If you’ve been working full-time jobs, the idea of becoming a freelance writer can be both exciting and terrifying.
It’s like stepping off the ground to walk a tightrope where one false move will send you plummeting to your death. There’s more glory, a higher degree of difficulty — but also what feels like a huge amount of risk.
The good news is, freelancing doesn’t have to be so scary.
The fact is, the independent-contractor economy is booming, thanks to COVID-19 changing the way we live and work.
- An estimated 59 million adults in the U.S. are part-time or full-time freelancers, according to a recent Forbes article.
- To put that in perspective, that’s about 36 percent of all adults old enough to work.
So you’re a newbie writer trying to figure out how to be a freelancer? Welcome to the Gig Economy.
There’s plenty of opportunity. So what’s the trouble?
A lot of the anxiety about being self-employed comes from inside you. From fears you have about how hard this is that are unfounded.
If you’re full of doubts about whether you can ‘make it’ as a freelance writer, here are seven key ideas that helped me get over the fear hump and launch my freelance writing career: