Want to Work From Home? Why Not Get Paid to Write

The weekend is over and that means back to work.

Are you sick and tired of your day job?

When it’s all said and done, your paycheck barely covers travel costs, daycare costs and your food bill.

Your budgeting isn’t working, you miss your children and all you would like more than anything in the world is to stay home, take care of your kids and earn a liveable income.

You’ve heard about working from home, but you’re sceptical.

You don’t want to be tied to a phone all day answering calls and you certainly don’t want your day job to now become a telecommute job.

You know friends who work from home, but you’re not sure if it’s for you.

Before I became a work-at-home mom, I worked in the school setting. I never imaged staying home working.

But then I had twins and I knew I wanted to stay home and take care of them.

And I soon learned how great working from home as a freelance writer really is.

Why You Should Start a Home-Based Business

Choose A Home-Based Business

Did you know that working from home has grown over 100% since 2005? More and more people are realizing that its possible to stay home and profit.

And you know what? You would think working from home leaves you open to distractions, multi-tasking and temptations to not work, but in fact, it’s the opposite.

People who work from home are just more productive. Why is that? The biggest reason is they have control over their day.

Wouldn’t you love to wake up whenever you wanted to, decide if you want to go for a jog first or finish a project?

Wouldn’t it be great to attend your child’s afternoon play with ease? Just wrap up any loose ends and leave the house?

Working from home gives you these benefits and more.

When I made the switch to work from home, I had to find my most productive times to work.

Since I have twins to take care of during the day – not to mention laundry, meals, house chores, and more – I found I can pump out my client’s work when my twins nap or go to sleep for the night.

This gives me a good four hours every day to run a successful freelance writing business.

Another huge benefit of working for yourself from home is the control you have over your rate. If you provide a service like I do, I can set my rate and choose the clients I want to work with.

I started out making around $.04/word with my writing. Now, I average $.20/word. I managed to make this jump within a year.

Running a business from home is totally doable if you are a mom, a student, a part-time worker or even if you still have a full-time job.

If you’re interested in learning how to work from home, here is a quick guide:

My Work From Home Quick Guide

1. Choose an Industry

There are so many work at home opportunities, how do you know which one is right for you?

For me I choose freelance writing over something like virtual assisting because I love to read and write and I was interested in blogging. I also didn’t want to manage another person’s email inbox or set up appointments as a virtual assistant.

If you love to blog and are a decent writer, then you can totally rock it as a freelancer writer and get paid writing!

2. Set Up an Online Home

It goes without saying that if you plan to work online, you should have a home online. This doesn’t mean your personal blog; it’s best to present your services in a professional way.

And the best way to do this is with a professional website. You can start with a free hosted site, but I’d recommend moving it to a self-hosted one within the first three months of starting.

Generally, self-hosted sites appear more professional and show prospects that you aren’t doing this as a hobby.

When I first started, I registered a domain and put up my Innovative Ink writer website. This is where I house my portfolio of work, testimonials of satisfied clients and my services page showing what I offer.

3. Register for a PayPal Account

You want to get paid right? If you don’t already have one, I suggest you register for a PayPal address sooner rather than later.

You never know; you could land a job shortly after putting up your website!

Consider upgrading to a business account since you can take out larger sums of money, which can come in handy once you are generating income with your home business.

4. Work For Free…In the Beginning

The easiest way to start earning an income is to work for free. This might mean guest posting if you want to be a freelance writer, creating a website for a friend if you want to be a freelance web developer or giving away some of your product – scarves, labels, guides – to friends and family and getting testimonials.

You will appear more credible when you have satisfied customers and testimonials of your stellar work.

Something I did early on was ask fellow freelance writers to write me a testimonial after I guest posted or helped them out in some way.

I also guest posted and worked hard on getting my name in front of as many people as possible.

5. Get Proper Training

For many people, trying your thing online is a new concept. If in your prior day job you were a teacher, making the switch to being a freelance article writer can seem tough at first.

Maybe you’ve been out of the workforce for many years and you want to try something new.

It can be scary and overwhelming when you haven’t a clue how to really get out there and hustle.

You’re responsible for generating leads and work. And if you don’t have much experience doing this, it can seem difficult.

That’s why I always suggest to learn from those who have done it before you. This is something I failed to do when I first started.

I thought I could do this on my own, but what ended up happening was I made many avoidable mistakes and lost a lot of time. And for a mom with twins, time is precious!

Realizing this mistake, I decided to make sure no other aspiring writer has to go through the same experience. So, I developed a course that walks you through how to start a successful freelance writing business in 7 weeks or less.

If you seriously are thinking about freelance writing – which I totally think is the best work from home job! – then consider taking my online, self-paced course Write Your Way to Your First $1k [referral link].

With enhanced video training, action steps and a private Facebook group, you’ll have no problem succeeding.

What Are You Waiting For?

You know you want to quit your day job and start a living the life you’ve always wanted.

Decide today what you want to do and start making a plan to get you there. And take a course if you want to ensure the best possible outcome.

Over to you – have you decided to work from home? What’s your plan to get you there?