Ah, The Joys Of Freelance Work

With the economy still a little shakey and with B holding down a very good-paying job, I really can't complain about things TOO much, but I figured I'd share my experiences anyway. As a freelance copywriter and consultant I do feel very lucky and blessed to have a part-time source of income and a slowly-increasing portfolio of clients, and I quite like the fact that I'm getting to branch out a bit and do some different things (corporate communications, research, translation-interpretation and even sourcing rare automotive parts-- quite the resume expander, eh?). But as is the nature of the beast, the work is feast-or-famine and usually last-minute deadline driven. For example, for my last major project I was contacted 4:00pm on a Thursday to do a labor-intensive assignment with the deadline of Midnight Friday. Don't get me wrong, the pay was great but it necessitated completely clearing my schedule, and was the only significant work I received in about 3 weeks. I know it's all about building your base, paying your dues and getting a reputation as a super-sub or ASAP-king before your name gets put in the front of the Rolodex, but it gets aggravating at times.

To bridge the gap, even out the peaks and valleys of the pay cycle and stay busy I applied to one of the several web-content providers out there-- the folks who employ the armies of freelance writers, editors, filmmakers, and so forth whose work you see all the time when surfing the web (when you go to YouTube to see a film on how to zest lemons; when you type in an inquiry about what wine goes with Mexican food, etc.). After several weeks and a few tests (semantical obstacle courses), I was awarded the plum role as an editor of sorts, the guy who checks to make sure the title of the articles is both descriptive enough when casting about for writers/experts to create the text, and has proper keywords for when Joe Web Surfer looks it up. Heady stuff, and an incredibly cheap feeling of power-- I am the gatekeeper of web content!! Ahem. Cheap indeed-- after going through all of the applications and tests, it was only then revealed that these content providers pay peanuts, and can do so because there are tens of thousands of folks who are willing to do this sort of thing. So writing an article about how to sew buttons on your jacket may net the writer all of $2-3 with zero royalties, and folks like me get paid $0.01 per title. That's not a misprint: one cent. And it's taxable! So to make $50, I'd have to submit (and have approved) 5000 titles. I found it all amusing, and maybe I'll actually start doing something with these guys just for snicks, and make, like, a quarter a day just to boost my CV. But being a freelancer isn't all just setting up shop in a coffeehouse with your laptop and a Latte Mocciatto-- it involves hustling, a lot of networking, and a fair amount of luck. The good news is that all of my freelance income (the stuff that actually pays, not this penny ante crap) is heading straight into our retirement account, so we're doing OK.