profession but I personally find that my gender is of no consequence to me, the electronic nature of the profession sort of evens out the playing field for everybody. Thankfully though, I have never experienced any sort of discrimination either for my gender nor my race.
Q: How would you describe what you do? What does your work entail? Are there any common misunderstandings you want to correct about what you do?
A: As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a freelance article writer. I’ve been asked to write about everything from dog food to superoxide dismutase. One of the reasons why I love my job so much is that I get to choose how, where and when I work. My clients basically give me a topic to write about, instructions on how to go about it and a deadline.
Q: On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate your job satisfaction? What might need to change about your job to unleash your full enthusiasm?
A: To tell you the truth, I absolutely love what I do. I can’t believe I didn’t think about doing it sooner. Writing is something I feel I am naturally good at and since some of the articles I need to write require a little research, this job actually feeds my natural curiosity. The pay though is a little unstable. It’s not bad, it’s pretty good in fact especially as you gain more clients and get better at what you do, but the pay depends on the number of articles you write and are able to accomplish. Not being able to predict the amount of income coming in at the end of the end might pose as a problem to others. So I’d rate my job satisfaction to be 8.5.
Q: If this job moves your heart – how so? Ever feel like you found your calling or sweet spot in life? If not, what might do it for you?
A:I wouldn’t say that it moves my heart, only Hallmark movies do that for me, and I don’t have any idea if this is my calling but I’m doing it now and I’m loving it and that’s enough for me right now.
Q: How did you get started in this line of work? If you could go back and do it differently, what would you change?
A: About a year and a half ago I decided I didn’t want to go to medical school anymore because I realized I was itching to work and earn money. For about 3 months I went to interviews for all sorts of jobs, Sales Management trainee, Medical Representative, Front Desk, Make-up artist, Flight Attendant, I even considered becoming a Casino dealer. Some just flat out declined, some have still not contacted me, and I didn’t like the jobs that I did get. So while waiting for better opportunities to come along I decided to try out freelance writing. A friend had suggested it to me and I tried it out. I didn’t care much for it at first, but as job offers started picking up I began to really enjoy it. Writing about it now I realize how many stop-overs I took before getting to where I am, but I enjoyed them and they honestly make for great stories to tell.
Q: What did you learn the hard way in this job and what happened specifically that led up to this lesson?
A: The past year has been all smooth sailing for me, however I’ve heard about clients who don’t pay, or job postings that make you write articles as samples and then you end up not getting paid for anything, yet they publish your sample. Luckily, I did all my research beforehand and got useful tips to avoid sticky situations like that. The website where I get most of my jobs does a good job at keeping us safe and informed so that helped a lot too.
Q: What is the single most important thing you have learned outside of school about the working world?
A: That school gives you knowledge, which is great, but they don’t teach you how to USE this knowledge to your advantage. Seventeen years of formal schooling and all I get are miscellaneous information I don’t know how to use. Seventeen years of formal schooling and there are still interview questions I can’t answer adequately. Thankfully, what I couldn’t possibly have learned from school I did eventually learn in the so called “real world”. Our education never really does stop, doesn’t it?
Q: What’s the strangest thing that ever happened to you in this job?
A: I got a job offer to write comments about pornographic videos. Which made me laugh, but I ultimately had to decline it because I work in coffee shops sometimes when the connection in the building is down and I just couldn’t image how people sitting behind me would react if I just up and opened a porn site at Starbucks.
Q: Why do you get up and go to work each day? Can you give an example of something that really made you feel good or proud?
A: I take pride in doing my work well, especially when a client is satisfied with the work I do. Some of my regular clients come to me with topics they feel are extra hard to write about or require intensive research, and it flatters me that they feel that they can trust me to do the job.
Q: What kind of challenges do you handle and what makes you want to just quit?
A: I’ve had only one difficult client so far and it wasn’t really that bad. He wouldn’t give me clear instructions about what he wanted, but was very nitpicky on the article I wrote for him. After the ordeal was done, I simply just declined when he offered me another job.
Q: How stressful is your job? Are you able to maintain a comfortable or healthy work-life balance? How?
A: One of the greatest things about my job is that you have to be a really neurotic and high strung person to ever consider this line of work as stressful. Unless you take on a load of a hundred articles today which are all due tomorrow, then you have absolutely no reason to find the job stressful.
