Internet Copywriter Succeeds with Excellent Time-Management

Considered working as an Internet Copywriter? This interview will take you through the ups and downs you can expect in the position, what it takes to land the job, what you can expect to earn and more.

I work as an internet copywriter; as such, I work for myself, freelancing, and I have been in the industry for about a year and a half now. I actually fell into the job while looking for ways in which I could work from home. As a stay at home mother who had ten years of working outside the home under my belt, not bringing in even just a supplementary income didn’t sit well with me.

As an internet copywriter — or even as a ghostwriter — it has been my job to provide content for websites, informative articles, articles that sell items to people, and even advertisement copy, which is just straight forward sales pitches. I’ve also been tasked with rewriting what’s known as Public Label Rights, which are e-books that are open for rewriting and then distribution by the person who purchased them. Many purchasers of PLR will outsource the rewriting to people like me.

I actually got my start through another copywriter I had come across on the internet. I’d been following her blog for a few days, and then she wrote a post about the copywriter who had mentored her, and made mention of a “ghostwriting” course that her mentor was offering. I was intrigued. I’d been writing since I was young, and I really enjoyed the process, no matter what the subject. Could I really get paid to write articles for people?

I signed up and took the course. It was definitely informative, but for someone like me - with a strong background in English, writing, and editing - a lot of it was a simple refresher course. What was really helpful in the course was the information on where to find clients and how to “set up shop,” if you will. I immediately started myself a webpage and put up a few writing samples I’d whipped up, just to show people that I could actually write.

As soon as I made the connections I needed and put my first advertisement up for my services, I was flooded with a deluge of requests. I’d under-priced myself, and cheap work will always sell like hotcakes; particularly when the reviews start flowing in that the work is not only cheap, but is high quality. It was during these first few weeks that I learned one of the biggest lessons I’d ever learned in this business: communication is essential. I wasn’t able to reply to one or two potential clients, and on the internet, you never know who you’re dealing with. Turned out that they were pretty big guys in the game and they were upset that I had seemingly ignored them. I hadn’t, of course, but I never responded to their e-mails, and so they’d felt snubbed and let me know about it — publicly.

Now, I make sure to reply to everyone, even if it is just a simple message letting the client know that I’m swamped and can’t take on their work. Taking just a few minutes to respond to client, even when the answer is no, has made for clients who will respond again and ask me to let them know when I am available, thus setting up future jobs.

Because I work on the internet, I can work from home, which is probably one of the biggest perks of this job. If I want to sleep in until ten in the morning and not start working until noon? I can. Or, if I’d rather work all day and knock out all my projects so I can take the rest of the week off? I can do that, too. If I want to take a three hour lunch break? I’m more than happy to. Errand running is never a problem, and spending time with my family is usually at the top of the priority list.

Working as an internet copywriter, I do have a lot of freedoms not found in other jobs, especially when it comes to dress code and schedule. But I also have to be careful not to take too much advantage of that. After all, I won’t get paid if I don’t do the work, so have to be self-disciplined and manage my time appropriately. I am bound by the deadlines my clients give me; but I’m a very fast worker, so I tend to get things done in relatively quick time. In addition, I have two children, and when they are home, working can get a little interesting when it comes to dividing my time between them and work. I’ve found little tricks that help me stay on task; such as putting a sign on my home office door to alert the kids as to when I’m working, and working when they’re occupied with other activities.

Deadlines and interruptions and time management juggling acts aside, I count myself really rather lucky to be doing the kind of work that I do and making the kind of money that I do. I don’t currently make anywhere near a full-time salary, though, but that’s just fine for me. I know there are a number of ways in which I could add to my income and create a full-time salary - mostly through expanding my services - but I’m happy bringing in a supplemental income while I savor the last year I have with my youngest daughter at home.

After that, I probably will expand my line of services. Unless you’re planning on working twelve to sixteen hours a day, I don’t feel that it’s really possible to be making a full-time income from copywriting alone as a freelancer. And that’s one aspect of the job that I won’t compromise about. I work for myself, and being in charge is something that, now that I’ve had a taste of it, I can never leave.

This is a true career story as told to ComputerJobs.net and is one of many interviews with IT professionals which among others include a Database Administrator and a Systems Engineer.

Originally published on JustJobs.com.