How to Invest In Yourself So You Can Make a Living Writing

Invest in yourself. You know thats something you truly want to do, but you cant pull the trigger. You are being pulled in all directions from work to family to self-care and even taking care of aging family, your passion is pushed to the wayside. Another day, you tell yourself. When my children go to school, thats when Ill invest in myself. But, Im here today to help you see there is no shame in investing in yourself today. This will make you a better person overall, a healthier person and a successful business owner. Because you do want to focus on your passion. And if you can monetize that passion, investing yourself was worth it then, eh? Make this year the year you re-invent yourself, follow your passion of writing and become a freelance writer. Invest In Yourself Whats your passion? Im hoping its creativity and writing 🙂 Ive helped thousands of people become freelance writers. Many of them have a deep-seeded passion to write. They wrote stories as little children, took creative writing classes in high school, but then they grew up. They focus on getting that job that will secure their way of life and stopped writing. Years go by, and theyre doing well creating the life they want, but they fundamentally know there is something missing. Its that creativity they felt when they wrote. And the more they think about writing, the more it pulls them in. They declare in a whisper, yes, I want to pursue writing. That was the first step in investing in yourself. This declaration is what can carry you to make your choice a real action. But, as soon as you declare this want, your logical brain steps in. Ahem, you cant make a living writing you know! Theres no money in writing! And you start to believe this. Im here to say, NO! Thats simply not true. You can monetize your passion. If writing is your passion, you can make money writing. But, for that to happen, you need to invest in yourself. From education to tools and resources, to make that choice a reality, you have to do the work. 9 Ways to Invest In Yourself So, you want to be a writer? Freelance writing is a great way to make an income from writing. You essentially write for others like businesses, brands, start-ups etc., and they pay you to write for them! Sweet! Lets look at 9 ways you can do to get started on your path to becoming a freelance writer. 1. Educate Yourself The first step to investing in your passion is to educate yourself about writing and freelance writing. Hop on Google and search for freelance writing. See what advice pops up. Get to know blogs that focus on freelance writing. My favorite are: FreelancerFAQs WritetoDone TheWriteLife Spend time in learning more about this field of freelancing or writing. If you enjoy podcasts instead, there are wonderful podcasts for writers that can help you learn more about freelance writing: High Income Business Writing Podcast Grammar Girl The Copywriter Club In any case, start your learning now! 2. Save Money You know you hate your job and you want to quit, but you cant do it today. You have to plan to invest in yourself and that means starting to save money so that you can take the leap into freelance writing. Writeto1k course student Mike made sure to save a lot of money before he quit his 9-5 job. This ensured him that he could plan out his strategy to land clients and get freelance writing work. So, while you spend the time learning, also start saving every week or every month. This might mean less Starbucks lattes or less eating out. Remember, you are investing in yourself and thats okay! Its okay to save for that investment 🙂 Get My Free Course on Getting Paid to Write Online 3. Carve Out Time Many people that want to make a living from writing, say they just dont have the time. Thats why the tell themselves when my children start school, when I finish my degree But, you know what? You have to make the time. Carve time in your day to devote to your passion. This can be early in the morning, late at night, only on the weekends or an hour a day after supper. Start small and do one hour. When you are more comfortable or your day allows more time, increase to two or three hours at a time. When you do this, you give yourself permission to explore your writing passion. 4. Give Yourself Goals Goal setting is HUGE for success. If you write out your goals you are much more likely going to achieve them. So, while youre watching TV at night, get out your bullet journal or notebook and write out your goals to start freelance writing or whatever chosen passion you want. Some goals you may have are: Save $50 a month Write 500 words a day Read two freelance writing blog posts a day Quit my job in 3 months 5. Get Help Look doing this alone is difficult. I did it alone and I made a ton of mistakes. This just took me longer to reach my goal of becoming a profitable freelance writer. Im hoping my blog is a place to help you figure out the right way to do this. Its always a good idea to learn from those that have done it before you, and have done it successfully. For you, this might mean asking other freelance writers, investing in a course or talking about this with friends and family. Having that support is paramount to helping you succeed and monetize your passion. 6. See This Through It isnt enough to declare you want to start writing again. You have to see this through. From start to finish. This means investing in yourself! Break down the steps you feel you have to actually start getting paid for your writing. Also, give yourself a goal to landing at least one freelance writing job. This shows you that you did see this through and at that point you can decide if its worth it to pursue more. Some people give up. They land a low paying gig or they suddenly find themselves writing on a content mill. Others, luck out and land a great gig and take off. Still others, start off with low-paying gigs, but know there is better work out there (that was me!). So, give yourself a timeline and hold yourself accountable. 7. Be Committed As with anything new you try, stay committed. I know that may be hard with your passion. What if its months and you arent making money with your passion? How can you remain committed to this? I know thats tough. But if you set yourself up for success saved money, freelance writing on the side of your day job, and learned from someone who already did this you can still be committed and keep on trying. 8. Do the Work Okay! Now its time to take action. To monetize your passion you need to form a plan to get started. With freelance writing this may be: Figure outyour niche Create samples Connect with other freelance writers Build your social media profiles Pitch to job boards Looks like a lot, but remember, youre investing in yourself 🙂 Plus, I have a free course that goes through all those steps and more! 9. Give Yourself a Break Remember, the path to your passion isnt linear. There will be bumps and roadblocks during your journey. So give yourself a break. Sit back and re-asses what you are doing. I hear many stories from my subscribers telling me they started out doing all the steps to take action, but then there was a family emergency or their husband lost their job. They had to put their passion on the back burner for a while. Thats okay. Its when you come back to it that increases your chances youll succeed! Become a Writer Writing has always been your dream and now is the best time to turn that dream into a reality. Freelance writing will only get bigger online. More and more business will hire out their content writing for their blogs, email or lead generation content. You can be that writer and get paid for your writing! But, it all begins with the idea invest in yourself! Over to you tell me whats stopping you from investing in yourself?