Q: What’s a rough salary range for the position you hold? Are you paid enough and/or happy living within your means?
A: The smallest I have ever earned was about $400 USD a month, and that was when I was still starting. It doesn’t sound like much, but if you’re a single person living on that salary in my country you are considered well paid. Nowadays though, depending on the number of articles I write, I usually get up to $3000 a month or more.
Q: How much vacation do you take? Is it enough?
A: I vacation fairly often, around three times a year. If you ask me, that’s more than enough.
Q: What education and skills do you need to get hired and succeed in this field?
A: Looking back it would’ve helped a lot if I had a degree in journalism, or even just classes on it. My lack of formal background didn’t stop me though, I got through the year on the unwavering faith that I could write and that whatever it was I needed to learn about writing I would learn from client feedback and reading books about it. I’ve mentioned in passing that I am a naturally curious person, meaning I have deep interest in so many things. This I feel has allowed me to write about a myriad of subjects, which is crucial in this type of job.
Q: What would you tell a friend considering your line of work?
A: That it’s great but it’s not for everybody (in the attempt to shoo away potential competitors. Okay, I’m kidding). Seriously though, not all of us who do this enjoy it as much as I do. Some don’t like the monotony of it. We are often required to write ten 500 word articles about a single topic, like thumbtacks. Some are totally thrown off by the lack of income stability, one month you feel like J.K. Rowling selling books hot off the presses, the next you’re struggling to be done with a 15 article quota. Like I said, it’s great, but it’s not for everybody.
Q: If you could write your own ticket, what would you like to be doing in five years?
A: In 5 years I would like to own the deeds to multiple diamond mines and be married to an oil shiek. Not really though, but doesn’t it sound great? As much as I am enjoying what I do, I have my eyes set at being an entrepreneur. I’m currently working on a business idea and I’m crossing my fingers that it will sell, but you know, even if it doesn’t, I can always write.
Q: What is your job title and what industry do you work in? How many years of experience do you have in this field? How would you describe yourself using only three adjectives?
A: I am a freelance internet article writer. People from all over the world come to people like me mostly for website or blog content. I’ve been at this for a little over a year now and it’s really been fantastic. For somebody who is spontaneous, creative, and flexible, the job fits like a glove.
Q: What’s your ethnicity and gender? How has it hurt or helped you? If you ever experienced discrimination, how have you responded and what worked best?
A: I am Filipino woman. I don’t know how it is for other people of my profession but I personally find that my gender is of no consequence to me, the electronic nature of the profession sort of evens out the playing field for everybody. Thankfully though, I have never experienced any sort of discrimination either for my gender nor my race.
Q: How would you describe what you do? What does your work entail? Are there any common misunderstandings you want to correct about what you do?
A: As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a freelance article writer. I’ve been asked to write about everything from dog food to superoxide dismutase. One of the reasons why I love my job so much is that I get to choose how, where and when I work. My clients basically give me a topic to write about, instructions on how to go about it and a deadline.
Q: On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate your job satisfaction? What might need to change about your job to unleash your full enthusiasm?
A: To tell you the truth, I absolutely love what I do. I can’t believe I didn’t think about doing it sooner. Writing is something I feel I am naturally good at and since some of the articles I need to write require a little research, this job actually feeds my natural curiosity. The pay though is a little unstable. It’s not bad, it’s pretty good in fact especially as you gain more clients and get better at what you do, but the pay depends on the number of articles you write and are able to accomplish. Not being able to predict the amount of income coming in at the end of the end might pose as a problem to others. So I’d rate my job satisfaction to be 8.5.
Q: If this job moves your heart – how so? Ever feel like you found your calling or sweet spot in life? If not, what might do it for you?
A:I wouldn’t say that it moves my heart, only Hallmark movies do that for me, and I don’t have any idea if this is my calling but I’m doing it now and I’m loving it and that’s enough for me right now.
Q: How did you get started in this line of work? If you could go back and do it differently, what would you change?
A: About a year and a half ago I decided I didn’t want to go to medical school anymore because I realized I was itching to work and earn money. For about 3 months I went to interviews for all sorts of jobs, Sales Management trainee, Medical Representative, Front Desk, Make-up artist, Flight Attendant, I even considered becoming a Casino dealer. Some just flat out declined, some have still not contacted me, and I didn’t like the jobs that I did get. So while waiting for better opportunities to come along I decided to try out freelance writing. A friend had suggested it to me and I tried it out. I didn’t care much for it at first, but as job offers started picking up I began to really enjoy it. Writing about it now I realize how many stop-overs I took before getting to where I am, but I enjoyed them and they honestly make for great stories to tell.
Q: What did you learn the hard way in this job and what happened specifically that led up to this lesson?
A: The past year has been all smooth sailing for me, however I’ve heard about clients who don’t pay, or job postings that make you write articles as samples and then you end up not getting paid for anything, yet they publish your sample. Luckily, I did all my research beforehand and got useful tips to avoid sticky situations like that. The website where I get most of my jobs does a good job at keeping us safe and informed so that helped a lot too.
Q: What is the single most important thing you have learned outside of school about the working world?
A: That school gives you knowledge, which is great, but they don’t teach you how to USE this knowledge to your advantage. Seventeen years of formal schooling and all I get are miscellaneous information I don’t know how to use. Seventeen years of formal schooling and there are still interview questions I can’t answer adequately. Thankfully, what I couldn’t possibly have learned from school I did eventually learn in the so called “real world”. Our education never really does stop, doesn’t it?
Q: What’s the strangest thing that ever happened to you in this job?
A: I got a job offer to write comments about pornographic videos. Which made me laugh, but I ultimately had to decline it because I work in coffee shops sometimes when the connection in the building is down and I just couldn’t image how people sitting behind me would react if I just up and opened a porn site at Starbucks.
Q: Why do you get up and go to work each day? Can you give an example of something that really made you feel good or proud?
A: I take pride in doing my work well, especially when a client is satisfied with the work I do. Some of my regular clients come to me with topics they feel are extra hard to write about or require intensive research, and it flatters me that they feel that they can trust me to do the job.
Q: What kind of challenges do you handle and what makes you want to just quit?
A: I’ve had only one difficult client so far and it wasn’t really that bad. He wouldn’t give me clear instructions about what he wanted, but was very nitpicky on the article I wrote for him. After the ordeal was done, I simply just declined when he offered me another job.
Q: How stressful is your job? Are you able to maintain a comfortable or healthy work-life balance? How?
A: One of the greatest things about my job is that you have to be a really neurotic and high strung person to ever consider this line of work as stressful. Unless you take on a load of a hundred articles today which are all due tomorrow, then you have absolutely no reason to find the job stressful.
Q: What’s a rough salary range for the position you hold? Are you paid enough and/or happy living within your means?
A: The smallest I have ever earned was about $400 USD a month, and that was when I was still starting. It doesn’t sound like much, but if you’re a single person living on that salary in my country you are considered well paid. Nowadays though, depending on the number of articles I write, I usually get up to $3000 a month or more.
Q: How much vacation do you take? Is it enough?
A: I vacation fairly often, around three times a year. If you ask me, that’s more than enough.
Q: What education and skills do you need to get hired and succeed in this field?
A: Looking back it would’ve helped a lot if I had a degree in journalism, or even just classes on it. My lack of formal background didn’t stop me though, I got through the year on the unwavering faith that I could write and that whatever it was I needed to learn about writing I would learn from client feedback and reading books about it. I’ve mentioned in passing that I am a naturally curious person, meaning I have deep interest in so many things. This I feel has allowed me to write about a myriad of subjects, which is crucial in this type of job.
Q: What would you tell a friend considering your line of work?
A: That it’s great but it’s not for everybody (in the attempt to shoo away potential competitors. Okay, I’m kidding). Seriously though, not all of us who do this enjoy it as much as I do. Some don’t like the monotony of it. We are often required to write ten 500 word articles about a single topic, like thumbtacks. Some are totally thrown off by the lack of income stability, one month you feel like J.K. Rowling selling books hot off the presses, the next you’re struggling to be done with a 15 article quota. Like I said, it’s great, but it’s not for everybody.
Q: If you could write your own ticket, what would you like to be doing in five years?
A: In 5 years I would like to own the deeds to multiple diamond mines and be married to an oil shiek. Not really though, but doesn’t it sound great? As much as I am enjoying what I do, I have my eyes set at being an entrepreneur. I’m currently working on a business idea and I’m crossing my fingers that it will sell, but you know, even if it doesn’t, I can always write.